What will she do next? Your guess is as good as hers. More than a decade after her debut, she’s proved that she’s an all-timer. No artist is completely original, but time has proven Lady Gaga sui generis. In every guise - including Ally, the singer-songwriter she plays in 2018’s A Star Is Born remake - she’s given it her all. Over the years, Gaga’s shape-shifting has painted a collective portrait of a complex, restless, fearless woman. But then, she’ll go and do something like her Golden Globe-winning performance in American Horror Story: Hotel, or unleash the fury within “Shallow,” and you’ll remember - she’s still Lady Fucking Gaga. It’s true that sometimes, the days of Gaga’s meat dresses and vomit art can feel like a distant memory. But seemingly through sheer force of will, 2020’s Chromatica channels four decades of house-music history to reclaim her dance-pop throne for the first time since 2013. Ironically, the sound of Gaga’s iconic dance-pop hits fell completely out of fashion alongside the moody, trap-tinged, playlist-centric downturn of late 2010s pop. Lady Gaga’s already influenced a new generation of weird, countercultural, often LGBTQ-identifying popstars: Everyone from Lorde to Sia, Nicki Minaj, Charli XCX, Halsey, Troye Sivan, Sophie, Janelle Monáe, and Billie Eilish owes Gaga some debt. Superwoman no longer, 2016’s Joanne allowed her to be more vulnerable, to find a sense of equilibrium within her art. Since Cheek to Cheek, 2014’s duets album with Tony Bennett, we’ve witnessed a gradual unraveling of Gaga’s once-messianic image. She has undoubtedly raised the bar for pop music, videos, fashion, and live performances.īut the comedown, if you can call it that, was fascinating in its own way. No pop star of the 2010s was more committed to achieving transcendence through her art. Looking back on her first four albums - The Fame, The Fame Monster, Born This Way, and ARTPOP - her sheer ambition was dizzying. Gaga’s imperial phase was such a whirlwind that, in hindsight, we’ve barely had time to reflect on the depth of her artistry. Every release became an event her every move was dissected on social media. From her 2008 debut The Fame to 2014, when the ARTPOP hype bubble burst, Lady Gaga sped through several careers’ worth of highs, lows, and controversies.

Though she’s been a household name for over a decade now, the first half of Lady Gaga’s career still feels like recent history.

It has been updated to include Gaga’s subsequent releases. *This article was originally published in November 2018. Photo-Illustration: By Vulture Images Getty

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