I don’t like the word ‘diva’. It has bad connotations: when I picture a ‘diva’, I picture some hyped up megastar throwing a tantrum in her dressing room because someone looked her in the eye or her personal assistant forgot to replace her full-fat latte with the skinny, organic, equivalent. I never picture my favourite musician.
Lady Gaga, in my eyes, is anything but a ‘diva’. Maybe my views are clouded from eight years of loving her perhaps a little too much though, after all, it’s been a crazy six years. Her four albums have seen me through my final years in school, my two years in college, and my three years at university. The six shows I’ve seen her at, up and down the U.K., have gotten me through long hours at work and stressful times at home.
And through all of that, she's never seemed like a bad person.
She cried onstage at my ‘Born This Way Ball’ in London in 2012, after being told she would need to cut her show short because she had reached the curfew time and Twickenham stadium was in a residential area. She cried because she was disappointed in herself for “letting us down” and for not being able to give us the entire performance. Would a ‘diva’ do that?
She’s tweeted people, when they were feeling as though they were in a bad place and just needed someone to talk to. She’s given fans travel money to make sure they get home okay when they’ve stayed a little too long to see her and have missed their last train. She’s sent milk and cookies, pizza, and other goodies out to both paparazzi and fans waiting on the streets for her to come out of whatever interview or event she’s at. ‘Divas’ wouldn’t do that.
I’m not saying Gaga’s a saint. Of course she’s probably had some diva-esque meltdowns backstage. She’s one of the world’s biggest pop stars after all, and I’m not that naïve to think that she’s perfect. I imagine her meltdowns are more on the topic of the wrong-coloured sequins rather than the wrong type of latte.
I suppose ‘diva’ can be taken in another way. Beyonce is classed as a ‘diva’, and when I think of Beyonce, I only think of a strong and independent woman. ‘Diva’ in Beyonce’s sense, is nothing short of fabulous.
Gaga also fits that bill. So I suppose, she is a ‘diva’ after all, if you look at it like that. I might have to rethink my definition.
Either way, I won’t stop loving her anytime soon. Bring on her fifth solo album.
