Lady Gaga and the Myth of Accidental Stardom

I am (obviously) not in show business or music, and so there are times when I tend to think that people that are very famous have stumbled into it.  They just happened to be doing something when the right person just happened to be watching and that just happened to turn them into stars.  I also can sometimes think that the people involved in these industries are less intelligent than, say, a Mark Zuckerburg or (insert your famous technology personality here).

I was watching this week’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance last night with my family.  It’s one of our guilty pleasures as a family.  If you have not watched the show, the basics are that contestants dance a variety of different styles (everything from jazz to hip-hop to ballroom), with and without partners, and are judged by both a panel and people at home.  The talent on this show is amazing, and I am not a dance person at all.  Anyway, this week, Lady Gaga was a guest judge.  She had on a sensational outfit (I believe her platform shoes were at least one foot high), turquoise hair, and looked to me like she had just come off a pretty rough night.

I am not a fan of Gaga.  I don’t particularly enjoy her music.  And, up until last night, it was my working assumption that she had achieved fame by being sensational and outlandish.  There could not be someone intelligent behind all of the “uniqueness” that she brings.

What I learned last night is that there are very good reasons why she is so successful.  First of all, her attention to detail was amazing.  She would critique the contestants on hair, makeup, prop choice, the nuance of the choreography, all the way down to a particular way they held one particular part of their body in one particular part of the dance.  And it all made perfect sense.  She also was very, very well-spoken and articulate.  It was very impressive to watch her in action, and for me, I had a moment of realization that everything she does is calculated, well thought-out, and definitely not a set of random choices that have somehow been strung together by fate.  She is as good at what she does as any of the technology people we like to label as geniuses, and she is just as deliberate in going about it.

I am sure there is something to the “right place, right time” thing that everyone talks about.  I am not sure it’s any different in music than it is in business or sports or any other industry, however.  The people that prepare for those moments are the people that get the break and push through it.  I got the sense last night that Lady Gaga has been preparing for mega-stardom for a long time, and it’s no accident that she is where she is.

Color me impressed, and humbled by prejudice.

Is Lady Gaga’s ascent to stardom just happenstance?  Is there such a thing as accidental stardom, regardless of industry?  Leave a comment below