The Theology of Lady Gaga

With her "out-of-this-world" outfits and entertaining songs, she is slowly defining current pop culture that is influencing our youths.

Lady Gaga is a phenomenon. Her songs are becoming a soundtrack to a generation and she has legions of devoted fans across the globe. Her impact on UK culture has been dramatic. In 2010 she was the most played artist on UK radio, grabbing both the number 1 and 3 slots with singles Bad Romance and Alejandro. Her albums have been just as successful, with The Fame Monster and Born This Way now approaching 3 million sales. She is beloved of fans and music reviewers alike, with her albums receiving positive reviews across the music press (even NME gave Born This Way 8 out of 10!).

Lady Gaga draws heavily on religious ideas and imagery for her music and videos (in particular Christianity). At times it seems she is embracing elements of a Christian worldview, and at others pouring on scorn. In some senses it is the classic postmodern pluralistic approach to spirituality, drawing together different sources to create her own version of the truth. Because of this she causes controversy amongst religious groups and has even been banned in Lebanon after officials deemed her latest album ‘offensive to Christianity’!

The first single taken from her latest album, Born This Way (the name of both single and album!) is a clear demonstration of this, and worth spending some time considering because of how it has both influenced culture and is a reflection of our culture.

The basic premise of the song is God makes us the way we are, and so we should be proud of that, not changing for anyone or anything.

"I’m beautiful in my way
‘Cause God makes no mistakes
I’m on the right track baby
I was born this way"

There is certainly an element of this that Christians can affirm. Genesis teaches us that God created humans exactly the way He wanted, and that we carry his image (Gen 1:27), the Psalms that God knitted us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13), Paul’s epistles that God has a good and perfect plan for our lives (Eph 2:10) and Jesus that He knows every hair on our head (Matt 10:30). From scripture we can affirm that God is perfect (Matt 5:48), that he makes no mistakes and that He knows and loves every person on this planet and has a plan for their lives. In these areas Lady Gaga seems to have a grasp on the Christian worldview. Where this premise falls down is a failure to acknowledge sin, of a need to repent, of a need to relate to God in any way. Gaga seems to see God as someone who sets things in motion and then just lets you get on with it whatever way you deem right. There is no accountability, which is not what the Bible teaches (Rev 20: 11-12). Gaga’s philosophy is shown in the continuation of the chorus;

"Don’t hide yourself in regret
Just love yourself and you’re set
I’m on the right track baby
I was born this way"

The message is simply, ‘love yourself and it will all be fine’.

In an interview with The Guardian’s Simon Hattenstone Lady Gaga gives a further insight into her views on religion, that links directly to the lyrics of Born This Way:

"The previous day she had said it’s difficult to talk about the show to people who haven’t seen it. She was right, I say, it’s like a revivalist meeting. "Yes, it is. It is a religious experience. But it’s like a pop cultural church." She pauses. "I never intended for the Monster Ball to be a religious experience, it just became one."

She’s become the Billy Graham of pop, I say. She laughs. "It’s more self-worship, I think, not of me. I’m teaching people to worship themselves.

"What is going wrong with conventional religion if kids are looking to her for spiritual guidance? “The influence of institutionalised religion on government is vast. So religion then begins to affect social values and that in turn affects self-esteem, bullying in school, teen suicides, all those things.” Her message, she says, is simple and perfectly Christ-like – love yourself and love others.” Here we see perfectly the post-modern pluralistic approach to spirituality, and why it can be dangerous. Lady Gaga paraphrases Mark 12: 29-31, where Jesus certainly does say we should love others. However nowhere does he say we should love ourselves. This is the very essence of sin. She has replaced the command to love God with the command to love ourselves. She goes so far as to say it doesn’t matter if you love God, or a guy. She is commanding a generation to love themselves and their friends above all else, pushing God to the margins.

Another insight into the philosophy behind Gaga’s lyrics comes in the second verse where she states “love requires faith”. To live the life that she advocates in this song she makes a tacit acknowledgement that spirituality is vital. In that most post-modern of ways, she is rejecting the modernist notion that everything can be rationalised and explained and is returning to faith as an integral part of life. This increased emphasis on spirituality is something we see in post-modern culture.

It is in this that we as Christians can most usefully utilise the work of Lady Gaga. We can affirm what is good in her music, building a bridge to the post-modern society around us, whilst looking to develop a positive discussion about where her musings differ from the Christian world view, and how actually in loving God rather than ourselves we can find life in all its fullness (John 10:10).

By Graham Smith

Mr. Graham Smith is a young Christian blogger [http://grahamintheroom.wordpres s.com] who writes Christian books’ reviews, spiritual articles and etc.