Lady Gaga

As someone who has been a fan of Gaga's since the beginning of her career, I have (re)read multiple biographies about her in recent times. This was the first biography written by a male author that I have read and I'm afraid to say that it shows. In the worst ways.

The first half of the book was okay. It described the humble beginnings of Gaga's career as so many others have and I appreciated the sources of her quotes being named throughout the book.

The second half is where the book started going off the rails, completely discarding any notion of journalistic integrity and engaging in a gross display of misogyny, biphobia and fatphobia.

Why male authors feel the need to dedicate an entire chapter to their confusion about Gaga's jokes and references to her sex life (in response to being asked about it relentlessly by interviewers), I'll never understand.

A joke about what she looks for in a man (aimed at the ridiculousness of a question) followed by the statement that she's not promiscuous, was deemed as shocking and contradictory by the author. He clearly was not in on the joke.

Similarly as irritating is the mocking of her bisexuality, which is repeatedly referred to as “alleged” even though she'd clearly come out multiple times by the time this book was written and a section where her so-called former “friends'” opinions were regarded as more credible than her own words.

This biphobic and ignorant attitude of the author obviously leads to her entire career (and life) being viewed through a very heteronormative lens, which of course means a lot is omitted when writing about a queer person. The author doesn't just lack perspective, he seems to deliberately discard it in order to depict Gaga as simply a “straight woman seeking attention by any means necessary”.

Not to mention the violent fatphobia displayed in a paragraph about how surprising Gaga's praise for a woman's talent is whose appearance the author does not deem attractive.

If you want to learn about the rise of Gaga's early career, I strongly recommend opting for a book by a female writer instead. Just Dance by Helia Phoenix is a much better option.

A book that seriously considers Gaga's queerness in illustrating her life doesn't seem to have been written yet.