Femme and Fierce: Part One

So ladies and gents, welcome to the first post in a mini-series called 'Femme and Fierce', which will focus on celebrating inspirational women and their accomplishments, showing the world that women are a force to be reckoned with! 
So grab a cup of tea and a biscuit, I've got my Halloween biscuits standing by, and get comfy as I explore the many inspirational dimensions of the one and only, Lady Gaga.

This series is also in collaboration with the lovely Ellie, also known as PerfectlyPutTogether.com. This week she is looking into the empowering personality of Halsey...so make sure you save some biscuits for her post haha! 
Click here for her profile of Halsey.

L A D Y   G A G A

Source: https://gagadaily.com/forums/topic/261040-favourite-gaga-accessory/

To start of the series I am exploring the fierce Lady Gaga and how she has inspired me since 'The Fame' in 2008. When I first heard about Lady Gaga, I think I was in primary school, bopping along to 'Poker Face' and 'Just Dance'. Those songs bring back memories of my school's Dance-A-Thon, a time full of drama, crankiness (as we were forced to dance into the early hours) and fond memories.

The Fame album was always at the top of my CD rack...I kind of miss having a physical collection of music in my bedroom, although I'd be lying if I said I don't appreciate modern technology and it's extensive ability to store thousands of songs on the little machine in my pocket haha. Despite my 12-year-old brain not knowing that when I was singing about disco sticks I had no idea what I was talking about, her music and eccentric glamorous style let me know it was ok to be yourself.

As I got older, I still loved her ability to tell a story through music, but I didn't really listen to her albums in full anymore. Instead, I was more engaged with what her stories were about, later learning about her 'Born This Way Foundation'.

I never really knew much about the Foundation until I started writing this post but through researching it I've realized I have always admired the way she embodies exactly what the Foundation's core aims are: supporting wellness and empowering people to create a kinder and braver world. A world with kinder, understanding communities and a place where young people can get the proper opportunities and resources to be heard. Sounds pretty cool right?

So for a long long time I've known Lady Gaga to use her voice and her platform to voice issues that so many people shy away from, like recognition of the LGBTQ+ community, women's rights, empowering young people and sexual assault are the ones that stand out to me. I have always had respect and admiration for her bravery. 

I was recently watching her latest interview on 'The Late Show' with Stephen Colbert where she was talking about her new movie 'A Star is Born' with Bradley Cooper. The film looks and sounds incredible and I've heard so many people say it's definitely spending the extortionate prices of cinema tickets to watch so that's deffo next on my to-do list this week. 

Anyway, back on topic, the part of the interview that stood out to me was when she addressed the controversy around the Brett Kavanaugh case. Gaga has always spoken out against sexual assault, and this section of the interview reminded me of the time, about 3 years ago now, where she gave that incredibly moving performance at The Academy Awards of 'Till it Happens To You'. 

Another little nugget of info I didn't know before writing this post is that 'Till it Happens To You' was actually written as an original song that featured in the 2015 documentary 'The Hunting Ground', which was an exposé on the issue of sexual assault on college campuses in the USA and how the institutions allegedly covered it up or didn't handle the cases well at all. (I put in italics because I have never seen the documentary or know much about sexual violence cases in the USA). 

Either way, even when the music video for the song was released and I heard it for the first time I was moved by the emotion carried throughout the song. When I saw Gaga perform it at the Oscars, surrounded by survivors of sexual assault survivors, I balled my eyes out. Watch the video below and you'll see what I mean when I say it was an incredibly powerful performance that brought issues very close to my heart to attention on a world stage.

Before going on stage, one of the survivors revealed that before the performance, Gaga told them: "Make them feel your pain." As a sexual assault survivor herself, you can truly feel her pain throughout the performance.

Ever since then, Gaga has inspired me to let my voice be heard and also to listen and respect the stories of others. In particular, her courage and passion to shine a light on the issue of sexual assault has resonated strongly over the past year or so, and I want to thank Lady Gaga for telling her story and helping others to do the same. What a woman.