When Stefani Germanotta stormed the music world more than a decade ago, she didn’t do it under her own name. Instead, she took on a persona: Lady Gaga, an outlandish figure with blunt-cut platinum hair, avant-garde outfits, and a seeming aversion to the status quo.
Gaga didn’t sound or look like the other pop stars of the era. Heck, she wasn’t like anyone. But she trusted that her artistic vision, however unusual, would make her a megastar. Her first album, after all, was titled The Fame.
Over the past decade, Lady Gaga has evolved and matured as an artist. Her talent and versatility have earned her a place among the top-selling musicians in history, and she’s received nine Grammy Awards and an Academy Award. Meanwhile, she’s used her profile to advocate for LGBT rights and raise awareness of mental health issues.
Here at 16Personalities, we love to ponder the personality types of well-known figures. But this week, we’re asking you: What personality type do you think fits Lady Gaga?
To assist you with this mission, here are quotations from Gaga herself that illustrate some of her key characteristics, including the source of her creativity, her feelings about being different, and the depth of her aspirations.
Lady Gaga in Her Own Words
On creativity:
“You have to go to that broken place of your heart to write songs. They say sometimes it’s like open-heart surgery, making music. Every time. It’s invasive.”
On social justice:
“If we don’t stand up for what we believe in and if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones.”
On trust:
“It’s hard knowing who to trust with your personal life. When you cry in your room at night, you don’t always know who to call. So I am very close to my family.”
On fighting for change:
“Fight and push harder for what you believe in; you’d be surprised, you are much stronger than you think.”
On being in the public eye:
“It’s hard enough when love isn’t working out the way you want it to, and you’ve got to walk down the street and have somebody go, ‘Are you okay?’”
On opening up about mental illness:
“Even though it was hard, the best thing that could come out of my mental illness was to share it.”
On relaxing her eccentric persona:
“I never felt comfortable enough to sing and just be this way, now. To just sing, wear my hair back. I never felt pretty enough or smart enough or a good enough musician. That’s the good part. The good part is that I just didn’t feel good enough, and I do now.”
On being different:
“You laugh at me because I’m different; I laugh at you because you’re the same.”
On haters:
“I want you to reject anyone or anything that has made you feel like you don’t belong, or don’t fit in, or has made you feel like you’re not good enough or pretty enough or thin enough.”
On her aspirations:
“If you were to ask me what I want to do, I don’t want to be a celebrity – I want to make a difference. I never wanted to look pretty on stage and sing about something we’ve all heard about before.”
On defying expectations:
“When they wanted me to be sexy, when they wanted me to be pop, I always put some absurd spin on it to make me feel like I was in control.”
On morality:
“It is always wrong to hate, but it is never wrong to love.”
So, readers: now that you’ve read about Lady Gaga in her own words, what personality traits do you see in her attitudes toward creativity, fame, authenticity, and meaning? Does she remind you of yourself, or of anyone you know? And what personality type do you think fits her best?
You tell us!
We’ll post our analysis – and share some of your insights – in a few days.
Further Reading
What Personality Type Is Elizabeth Bennet? (You Tell Us!)
Marie Kondo’s Personality Type Revealed! (And yes, it sparks joy.)
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