Then And Now 15 Differences Between The Old And New Lady Gaga

When Lady Gaga first burst onto the music scene with her debut album back in 2008, we knew that she was a force to be reckoned with. She wore costumes we had never seen before and had totally catchy and original songs that we just could not get out of our heads. Until around 2012, Gaga was arguably the most talked-about artist on the planet, coming out with interesting headline-grabbing outfits and performances each week. After that, Gaga's superstar status seemed to fizzle a little, and she was no longer front and center at every awards show. Thankfully for the little monsters of the world, Mother Monster returned in 2016 with a whole new album, and appeared to be rocking a totally new style, which we are loving! Here are 15 differences between the Gaga we first met nearly a decade ago and the superstar that we know today.

15 She's An Actress Now

When we first met her, Gaga was a struggling singer who was about to break out from New York's underground scene to the global stage. But today, Gaga is acclaimed for more than just her unique style of music. As of 2017, Gaga has a few acting achievements under her belt, beginning with the role she had in the 2013 film Machete Kills. Critically and commercially speaking, the film was a total disaster, but at least this marked Gaga's branching out into other creative areas! After all, the lady has too much talent to be only confined to the music industry! Between October 2015 and January 2016, Gaga starred on American Horror Story as the hotel owner named Elizabeth. While this earned her mixed reviews from critics, she was awarded with a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a miniseries. An acting accolade like that seemed out of reach for the Gaga of 2008.

14 She's More Of A Role Model For Women

Gaga has always seemed like somebody who has the best intentions when it comes to influencing her fans, and this has always been pretty consistent. But as she's grown older, she's definitely become a more positive role model for women, and young girls in particular. When she was first becoming famous, we're willing to bet there would have been a lot of mothers who weren't okay with letting their young daughters listen to the lyrics like “I wanna take a ride on your disco stick”, and “bluffin' with my muffin”. Although some of the lyrics on Gaga's new record Joanne are kind of suggestive, her overall image is a lot less provocative nowadays. Plus, Gaga's done all sorts of good for the world over the years, including making speeches at a number of events and standing up for what is right. That's all definitely racked her up some brownie points in the role model department!

13 She's A Woman, Not A Girl

This one's a given, but it's kind of the glue that sticks everything else together! One of the reasons Gaga is so different today from how she was back then is simply because she's older now. She was in her early twenties when she first rose to her superstar status and now she's close to thirty. In other words, she's way past belting out Britney's "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman." This difference in age naturally means that Gaga is now a stronger lady than she used to be, thanks to experience and learning from her mistakes, and has a greater idea of the type of person she is or wants to become. If you listen to her giving interviews now, she certainly seems a lot wiser and a lot more comfortable, and very few of us can get to that stage before time permits it! Yup, we have to admit: our Gaga's grown up!

12 She's More Humble

Today's Gaga seems much more humble than she used to be! Of course, Gaga's generally been known to be very gracious when it comes to her fans and it seems like she never lets her ego get too big, but there have still been rumors that all the success got to her a little! bit. A few different sources, including her old friend Perez Hilton and her ex-assistant, suggest that Gaga could be a bit of a diva behind closed doors, particularly at the height of her fame in 2011. Even though she had a reputation of being more than good with her fans, footage has caught her snapping at interviewers and other staff members, and today she appears to be much more chilled and in touch with who she is. The Dive Bar Tour she embarked on in 2016 proved this, as no superstar with a big head would perform in bars when they could perform in arenas!

11 She's Herself Now

In recent interviews, Gaga has discussed the persona that she had to maintain during the early years, and she states that with this album, she feels as if she can finally be herself. We totally see that and are loving it! There's nothing wrong with having a persona per se, as that's the best way she could convey her art at the time, but she says that she had trouble coming out of that persona, and would keep her makeup and wigs on, even around her family. Now that she's an established artist rather than an emerging one, Gaga has a lot more say in her own music and she even became emotional in one interview when talking about how she's free to do whatever she wants to do with this latest record. Even as she appears now frequently with less makeup and wigs we feel like we're getting more of a glimpse of Stefani Germanotta!

10 She Has A New Kind Of Confidence

Nobody's saying that Gaga was ever not confident. To know that, you only need to watch her empowering speeches to the crowd during her Born This Way Ball, or the way she was okay with hanging from a rope half naked and covered with fake blood in front of all of Hollywood at the Video Music Awards in 2009. But with the dropping of her strong Lady Gaga persona, it seems that Gaga has gained the confidence to allow the world to see her as Stefani Germanotta. To let the world see who you really are behind the sequins, glitter, and disco sticks is actually a huge deal, and would probably be much scarier than making speeches and belting out songs when you can hide behind an image. Gaga's always had confidence, but now she has it in a different way as she's exposing herself to the world. You go, Gaga!

9 She Seems More Human

For a while there, we were actually second-guessing whether Gaga really was human at all, or whether she was secretly a god in disguise. But these days, the result of a more honest and humble image is that Gaga seems like more of a person than she ever did! Her Instagram today is filled with pictures of her doing regular things (other than rehearsing for the Super Bowl!), and where today we see snaps of her doing grocery shopping and wearing tracksuits, back in the day we would have seen pictures of her posing in dresses made out of racks of lamb, for real! We distinctly remember an article which highlighted candid shots of Gaga doing normal things like eating pizza and wearing jeans, because, in the beginning, it seemed ludicrous that she was actually a real person! Thankfully, now she lets us see the human side of her as well as the superstar!

8 She Does Less Publicized Celebrity Team Ups

Especially during the 'Telephone' era, Gaga was well-known for getting the top celebrities in the game by her side to collaborate on material. Not only did she do a memorable performance with Elton John at the 2011 Grammys, but who could forget the way she teamed up with Beyoncé on two occasions? Bey featured on and made a cameo in Gaga's epic 'Telephone' video, which was really more of a masterpiece than a simple clip. And Gaga also appeared on Bey's 2009 track 'Video Phone' and danced in the video. Anyways, the point is that we don't really see Gaga doing epic team ups like that anymore! She did complete a whole album with Tony Bennett, but that wasn't as mainstream as her previous work. We do see her joining forces with Florence Welch on her new record, but that isn't surrounded by the same hype it would have been back in 2010!

7 She's Less Obsessed With The Bizarre

When she first stepped onto the scene, Gaga was probably the quirkiest character any of us had seen for a long time. She came along wearing masks, playing pianos filled with bubbles and posing in dresses made of Hello Kitty dolls, and the whole world stopped to take notice. It wasn't just the way she dressed, but the comments she made in interviews and her strange practices, like turning up to the Grammys in a giant egg or requesting a mannequin with pink hair down there for her dressing room. She was definitely a creative soul, but it seemed like there was a focus on being well, bizarre. Today, as we mentioned, Gaga seems much more like a regular person and much less quirky. Anybody can see that she's endlessly creative, artistic, and talented, but today she does less things that leave you in shock… we haven't seen a meat dress for a while!

6 Her Level Of Fame Has Changed

With all the other changes Gaga has gone through, she has come to a transformation in the kind of fame she has. She's gone through a few different phases of being in the public eye throughout her career, including being the newest artist on the scene with the world's curiosity, the headline-making star the world's obsessed with, and the unstoppable superstar who needs police escorts to get her from A to B. Gaga never lost her fame once she had it, but around 2013 and 2014, things had died down. The little monsters were certainly loyal, but the mainstream stopped hearing about Mother Monster every day in the news. Today, Gaga's return has clearly been taken well and she's still hounded by paparazzi, invited to the top shows and considered a superstar, but that initial excitement over the strange newcomer has gone. If anything, Gaga is now known as an icon with longevity. All hail Gaga!

5 She's More Respected

There will probably always be criticism for Gaga and her celeb peers, but generally, the public's response to her has definitely changed. In the beginning, it sure seemed like a lot of people didn't understand what she was really about and believed that there was no substance beneath all the costumes and outrageous antics. Some might have even called her gimmicky! But through her tours and appearances, Gaga has proven that she has undeniable talent. She's proven that she's persistent and hardworking. In her other endeavors outside of music, like speaking on behalf of certain groups of people, she's proven that she cares about others and is a genuine person. And since it's been a while since she popped up on the radio, and she's still on the radio, she's also proven she isn't a one-hit wonder. Hence, she's respected now more than she ever was, and she totally deserves to be!

4 She's A Single Gal

This one doesn't really make a difference to the type of artist she is, or even her as a person, but it's still a big change! Gaga's engagement to actor Taylor Kinney ended in 2016, which makes her a single woman. This could mean that she's got more time to spend on her music and on her awesome upcoming performances, which is a total bonus for us! When she discusses the breakup in interviews, Gaga does sound kind of sad about it, and like she didn't come out totally unscathed. So her being single could also mean that the content of the songs she writes from now on, and maybe some of the songs she's written in the past, are going to be different to how they would be if the couple were still together. We know that whatever experience she had, she'll make amazing music to help others going through it now!

3 Her Music Has Changed

Gaga will always primarily be a pop artist, but one of our favorite things about her is that her music constantly changes each time she brings out an album! When you think about her early songs, like "Just Dance" and "Poker Face", she definitely had much more of a dance-pop and electropop feel than the new tracks on Joanne. Her latest music has a whole bunch of influences, and the album features tastes of everything from country and folk to rock to jazz to funk. It's really a whole new sound for her! Plus, the lyrical content of the new songs goes in a totally different direction to the old ones. When discussing the new album, Gaga said the songs are now much rawer and personal, and her inspirations were learning from the past, getting over tragedy, and the importance of family and togetherness. We are absolutely loving this new Gaga!

2 Her Performances Are Different

At one point, Gaga had the biggest tour in the world. The Born This Way Ball was more like some kind of circus than a concert; it was filled with advanced special effects, a huge horse puppet, and a set design that was truly epic. Not to mention, Gaga was performing to audiences of tens of thousands of people. Gaga's most recent tour, The Dive Bar Tour, was considerably more low-key! The singer performed only three shows, which took place at, you guessed it, small bars. She still does big performances, and we have a sneaky feeling that she'll be announcing a global tour after the Super Bowl performance in February 2017, but the actual performances themselves are different too! Where Gaga once performed with fake blood and headdresses, she now opts for a much simpler vibe. The 2016 American Music Awards saw her barefooted with a guitar and a stool. Much simpler indeed!

1 Her Changing Style

More than anything else, Gaga's style has totally changed. Encompassing all the transformations she's gone through with her confidence, her alter-ego, her sound, and her personal life, her overall style is now something that we would never have guessed she'd sport back in 2008. Her costumes on stage, for starters, no longer seem to be metal-looking and latex dresses, but are just simple, almost country-inspired get-ups! Her red carpet looks are elegant, and for the most part, she's swapped the pony wedges for sophisticated gowns. It seems that Gaga is no longer trying to adhere to a certain image, and wears what she feels like. Sometimes it's provocative, sometimes it's not. At times it's kind of out-there, and at other times, it looks like she threw on the first thing she saw. She definitely seems like she's been relieved of some of the pressure now, and we are so on board!