Lady Gaga’s latest song lyric, Princess Die, which is allegedly based loosely on the sad fate of Princess Diana, is set to be heard again and again, the toxic words repeatedly played and repeatedly playing upon impressionable and pressurised young minds. We are aware that today’s pre-teens and teens feel that they are so much less than the glamorous bodies whose images are thrown at them as they sit in the armchair and are televisually bombarded as if they were locked into the stocks in some medieval punishment.
To be sure, today the media-mob do not throw tomatoes or rotten vegetables. Today we sit voluntarily in our designer-sofas, which might as well be stocks, and we are hit with computer-glossed images of models who are ideals of shape, skin, and super hair, wearing designer knickers and camisoles. The majority of teenagers have perfectly natural bodies that are, however, not even remotely close to what they see in advertisements. These sexualised impressions taunt and tease. Speech bubbles with their malicious undercurrent stalk vulnerable young people, and prey on minds in their formative period. Many of those impressionable youngsters are not coping.
And what of all the princesses? How many indulgent parents refer to their ‘little princess’? Once the province of royals and fairy tales, today the title spells entitlement, as young ladies don fake bling and coronets, and dress in designer-Disney gowns. How is all of this affecting young hearts and minds? How do these youngsters connect to the real world with so much escapism? Are we all turning in to Rapunsel as we let our hair down? How are they ultimately going to cope? Well, ‘princess’ Gaga clearly suggests one way out when a person cannot cope.
Last night charities that help suicidal people to step back from the brink objected strongly when Gaga sang for the first time in Melbourne, Australia, her self-penned composition, Princess Die. The bright, life-affirming lyric is as follows: “I wish that I could cope, but I took pills and left a note”.
Commercial radio relies on the rule of three, and a commercial radio advertisement will be played again and again on drive-time radio, three times in succession. The understanding is that an ad will embed its message within the subconscious mind when the words are heard three times, especially when there is a perfect match between the listener and their desire (or perceived desire) for the product or service being advertised. Lady Gaga’s song is set to be repeated and repeated, perhaps within every hour over a period of time. This is an exercise of the power of suggestion to stamp its mark on an impressionable mind.
Lady Gaga chose Princess Diana, most likely as she is as iconic as Di herself, and the singer is known as a masterful marketing maverick. Gaga is a highly visible and influential phenomenon and she knows it. Perhaps Lady Gaga also knows that she is more than Lady BlahBlah… and is listened to and heard. That is why her lyrics matter, and why they should carry a Spiritual Health Warning.
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