Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga appears twice on Nielsen SoundScan‘s list of the top ten best-selling singles of the past decade: “Just Dance” came in second place with 4.6 million copies, and “Poker Face” moved a respectable 4.2 million units. Sure, her form of music is absolutely popular, but, what is Pop Art, and could it be considered creative marketing?

Andy Warhol had his start in New York City, where he became a successful advertisement illustrator; eventually, he would introduce the West Coast to popular art through his paintings of celebrities both living and inanimate. Drawings of Marilyn Monroe and Mohammad Ali were scattered among the other works, which focused on the trademark soup cans and soda bottles of such behemoth corporations as Coca Cola and Campbell’s. Thus began the blurring of a line between commercialism  and creationism (as in, all art is a intelligent design).

Green Coke Bottles by Andy Warhol

Why should anyone care to call an advertisement a piece of art? Does Pop Art show emotion to the masses, do a hundred soup cans share a story? Pop art renders the artist a commercial,  and at the end of the day, products are sold; not ideas, not concepts, but products.

Stephanie — Lady Gaga — is adored for her style, which has effectively persuaded millions that gimmicky creativity is a form of artistic endeavor. As an artist, she produces music intended to be widely accepted. The genre doesn’t indicate anything other than that. Lady Gaga makes jingles that sell mix drinks and VIP passes, while Andy Warhol persuaded people to pay thousands of dollars for corporate advertisements.