Lady Gaga Goes Gross at SXSW

What do you do when your first gag was to wear a meat dress? Well, if you are Lady Gaga, you become the meat. This may just be a lesson for what happens when you set the bar for customer expectation so high (or weird) right out of the gate. Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5WPR, the top pr firm in NYC explains. During her performance at the South by Southwest Music Conference, Gaga took the stage on a spit, a roasting pig being basted by her backup dancers. Then, things took a turn for the truly bizarre. Or inspirational, depending on your perspective.

Gaga came out on stage on the chilly evening clad in a bikini, and prepared to connect with the audience. Later performances included “working” with a vomit painter, who “plied her trade” all over the singer while Gaga played the drums. And this was just the beginning of the eyebrow-raising “art.” But, in the end, Gaga brought all the bizarre scenes back around to an inspirational message to, and about, her fans.

“It’s so much easier to be yourself than it is to be somebody else… because then you have to pretend to be someone else, and like things that you don’t like, and do stuff that you don’t want to do.”

Lady Gaga Knows No Boundaries

Whether or not they appreciate pigs, barbecue, or artistic effluvium, Gaga’s fans appreciate the singer’s empowering “be yourself” message. And, while the delivery and illustrations of that message may freak people out, Gaga uses the over the top performances as hyperbole to help her message sink in.

In this way, the message is always given center stage, and her public relations roller coaster always ends with her fans applauding the finale…even if the rest of it left them scratching their heads.

Read more from Ronn Torossian:

Ronn Torossian on Forbes
Ronn Torossian on Medium
Ronn Torossian on LinkedIn
Ronn Torossian Update
Ronn Torossian on Business Insider