The Culture of the Diva

In the spirit of Lady Gaga‘s upcoming tour, I was inspired to write a little bit about the superstar and her unique fanbase. The fans of Lady Gaga and other similar artists (Madonna, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Rihanna – to name a few) are incredibly diverse, so it’s kind of hard to pinpoint just one type of person who like those artists. However, the one thing they do have in common is this: they are all incredibly active on the internet.

Fans devote all of their free time to using the internet to read news, talk to other fans, and insult the fans of others. They spend their days blogging, tweeting, and tumbling. It’s hard to spend just one day on Twitter without seeing some worldwide trending topic related to one of these artists. Time differences cause fans from different countries to try and spend their entire day on Twitter, hoping for some sort of announcement from their beloved pop artist. It’s possible to make a decent living just by running a fanblog or news site. This internet-driven way of life has given way to some new vocabulary that perhaps can perplex the average Joe, and for that, I’m here to help you out. Here are some of the more popular vocab words:

• fandom (n): A synonym for fanbase, but usually implying the online community. (ex: I love that the Lady Gaga fandom is coming together and starting a body revolution.)
• flop (n): Someone who tries hard, but fails to achieve success or “be cool.” Usually incorporated into the singer’s name as an insult. (ex: Madonna? More like Flopdonna.)
• KatyCats (n): The Katy Perry fanbase. (ex: Ugh, those KatyCats are trending something on Twitter again.)
• Little Monsters (n): The Lady Gaga fanbase. (ex: Little Monsters get access to the Lady Gaga presale, so I’m going to get a ticket that way.)
• Rihanna Navy (n): The Rihanna fanbase. (ex: I can’t believe that the Rihanna Navy has a slogan. They are such flops.)
• stan (v/n): An obsessive fan to the point of near-craziness. It comes from the Eminem song of the same name. (ex: That guy is such a Lady Gaga stan. He’s been to every Lady Gaga concert since 2010.)
• throwing shade (v): Shade is like a passive-agressive, subtle insult. When one “throws shade,” they are dissing another person. (ex: Madonna really threw shade at Lady Gaga in this video by implying that ‘Born This Way’ ripped off ‘Express Yourself.’)