Confidence: How Lady Gaga Has Become the Most Famous Pop Star of This Century

“I think it’s wonderful to be confident about what you create.  I think you have to be. I say that with the humbleness of the fans being so wonderful, but with the integrity and sureness of my abilities as a musician.”

“Every day, in the mirror, on the stage, in interviews, to go to sleep, to finish that chorus, I’m always in the boxing ring.  But I have a one-two punch: ambition and drive.” 

--Lady Gaga, discussing her confidence and work ethic. 

Lady Gaga’s multimillion-selling album, “The Fame,” was released in 2008, which has sold more than four million copies in the United States alone.  The million-selling EP “The Fame Monster,” released in 2009. Together, they generated seven Top 10 singles.

Her new album, “Born This Way”, was released on May 23 and sold 1,108,000 copies in the United States in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Some 662,000 of those sales, or about 60 percent, were digital downloads, the most any album has ever sold in a week.  

Lady Gaga, was born Stefani Germanotta and was still playing small clubs as late as 2007.  She has become the biggest pop star of the 21st century so far.  She has 10 million Twitter followers.


Excerpts from the New York Times.