Back then, If you visited the website, you would think there was a team running it. If I posted something, I wouldn’t say “I,” I would say “we.” You know, I’m using somebody’s name for my platform. People are not following it for me; people follow it for Gaga.
As someone who’s been at this for almost two decades, how has the culture of fan websites and fan accounts shifted over time?
It’s changed so much. I would say up until 2016, fan sites updated people on the artist. So if you’re a Lady Gaga fan, you would go to gagadaily.com just to see if she has a new song, or what outfit she wore, maybe new interviews. Then stan culture became more focused on charts and comparing who’s better and who has, like, a better Pitchfork score.
In your return post on X, you said, “it feels surreal that so many people who don’t know each other, whose only connection is something as silly as loving the same pop star, can form such a strong bond that lasts for so many years.” I think that’s a beautiful sentiment, and maybe at odds with the shape of contemporary pop fandom. At the same time, I feel like Gaga Daily doesn’t buy into that. You’re not fighting in the stan wars.
I definitely try not to. I mean, all these fans of Ariana Grande, or Dua Lipa, or all these newer pop stars—they’re in their teens, maybe early 20s. Gaga fans, some of us are in our 30s, so it’s just so silly to be on the internet comparing who sold more records.
In the replies underneath that post, you talked about being in prison and hearing “Abracadabra” for the first time on the radio. Take me into that moment.
It’s actually so funny. In all these Slavic countries that are so homophobic, their playlists are actually like—imagine I’m in prison, I’m eating prison food, and all I’m hearing every day is “Rush” by Troye Sivan. I’m doing hard labor and I hear “Alone” by Kim Petras and Nicki Minaj.
“Abracadabra” came out in February of ’25 but it took a little bit to reach our radio. I did know that Gaga came out with a new song, and I knew the name because some of my friends told me in a letter. Then it came on one day and I knew immediately; I recognized the voice, recognized the beat. I’m not going to romanticize this too much because I had other things to worry about, but wow, I was shook. It came to me that, for the first time in maybe 20 years, I was hearing a song without hearing any snippets, without knowing what people thought about it.
We don’t get music like this anymore. And even if there’s a surprise drop, you’re listening to it, but you’re also reading your Twitter feed. I don’t want to say it was an incredible experience, because I was in prison, but it was so fun to feel like a kid again, waiting to hear my favorite song on the radio. It actually got really popular. I heard it maybe three times a day.
