Lady Gaga Is Getting Old (relatively speaking)

With Lady Gaga’s performance during the halftime of Super Bowl LI, and the subsequent announcement of her “Joanne World Tour,” Mother Monster has been on my mind a lot lately.

While brushing up on all things Gaga, I was reminded that her debut album, The Fame, dropped in Aug. 19, 2008.

It’s eight years old!

That realization blew my mind.  Lady Gaga’s first album is nearing its tenth anniversary.

Maybe it’s me, but it doesn’t seem like Lady Gaga, or anything she’s produced, can be anywhere near a decade old.  She seems timeless.

Now, I usually don’t fall for this kind of stuff.  You know, those lists that have observations like: “High schoolers today have never used a compact disc.”

Big deal.  Things age.  Who cares?

Yet, I still can’t get over the fact that The Fame is eight years old!

Below, are several examples of exactly how much time has passed since Lady Gaga first studio album hit store shelves.  Whether you’re as blown away by the age of The Fame as am I, you’ll definitely agree that a lot has changed since it was released.

• Taylor Swift was 18.
• Chance the Rapper was 15.
• Tony Bennett was just 82.
• Justin Bieber had yet to release anything. His first single, “One Time,” didn’t drop until May 18, 2009.
• One Direction had yet to form. They first started performing together in 2010 on the television show The X Factor.
• Ariana Grande had just turned 15, and her big break, the musical 13, was a month away from beginning previews.
• Adele was two months out from performing on Saturday Night Live. Her episode, thanks to an appearance by Sarah Palin, was seen by 17 million people.  It basically started her career in America.
• Drake had yet to release an album. His first, Thank Me Later, won’t hit store shelves until June 15, 2010.
• Kanye West had interrupted exactly zero award show acceptance speeches.
• The entire run of Glee occurred since the release of The Fame. Glee debuted on Fox television on May 19, 2009 and finished March 20, 2015.
• Adam Lambert, Phillip Phillips, Candice Glover, Nick Fradiani, and La’Porsha Renae had yet to appear on American Idol.
• U2 had yet to launch their “360° Tour,” the highest grossing concert tour of all-time.
• Broadway had yet to see Billy Elliott the Musical, Rock of Ages, American Idiot, Book of Mormon, Kinky Boots, or Hamilton.
• Since the release of The Fame, we’ve lost Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Lou Reed, B.B. King, Prince, David Bowie, and George Michael.
• When The Fame was released, the New England Patriots had only reached six Super Bowls and had won three.
• See Lady Gaga in 2017 live in concert in cities such as Austin, Montreal, or Las Vegas.

But as the picture at the top of this article proves, Gaga has a long ways to go before she actually is ‘old’.