You probably have heard the song already, one supposes she's singing to her fans and expressing how much she needs them or something (speculating). Well, this song happened to be release around the time I was engaged in a little personal "research" on common behaviour of most teens in less known and more anonymous social media (might seem like I have a lot of time to loose). I got to kind of play the song in my head as the perfect soundtrack to that scenario.
So, we all know what an applause is, but to add some structured definition I'll use the lovely and helpful Wikipedia.. "Is primary the expression of approval by the act of clapping... As a form of mass non-verbal communication, it is a simple indicator of the average relative opinion of the entire group; the louder and longer the noise, the stronger the sign of approval.". Then you start connecting the dots.
Average behaviour between most teenagers and young adults pointed lack of confidence; interestingly, is not the lack of confidence I consider to be expected at this stage of someone's life. I mean, I'm insecure sometimes when it comes to challenge my capacities, trying new things or maybe at the time of considering big choices... but isn't that just normal human panic emotions anyway?. On the other hand, desperately and constantly appealing to other people is kind of disturbing when it's happening in a massive fashion. Appeal is a process for requesting a formal change to an official decision, being that formal decision (in my opinion) their own perception of themselves.
Then "I live for the applause" could be easily interpreted as living for the approval of others, seeking that loud noise and living to make it louder and longer. There's a difference though between younger and older people regarding this subject. Younger people try to stand out, they're trying to be different in a way that gets them to call attention and gain popularity, they just want to be liked; while older one's try to be successful within the normal to be approved, taking in accountant their neighbourhood, house, car, job, et.
This is nothing new to anyone, this is the way it has been and probably will be for most. I just wanted to state that Lady Gaga got to capture the essence of this joke, probably cause she also gets it (being her the one who radically transformed into a whole new personality just to gain fame... and God, must be hard to maintain that act). Do you "..live for the applause, applause, applause"?
