AUSTIN, Texas — Lady Gaga vowed to quit pop music rather than compromise, detailing a difficult year that included an underperforming new album during her much-anticipated keynote session at South By Southwest on Friday.
Dressed in a gown made of plastic sheeting and wearing blond dreadlocks, Gaga spent an hour in a wide-ranging question-and-answer session that shed some light on obstacles that included hip surgery, a split from manager Troy Carter and widespread questions about her popularity.
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“I refuse to compromise and allow my talents to be monetized to the point that I don’t want to be here anymore,” she said. “I will stop, I will quit, I will retire from the commercial market if I have to do something other than be myself because if I can’t be myself in this moment then everything I have said to my friends since the beginning will be a total lie. Then what? I’ll be myself until I have to make money to sustain a luxurious lifestyle, and then I change, right? No, I’ll be myself till they (expletive) close the coffin so that you can all be yourselves.”
The 27-year-old singer briefly discussed her 2013 tour-canceling hip surgery – she was in a wheelchair for four months and has three screws in her hip – and her messages to fans regarding difficulties she’s had with the release of “ARTPOP,” which has sold only 673,773 units since its November release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
In 2011, Gaga’s “Born This Way” sold 1.1 million copies in its first week.
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