In the summer of 2007, a couple of hundred Lollapalooza music-festival-goers wandered to a side stage to see a little-known songstress sing along to a pre-recorded backing track. Video taken of the performance shows the audience reacting with confusion — onlookers are nearly universally stone-faced as the scantily clad woman writhes around the stage performing songs they’d never heard. It is likely the first time anyone in the small crowd had heard the name “Lady Gaga.”
Within two years, Gaga would be one of the most famous people in the world. But like many music stars, she played show after show to tiny crowds who wondered what planet she had descended from. This is what we expect of our music stars — years of honing their craft playing small bars, malls, bar mitzvahs, and the like. For some, it takes decades to become an overnight sensation.
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