01/05/2025
When doors close, build your own stage.
At 19, Lady Gaga was still just Stefani Germanotta, performing in dark New York City bars. She spent her savings recording demos, carrying them from label to label. The feedback was always the same:
"Your music is too weird."
"You don’t have the right image."
"Why not just write songs for other artists?"
Finally, when she got a contract offer from Island Def Jam, she thought her big break had come.
Three months later, they fired her — over the phone.
She locked herself away and cried for days. But she didn't quit.
Gaga went back to writing, performing, and pushing the limits of art and fashion.
Years later, standing on the Grammy stage, a journalist asked her:
"What would you say to all the record labels that rejected you?"
Her answer was simple and powerful:
"Tell them thank you. If they hadn’t slammed those doors, I would never have built my own stage."
Rejection isn’t the end. Sometimes, it’s the beginning of something greater.