Lady Gaga is still around. Many of you might even still like her. I do not. I’ve been over her for years, much to the chagrin of her little monsters. I rolled my eyes at her latest incarnation, the country-pop act who yodels in dive bars and struts around New York in Daisy Dukes. It’s just another façade, another persona, just like the meat-dress and the Mother Monster and the Tony Bennett duet thing. But, that being said, her latest album (Joanne) is a success. So… good for her. *shrug*

Gaga covers the December issue of Harper’s Bazaar to promote Joanne. Many have wondered why Gaga looks so different these days, and I too have found it difficult to pinpoint exactly what she’s changed, especially in these photos. It feels like she got her jaw reshaped, maybe had some subtle eye and nose work done. She does look different, we’re not just imagining that. Anyway, you can read her Bazaar piece here – it’s not an interview or profile. Bazaar let her write an essay about fame, music and what it means to be a woman in today’s society. Some highlights:

On the highs and lows of fame, and what truly matters: “Fame is the best drug that’s ever existed. But once you realize who you are and what you care about, that need for more, more, more just goes away. What matters is that I have a great family, I work hard, I take care of those around me, I provide jobs for people I love very much, and I make music that I hope sends a good message into the world. I turned 30 this year, and I’m a fully formed woman. I have a clear perspective on what I want. That, for me, is success. I want to be somebody who is fighting for what’s true—not for more attention, more fame, more accolades.”

On why she took a step back from the spotlight until now, with the release of her new album Joanne, honoring her aunt who she is named for: “Before I made Joanne, I took some time off… I was able to get off the train of endless work I’d been on, which was quite abusive to my body and my mind, and have some silence and some space around me. I wanted to experience music again the way I did when I was younger, when I just had to make it, instead of worrying what everybody things or being obsessed with things that aren’t important.”

On what it means to be a lady today: “Being a lady today means being a fighter. It means being a survivor. It means letting yourself be vulnerable and acknowledging your shame or that you’re sad or you’re angry. It takes great strength to do that… Health, happiness, love—these are the things that are at the heart of a great lady, I think. That’s the kind of lady I want to be. You know, I never thought I’d say this, but isn’t it time to take off the corsets? As someone who loves them, I think it’s time to take them off.”

[From Harper’s Bazaar]

It’s not that I disagree with any particular sentiment from Gaga’s essay. What she says is fine and even moving in some passages, especially about the weight of world falling on women’s shoulders. But when I got to the fame section, my eye started twitching. Of all the pop stars in the world, Gaga is going to try to play it like she doesn’t want to be famous, or that she learned she can’t do it for the fame? Mother Monster, please. The only reason she cycled through like five different personas in the span of three years is just because everyone stopped giving a sh-t about her. She will literally do and say anything to get her fame-drug fix, even now.

Photos courtesy of Inez & Vinoodh for Harper’s Bazaar.