Lady Gaga’s Bold Response to Critics Calling Her Too Old for Pop – ‘I’m Just Getting Started’

Lady Gaga took the stage at the iHeartRadio Music Awards and silenced critics who judge her based on her age, emphasizing that the 38-year-old is considered ‘too old’ for pop music. During the iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday night (18.03.2025), the singer-songwriter won Best Collaboration for ‘Die with a Smile,’ her duet with Bruno Mars, as well as the prestigious Innovator Award. Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, received the Innovator Award from rapper Doechii, who credited Gaga for helping her embrace her ‘weird’ side. In her acceptance speech, Gaga fired back at critics who claimed she was ‘too old’ to remain a pop star. ‘Winning an award that honors my entire career at 38 is hard to process,’ she said. ‘On one hand, it feels like I’ve been doing this forever, but on the other, I know I’ve just begun. Despite people thinking a woman in her late 30s is too old to be a pop star—which is absurd—I promise you, I’m just warming up.’ The award comes less than two weeks after the release of her latest album ‘Mayhem,’ a return to her pop roots. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and marked Gaga’s biggest streaming week ever, according to Billboard. The final track on ‘Mayhem,’ ‘Die with a Smile,’ her collaboration with Bruno Mars, earned Gaga and Mars a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The song was also nominated for Record of the Year at the 2025 Grammys. Gaga paid tribute to her family and the LGBTQ community during her speech. She added that ‘the strongest innovation is being authentic’ and honored her grandmothers as top examples in her life. ‘Every time I was the only woman in the room, the strongest voice was inside my head telling me not to compromise,’ Gaga said. ‘That voice always showed me exactly where I belong. Tonight, I think of my grandmothers, those incredibly brilliant Italian-American women who reinvented their fate with nothing but strength, dreams, and determination. They didn’t invent technology or art; they invented possibility, shaping the future with nothing more than their minds. And these women, my ancestors, are the greatest innovators I’ve ever known,’ she concluded.