★ #20 • charting the stars of pop's big three

In the exact time it's taken our planet to complete a full rotation around the sun, I've journeyed through the blockbuster universes of Pop's Big Three: Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. The journey began last year on a warm summer Friday: August 11, 2022. That day, I boarded a bright pink Hummer limousine and rocketed across Brooklyn and Manhattan before orbiting through the Holland Tunnel and landing at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium for Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Ball Tour. This May, I found myself once again on that familiar flightpath to cash out on a highly coveted partial side view nosebleed seat at Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour. Two weeks ago and exactly one year to the day after witnessing Lady Gaga’s show, I found myself in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for Beyoncé’s (and Blue Ivy’s…) Renaissance World Tour. 

It should not come as a surprise that I was most excited to see Lady Gaga’s tour. She is, obviously, my “Number One” pop diva and this would mark my ninth time seeing her in the flesh, including once during a stakeout at her dad’s Upper West Side Italian restaurant when she dropped ‘Joanne’ and once during a chance surprise performance of ‘Born This Way’ at a Dallas nightclub in 2011. At this point, I see Lady Gaga more regularly than most of my extended family. There was an extended gap since the last time I saw her, though, as Lady Gaga’s ‘Chromatica’ era was famously cursed by two years of historically unprecedented delays due to the pandemic. To call her tour 'highly anticipated' would be a major understatement.

Unlike my nine lives as a Lady Gaga stan, I’d yet to see Taylor Swift or Beyoncé live. I’ve always loved them both but the stars had never aligned for me to attend their previous tours. My earliest memory of Beyoncé was hearing Destiny Child’s ‘Survivor’ through a friend’s HitClips player on the playground at recess. When I got my driver’s license in 2009, I blasted Taylor Swift’s ‘Fearless’ through the worn out speakers of my first car while yearning over my high school crush. In college, Beyoncé stopped the world with her self-titled surprise release and ‘Partition’ instantly became the soundtrack to countless fake I.D. fueled nights in Austin, Texas. When I moved to New York City in 2014, Taylor’s ‘1989’ era infamously said “Welcome to New York, it’s been waiting for you!” and Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ film raised the bar for The Creative Virgos from Texas Community™. Both Taylor Swift and Beyoncé soundtracked critical moments in my coming of age process, and my admiration for them never really wavered. 

This past year, however, hit different. My affinity for both Beyoncé and Taylor skyrocketed with their latest releases. Beyoncé’s album was an undeniably flawless celebration of the Black and queer unsung heroes that pioneered house and dance music. Each song’s smooth transition into the next embodies a euphoric night out on a dance floor chased down with the double shot of confidence that one feels listening to her intoxicating vocal delivery. On the other hand, Taylor’s album ‘Midnights’ will always be special to me because Star Quality’s first major campaign was to promote her YouTube Shorts partnership. After years of listening to her music and defending ‘Reputation’ with my whole chest, my Swiftie card was minted in the months of behind-the-scenes research into the hearts and minds of her fandom and the many never-to-be-seen memes and memories created along the way. 

On the way to Atlanta, I was scheming with my friends about writing this piece and ranking their tours. But after seeing Beyoncé live, I realized what I should have known all along. No one can compare! And not only can they not compare, but why should they? As Beyoncé’s own mom, Tina Knowles, told TMZ about comparisons to Taylor Swift, “they should both be celebrated.” So, let me be wise and avoid the fraught Britney vs. Christina, Hilary vs. Lindsay, Nicki vs. Cardi territory altogether. It’s 2023 so let’s look to the literal stars and interpret what special moments from each of their shows says about their artistry in the way that our own star signs symbolize traits about ourselves.

Disclaimer: I’m not particularly qualified to write this. Without the deep knowledge of houses and stelliums and nodes, the accuracy of this reading is very dubious. But I am fairly well versed in the signs and I love finding out other people’s Big Three signs, so let’s give it a go. For the astrologically un-woke among us, the 'Big Three'—sun, moon, and rising signs—are the core of one's astrological identity. The sun sign is the most well-known — it’s the one that you’re assigned based on your birth date in a calendar year and represents your holistic self. Your moon sign and rising sign are a bit more nuanced and are each determined by the time of day and location that you were born. A person’s moon sign is thought to represent more of their interiority and how they see themselves, and a person’s rising sign is more of their outward persona and how others understand them.

Okay, so now that we’re all intuitive astrologers, let’s dive into Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé’s most recent stadium tours as interpreted by their overall substance or their sun sign, their implied personal significance or their moon sign or and what it means for their legacies or their rising sign…

☼ Pisces

If I had to sum up Lady Gaga’s recent world tour in one word, it would be: catharsis. While the album was recorded to interrogate Lady Gaga’s own battle with her PTSD diagnosis, the subject matter of ‘Chromatica’ itself became eerily prophetic and resonant for a fanbase enduring the biggest shared global trauma since World War II. It’s an album about healing pain and trauma through self-expression at 120 beats per minute, and her tour welcomed fans with a healing emotional release after months of disillusionment and confinement. Pisces is a creative, compassionate and emotionally sensitive sign and Lady Gaga’s signature avant-garde theatrics paired with an emotional performance completely embody it.

☾ Aries

Lady Gaga might see herself as an Aries because, well, she is an Aries. These signs are daring, charismatic, confident and fiery. It’s easy to assume that Lady Gaga may have seen her role as leading a shocking, dynamic and celebratory show for her pandemic-starved fans. The moments that best encapsulated this were when she performed ‘Free Woman’ and descended from her stage into the GA floor section, joining the party eye-to-eye with her fans. Hearing her sing the lyrics “this is my dance floor - I fought for” while watching her biblically part a sea of fans in head-to-toe gold lamé is exactly the kind of uplifting and show stopping behavior that you’d expect from an Aries. The fire sign energy also came through the production design of the show with meme-ably large pyrotechnics smoking out the show’s finale.

↑ Aquarius

While an entire year has passed, the main thing I remember thinking when heading out that evening was how well executed the Lady Gaga “brand” was by her creative team. She laser focused on the visual elements and personnel that powered her earliest career but elevated it to the next level. It was savvy to reunite with her stylist Nicola Formichetti for costumes and Steven Klein for the interlude films as they were responsible for Lady Gaga’s earliest iconic looks like the infamous Meat Dress to the European brutalism of the ‘Alejandro’ and ‘Born this Way’ music videos. Most will remember Lady Gaga, like an Aquarius, for her creativity, intellectualism and open-mindedness.

☼ Taurus

Taurus is the Ol’ Faithful of the astrological calendar and Taylor Swift’s tour was exactly that. For over three hours, she delivered a decades spanning catalogue and ensure that there was something for everyone. Her track legally titled ‘All Too Well (Ten Minute Version)(Taylor’s Version)(From the Vault)’ was the standout performance of the whole evening. She held the whole stadium captive in a silent, electric trance as she held down the entire stage while singing with only her guitar, minimal lighting and ambient leaves and snow falling around her for its entire ten minutes. Even at its most stripped back, she’s a reliable performer and inspiring narrator, weaving together a surprisingly poignant and stirring show. Her dependable output at her show and in her career is likely why she has such a loyal and lucrative fanbase.

☾ Libra

In the ‘Midnights’ vault track ‘You’re Losing Me’ released the day prior to when I saw her at MetLife Stadium, Taylor labels herself “a pathological people pleaser.” Libras are a diplomatic and charming sign focused on keeping the peace and ensuring everyone’s happy — even when they’re not. Taylor’s strategy seemed to really take that to heart by not only rewarding her fanbase with performances from the five (!) albums released since her last tour but also developing a triathlete level setlist to overdeliver for fans still upset after overpaying during the price gouged Ticketmaster debacle. Her people pleasing diplomacy came through in the surprise song segment of the night where she played a revolving door of songs that wouldn’t fit into the setlist with careful consideration to never repeat the same track. I lucked out at my show with a guest performance from Jack Antonoff for ‘Getaway Car’ and a piano performance of #Gaylor conspiracy bait ‘Maroon.’

↑ Leo

Many celebrities are born Leos. They are the most charismatic and confident of all the signs. Taylor Swift is arguably the biggest artist in the world and perhaps even in the last century, but her past public image has often been contoured by feigning humility at awards shows and a sort of ‘But first? Coffee!’ agreeableness that’s made many people cringe. Seeing her own her power and command the spotlight was refreshing. For most of the show, she appeared on the giant T-shaped runway solo without dancers — a tiny but powerful presence from my nosebleed seats. The show that I went to was punctuated by a guest appearance from rap princess Ice Spice for a performance of their unlikely collaboration ‘Karma,’ which is exactly the kind of attention-grabbing yet oddly endearing Leo behavior that we love to see.

☼ Virgo

Beyoncé’s absolute precision and perfection, both Virgo hallmarks, were the stars of the show. This immaculate attention to detail was impossible to miss in the show’s creative direction. Her astute references to the past multiplied through her chromed out eye toward the future also demonstrated how well-studied she is on her legacy in the history and future of pop music. The opening stage design featured a tinsel trimmed, mod set that evoked Soul Train if it were filmed on NASA’s space station. The fashion throughout the show was, of course, so snatched that everyone was fearing for their lives, and the choreography between Beyoncé and her JumboTron cameras was so fascinatingly controlled, most notably during ‘Move’ when she sent the camera flying backward into a wide angle as if telekinetically with the flick of her hand. She even gave her fellow Virgos a shoutout ahead of her ‘Virgo’s Groove’ performance. Pop perfection, I fear.

☾ Cancer

Cancers are the most emotional and romantic of all the signs and she set the emotional bar as high as the stadium ceiling with back to back performances of some of her best love songs like ‘1+1’ and ‘I Care.’ Later into the show, she guided the audience in an a cappella rendition of ‘Love on Top’ with her voice layering above the crowd’s as everyone belted word for word. Cancers are also known for their maternal qualities. In the underground ballroom sense, Beyoncé was THEE mother of the house. She was also a literal mother as she beamed when her oldest daughter Blue Ivy arrived for a dance break during ‘My Power’ and signaled the inevitable passing of the torch to the next generation. There were also the themes of innovation, optimism and futurism where Beyoncé sits in the driver’s seat of the motherboard. Mother was mothering, as they say!

↑ Capricorn

When it comes to value, Beyoncé knows exactly how to deliver. The practical energy of Capricorn was evident as she remixed old hits seamlessly in tune with her latest ‘Renaissance’ tracks, ensuring every fan, old or new, got their whole life. Despite being the most hallowed performer in the world, she also seemed genuinely grounded, another down to earth Capricorn signature, when she addressed the audience. Her occasional buttery giggle had us gagged. While she oozed perfection and grandeur, her native Houston charm gave her a relatability and humility that made the high-budget odyssey still feel personal. Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour was an embodiment of the Capricorn reminder: it SHOULD cost a billion to look that good.

I’ve always gravitated toward artists that are able to craft their own universes. What each of these three performers had in common is that they’ve figured out the special alchemy that makes their worlds their own and can transform a single experience into a lasting feeling. Even if the details of their setlist and set design fade in my memory, I won’t forget the feeling: the freedom of Chromatica, the resilience of Eras and the confidence of Renaissance. After spending half of my life watching these three artist’s careers, it felt very special to catch them all at the apex of their careers and self-actualization. While I don’t have their complete birth charts to analyze, we can safely say that no matter what their star signs might be, we have no choice but to stan!