I honestly don't see what she's doing any different than other artists?? Lots use "gimmicks and hype" because they need too! The younger generation nowadays, unfortunately and not all, have a short attention span and NEED someone to push something in their face to like it and pay attention. So artists really have no other choice. You have to have some sort of edge nowadays or at least something special/different than the other artists which doesn't always mean something glamorous. Even look at Adele, she has a great voice (imo) and she doesn't look like the normal artist (when you compare to people like Rihanna and Katy) and that's HER edge. Taylor swift does country music, is the sweet girl next door and has an audience who normally likes pop, that's HER edge. Both have a lot of Hype around them too, well, where I'm from anyways. They may not be #1 but they definitely aren't flops and neither is Gaga or her new song Judas.