Michael Not Jackson @lamb19910816 - Twitter Profile

Michael Not Jackson @lamb19910816

about 2 months ago

Just wanted to add a little context about how I ended up meeting Michael after the event. 🤍 The organizers had originally planned a small surprise for him and asked if anyone in the audience would be willing to sing a Gaga song. I volunteered, was selected, and spent quite a few hours preparing for it. Unfortunately, the surprise had to be canceled very last minute for reasons outside of anyone’s control. After the event — once the Q&A and networking had fully wrapped up — the organizers very kindly offered to introduce me to Michael so we could chat for a few minutes about Gaga, music, and my own connection to her work. The conversation was genuinely very warm, casual, and lovely, and Michael could not have been nicer. Gaga also wasn’t an off-limits topic during the event itself. Michael had already mentioned working with her in the public conversation, and also spoke about his fiancée and their baby, who was born a few months ago. The organizers simply felt that after the official program had ended was the most appropriate and comfortable time for us to have a more personal conversation. And just to be clear: nothing about LG8 was officially confirmed in our conversation. Gaga loving music, constantly feeling inspired, and continuing to write new music isn’t exactly surprising or new information, so I definitely don’t want anything I shared to be overinterpreted. For me, this was simply a really special and unexpected moment, and I’m incredibly grateful to the organizers for making the introduction happen. 🤍

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Michael Not Jackson @lamb19910816

about 2 months ago

Still processing what happened last night 😭 I went to an event co-hosted by 2 local Bay Area VC & startup communities, where Michael Polansky was invited to talk about his company, his VC experience, and his professional journey. That was really what the event was about, and most of the conversation focused on his career. But at the very end, after everyone had finished asking questions, one of the organizers did something incredibly kind. He told Michael that there was someone in the room who had seen Lady Gaga 23 times. That someone was me. 😭 The second Michael heard “23 times,” he immediately came over, smiled, and started asking me about Gaga. He asked me which city had been my favorite. I told him Los Angeles, because I was at the barricade and Gaga signed something for me during the show — and because I went to six shows in LA alone. I also told him how much I loved Minneapolis, especially because of the beautiful performance Gaga dedicated to him there. Then, completely unexpectedly, Michael looked at the vinyl I had brought with me and basically said: “Can I take this? I’ll bring it home to Gaga.” I genuinely did not know how to react. He told me to give him my address so he could send it back to me afterward, handed me his phone, and had me enter my email so he could contact me. And then we just kept talking. I told him that I became a Gaga fan almost 20 years ago, when I first heard “Poker Face” growing up in China. Her music became part of the reason I learned English. It stayed with me while I dreamed about studying abroad, eventually moved to the United States, and finally saw her live for the first time during the Joanne World Tour. Since then, I’ve seen the Joanne World Tour, Chromatica Ball, Mayhem Ball, the Grammys 2026, and so many other performances — 23 shows in total. I told him that Gaga’s music had been there for me through some of the hardest periods of my life. Growing up in China, dealing with bullying when I was younger, moving across countries, and going through difficult moments in more recent years — her music was always somewhere in the background, reminding me to keep going. I also told him that Gaga inspired me so much that I ended up interning at the BTWF, with Cynthia. He smiled and said, “Wow, that was so wonderful.” Then we somehow started talking about my professional life too. I told him I had worked for several years at a music technology company, building products for the music industry. When I told him it was that music tech startup, he immediately said, “I know it, I know it.” Then he told me they use it and called it one of the best products in the industry. I told him that I had helped design that product over the past few years as a product designer. His reaction was so warm and encouraging. The whole conversation honestly felt less like talking to someone I had just met and more like talking to an incredibly proud dad who was genuinely excited to hear about my life. Meanwhile, I was basically talking to him like an excited kid the entire time. 😂 And yes… of course, as a Gaga fan, I had to ask one more thing. Very quietly, and mostly joking, I asked: “So… are we getting a new album?” 😭 He immediately laughed. But then he gave me such a sweet answer. Though no album was confirmed, he told me not to worry, because Gaga is always making music. He said that when she’s at home, there are basically two things she loves doing: cooking — experimenting with recipes and Italian food — and making music. He talked about how she is constantly at the piano, constantly creating, constantly thinking about songs. And then he said something that really stayed with me: He had never, ever, ever in his life seen anyone love music as much as she does. As a fan, that might have been one of the most comforting things I could ever hear. Because underneath everything — the performances, the fashion, the movies, the fame, the awards — she really just loves music.