“You’re all my little monsters”: how born this way connected a fandom

Fandom studies has continued to evolve as internet use grows globally and our social iden-tities merge with our virtual profiles. Fandoms are places for discussion of canon and fan-related work and have a potential to function as communities. Prominent figures like Lady Gaga use their celebrity to spread awareness on issues around LGBTQ+ rights and Mental Health. I investigate the metaphors within the Born This Way album and how they expose issues that affect queer persons around the world. I look at how fans (Little Monsters) inter-act with her, with each other within safe spaces and outside the fandom. I use an autoethno-graphic style of writing and an inductive reasoning approach within my analysis. My main finding is that fandoms can transcend the negative stereotypes associated with them, by mir-roring the feedback loop they have with the artist, with the one they have with each other. By so doing members support and give each other mutual recognition.