Lady Gaga: A Review and Conclusions

"We're Plastic but we Still have Fun": Gaga After and Before

I didn’t like Lady Gaga at all the first I heard of her. Her songs would blare out of the stadium near my abode during football games and so I associated her with drunk sports fans. I had heard of her early on because ads for “Just Dance” would show up on the internet. Then she became really huge. “Just Dance” flew to number one and then she released “Poker Face.” It was that song that thawed Gaga for me. “Poker Face” is one of those timeless, eternal dance-pop songs with huge, international appeal. It went to number one everywhere.

The first time I listened to her debut album “The Fame” I wasn’t wholly impressed. But listening to the songs, they really grew on me to the point that not a day goes by I don't listen. While she owes most of her signature sound to producer RedOne, the songs have catchy dance beats with admittedly silly lyrics. But those lyrics get stuck on repeat in your head! “LoveGame” was released and I exhausted it by overplaying it. Then came “Paparazzi”: it’s a dance song but a ballad and has a great melody. It’s still powerful. Album tracks “I Like it Rough,” “Boys Boys Boys,” “Money Honey,” “Paper Gangsta” and “Starstruck” share identical throwbacks to 80s, dark, urban-synthpop. “Beautiful Dirty Rich,” and the “Fame” are rock tracks with a dance vibe to them. The only song worth skipping is “Brown Eyes.” “Eh Eh” and “Summerboy” have Caribbean vibes and take repeated listens to grow on you.

I eagerly awaited the release of her second album, “The Fame Monster.” “Bad Romance” was an epic first single, almost bigger than “Poker Face.” Almost. It’s still on heavy rotation on my mp3 player. “Telephone,” the next single, fizzled out fast for me and isn’t that good. Skip “Speechless” and “Teeth.” The former is boring and sung terribly, and the latter sounds like a leftover from a Christina Aguilera album. But “Alejandro,” an homage to ABBA and Madonna, is buoyant and bubbly. “Monster” is the best song on the album. Its eerie, dark, industrial beats and captivating robotic cry of “he ate my heart” makes it standout from the rest. “Dance in the Dark” is purely magnificent. It starts off like a machine slowly gaining momentum then bursts into full speed. The rap is a complete rip off of Madonna’s “Vogue” but the quality of the track forgives the thievery. “So Happy I Could Die” contains subject matter I don’t find appealing (do we really need to know Gaga touches herself while drinking red wine?), but the melody and lounge atmosphere of the track redeems it.

Gaga’s aesthetic didn’t make sense at all to me until I saw her “Monster Ball Tour.” A blend of old-school video game graphics, glow in the dark lighting, bone-like costumes, and odd videos, the “Monster Ball” was just pure fun. She’s contrived, manufactured, and weird-for-the-sake-of-weird but she likes it that way. “We’re plastic but we still have fun” she sings in “Paparazzi.”

But is she the next Madonna? I am hesitant to make the comparison. She doesn’t really address religious issues in her music. Madonna’s whole message is a blend of the sexual and the spiritual. Gaga’s is more of a pretentious attempt at “performance art” with a heavy dose of sex. Whereas Madonna’s sexual explorations were intelligent (perhaps even coldly calculated), Gaga’s sexual persona is smutty and seamy. In layman’s terms, Madonna would be in an art museum, Gaga in the local adult movie store. But then again, they’d probably like that.

Madonna is still active, so it’s not a good idea to dismiss her or dethrone her. If anyone, Britney Spears will enjoy the longevity and solid success that Madonna has. She continues to move to a new audience while keeping her old one. Britney is an icon in her own right. Beyonce and Rihanna are ubiquitous, but they are not all pop. While they have crossover appeal, their music appeals primarily to the urban community. After their prime passes, it is there that they will continue to enjoy success.

Is Lady Gaga good? Certainly. Her songs are catchy and fun. And I can't remember being this obsessed with an artist in a very long time. I listen to her music incessantly. I follow her every move. Is she the next Queen of Pop? She has a lot of time to develop as an artist, so let’s not make hasty pronouncements. “Eh, eh, there’s nothing else I can say.”

Update: Found this on Youtube. Gaga preforms Paparazzi whilst in the snare of a 40 foot Tentacle Monster on the second leg of the "Monster Ball Tour." What could be better? Perhaps simulated tentacle rape on stage, and I don't so that because I like it but because it would extremely hilarious. But what does this even mean? If it's a metaphor for "paparazzi being monsters who destroy lives" that's not very original. The monster is kinda kawaii!