So it seems the whole world has gone a bit 'Gaga' over the last couple of years. But why? Is it because of Lady Gaga’s fashion sense, her raunchy videos, her amazing PR and marketing team, or what about the music? Well while it’s obvious she certainly has some great business minded people working for her behind the scenes, I won’t comment on her style etc. The only thing I care about is the music; how it sounds and what it means.
I was happy to learn that she actually writes her own stuff as opposed to a lot of pop stars who churn out other people’s hard work. After hearing her songs in clubs and on the radio for about two years, I was finally compelled to purchase Lady Gaga’s first album because of the catchiness of some of her tunes. The bonus at this point was that the album had been re-released with The Fame Monster extra CD including tracks like Alejandro and Telephone.
So what’s the verdict? Well it’s a pretty nice album. Do the songs have deeper meaning? Well not always, but there’s a good mix of styles and sounds while still retaining her identity. The album has some ballads as well as dance tunes. In these two CD’s there are about 8 single-worthy songs but the fillers are all decent as well! The singles are what they are, and nothing more (which is okay), catchy dance tracks to help you get your groove on.
With a lot to live up to, the hype about it had convinced me to get it straight away this time so when I heard the newer album, Born This Way, for the first time, I had to wonder – what happened!? There is one song on the album that stands out and that’s Judas. Ironically this is also a bad thing since the reason for its appeal is its clear similarity to the hit tracks from The Fame monster, in particular Bad Romance.
Then there’s the single, Born This Way... Where do I begin? While a little different from most of the other tracks, this song epitomises the whole concept of this album, that being about pandering to the audience. After the success of her first album, her videos and fashion house etc, Gaga has recruited a huge fan base of people from every walk of life. So in place of spending time creating some good music it seems this album overlooks that completely and instead, simply panders to the audience in the most blatant and ridiculous ways. (Showing support for Gaga now means you also support her social and political ideals. Basically having the album is like wearing one of those charity badges/ribbons, to advertise that you’re a "good person"). Unfortunately it looks like people are falling for it...
Born this way is the worst example of this. Sticking every possible, so called minority in a song and singing about acceptance and overcoming adversity. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad if it was at least good music? The more annoying thing is how shamefully similar parts of it are to Madonna’s track, Express Yourself, who is obviously someone gaga is trying to emulate in every way, going so far as to twist the concept of Madonna's Like A Prayer video, in Judas, just enough to make it seem original.
The rest of the songs on the album are very similar and all seem to have this European techno sound. The only other song that I do find catchy is Bloody Mary and it’s perhaps the closest thing to a ballad. It’s a nice song but what the heck does it mean? Well It's just more blasphemous nonsense that's supposed to make us think "ooh isn't she daring and cool!". Sadly it's been done and the T-shirts are sold out... I have to wonder whether the lyrics for this album were just a bunch of random words stuck together with the right amount of syllables to fit in the tunes. What is the edge of glory and why is she hanging off it? Highway unicorns and electric chapels? The song about hair... Come on Gaga you could at least pretend to be trying!
At the end of the day Lady Gaga is a master at making a catchy tune! In The Fame Monster this was fun but with this new one I feel like kicking myself every time I inadvertently start whistling one of these musical abortions. If you haven't bought Born This Way already, you simply don't need to.
TEZ's final rating (1-10):
The Fame Monster - ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
Born This Way - ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
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