Born This Way

After listening to Gaga's new 21-track album on a loop for the last 24 hours (kidding), I am willing to put aside my hatred for the cover art and say that this album is a pop masterpiece. Let the summer of Gaga begin!

Gaga fail?

Artwork for "Born This Way" album. Has Lady Gaga jumped the shark?

Born This Way review

When I first heard Lady Gaga's new track Born This Way on February 11, I was pleasantly surprised. It was catchy, memorable - the type of song that you find yourself belting out in the shower. And the song's message was, well, very positive: your are perfect just the way you are. Everyone likes to hear that, right? In a time when bullying and teen suicide is on the rise, Gaga's song fit right in (alongside Dan Savage's inspiring and hugely successful It Gets Better project). I won't lie - her message got to me.

Immediately, the media slammed her on two accounts. For one, she was accused of being a profiteer. Her song, which is blatantly pro-gay ("No matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life. I'm on the right track baby, I was born to survive"), was seen to be exploiting a troubled demographic. And while the song was marketed as a "gay anthem" (Gaga's bff, Elton John, deemed it the new I Will Survive), Gaga received a lot of backlash from the gay community:

"I sort of liked Gaga more when she sang about dancing as opposed to trying to be the voice of a generation."

Secondly, Gaga was ripped to shreds for unoriginality. Immediately, the haters accused her of copying Madonna - in particular, her track "Express Yourself" (1989). Listen here for an overlay.

Despite all this, I was still on team Gaga. The haters are clearly trying to make Gaga a scapegoat, and discredit her success. In a recent 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper, Gaga said candidly,

"[people] want to see me fail. They want to see me fall on stage. They want to see me vomiting out of a nightclub ... Isn't that the age we live in? That we want to see people who have it all lose it all?"

And when it comes down to it, when is the last time you heard a song on the radio was pro-gay? I will also add that Born This Way is the fastest selling single in iTunes history, meaning that it's on a lot of iPods out there, and her pro-gay message is making its way into the public discourse. How can this be bad?

And as far as the originality claims, come on… have you listened to the radio lately? Everyone is copying everyone. (Have you heard this mashup of Katy Perry vs. Kei$ha? Or this comparison of Beyonce vs. Kelly Clarkson? It's the same song!) Some would say it is a symptom of postmodernism, others would say it's just formulaic pop music. Whatever. Artists draw influences from everywhere, and this a-okay with me. My favourite response from the internets (re: the Madonna flavour of the song) was that listening to Born This Way was "like being reacquainted with an old friend" - I can't agree more.

After seeing this explanation of the video, I feel as if I have little more to add to the discussion.

Yes, it's a little bizarre. Yes, it's a little disturbing. Yes, there is a bit too much dancing in underwear. But overall, I think it's an provoking piece of art. It's not my favourite video in her oeuvre - I think there were some missed creative opportunities. But every moment is deliberate, and as a whole, offers a unique, uncompromising vision.

Gaga has proved once again that she will not be defined simply as a pop star. She is an artist. She entertains. She provokes. She inspires. And she succeeds on all three accounts.

This video of last night's performance in Toronto, with 10 year old Maria Aragon, proves the point.

Born this way

Video just released moments ago... review coming soon.

Born this way

The new Lady Gaga track, "Born this Way" is set to launch tomorrow, and will also be performed at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday. Can't wait to hear it!

Telephone, as a children's book

Brilliant illustrations by Andrew Kolb

Gaga, part 3

Lady Gaga returns to Toronto again March 3, 2011

(this time with Scissor Sisters!)

Time for a new album, Gaga...

Gaga, exposed?

...Gaga has borrowed so heavily from Madonna (as in her latest video-Alejandro) that it must be asked, at what point does homage become theft? However, the main point is that the young Madonna was on fire. She was indeed the imperious Marlene Dietrich’s true heir. For Gaga, sex is mainly decor and surface; she’s like a laminated piece of ersatz rococo furniture. Alarmingly, Generation Gaga can’t tell the difference. Is it the death of sex? Perhaps the symbolic status that sex had for a century has gone kaput; that blazing trajectory is over…

-Excerpt from a recent article by Camille Paglia in the Sunday Times Magazine

Gaga love

Lady Gaga shows her Pride in Toronto on Sunday night, and the crowd goes wild

(image via Flickr)

Summer of Alejandro

Three months after "Telephone", and just in time for summer, Gaga releases the new video for "Alejandro", directed by photographer Steven Klein.

Coming in at just under 9 minutes, this video stands out as much darker (literally and figuratively) than Gaga's past videos. The overall tone is somber, partly focussed around a funeral (of Alejandro himself?). Gaga takes on multiple roles in this ominous, male-dominated world, including that of a omniscient, monocled leader, perched in her crumbled tower, menacing like a science fiction villain. More notably, she also takes on the common archetypes of Madonna and whore, portrayed as a nun (donning a red pleather habit), as well as a hyper-sexual harlot engaging with multiple male partners in, what feels like, a male dormitory. While the plot is not entirely clear, it seems that the nun ultimately gives into desire, and becomes whore herself (perhaps against her will?) Nevertheless, the final image we see is of the nun, lying motionless in bed, with marionette strings attached to her and extending upwards into the darkness.

My first impression of "Alejandro" was a little tentative. Gaga recently stated: "'Alejandro' is a celebration of my love and appreciation for the gay community, my admiration of their bravery, their love for one another and their courage in their relationships." I think this video subtly touches on the heated 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' debate; one minute, muscular military men are lounging in black bob wigs, fishnet stockings and dancing in corsets (a la "Rocky Horror Picture Show"), and the next minute, they are seen in compromising sex positions with Gaga herself. I think her commentary on the fluidity of sexuality and desire is admirable, but I'm not sure that it actually goes far enough to advance any progressive gay agendas.

Gaga's Madonna/whore imagery is clearly an ode to Madonna herself, and much of the visuals in the video are reminiscent of seminal, groundbreaking Madonna videos (Like a Prayer, Like a Virgin, Papa Don't Preach, Express Yourself, et al). Gaga's queen-like presence early in the video also harkens to Madonna's performance as Evita Perron (1996), which [not coincidentally] involved similar themes of power, sex, war and death (set in Argentina, I might add). The dramatic nun sex / dance sequence strikes a distinct resemblance to the memorable "Tango de Roxanne" sequence from Baz Luhrmann's 2001 "Moulin Rouge", where the rape of a high-class Parisian prostitute is underscored and heightened by a high-octane tango-rape reenactment. And finally, there appears to be glimpses of Bob Fosse's 1972 "Cabaret"; the imposing Nazi Germany tone is hard to ignore, Liza Minnelli's iconic style can be seen in Gaga's wardrobe and gestures, and again, we see parallel stories of vulnerable, polygamous women in tragic circumstances.

While this video may not be Gaga's strongest (or most original) conception, "Alejandro" manages to appropriate a plethora of ideas, icons and styles that may prove the oft-said notion: the whole is sometimes greater than the sum of its parts.

Watch it here.

Gaga on top

"She isn't a pop act, she is a performance artist. She herself is the art. She is the sculpture."

-Cyndi Lauper re: Lady Gaga making the Time Magazine 2010 Time 100 World's Most Influential People

Queen of the YouTubes

Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" music video offiically takes the lead as most watched video on YouTube: 180,000,000 views to date...

Happy Birthday Gaga

Gaga turns 24 today.

(Wow I feel old...)

Gaga lolz

Return of the Gaga

Four months later, Gaga announces a second leg of her Monster Ball tour

July 11, Air Canada Centre, Toronto

Tickets go on sale this Friday

(But will she have enough energy?)

Girl power, 2.0

After almost four months since her last video, Gaga releases a new video for "Telephone" featuring Beyonce, directed by Jonas Åkerlund.

This new nine minute video (dubbed by some as "Paparazzi" part 2) is distinctly Sapphic, with a lusty female prison and the "Thelma & Louise" relationship between the two protagonists. The movie - I mean video - has a very dark revenge plot, with Beyonce helping Gaga escape prison, plan the murder of her Beyonce's boyfriend, and ultimately, poison everyone in a small American diner and flee the scene in a swag "Pussy Wagon".

I commend the overall art direction, makeup and costuming. We see Gaga decked in oversized chains, wearing glasses made of lit cigarettes, Gaga bound and tangled tightly in crime scene tape, Gaga in a boat-sized sun hat - two thumbs up!

And while I was originally turned off by all of the overt product placement (Virgin Mobile, Diet Coke, PlentyOfFish.com, Beats by Dr. Dre, Polaroid, Miracle Whip, Wonderbread... the list goes on), this video is another shining example of Gaga's brilliance as an artist and businesswoman. The fact that she can simultaneously promote Wonderbread while conducting a mass homicide with her lesbian lover - she really is getting away with murder.

Watch it here.

Gaga takes UK

Lady Gaga at the Brit Awards Tuesday night, where she won all 3 awards she was nominated for. Her performance was dedicated to the late Alexander McQueen. RIP.

We're all fans

This ad makes me wish I still had a TV...

Catch the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards this Sunday

In the meantime, check out this awesome companion site: wereallfans.com

(Ms. Gaga is up for 5 awards, and is rumoured to be performing with Elton John...)

Gaga, simplified

Brilliant Lady Gaga poster mockup by Workerman

(Thanks Terry!)

The world we live in

"... Being provocative is not just about getting people's attention - it's about really saying something that affects people in a real way, in a positive way. So all the things that I do - in terms of The Fame and in terms of The Fame Monster - it's meant to sort of make it a bit easier to swallow, this kind of horrific media world that we live in."

-Lady Gaga, today on Oprah