Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Lady Gaga's "Born This Way"

Oh, Gaga. You are something of an enigma. Part fashion easel, part crazy pop star, part champion of human rights, what can't you do? I, along with millions of others, eagerly awaited the release of Lady Gaga's third album, "Born This Way." What landed was certainly not what I expected. And yes, you should have seen this coming. I am the gay geek, after all.

First, let's get this out of the way: the album cover sucks.


Lady Gaga is a Transformer, apparently.


Now, on to the music itself. Like I said, it's not what I was expecting. I was expecting more songs in the style of her previous two albums, The Fame and The Fame Monster. But what I got was quite different indeed. Lady Gaga has somehow conceived a whole new sound. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but after reading a couple pieces of other reviews, it struck me: she's combining genres in her songs. To me, something like this requires quite a bit of work, not to mention just the idea to look outside of "pop" as a genre and pull from several different musical influences.

Consider Lady Gaga's competition, the other popular female pop stars at the moment. We have Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and Britney Spears (or if they were part of the Seven Dwarves, Stupid-y, Trashy, and Batshit Insane-y). Katy Perry is a hypocrite whose biggest song is probably "California Girls", where she states that the biggest reason why California Girls are so awesome is because they're whores. Also one of her singles is "Ur So Gay," where she insults an ex for being more effeminate than her. Classy. Ke$ha looks like she's permanently ensconced in sweat and glitter and all of her songs are about going out to clubs and "hitting on dudes. Hard." Okay. And Britney Spears has been making the same kind of music for the past ten-plus years. See also batshit insane. The one thing unifying these three strong women is the fact that their music is all the same, which is to say mindless schlock that would be fun to dance to. Except for Katy Perry. Her's is just mindless schlock. So if nothing else, Lady Gaga has to be commended for at least trying something new.


The competition. Yes, I'd be intimated by her artistic integrity, too.


Now, when Lady Gaga was recording the album, she stated how she wanted to put in more of a political edge, and...well, rather than trying to tackle the album as a whole, let's look at the songs individually, shall we? As well as looking at the song musically, I'll also try to interpret the song's meaning as I see it. Now, take my interpretations with a grain of salt, since what I say certainly isn't what the song is actually about.

1. Marry the Night (Youtube Link): An interesting choice for the first song. I was going to comment on how you would think the title track would be first, then I remembered that "The Fame" was in the teens on that album, and "Monster" was third on The Fame Monster, so I guess that has never held true. "Marry the Night" starts off slow, building up to a heavy pop beat. The song itself tells of giving in to night life, since that's where Lady Gaga feels at home. A pretty good starter song, very dance-y with a nice beat, and I wouldn't be surprised if it became a single.

2. Born This Way (Music Video Link): The first single released a couple months prior to the album itself, and the first taste of the album we got. Now, I have to be honest: I didn't like this song at first. I think it was the religious references. However, after listening to the song a few more times (and seeing that the "God" referenced in the song is an alien queen Gaga giving birth to other Gagas in the music video [yes, really]), it's really grown on me. That was when the song was originally released, and I must say that I still love this song. It makes me want to dance, easy to sing along without even realizing you're doing it, and has a great message too. One of the best on the album. Also, absolutely insane music video, which is a plus in my book.

3. Government Hooker (Youtube Link): One of my favorites of the new songs (that is, the songs that weren't released before the album), "Government Hooker" is the first song that tries to say something political, and it's just on the fringe, the very edge of actually doing it. Unfortunately, instead of saying anything that makes me think, it doesn't go beyond the title, which is that we're hookers...for...the government. And while I'd really like to say, "Man, that was some biting commentary on the government using its people instead of helping them!" it just makes me say, "Yes, and?" Which doesn't mean it's a bad song, because it is. It just doesn't hit the mark I think Lady Gaga was going for.

4. Judas (Music Video Link): The second single release, Judas is a song about forgiveness. The singer (who is apparently Mary Magdalene, if the music video is, er, "canon") proclaims "Jesus is my virtue, but Judas is the demon I cling to." Very dark beats mixed up with an almost bubblegum pop chorus, Judas is a great song.

5. Americano (Youtube Link): Another new song, very obviously inspired by Spanish and Mexican music. Most of the lyrics are in Spanish, and I have taken the time to painstakingly translate them. That is, I googled what they meant. They...don't really add too much to the overall song. I think the sound of having Spanish lyrics adds to the overall song more than what the lyrics themselves mean. I'm not entirely sure of the meaning of this song, though some lyrics ("I don't speak your languagono, I don't speak your Jesus Christo," for instance) hint at a possible meaning, that of two cultures clashing as well as two loves. I like it!

6. Hair (Youtube Link): The fourth and last single released before the album itself dropped, "Hair" is also an excellent song, with a great message about individuality. There are some weird lyrics ("I just want to be free, I just want to be me, and I want lots of friends who invite me to their parties"? WHAT?), but overall it's fun and catchy.

7. Scheiße (Youtube Link): "I don't speak German, but I can if you like" starts off another rocking song. Gaga then launches into a string of German that serves as the background for the song. What I thought was cool was when I went poking around to see what the lyrics actually meant, I found out that it was pretty much nonsense. So when she says she can't speak German, she actually means it (in the song, at least). Now, when I saw that there was a song whose title means "shit" in German, I was slightly hesitant. But it's actually really good! It basically is about how people (women in particular) have to go through a lot of bullshit in putting up appearances and such. Really good song and one that I skip to if I'm need of a quick dance fix.

8. Bloody Mary (Youtube Link): This song always marks the halfway mark for me (which is basically true anyway) in that the first half of the album is all the hits, the really solid songs, while this second half, starting with "Bloody Mary", is the other stuff (with a solid finish, but we'll talk about that later). So, "Bloody Mary." A song about Mary Magdalene. It's okay, I suppose. It's kind of boring, especially right after the very dance-y "Scheiße." Also, it seems like Lady Gaga couldn't think of new lyrics part of the way in and just fills in some "Dum dum da da da"s. Probably the weakest link of the album to me.

9. Black Jesus + Amen Fashion (Youtube Link): Interesting song. I think it's about taking fashion as a religion? Maybe? Pretty fun song in general.

10. Bad Kids (Youtube Link): I like this song! It's very interesting, and has a message about being a rebel rather than being a sheep, which I like. Also has kind of a weird dichotomy between the chorus which is pretty poppy, compared to the lyrics which is more rock.

11. Fashion of His Love (Youtube Link): I never understood all of the talk about "Born This Way" sounding like a Madonna song, but "Fashion of His Love" totally does. It's okay, I suppose. Just a generic love song in the end. Decidedly meh.

12. Highway Unicorn (Road to Love) (Youtube Link): Fuck yeah, unicorns! I mean, there's other things I could say about the song, but it's about UNICORNS. It's also got a pretty rocking, heavy beat. BADASS UNICORNS.

13. Heavy Metal Lover (Youtube Link): "I want your whiskey mouth all over my blonde south." Yup. No better way to start a song than with that lovely line! The song itself is okay, mostly forgettable though.

14. Electric Chapel (Youtube Link): Huh, weird song. I dunno, I can't really think of anything interesting to say about this song. It's a toss-up between this one and the next about which one I forget exists until it comes on. Not saying it's a bad song, persay, it's just...there.

15. The Queen (Youtube Link): Pretty good song, even if I do forget it exists sometimes. Also a good message about how we can all be queens if we want. I mean, I'm already there, but others need to discover their inner queen.

16. Yoü and I (Youtube Link): Now we're talking! Lady Gaga is winding up her album, and decides to end on a high note or two. "You (no, I'm doing doing the umlaut again) and I" is a mix of pop and southern rock with a "We Will Rock You" beat. Certainly something I can get behind. My only quibble is that she mentions Nebraska an awful lot. I hope Nebraska isn't, like, the state. Because you should never dedicate anything besides corn to Nebraska. Don't want them to build an ego.

17. The Edge of Glory (Music Video Link): The third single released and the latest music video to come out, "The Edge of Glory" is the last song on "Born This Way". And it's a pretty awesome closer, I must say. It has a freaking saxophone solo. How can you say no to that?!

And that, as they say, is that. Lady Gaga's newest album. It certainly rocks my socks off, though it doesn't stimulate my mind as much as I think Gaga wanted. However, considering that this is her first step towards a more meaningful sound, I think she is doing pretty damn well. From what I've seen, everything that Lady Gaga does, from making a song called "Poker Face" (actually a song about her bisexuality) to wearing a dress made of meat (a statement about the treatment of LGBT people), it is done with a purpose. I am very excited to see what she comes up with next. Thanks for reading!

Gay Geek signing out.

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