Thoughts on Gaga
Doesn’t it seem like there are equivalents to Lady Gaga arriving on the scene every few years like clockwork? Someone that is different from the rest of the landscape, thrown into the spotlight, who dominates and then fades. Sometimes they aren’t a disappearing act. Sometimes there is something in the music that allows for a staying power, or at least the ability to listen and relisten to. I suppose I don’t know how I feel about Lady Gaga. I have heard a few of her songs and they are all pretty catchy, the electro pop elements with a voice that is stronger than it is weak, which is saying something within the medium of the music.
I know a few people who are big Gaga fans and what surprises me is that they are totally dissimilar people. Something about that disparity made me a bit more interested in Gaga. I send to work in the sense that there are interesting sounds in the world regardless of cache, when I heard them talking about Gaga I couldn’t help but want to give her a try.
Maybe I don’t mind a few of her songs as I have been rather isolated from the ‘outrageous’ fashion statements and other things gaga has put out into the world.
What turned me onto this path is the song “Bad Romance.” See I heard it, saw the video a few times then found it on YouTube. I don’t want to say that I got hooked but I really thought it was a catchy, catchy track. There is a combination in the song; it feels like two parts of a greater song, what with the slightly Romanian sounding verses and the soaring choruses.
But the song for me is tied to the video in a way that renders the song lame when I’m not watching the video. I like the song but to hear the song while watching the video really cements the song as an earworm that you can’t shake. But I have not been able to do anything while listening to the song. Can’t run to it, can’t drive the car to it.
A friend of mine spoke to me about the way in which Gaga is using the beauty myth of society and setting it on its head. I don’t know if I agree with that. It seems of late that she moved away from the Klaus Nomi/Debbie Harry LP covers phase of her fashion and into a phase where she is showing (and shaking) her ass. “Bad Romance” feels like a performance piece more than a video. “Telephone” feels like a film more than a video. Maybe that is the core of who she is, a New York City musical performance artist. A tiny version of Jayne County or a jigglier version of Laurie Anderson with a growing dose of Madonna’s approach to sexuality. I don’t really mean to compare her to these artists, but when I try to think about her in a greater context I feel that she is a performance artist, one who uses the medium of the moment to further her career and keep herself in the public eye.
“Telephone” is another instance where Beyonce is completely upstaged by Gaga. Beyonce is easily overshadowed and while her attempts to step into Gaga’s world are brave they do expose her as a bit of a stale pony compared with something that feels new and daring. That said I think “Telephone” is a HELLUVA cut
Will her music stand the test of time? Will she fade away? Will the second full-length album capitalize on momentum or will it cease, like so much does, in the interim of when you are recording.
