Gaga Youth
When Lady Gaga appeared on the scene, I immediately dismissed her as just another attention seeker who had decided to become a "singer" in order to wear tiny clothing on television.
Then I started hearing from people whose taste I respected who admired her, and I read a couple of interviews, and I started to come around. I respect her point of view and, especially, the way she has embraced the paparazzi celebrity culture. Girlfriend wears a costume every day of her life because she understands that she is starring in her own 24/7 reality show. There will never be embarrassing paparazzi photos that bring about her downfall because she simply cannot be embarrassed. She is open and honest about her past, her relationships, and her career, and she is controlling her image and her message every step of the way. Madonna may have paved the way for this kind of career, but Lady Gaga has taken it to a new level.
In addition to her media savvy, Lady Gaga actually seems to have the musical goods. She sings, plays, and writes her own songs, and even though it's the same kind of produced-within-an-inch-of-its-life dance pop that has been sent across the airwaves by many people before her, I'm not going to hold that against her if that's the kind of music she really wants to be making. Her songs are as catchy, hooky, and danceable as anything else out there, and they deserve their place at the top of the pop charts. As tedious as I often find that style of music, I'm not going to pretend that I've never had the chorus of "Poker Face" stuck in my head.
Now, here's where she loses me. Lady Gaga claims to be more than just a pop star; she claims to be a pop artist. She compares herself to Andy Warhol a lot. She is so intelligent and articulate in her interviews and so obviously knows what she's talking about (this is not Britney thinking that "I Love Rock and Roll" is a Pat Benatar song or Avril Levigne claiming to know what punk rock is) that I get excited to experience her work and see and hear her influences and her point of view translated into pop music.
Then, I watch her videos, and here's what I see: a nubile woman wearing tiny clothes and outlandish accessories, dancing provocatively on a stylish set with half naked models. Based on her music and her videos, she could be Beyonce, Britney, Christina Aguilera, or any of the rest of them. I know she thinks her video featuring pictures of beautiful models looking dead is some kind of revolutionary commentary on the nature of celebrity, but "dead models" has been so much and for so long that it was actually a challenge on America's Next Top Model, and while I'm on the subject, is there no comment that can be made without the use of attractive models? If she really has something to say as an artist, then why is she putting herself in that same old, tired "sexy pop star" mold? She doesn't even really have a new spin on it, at least not in her videos. She talks such a good game that I really wish the results were more artful.
Lady Gaga claims that she does it all for her fans (she calls them "little monsters"). Well, Lady Gaga, if you're listening, I would love to be your little monster. I may not be in high school anymore, but I still long for that same connection you are trying to provide, and I have been waiting and waiting for something interesting to happen in music videos again. You're just not there for me yet. I hope you find a way to put some soul into your beautifully constructed artifice because there's more to real art than fabulousness. I want to love you, but I am waiting for you to take me somewhere I haven't been.
Then I started hearing from people whose taste I respected who admired her, and I read a couple of interviews, and I started to come around. I respect her point of view and, especially, the way she has embraced the paparazzi celebrity culture. Girlfriend wears a costume every day of her life because she understands that she is starring in her own 24/7 reality show. There will never be embarrassing paparazzi photos that bring about her downfall because she simply cannot be embarrassed. She is open and honest about her past, her relationships, and her career, and she is controlling her image and her message every step of the way. Madonna may have paved the way for this kind of career, but Lady Gaga has taken it to a new level.
In addition to her media savvy, Lady Gaga actually seems to have the musical goods. She sings, plays, and writes her own songs, and even though it's the same kind of produced-within-an-inch-of-its-life dance pop that has been sent across the airwaves by many people before her, I'm not going to hold that against her if that's the kind of music she really wants to be making. Her songs are as catchy, hooky, and danceable as anything else out there, and they deserve their place at the top of the pop charts. As tedious as I often find that style of music, I'm not going to pretend that I've never had the chorus of "Poker Face" stuck in my head.
Now, here's where she loses me. Lady Gaga claims to be more than just a pop star; she claims to be a pop artist. She compares herself to Andy Warhol a lot. She is so intelligent and articulate in her interviews and so obviously knows what she's talking about (this is not Britney thinking that "I Love Rock and Roll" is a Pat Benatar song or Avril Levigne claiming to know what punk rock is) that I get excited to experience her work and see and hear her influences and her point of view translated into pop music.
Then, I watch her videos, and here's what I see: a nubile woman wearing tiny clothes and outlandish accessories, dancing provocatively on a stylish set with half naked models. Based on her music and her videos, she could be Beyonce, Britney, Christina Aguilera, or any of the rest of them. I know she thinks her video featuring pictures of beautiful models looking dead is some kind of revolutionary commentary on the nature of celebrity, but "dead models" has been so much and for so long that it was actually a challenge on America's Next Top Model, and while I'm on the subject, is there no comment that can be made without the use of attractive models? If she really has something to say as an artist, then why is she putting herself in that same old, tired "sexy pop star" mold? She doesn't even really have a new spin on it, at least not in her videos. She talks such a good game that I really wish the results were more artful.
Lady Gaga claims that she does it all for her fans (she calls them "little monsters"). Well, Lady Gaga, if you're listening, I would love to be your little monster. I may not be in high school anymore, but I still long for that same connection you are trying to provide, and I have been waiting and waiting for something interesting to happen in music videos again. You're just not there for me yet. I hope you find a way to put some soul into your beautifully constructed artifice because there's more to real art than fabulousness. I want to love you, but I am waiting for you to take me somewhere I haven't been.