Lady Gaga needs her own thread

she only has two threads and they are both dedicated to metacritical analysis of her career in the context of contemporary pop mzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The Fame was ridiculously solid and based on the leaked tracks, The Fame Monster should be just as strong. Sometimes I feel as if all my favorite pop acts peaked in the first part of the decade, I like that there's someone who I enjoy and seems to be on top of her game right now.

i can't wait to read this thread of non-analytic posts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNisF-iE4_o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uceCz0nltQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LD1lMVxzy4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEINvi_9UB8

*doesn't analyze*

lol

nothing against analysis, i just want to post youtube vids of leaked trax

so... lock thread?

I just hope the new album doesn't get a free pass from hipsters

i'm sorry that the existence of the threads offends you so deeply

dude she's a dude dude

ha well yes, i do find the idea that posts actually analyzing & discussing lady gaga and her place in pop music are too boring for youtubes of leaked songs

to be "offensive" & sniveling

there's some great non-analytic posts about lady gaga on this site called idolator, you should check it out

neither of the other two posts are Gaga-centric, unless you enjoy the criminal misuse of the word "hipster"...ILX isn't running out of space so let's give her a deserved dedicated thread

i think we're getting into a bit of analysis here, let's pull back before things get out of hand

gaga ruelz

i heard bad romance this morning and it hit me how 80s it is, but not in the typical gaga 80s way, in like a new order way or something. i don't know, i'm bad with labels. there ya have it.

sometimes, i sound so smart.

anyway here's my random story: back when she was someone that only dance radio DJs had heard of she was doing concerts for high school radio stations (although to be fair this was a Billboard radio station so it's big time as HS stations go) and I saw her do a set. This was before she had any budget and I think before she really had committed to the character of "Lady Gaga"; she wasn't wearing pants but her face was unobstructed so who knows where she was at that point. I wish I remembered more about her set, but I do remember a few songs that I loved I'm pretty sure didn't make the cut of her first album...I couldn't even hum them if I tried but if I heard them I'd recognize them. One of them was very dancey but the others were ballads that would likely be out of place on either album without some significant remix efforts. I caught up with her during the meet & greet and I remarked about the dichotomy between Lady Gaga who sang about disco sticks and bluffin muffins and the real Stefani (sp) Germanotta (double sp) who sang these soulful almost straight-forward literal bluesy jams and she said something about how she loved the interplay between her personalities and etc so I'm interested in seeing how/if she's going to carry that over to her next "phase". I can't see her doing the same thing with the same look and the same kind of (albeit quite wonderful) song when she moves past The Fame era. But from what I remember, minus all the affect she is rather excellent so I'm looking forward to it.

did you see her adam's apple?

I always failed that episode of Maury so I might not even have spotted it, however that leotard did not leave much room for anything extra so I'll have to go with verdict: female

gaga ruelz

it's interesting, this love for gaga on ilx. i didn't think there was much love at first, but now there seems to be a lot!

i kind of pick and choose songs from her.

got into just dance a little while ago, and i hated on it at first!

i think she's just kind of reached that plateau of hugeness where there's instantly a little more interest or regard given to whether she's good than a year ago when she was just someone with a hit song -- i dunno, there's nothing about her voice or her songs or her sound that grabs me personally.

"paparazzi" and "bad romance" are also arguably her best songs, so that might explain the uptick in popularity on this board

"Alejandro" reminds me a bit of Ace Of Base. Actually, everything she does always reminds me a bit of something else. She's (trying to be?)the biggest melting pot of everything that existed in pop music for the last 25 years.

Jordan is correct.

I agree.

Alejandro = Ace of Base redux. I still think most of her music is strictly for tacky queers, but her acoustic sets are her only redeeming quality and deserve their own album.

I don't understand the "biggest melting pot" thing...sure there are a couple different things going on in her music at once, but that can be said of virtually everything else on the pop charts.

"tacky queers"... wow :|

I'm a queer, if that helps.

helps explain why you're tacky enough to like Lady Gaga?

wow, you're a GENIUS...who obviously can't read.

so like my aptitude is mainly in math or something?

remember that you also speak 5+ languages

and also fluent in talking shit....don't forget that.

If Gaga makes tacky queer music then I think it's impressive that she's managed to impact the mainstream charts as she has.  All social implications aside it's certainly unusual, considering that hip-hop/rnb have dominated the charts for so much of the decade.  Is this a harbinger of things to come?

(I know she has been called rnb but personally I file her squarely under pop)

All I needed to know about the popularity of "Bad Romance": the emo-loving anti-pop/anti-life recruitment editor at the newspaper has been humming the chorus all day, and sheepishly apologizing each time.

I fucking love her videos, and thought her MTV Awards performance was fantastic, but not one of her songs has been worth a crap yet. "Paparazzi" comes closest to being good, but even that falls flat for me. The melodies and choruses just aren't strong enough, and they're musically very ordinary. They have to be worthy of the videos, and so far they're not.

if u think theres no 'tacky queer music' in mainstream r&b youre kidding yourself

finally gave in and listened to 'bad romance'. she's still a regrettable being but it's easily the best song i've heard from her. faint praise, but it's a decent song

i'd love to know who in mainstream r&b makes "music strictly for tacky queers" so i can buy their album

ne-yo?

when I think of rnb for tacky queers I think of something like Boom Boom Pow, except better.

It's hardly new or surprising that she's as successful as she is...even among the TACKY QUEERS. She wrote for Britney and obviously can write annoyingly catchy, disposable pop, but it's still pretty impressive how we're talking about her in the context of competing with hip hop/r&b....or rather, you are. I loathed even hearing people say "GaGa" up until I saw her acoustic performance of Poker Face, which was beyond entertaining. I think she's purely a spectacle at this point, with the potential to be more later. It's like, I'm reluctant to give her ANY credit, but you can't deny the obvious "Gaga Effect" that's taken place in music since her arrival. For better or for worse, she is going to be referenced for a while.

i think what annoys (annoyed? havent decided if im indifferent yet) is that it came across as so obviously trying hard to be exactly that.

Ne-Yo? Queer, certainly. Tacky...isn't that sort of the opposite of how he tries to code? His music's all buttoned-up class most of the time.

I won't deny that GaGa plays to the cheap seats and the trashiest common denominator, but there are enough redeeming qualities buried underneath all the bullshit that my attempts to write off or ignore her altogether have been unsustainable. What bothers me most about her at this point is that she has a half-decent idea of a commentary on the state of music, fame and celebrity in the 21st century, as well as raw musical chops (plays a decent piano, has a decent voice, knows her way around a hook or two) but somehow manages to (either through lack of effort or lack of experience) only release half-assed product most of the time. Like...the videos and the music and the performance art are all strike as if they were made by someone who had a really brilliant idea once but doesn't quite remember what it was.

i wasn't serious about ne-yo

boo!

im just thinking mostly of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dZqghXe5FY

so obviously trying hard to be exactly that

OTM. There's something I find very grating about music or art or whatever that seems to be calculatedly designed to appeal not to me as a person, but instead as a demographic. Like women who insist that they "love the gays", there's an air about it all that makes (made?) me want to run for the hills.

So...um. At this point I guess I love the idea of her and hate the reality of her. Or grudgingly tolerate it.

I'm not trying to position her as some sort of rnb/hip hop conquerer, her producers and collabs and overall sound certainly make it an undeniable aspect of her career and that's how she's managed to be so successful, by straddling the genres and capturing as many music demographics as possible. I think Just Dance with the Akon and Colby O'Donis (?) guest spots was very strategic in that regard. But she has veered away from that since. She has managed to use that opening to take some things to the top of the chart that aren't typical of what's commonly been reigning, and as you said she's going to be referenced for a while, and nobody loves to reference hit songs like wannabe hit songwriters.

lol @ this being yet another gaga analysis thread

I'm genuinely surprised by the resistance and negativity. She's only occasionally GREAT (Pokerface, duh), but is generally at least decent and, it seems to me, deserves a lot of credit for authoring her own music and image in a field usually attaches "stars" as decoration to other people's work. Plus she's kinda subversive, in a dumb/funny garishly contrived way that's both grating and perversely appealing. I can't say I LOVE her, cuz the material's way too uneven so far, but I'm more than willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for a while.

Why all the hate?

because ppl give her backhanded compliments like "subversive, but i dont really like most of her songs"

lol @ this being yet another gaga analysis thread

― hoos-kingofthedrugs (deej), Thursday, November 12, 2009 8:15 PM (30 seconds ago) Bookmark

how could it not?

I like her Queen-sounding ballads, but I want to LOVE them.. I think if she perfected her songwriting further she could nail these.

because ppl give her backhanded compliments like "subversive, but i dont really like most of her songs"

― hoos-kingofthedrugs (deej), Thursday, November 12, 2009 8:16 PM (40 seconds ago) Bookmark

Are you saying that people (like me) who are intrigued by her image/style and maybe like a couple songs are the reason that other people get all irritated by her? I'm not sure I understand...

I can't say I LOVE her, cuz the material's way too uneven so far, but I'm more than willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for a while.

I think it's a combination of this with the out and out pretension displayed from the outset? When first presented with GaGa, a hitherto unknown pop artist who dresses fairly garishly, rambles on about Andy Warhol and how her project is a deconstruction of fame, but whose music does nothing to follow through on her stated goals, gut reaction is to write her off as the celebrity equivalent of an undergrad student babbling about post-modernism to sound intelligent. It was all a bit too calculated to feel genuine, a bit too 'quirky' for its own good.

i dont think anyone here is saying they 'hate' her really tho

is it like totally lame and old-fashioned to ask that someone make some decent songs before they get credit for having a persona or whatever?

the gaga songs i've heard are boring, hookless, rote pop exercises. they are so dour and un-fun.

http://1.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ks4tqt7qLJ1qzeu42o1_400.jpg

It's a question of - what is she: musicians or performance artist? And she scans initially and presents herself as a pop star (i.e. musician first and foremost). So while the image and so forth might be interesting, the central part of the package (the music) is sometimes good but never great.

Re the quality of her songs overall:

One of the problems with having written one incredible, indelible, perfect pop hit along with all your other perfectly decent journeyman work is that it tends to make the rest look like, well ... like perfectly decent journeyman work. You know?

poker face is 'incredible' 'indelible' 'perfect'??

what is this indelible perfect pop hit you speak of

yeah she could really be more show-not-tell instead of just going "this is post-modern! it's pop art! it's very gay and transgressive, can you handle it america!?"

If she were just an entertaining persona - a self-aware Paris Hilton writ large, lampooning our fucked up and strange relationship with the concept of celebrity fame and money I would be totally down with her. But her shtick includes videos, albums, and songs. So the middling quality of those necessarily have a bearing.

its super great but i prefer the song when presented by the avant-pop artist nosferatu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBNOkGsI47E

now thats subversive

@Alex in Montreal: you phrase that as if performance art/musicianship are mutually exclusive?

i kinda feel like if you look back at some of the more high concept or kind of subversive stars in pop history, probably most of them made a big impact well before they really got credit for exactly what they were doing or started to really spell it out for people

lol criss angel poster

Pop star fails to sufficiently satirize pop music for non pop music fans shocker

It's like, I don't want NO gaga, I just want the Socratic Ideal of GaGa and not this bullshit real world version we are stuck with.

xp Not mutually exclusive! More that, if music is being included as part of your performance art, it had DAMN better be as good as a) your ideas, b) the rest of your performance and c) the music of the genre/scene/etc. that you are participating in/commenting on

If you try to satirize something you're not better or smarter than in any way then you're just..I dunno, Meet The Spartans?

NV i think the point here is that ppl who LIKE pop music find her stuff middling at best

Pop star fails to sufficiently satirize pop music for non pop music fans shocker

Yeah, whatever.

a) most of us ARE pop music fans.
b) she's made it perfectly clear that this is what she intends to do.

shes poorly satirizing all the way to the bank tbf

if you're going to claim the title of satirist/cultural commentator/provocateur and declare this fact in every interview you have in your first four months or so of exposure, you should not be surprised when people judge you on the basis of those claims.

xp so?

she's kind of like Marilyn Manson in how she just hammers home her agenda constantly and is like, looking around the room to see if she's getting the reaction she's looking for

so kudos for a successful business plan in this economy xp

marilyn manson could be a worse comparison

i don't really understand what that sentence means

sure, i mean she has achieved her goal of being famous

thats all im saying

I like the pretension, the transparent phoniness of the art posturing, the whole "my art is my celebrity" shtick. I don't like it cuz it's clever or deep; I like it cuz it's dumb, fun and funny. And cuz it somehow throws into harsh relief the fact that she's not a product, that she's a real person doing this very strange (and rare and probably terrifying, exhilarating) thing for a living. Kinda like Marilyn Manson in that regard. The goofball pretension adds a quality of humanity, of awkwardness to a genre that can sometimes seem rather impersonal. Or so it seems to me. I liked Peaches for similar reasons, though more (much more). I guess other people relate to other pop stars for other reasons...

honestly i wouldn't really give a fuck how she acts if i had just a single goddamn one of her songs in the non-album tracks section of my ipod

i am listening to bad romance now. i mean, really?

gaga ooh la la

lol it sounds like 6 people wrote parts of songs and then a 7th guy had to put them all together

man were there ever a bunch of lady gagas around here on halloween

she's a bad artist, but that's her best song imo xp

i could list off reasons why i don't like it but that would bore everyone. suffice it to say imo it is a horrible song.

i mean it makes her other songs sound like songs i would actually enjoy.

Re some earlier discussion, Pokerface really IS a perfect indelible incredible pop tune. To me, anyway, and I don't think I'm alone in that. It's least good enough to justify the sub-par follow-ups and cheezeball image-mongering (for an album or two). I suspect it'll become one of those songs that represents & summarizes its era in the American pop memory banks.

Agree with those who are disappointed & underwhelmed by most of her other would-be hits. I have friends who get all excited about them and make me watch youtube videos, but so far I agree that she's usually more interesting & entertaining than musically successful. And I guess I'm okay with that.

y'all suck. gaga ruelz, she writes great songs.

xp one thing you might be able to help me with is what makes poker face so above and beyond her other tunes iyo

It's kind of a cop out answer, but catchiness. I think it's an incredibly appealing song, just based on sound and feel. I went around singing it for WEEKS after hearing it only once. I don't know any music theory, so I can't really articulate this in a comprehensible fashion, but it hits me in a way that very few pop songs do. First time I heard it, it struck me in the same way that Hey Ya and Crazy did a few years back. It struck me as the sort of thing that would instantly and effortlessly appeal to almost everybody -- not just the typical audience for "that kind of thing", but everybody. Kids, moms & dads, indies, rockers: anyone with any taste for pop tunes. And it seems to me that I was right. Everybody I know likes it.

I don't think anything else she's written even comes close to Pokerface, but that's okay, because tons of people have adequate careers without ever writing anything that universally appealing. And she's just getting started.

I don't understand the "biggest melting pot" thing...sure there are a couple different things going on in her music at once, but that can be said of virtually everything else on the pop charts.

It seems she does this with more intensity than most, not only in her music, but especially in her image. In the video for "Bad Romance" I can see influences from Goldfrapp, Annie Lennox, Bjork, Britney Spears, Cher, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stephani, Madonna, Marilyn Manson, Roisin Murphy, Rihanna, Soundgarden...

She's definitely pushing the "weird" enveloppe for a pop star and I think it might even alienate a bit of her younger female audience, but as said above will attract the gay crowd like flies.

The melodies and choruses just aren't strong enough.

I don't know how the choruses to "Paparazzi" and "Bad Romance" can be considered weak. And I'm pretty sure if Britney had done "Poker Face" most people here would have wet their pants. If we're honest, I think the general problem has to do with Lady Gaga herself rather than her music, which ranges from decent to great pop music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACm9yECwSso

if britney had done poker face it would have been fun but nothing will stop that chorus from sounding awkward to me

probably because it follows verses that seem out of place in comparison and are pretty bad

yeah that and she also kind of swallows the part immediately before "poker face" because there's room in there for a couple more syllables and (shocka) she doesn't have anything to say.

Oh come on with the shockas. You don't have to have anything to say to stick a couple xtra syllables in yr pop song, if you think they're necessary.

I am pleased she has stopped with the visors and the lightning slash and all those other "signature" signifiers - the record company trademark-iness of which rubbed the wrong way against her claims of being a brave iconoclast. It's not the lack of authenticity that grated, but the sense that she was trying to pass off the same image as being two separate things depending on who she was marketing to (i.e. both Spice Girl Readymade-Doll "brand" and David Bowie art-pop experiment) - rather like politicians trying to "position" themselves with regard to illegal immigrants so as to come off like they're on everybody's side, I felt Gaga's strategy came across as never-quite-true to any sincerely-held position.

Now that her costumes have just juped off the deep end into "i had an acid flashback this afternoon and described it to my stylist" territory her schtick seems more of-the-moment and therefore easier to get with. Like she hasn't really thought about how it will be received. To extend the politician analogy, it's like she talked to talked to get into government and now she's just doing what she wants to do.

juped = jumped.

I like juped better.

The chorus to Pokerface is really neat. Almost everything else I've heard has ranged from "eh? to "meh."

x-post

To extend the politician analogy, it's like she talked to talked to get into government and now she's just doing what she wants to do.

OTM, and it will be interesting, to say the least, to see how long a modern career can last when it's built on shocking pop fans and winking at the aforementioned niche groups. How long can she maintain both of them?

jesus

And btw does anyone know who is existentialism girl because I have some existentialism ideas that I would v much like to discuss w someone.

http://1.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ks4tqt7qLJ1qzeu42o1_400.jpg

This is her picture again in case of it helps.

Sasha Grey. She's a porn star who namedrops philosophers and old foreign films in interviews, which makes her a genius.

I bet she'll combine her two loves when she does a porno version of Bergman's "Persona."

With Lady Gaga (thread derail prevented).

I have heard of Sasha Grey! She was in a Stephen Soderbergh movie that I did not see but read about, and maybe (probably) was in Vice Magazine? She look intersting. Anyway, yeah, Lady Gaga.

sasha meh

i've come round to lady gaga b/c:

- have managed to avoid interviews with the woman recently; if she's still going on about how not wearing parts is ~art~ i could just as easily go off her again
- "poker face" is stupidly catchy and even after months of trying to avoid it, it kept earworming me, and eventually i just gave in and put the stupid thing on my ipod. it's a weird mix of great pop rush moments - the "can't read my, can't read my" melody - and reminders of why i hated her in the first place (the singing is kinda flat and unsatisfying, and "bluffin' with my muffin" needs to go away forever)
- she's definitely moved beyond her original "performance art version of a famewhore pop star" schtick, which i found really irritating - she seems to own what she does a bit more now; the "lady gaga is satirising the idea of pop stars" concept was really limiting, especially as that wasn't even her strength. what she's doing now isn't so clear or obvious, and so it's a lot more appealing
- she's not 100% satisfying yet - "bad romance" is a monster but aargh, babytalk chorus, and i'm not keen on any of the other fame monster leaks except the beyoncé duet - and i still resent her for foisting redone on the world, but we're getting there! i'm comfortable enough w/her that i'm actually checking out these leaks. there are worse people in pop to focus my hate on.

I still feel conflicted on this one.

Have recently had some information regarding her background which have made me see her, as a person, in a different light. But I'm not sure that affects my impressions of the Media Event of Gaga.

The videos, visually, have that "wow, did that really actually just happen?!?" WTF-ness that I haven't seen since Bjork videos were at their heyday. But I couldn't actually hum you a single one of her songs. So perhaps she's succeeding as a whacked-out artist showman performance artist type event, but failing as a pop songwriter?

Don't know. But more inclined to give her a chance now.

The 'irony' stance is definitely wanting it "both ways", i.e. a sly wink to the knowledgeable that the 'pop kids' don't notice. Problem is, it doesn't take long until it's either "LOOK LOOK I'M IRONIC EVERYONE!!!" or "Ah heck, I'm enjoying this, let's go!"

Guess LGG is now the latter.

biggest problem w/ the first album was it didn't have any of the gaga 'personality' to it. it just sounded mad generic, like anyone could do it. saying 'but what if britney did pokerface' kind of proves my thinking - if she is going to act like this big special pretentious queen of pop, dont have generic 'could be done by anyone' songs. sure they were catchy, they are pop songs, most of them are.

all of the stuff from the second album sounds really good and like something i'd expect from her personlity tho, so i am coming around to it.

and whoever said her goofiness gets her a free pass upthread is otm.

Love Game is straight garbage. Thought 'The Fame' was pretty poor apart from 3 of the 4 singles.

I cannot see Britney doing Poker Face. Britney is too passive as a vocal presence (especially nowadays) to pull it off.

yeah, otm

she could do the staccato talky parts, just not the big belting melodic part

I feel like Lady Gaga is the least we should expect from pop stars now: Memorable visuals and decent hooks. I find the whole thing grating when people act like she's some kind of innovative paragon.

i mean to say "I only the whole thing grating when..."

musically she's a bit like kanye west in that her songs sort of smush up these amazing, thrilling moments and melodies with intolerably irritating KMT affectations and lyrics, so one minute you're belting along with her and the next you're flinching.

who will her Unexpected Collaborator be for her next album – Brendan O'Brien?

All her singles grow on me gradually and I think eventually I will buy The Fame, but all I really have to add is that I keep wanting her to be "Lady O'Gaga," as in Queen's "Radio Gaga." Alternately, inserting her into David Bowie's "Lady Stardust" kinda works.

inserting her into David Bowie's "Lady Stardust" kinda works.

::stuffs fist into mouth::

The only time I have knowingly heard Lady Gaga was in August, over the coliseum PA during a High School Rodeo at the Minnesota State Fair.

The only thing I wanna know is whether it's "Gaga" or "GaGa." It's the former on her official website, MySpace, and Wikipedia but the latter on AMG and IMDB. Billboard seems confused.

"paparazzi" and "bad romance" are also arguably her best songs, so that might explain the uptick in popularity on this board

― see-those-tit-ies (J0rdan S.), Friday, 13 November 2009 02:27 (17 hours ago)

mm. paparazzi is def one of the highlights of the year for me

Okay, The Fame Monster is seriously perfect.

Like, it makes her first album sound terribly amateurish in comparison.

you don't say!

no seriously.

only one I'm not getting is "So Happy I Could Die," but I'll be listening to this album for a while so I don't count out warming up to it.

i can't imagine listening to lady gaga for a while, to be perfectly honest

I love "So Happy I Could Die", it has this sort of early Pet Shop Boys, melancholic sound to it.

I thought u liked Gaga surmy

i do but the idea of putting an album on makes me kind of sick. sorry i love u

btw after hearing it once, i don't think i ever need to hear alejandro again. it's not even bad, it just doesn't sound like much

alright i'm gonna download this

I liked it better when I just assumed all of ILM hated lady gaga

Wow. Didn't know she had a Speechless in her. It's very Beatlesesque perhaps? Maybe just the guitar solo. But epic balladry and so forth are a good look for her.

Teeth is a great little vamp that has a sort of...20s jazz and/or rockabilly air to it. So Happy etc. needs more time to ruminate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEQdrfFfawM

ZOMG

I love the drums in the chorus to "Monster," they're very HI-NRG ish

It occurs to me that "Bad Romance" is a bit of an inferior retread of Cyndi Lauper's excellent "Into The Nightlife" from the beginning of the year (or so?)... Same producer perhaps.

wow those youtube girls

those youtube girls!!!! their other covers are awesome too - check out "obsessed" and "hello" in partic

best thing i'll see this week, better than gaga

is a bit of an inferior retread of Cyndi Lauper's excellent "Into The Nightlife" from the beginning of the year (or so?)... Same producer perhaps.

late last year, not RedOne, produced by Swedes Astrom & Boback :)

youtube girls!

I didn't want to, but I'm kinda loving "Bad Romance."

http://i30.tinypic.com/20jfclw.jpg

one more resaon to not like her

I didn't want to, but I'm kinda loving "Bad Romance."

― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, November 17, 2009 2:53 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

um, did this really just happen?

seriously tho, the Ooooh's in the chorus of that song remind me of something and i can't place it.

I like the "gaga aroro lala" weirdo part of the song but the rest is draggy.

I didn't want to, but I'm kinda loving "Bad Romance."

― Alex in NYC, Monday, November 16, 2009 9:53 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Me too. It gets played a lot where I work these days and I can't get it out of my head. I do agree with Abbott that the gaga aroro lala part is the best though.

"Dance in the Dark" is awesome.

blergh i hate the chorus in "bad romance." the whole thing is just such a frankenstein of a song, and yeah a couple parts are fun ("gaga aroro lala" and "love love love") but nothing fits together nicely and then the chorus just bursts in with that ugly eurotrash synth and those 'woah-oh-oh's.

i actually like the chorus the most, even tho i strongly believe that the "woah-oh-oh's" part is ripped off something i can't quite put my finger on

but i totally agree that the song is too "frankenstein," and the pieces sound too forcefully fitted together

fwiw, i don't really love the "ra-ra-ga-ga" part

dunno why it just doesn't really move me either way

I'm caving too, "Bad Romance" is tremendous

:-O

well it is

this worthless piece of woman destroys Beyonce's awesome new video in a sublime way

such a shame

xp yup.

It's the mid-1990s Benelux hard trance hoovers on Bad Romance which thrill me the most... very 10 o'clock in the morning at Trade...

the synths on Bad Romance DO sort of sound like something from Outside The Gate

frankenstein of a song otm

i've got this mash-up of the choruses and nonsense hooks from "bad romance" and "poker face" that gets in my head on occasion, but i still get bored when i hear either song (seeing is a bit more engaging) and couldn't sing the verses for you. it's like if young madonna wanted to be old madonna.

"bad romance" would be ok if it didn't rely on that same plodding gaga drum beat

I like "paparazzi" though

poker poker poker poker OOH LA GAGA GAHH

poker poker poker poker MUSHROOM MUSHROOM

I like "Poker Face" but don't really get "Bad Romance" yet---the vocals never really soar like they do on the chorus of "Poker Face", and so there's no resolution to the tension of the "plodding gaga drum beat". It's not a bad song, but I don't hear a monster here.

I understand that both work the same formula but I just think "Bad Romance" does it way better, cooler chant part, better chorus melody, better lyrics, etc.

"poker face" really earwormed me but it's not that satisfactory to actually listen to, unlike "bad romance" - her vocals in the "poker face" verses are really flat and perfunctory, whereas on "bad romance" they actually match the campy, theatrical words. the production on "bad romance" is a lot more varied and interesting too, and of course she doesn't rap about "bluffing with my muffin"

Just Dance > Bad Romance > Paparazzi > Poker Face >>> LoveGame

"Just Dance"? Does that song even still exist?

i dont think i can live in a world where al shilpey loves a lady gaga song

i actually find it sort of hilarious that everyone, including myself, has caved now

yeah upthread i think i mentioned that i was intending to never hear another song of hers, lest i cease loathing her. but "bad romance" is good :(

http://www.tidespoint.com/books/all_aboard3.jpg

bill baggs!

i actually find it sort of hilarious that everyone, including myself, has caved now

― lex pretend, Wednesday, November 18, 2009 8:04 AM Bookmark

sorry pop, still screwfacin'

I HAVE NOT CAVED YET.

I said reevaluating. Not converted.

yeah i still consider her a bad artist and a below-average member of the species fwiw

"telephone" is even better than "bad romance" imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCs9rxGZlyQ

but you can't deny the obvious "Gaga Effect" that's taken place in music since her arrival

but you can't deny the obvious "Gaga Effect" that's taken place in music since her arrival

but you can't deny the obvious "Gaga Effect" that's taken place in music since her arrival

http://brasskeys.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/jonestown_06.jpg

classy

jordan's posts itt are hilarious

One good single in five hardly marks her as essential at this point.

i don't just not dislike lady gaga, i full on like her, but i've got a reluctance about it that's probably why you're all so uncomfortable about coming around to it, too. like it's cool, i'll take it, i'm down with it, but aren't we used to something a little bit better?

top 40 music has always been kinda "it's cool, i'll take it, i'm down with it, but aren't we used to something a little bit better?"

"Bad Romance" and "Poker Face" are stored in the Tony Orlando & Dawn zone of my brain (note: the exact percentage of my brain which is the Tony Orlando & Dawn portion has not been experimentally determined yet and may in fact be 100%)

xp what i meant was, but aren't we used to something a little better from mega huge big deal pop stars. my expectations for the rest of the top 40 are low, obviously.

The Fame Monster is actually quite good, maybe? Like...not just serviceable. Perhaps I'm just pleased to hear some variety. Who knows?

Speechless is really clicking with me today. It works that epic piano/guitar ballad angle very very well. It's not the Beatles (although that opening guitar slide is directly copped from Abbey Road) and it's not Elton, but I can't place who she's stealing from here. It's frustrating. Nonetheless, despite the weird GaGa metaphors and lines about "bubble dreams" and "Johnny Walker eyes" she now has a song that lets her really indulge in vocal melodrama, and acquits herself quite well. It's not attention-grabbing in the way that Telephone is or as perfectly 80s as Dancing in the Dark, but it's an unexpectedly welcome turn.

top 40 music has always been kinda "it's cool, i'll take it, i'm down with it, but aren't we used to something a little bit better?"

― broski dawg (Curt1s Stephens), Wednesday, November 18, 2009 2:26 PM (28 minutes ago)

this is a general-ass statement

That said, the line about "Raise a glass to mend all the broken hearts of all my wrecked-up friends" def. sounds like "rectal" when she slurs it.

i like this song too fwiw. pretty epically constructed track

I just wish I could puzzle of the referent. It's something really obvious. There is SOMEONE who does this kind of piano thing alll the time and it's basically a pro forma version of their steez. This is endlessly annoying, especially since it's normally so OBVIOUS who she's cribbing from. (Not a critique. The musical magpie trait of GaGa is one of her best - see Poker Face's rescue of one glorious melodic line of Aqua's Barbie Girl from an otherwise grating song, Alejandro's Ace of Base-isms, etc.)

Anyone know what I'm talking about viz. Speechless, or am I totally insane.

re: her style in particular -- i really, really liked it at first. it's right up my alley. but i can see it getting old really fast. i mean, if she continues doing the same "crazy, different" thing, it's not going to be exciting anymore. who knows tho, it's early yet.

xp alex, maybe queen? my wife was noting similarities, altho no specific examples come to mind

bad romance is a rly rly great chorus

i cant understand liking her right away ... her presumptuousness was pretty unbearable

man she is severely superfluous on that B track

xp i had reservations but i got over them pretty quickly, altho i think her "weirdness" doesn't show up on record nearly as often or as intensely as i'd like.

there was zero weirdness on tracks like "let's dance"

thats what i mean, she makes pretty standard dance music for all her fashion eccentricities

for pop music, i would think bjork wearing a swan dress to the oscars is weird by most measures, if only because she seemed kind of surprised by ppl thinking it was weird. gaga's steez is a bit of an affectation, but it's at least fun imo.

*for comparison in pop music

I was always surprised that people were so surprised by Bjork wearing a swan dress at the Oscars. Putting her in the worst dressed of all time lists. It's Björk... She never dressed normally, did they expect her to arrive in a Versace satin boob dress?

i've got this mash-up of the choruses and nonsense hooks from "bad romance" and "poker face" that gets in my head on occasion, but i still get bored when i hear either song (seeing is a bit more engaging) and couldn't sing the verses for you.

― da croupier, Wednesday, 18 November 2009 13:00 (10 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

kinda have a pet theory that this is actually something that's subconsciously appealing in all gaga's stuff, some sort of maddening absent centre that's not just down to the whole distracting extraneous pr whirligig but seems to me to be something intrinsic to everything of hers - putting like and dislike aside for a second i'm always quite interested to sit thru any given gaga song again whenever one comes on, just to fill in the gap, and then lose it again. even her face! - i can never really exactly recall what she looks like. it's proper peculiar.

stranger still is that 'bad romance' is the one i don't having trouble remembering how it goes, despite i suppose it being gaga's most contorted ever on the face of it. not that i can back it up particularly intuitively but intuitively speaking i feel its her most linear song yet.

mum mum mum maaaaww

underrated 'telephone' on autogoon yesterday btw! darkchild + harpsichords = massive cognitive yesss

Evidently, "Bad Romance is STEEPED IN THE IMAGERY OF THE OCCULT!!!

No wonder I like it.

hail satan.

apparently everything by her is.

those Vigilant citizen reads on her are interesting though, I'll admit

darkchild + harpsichords

too early for '99 nostalgia

'dance in the dark' is pretty bangin

super goth dance pop (w/ new order style drum fills) abt surviving w/ emotionally abusive bfs ... a lil heavy handed for some tastes perhaps but imo "a good thing"

we know there's a hercules & love affair remix of "bad romance", yes? lucky i already caved, basically

at least when la roux slags off lady gaga i don't have to feel conflicted about defending her any more

god la roux truly is the worst isn't she

fwiw that h&la remix: http://www.last.fm/music/Lady+GaGa/_/Bad%2BRomance%2B%2528Hercules%2B%2526%2BLove%2BAffair%2BRemix%2529

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9erp09-INvA

pharrell:

"Whenever you start your next album, I would love to give you a mean up-tempo."

"I was probably the last one to get it, but, now that I got it, there's no other artist. It's not whether you have blue eyes or a fat ass or can rhyme--it's about a great performance, it's about a performer willing to be theatrical beyond."

First 50 or so posts on this thread are worse than the gay thread on its worst day.

Oh no!!! RIP!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQELoPvdLeQ

this thread really should just be insane gaga pics and insane symbology theories, anyway

how will this thread survive without the cosign of "eric h."?? might as well just lock it

Guys I bought the expanded edition of The Fame Monster in a moment of weakness and decided I do like her alot, especially the new songs. Love her nod to ABBA's "Fernando" on "Alejandro". The non-singles on The Fame grabbed me a lot more than I expected to.

I really like the stuff she has done so far, although I see some reviewers mention her as a "new Madonna", and I guess that is a bit too early. Also reminding them how Cyndi Lauper was still a much bigger phenomenon than Madonna at the start of both's careers.

Love love love love "Speechless".

I feel like Lady Gaga is the least we should expect from pop stars now: Memorable visuals and decent hooks. I find the whole thing grating when people act like she's some kind of innovative paragon.

Innovative paragons haven't become huge international pop stars for at least 25 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpNSYwzjVhw

how will this thread survive without the cosign of "eric h."?? might as well just lock it

― will.i.ban (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, November 24, 2009 12:28 PM (6 days ago)

I'm only sorry I didn't see this in time to give him the 51st SB.

jordan was very testy with this thread from the beginning so I'm not sure why he was defending it from you so vociferously.

Lady Gaga is an affront to Gucci Mane-loving gays everywhere, perhaps?

lol @ both of you guys being so butthurt at someone you won't have to hear from for the next 4 days

4 WEEKS, i mean

xp judging by your 'efforts' on this thread the two of you are infinitely more worthy of sanction than jordan's ever been; any moderator with the slightest regard for what ilx should be about ought to recognise that rather than feebly bleating on about merely being a conduit for the idiot whims of the masses and their precious hurt feelings.

lol stfu all of you

i mean do we really need to do this in another fucking thread?

ooh can we talk about the state of rap here instead?

roffle @ electrocution youtube btw

lol @ both of you guys being so butthurt at someone you won't have to hear from for the next 4 days

― it's a crazy college where you come from (some dude)

why would i be offended by jordan? like i said, he was "defending" this thread while Eric H was the one who was savaging it ever so mercilessly. idk why everyone's trying to bring the dram here, someone bump a political thread or something.

re-lolled @ j0rdan itt

*doesn't analyze*

― see-those-tit-ies (J0rdan S.), Thursday, November 12, 2009 7:27 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

at least 2 other people i know have confirmed that the "oooh-ooh" chorus in Bad Romance sounds annoyingly like it's from something else.

i don't know that this is what i was thinking of, but Jimmy Soul's "if you want to be happy for the rest of your life" uses the same note progression.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NF5XU-k2Vk

It reminds me of something I would hear Ronnie Spector do on a Ronettes track...I should listen to Back to Mono and see if something stands out.

"The Fame Monster" is really strong nonetheless. I see some reviewers claiming that, even though the album is good, none of the tracks are as good as "Poker Face" and "Just Dance", but personally I see "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" as the best she's ever done so far.

No, I agree with "some reviewers", except Poker Face is terrible. But Fame Monster > The Fame. That's for sure. I'm kind of hoping Lady Gaga moves a bit away from the overproduced electropop sound.

but toward what?

I prefer the electropop sound. There still aren't so many acts like that today. Not counting Swedish and Norwegian acts, it's her, La Roux, Kylie Minogue and the odd track by other people such as Britney, Madonna and Rihanna. Still needs more.

Somewhere near the beginning of "Bad Romance", I hear "Kung Fu Fighting"! It is a good song, though, and seems to have a big crossover appeal. Oh, and whoever said something about Lady Gaga's weird anonymity upthread was OTM - I don't know whether it's a side-effect of some of those full-veil costumes (like at the VMAs), but her facial features keep swirling around endlessly, never actually settling on a memorable face. It's almost disturbing - like she has some mad Victorian attic-lady shit going on or something.

i mean, it's just makeup, costumery and cameras . . . . it was really cool at first, now it's kinda cool, and soon i'm gonna be ready to just see her in a pair of jeans and a fucking shirt

Ann Powers has been posting a live review of her show on Twitter tonight.

i would rather choke on my own vomit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNq1jSqakIQ

2nd song is ridic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8CUn2VsgzU

Is "Fever" the same song she gave to Adam Lambert?

I guess I'm the only person who thinks "Bad Romance" is a step backwards after "Paparazzi"?

Certainly it's bordering on derivative.

xp no you're right, it sounds like anime fanvid music

hahahahahaha. otm.

i definitely think Paparazzi kills Bad Romance's ass

i just heard the track MONSTER this morning. as i was listening to it, i was like, what is this amazing music. and as i was bending down to look at the itunes program on my boyfriend's macintosh computer, i knew what i would see in front of me -- the name "Lady Gaga." what do you know, there it was.

and btw musically i think this thread was a good idea. i don't want to have to consider the world of vacuous pop everytime i talk about a lady gaga song :D

Picking up a singles collection in 10 yrs is about how excited I can get for Lady Gaga

something about the placement of her voice in the mix in songs like Monster, Paparazzi and the verses (ONLY THE VERSES ffs) of LoveGame reminds me of like smart, *trashier* oldschool RnB.

and btw just to keep it real
http://www.dlisted.com/files/ladycacaforreal.jpg

girl has definitely had a job of the nose

my god, u r obsessed!

Somewhere near the beginning of "Bad Romance", I hear "Kung Fu Fighting"!

I heard that too, fwiw:

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1625

i am not obsess! but im telling that monster song is kick ass

I do like Lady Gaga, but exactly where is that Gaga effect referred to in the original post here? The only hit from 2009 I can think of that is obviously influenced by Lady Gaga is is "Evacuate The Dancefloor" by Cascada. Some may add La Roux, but they have gone straight to the original source, namely 80s synthpop, and I don't really hear any Lady Gaga in their music.

lol i meant the nosejob thing, I am a little obsessed myself tho, can't stop watching youtube clips of her, it is amazing the energy and polish she brings to the crappiest of daytime tv spots.

oh well i mean i just saw a pic of her recently and her nose actually looked tiny (helped that she was wearing gigantic sunglasses)

so i was like hmmmm

this is all negated by how tiny her nose looks in three yr old clips 4 me

are u making fun of me?

wait what? no i mean yeah her nose is a schnozz in the pic u posted but it really isn't big at all in the way older youtube clips from before she was famous, so u kno, there's way worse things with that picture neway

that pic is just rock and roll tbh

The nosejob may as well be influenced by this woman though:
http://frecuenciax.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/a43amy-winehouse.jpg

no you are right "I know, right?" -- she does appear to have a normal-ish nose in the "before she was famous" youtube clips

i can't bring myself to watch anymore of those tho, it's like OK I GET IT, she played some legit shows BEFORE SHE WAS FAMOUS woooohooooooooo

http://i47.tinypic.com/4rb1gm.jpg

lol was totes gonna post that same picture

speechless isn't bad huh?

sounds like Queen, 'n she played it for the Queen

even hearing a little Beatles in this one

Wow. Didn't know she had a Speechless in her. It's very Beatlesesque perhaps? Maybe just the guitar solo. But epic balladry and so forth are a good look for her.

Teeth is a great little vamp that has a sort of...20s jazz and/or rockabilly air to it. So Happy etc. needs more time to ruminate.

― wrapped up, packed up, ribbon with a donk on it (Alex in Montreal), Monday, November 16, 2009 5:59 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

right. Teeth is fucking awesome.

Still prefer the electropop numbers. When she tries sounding like Queen, she ends up sounding closer to Mika instead. The electropop ones are all ace though.

Teeth is neither, really

saw some interview with her last night. it's like, i'm cool with the ideas behind her "art" -- but she needs to stop using the word "art" so much and dropping references to warhol and shit. it's like, she does have really good ideas, but she markets herself as such a cliche

yeah she needs to make "show don't tell" her mantra

gaagaaolaala-a

worst uhhh...."thing" ever to happen to music

goodnight

The only hit from 2009 I can think of that is obviously influenced by Lady Gaga is is "Evacuate The Dancefloor" by Cascada

heard this song every day when i was home over thanksgiving, god this is a piece of shit

i was thinking of that alexandra burke song maybe?

fucking HELL the synth madness going on under the first round of ra-ma-la-las on "bad romance"

basically playing "paparazzi", "bad romance", "telephone" and "teeth" incessantly now :/

I DON'T WANNA BE FREEEENCH

"he needs to stop using the word "art" so much and dropping references to warhol and shit."

Her interviews are the sole reason that it took me about six months to come around to her records. She reminded me of Placebo's Brian Molko acting if he was the first person in the world to have read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. "Yeah, there's this guy Andy Warhol. You won't have heard of him. He said this really interesting thing about celebrity…" (not a verbatim quote btw)

^^^THIS.

Would that I had been blissfully unaware, I could have enjoyed the music 10x more.

it's like, part of the reason why pop music is so fun is that the artistry in it doesn't have to be so serious. it can be, and should be taken as such at times, but to brand genuinely fun work with a label as generic as "art" or "warhol" seems dumb

to brand genuinely fun work with a label as generic as "art" or "warhol" seems dumb

Or ... smart? I'm curious where she goes with all this. Frankly, the thing that bugs me the most about huge pop stars like Madonna or Beyonce or Rihanna or Mariah or whomever is their total inability - or refusal - to wrestle with the precepts of postmodernism. When any of them do try, it just seems so ... managed. Or mannered. Or maybe in the case of Gaga, dumb. Don't know if she'll do it, but if Gaga ultimately delivers on her nascent subversion (dormroom variety or no), I'd be very happy, because I can't think of the last pop star (US pop star, at least) that pulled that off and had so much apparent fun in the process.

i guess there's a happy medium. she just seems so pleased with herself.

who the fuck wants postmodernism from their pop stars?

in theory i kinda do but in practice i want it to happen by accident

maybe I missed her earlier, annoying interviews, but big interviews namechecking Cindy Sherman and coming out with lines like this actually make me feel better about being such a sucker for "Bad Romance"

"Celebrity life and media culture are probably the most overbearing pop-cultural conditions that we as young people have to deal with, because it forces us to judge ourselves," she said. "I guess what I am trying to do is take the monster and turn the monster into a fairy tale."

"If you're on an island, stranded, and all you have is sticks and leaves and pineapples, you're gonna make a boat out of sticks and leaves and pineapples," she said. "I view glamour and celebrity life and these plastic assumptions as the pineapples. And I spend my career harvesting pineapples, and making pies and outfits and lipsticks that will free my fans from their stranded islands."

i'd probably make pina coladas and chill first but each to his own

or this (this story, great example of an interview trying to come off knowing and snide and just utterly humiliating themselves)

Gaga insists on explaining the concept of her show, which is on the wildly original theme of evolution... So far so predictable, but then she goes on: “My evolution is from the beginning of time, so I start as a cell [she shows me a costume like a geodesic dome], and then I become a vertebrate, and then I become a full animal, and there’s the birth of the economy, and trade and war, and then it’s the Apocalypse. Because we as a society are taught politically and religiously that the Apocalypse is coming, it’s on its way. But what I’m saying with my show is, ‘We’re there right now: this is the Apocalypse.’ The fact that we’re surrounded by cement and we’ve already killed everything means the Apocalypse has happened.

"So the idea for me is to give a sense of repose and solace to my fans, that we’re here, we did it already, and now it’s about accepting where we are and looking more joyfully into the future."

i kind of like those ideas. i like the idea that she's taking ugly things and making them beautiful, to be honest. and it helps the case that she's kind of ugly, herself. but i guess she is repping for a kind of uber-creativity, when it comes to human error and potential. that's pretty cool.

i have never read any interviews w/ her and i think both of those quoted passages are wonderful. brilliant, fun and subversive and a very good way - an inspirational, forward-thinking & creatively engaged way. and that's exactly what i got from her songs and videos without reading the interviews anyway, so i think she does do the "show don't tell" thing pretty well.

i like the idea that she's taking ugly things and making them beautiful, to be honest. and it helps the case that she's kind of ugly, herself. but i guess she is repping for a kind of uber-creativity, when it comes to human error and potential. that's pretty cool.

― Do you love me now? (surm), Thursday, December 17, 2009 5:22 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is what i love most about her, and why i mentioned marilyn manson upthread.

OK, so I've got a chance to see the traveling performance art installation that's called Lady Gaga at the Nokia Theater tonight. Will report back on Illuminati agents, theosophical rituals, and orbiting mind control lasers.

I'm kind of over Gaga talking about 'art' and am now more annoyed with the lip service she pays to her fans. MTV asked her who her favorite artist of the year was and she said "my fans," come the fuck on.

an early xmas gift: fred phelps has discovered lady gaga!

http://jezebel.com/5433133/reverend-fred-phelps-god-hates-lady-gaga

"THOU HADST A WHORE'S FOREHEAD"

She does do the fan service thing a lot, but it hasn't started to grate on me yet. It's kind of cute. She's playing up the "I am like you" card, which seems well-intentioned if slightly manipulative.

Crazy but highly entertaining symbolic exegesis of 'Bad Romance' video.

i always wonder who these videos harm if all the bad stuff is hidden, answer me that crazy christian watchdogs

She does do the fan service thing a lot, but it hasn't started to grate on me yet. It's kind of cute. She's playing up the "I am like you" card, which seems well-intentioned if slightly manipulative.

― Do you love me now? (surm), Wednesday, December 23, 2009 4:11 PM (5 hours ago)

it's just played, it'd be nice if she'd just answer the damn question

:( damn i'm really loving the fame monster, that throaty scream at the end of "speechless" is really something, reminds me of like, courtney love or something

ok phew "dance in the dark" and "telephone" both kinda suck but the first three tracks are pretty awesome

*four

"MONSTER" is still kicking my ass

i had it on at a party the other night, and it sounded so fresh, cutting and inspired.

Wasn't recruited by Illuminati, but the show was tremendously great

"speechless" is beautiful, fuck

teeth has been kinda in my head

"speechless" is beautiful, fuck

^^^my process of appreciation of the fame monster. "speechless is a pretty decent george harrison guitar rip, isn't it --> wow, speechless is really something --> speechless is stuck in my head. always."

The exegesis blog post is amazing. Makes you wonder if Matthew Barney + Bjork = Gaga, but the dates don't quite work.

"If you're on an island, stranded, and all you have is sticks and leaves and pineapples, you're gonna make a boat out of sticks and leaves and pineapples," she said. "I view glamour and celebrity life and these plastic assumptions as the pineapples. And I spend my career harvesting pineapples, and making pies and outfits and lipsticks that will free my fans from their stranded islands."

This is really the heart of the appeal of Gaga for me, aside from the songs being great - - I recognize this thing she's doing, taking all the hugeness of celebrity glamour/pantomime as a toybox that's open to everybody, including big-nosed weirdos who presumably spent their teenage years listening to "Radio Ga Ga" and/or "Lady Stardust" as discussed upthread. This is why the "my fans are my favorite artist" thing works for me - it would undermine the whole fucking point of the show if it weren't a mirror pointed back at the fans encouraging them to fashion their own celebrity out of whole cloth and/or pineapples.

Whether that's a viable dream or not, it makes sense to me. An acquaintance of mine has been doing these choreographed zombie/glitter dress-up shows for ages on a $20 budget with a bunch of keyboards and bearded weirdos. I'm sure you all have come into contact with similar things. Now there might be pitfalls there and the strength of the music as music is going to vary from performer to performer, but the idea that freaks and oddballs who never fit in can by force of will re-create the unobtainable fantasy world they've been fed since birth is groovy. IMO. Of course all this might be just me retreading Camp 101, I dunno, but I think it's neat.

I guess what I'm sort of getting at is that somehow Gaga represents a DIY spirit, applied to pop music, even though nothing about her entire aesthetic is DIY in the slightest - not the music, certainly not the production values (although there is some idea about all the costumes etc. coming out of a stable of her close friends or something)... more that the attitude/posture/relationship to pop is that of an outsider making the scene they want out of what's available to them. If that makes any sense.

(final addendum, all of the above is written from the perspective of a big-nosed weirdo who spent his teenage years listening to Smashing Pumpkins and Billy Joel and would very much like to be famous and surrounded by sexy people in glittered rubber costumes. so i'm a bit biased.)

yeah "speechless" is as much a billy joel bite as anything, at least melodically

Anyone else notice "Bad Romance" nods to/cops from ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down?"

well now i do

i have a half-baked theory going on that gaga's early bog-standard generic stuff was a trojan horse for what she really wanted to foist on the world, and "speechless" and "teeth" bear this out rather

Of course, that's sort of how Eminem started out, too, and for all the subsequent highs, we all know how that turned out.

Eminem started out with bog-standard stuff?

http://www.crossphazer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/eminem_infinite_cover.jpg

well ok, but that wasn't exactly his public first impression. that's pretty much equivalent to gaga's bar band gigs upthread

yeah "Bad Romance" has always reminded me of "Don't Bring Me Down"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs95QrCOvng

Apparently this is Megan Phelps' (of Westboro Baptist Church infamy) version of "Poker Face":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhyx1wtP9S0

I thought those were the lyrics on screen for a moment

i heard Monster coming out of someone's earbuds on a train today. it was exciting. i tried to give him the "oh, i know" look but i'm not sure if he caught on

What's the "Oh, I know" look, surm?

http://raraahahahromaromamagagaoohlala.com/

xp lol i'm not really sure, which is why i don't think he got it either

http://raraahahahromaromamagagaoohlala.com/

― t(o_o)t (ENBB), Tuesday, January 12, 2010 9:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

This page is in Vietnamese. Translate it using Google Toolbar?

the Monster line "Wanna talk to her, she’s hot as hell" is my favorite pop lyric of the moment! yay

http://i49.tinypic.com/2m7xksp.jpg

A+

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1246267/Schoolgirl-10-accidently-hanged-dressing-gown-cord-danced-Lady-GaGa.html#ixzz0dmdoO35R

There is absolutely no reason Lady GaGa's name should have been used in that headline. Pathetic. Definitely a horrifying tragedy, but no reason to publicize it like that.

Is this why you Britishers hate the Daily Mail?

tip, iceberg

That Oprah performance where she's hitting the car windshield w/ a mace and trying so desperately to make it dramatic confirms that she's still biting off more than she can chew with the crazy setpieces (see also: awkwardly sitting at the piano in crazy outfit on SNL, looking down to make sure her fake blood was running on the VMAs). So much of what she does could be awesome if it came off effortless and not so amateurish.

do u like any of her other newer songs besides BR?

I think I've only heard a couple once or twice, and they didn't stick, but again haven't really givent hem a chance to. What are the best ones?

I'm big on "speechless", which is sort of a weird billy joel/queen ballad, and "alejandro" is nice too

monster. alejandro is eh

oh and TEETH

http://content.ytmnd.com/content/2/3/c/23cf3beb3bd3c2199734e20bc363bcfc.gif

Apparently, Daily Mail hate Lady Gaga.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iESKGuXsVJE

one of our local drag performers made a vid to Bad Romance. it's good, y'see:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/L33CqwDq3Lo&hl=en_US&fs=1&";></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/L33CqwDq3Lo&hl=en_US&fs=1&"; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

it's my first time trying to embed anything and I fucked up! nooooooooooooo here's the normal link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L33CqwDq3Lo

oh wtf

"alejandro" is massive imo

lol @ amon gif

welcome to ILX, Ivan

i find "speechless" genuinely moving and "telephone" is such a banger. SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE I LIVE IN GRAND CENTRAL STATION! the crookers remix is great too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAme2dwt--g

yes that is good

I like "So Happy I Could Die" - very nice, striking chord change at the end of the chorus. "Alejandro" is AWFUL though.

I was also really annoyed by this live performance of "Speechless", where at one point she paused and adopted an anguished facial expression, presumably as a heavy-handed means of achieving pathos.

brainflash/fart: LG should cover the title track from Bowie's "Diamond Dogs". I mean, the lyrics are perfect for her.

Ozzy Osbourne likes her

From some of the stage clothes that he used to wear, I can understand why.

So what's this "Retro Physical" song that just leaked out? It's good, but I need to put in context with something. I mean, songs like these don't just get thrown away and unused, do they?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brWT-Skj_Gc

swagger jacker. sounds like Glass Candy.

it's old, like 2007-2008

It is? Somehow that makes me like it even more.

"Speechless" is the weirdest hybrid of Neko Case and Oasis. It's actually not bad, which is even weirder.

Lady Gaga article in the WSJ, pretty interesting analysis if nothing spectacularly novel:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704094304575029621644867154.html?mod=djemLifeStyle_h

xp yea but there's also something strongly burlesque to it, in the style of a western -- something you would expect to hear in a saloon scene in a movie by quentin tarantino.

Bad Romance and Dance in the Dark just made sense for me this morning. buggin. Dance in the Dark is wonderfully subtle and epic at the same time. and Bad Romance actually made me cry :/

try not to gag

lady gag

lady gagger

gaga reflex

airport Gagage handlers

The Legend of Gaga Vance

ahhhahahahahahahahahaha

warning: right-wing religious homophobia

http://videogum.com/archives/parodies/god_hates_lady_gaga_111821.html

the video within, not the link. gabe's great obv

omg the little "god hates you" poorly done background voice in the first verse cracked my shit up

"Speechless" is in my head to stay, but before I know it I'm singing Westlife's "Swear it again". Surely I can't be the only one??

http://soundcloud.com/djcremoso/poker-face-dj-cremoso-remix

can't believe how good "Telephone" is. The Fame Monster at large is pretty amazing, it almost makes me want to forgive the likes of LoveGame and theBeautiful Dirty Rich for their indiscretions

B-b-but "Love Game" is fantastic!

n-n-no

'telephone' video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ95z6ywcBY

coulda been better , eh?

wasn't as good as Paparazzi or Bad Romance. Camp can't just be camp, it has to be done exceedingly well and this came off as a bit film student project.

yeah, like they lost direction about 1/3 of the way thru

i feel like Videophone was a lot better than this

absurd amounts of product placement in this (including lol polaroid)

definitely came dangerously close to being a Virgin commercial.

started to press play until i saw 9:32 on the time display, fuck outta here gaga

why does caring about making good videos always inevitably translate to making tediously long videos where half of it doesn't even have any music

she looks disarmingly winehouse-ish in parts

that was a bit of a mess. chopping up the song so much is annoying, the dialogue is heavy-handed and unfunny camp, the thelma & louise stuff a massive cliché and the whole sexy-lesbian-prisoner aesthetic makes me cringe a bit. shoulda been so much better!

(really like the song though.)

Version of this from the J Ross show last week was pretty stomping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtYDN-kCjJ4

why does caring about making good videos always inevitably translate to making tediously long videos where half of it doesn't even have any music

― some dude, Thursday, March 11, 2010 11:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

this is otm

i dunno, i was pretty entertained.

why does caring about making good videos always inevitably translate to making tediously long videos where half of it doesn't even have any music

― some dude, Thursday, March 11, 2010 11:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

this is otm

― hitler runoff (J0rdan S.), Friday, March 12, 2010 9:06 AM (52 minutes ago) Bookmark

always with weirdly awkward dialogue

this would be awesome if you cut out all the non singing bits

http://i41.tinypic.com/242zxhc.gif

should really be disgusted by this turn of events cf minaj thread but somehow with beyonce i have to kind of relish the immediate & brutal signature chokehold on any new bitch in the game. this is a stick-up, stick-up, i need them bags or that moneyyyy~~~~

http://i44.tinypic.com/zu5klg.gif

dialogue is delib stilted in this vid tho surely plax..? unless you were talking about ships n sarge, in which case i have no explanation.

been listening to fame monster a lot lately and have concluded that 1/ there is no validity in any hipster free pass that remarks favourably on the dire and unnecessary 'speechless', and 2/ based on his work here redone stands up to any pantheon of producer/muse conceptual synergy ever, he's fantastic.

well like i said i haven't even watched the thing yet, just the length discouraged me from getting excited about the YOUTUBE WORLD PREMIERE and i'll just watch it when it's on MTV Hits instead. but "Paparazzi" is one of my least favorite videos by her so my hopes weren't really high anyway.

yah alright man no shots fired! fwiw 'paparazzi' does nothing for me either.

ok lmao @ all of this, especially the point where the song finally starts, all the dialogue in the car, and Black Ty getting third billing for coughing for 30 seconds and then dying

I dug this. I don't really watch music videos, though, so it was more like, hey cool, 10-minute movie with Gaga and Beyonce that features their song. The gleeful borrowing of B-movie tropes felt very Tarantino to me -- and this was before the Pussy Wagon even showed up.

B thought she was doing Jackie Brown but she was still Foxy Cleopatra

Thought the two of them were more like Vernita Green/Beatrix Kiddo.

rtc plz explain your distaste for the great "speechless"!!

well basically i guess it strikes me as a demonstration of her hokey vegas cabaret side that's needlessly explicit in comparison to how the furious intuitive synthesis of the uptempo europop stuff works (stuff which covers the 'speechless' ground just the same anyway imo). i can see the argument for it working in conceptual concert with the other songs, or even just as a change of pace on the album, but it seems strange if not outright suspect to me why anyone would foreground that track in particular as evidence of something new or worthwhile in gaga's oeuvre.

also i think it sucks.

yeah i'll get with that last thing you said - i do like it as a distilled one-off of her usually more subtle showtunish side. don't think i could deal with an entire album of them but i like it for what it is

lol and this is an xp

leaving aside 'teeth' maybe do you really find it so great you'd take it over any other of the tracks on the album?

it seems strange if not outright suspect to me why anyone would foreground that track in particular as evidence of something new or worthwhile in gaga's oeuvre.

― r|t|c, Friday, March 12, 2010 4:11 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

agreed insofar as i find it par for the course, as opposed to great.

no love for Teeth = no credibility

'teeth' in comparison i can leave up to personal preference - just not my style i guess - but again would you hold it up to the other 6 songs that aren't 'speechless'? those two tracks seem to me to be an aside from the tru meat of what makes fame monster awesome.

Teeth is definitely a stylistic aside, but i find the songwriting and vocal performance in it so genuine as to stand ground beside the other tracks. The retro styling isn't as contrived as it is on Speechless.

plus it's fun to sing

always lol @ the lyric " i cannot text u with a drink in my hand, eh "

haha that reminds me that i forgot to get round to mentioning lex being otm on the ilm poll thread about always hearing "je veux ton amour I DONT WANNA BE FREEENCH" on bad romance

I think I mentioned on Singles Jukebox that I am almost positive that it's "cannot text you while drinking my henney" but idk, I need to listen to a live performance and see if it's clearer there.

"There was this really amazing quality in 'Paparazzi,' where it kind of had this pure pop music quality but at the same time it was a little bit of commentary on fame culture," she said of her first hook-up with director Jonas Åkerlund, who also helmed the "Telephone" mini-movie. "I wanted to do the same thing with this video — take a decidedly pop song, which on the surface has a quite shallow meaning, and turn it into something deeper: the idea that America is full of young people that are inundated with information and technology and turn it into something that is more of a commentary on the kind of country that we are."

http://nolongerquivering.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/anim_smileyBARF.gif

haha seriously

super lame

ya'll are rong this is a great music video, much prefer it to the song. it's really funny.

oh i totally agree, so-so song, entertaining video

entertaining if you're into that ADD, recycled-tricks thing

well it's not 9 and a half minutes entertaining, but when they inevitably cut it down for TV it could be worth repeat viewings

pretty hilarious how she hyped it up like it was gonna put the "Bad Romance" video to shame though

My thoughts, from my blog:

The new Lady Gaga video, "Telephone," appeared today. As with her last four clips, it's an elaborate spectacle framing a song that's decent at best. I like Gaga's videos and many of her costumes, and her live performances - the bloody MTV Awards one in particular - are excellent. But her music continues to be utterly dependent on the visuals. It's a total package of which the purely sonic component is still the weakest part. "Bad Romance," "Paparazzi" and "Love Game" are good songs; "Poker Face" is half a good song (the imitation-Peaches portions sink the rest); I can't remember what "Just Dance" sounded like and don't feel like looking it up on YouTube to remind myself. And right now, less than a half hour after watching the "Telephone" video for the first and so far only time, I can't remember the song. This is partly because unlike any previous Gaga video, the song is not allowed to play from beginning to end; it's chopped up and bracketed by several dialogue and action sequences, some of which (the women's-prison segments) work very well, some of which (everything with Beyoncé) don't work very well at all.

Honestly, Beyoncé's presence is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for me. I don't like her music at all - her ballads are histrionic and bland, and her attempts to be uptempo and "hard"/"street" are unconvincing, when they're not just plain boneheaded ("Diva") - and her visual style is nowhere near as interesting as Gaga's. And perhaps most importantly of all, she's not weird or shocking, ever, which makes me wonder why she's in this video/on this song. What she does and what Gaga does are almost totally opposed. And crucially, Gaga looks like the future, while Beyoncé looks like the past. Which makes me wonder if the idea of the collaboration was Gaga's...

Oh, well; at least Beyoncé isn't just doing her usual thing here. Instead, she's dressed/made up like a RealDoll and singing/reciting dialogue in a hyper-stylized voice...basically, playing Nicki Minaj. Who has in turn been playing Lil' Kim (specifically, the Lil' Kim of the "How Many Licks" video) for a couple of years now. So she's found a new, twice-removed way to be uninteresting. An achievement of some small sort, I guess.

As far as Gaga's part of this production, it's a step down from "Bad Romance" and "Paparazzi" despite being a dramatically higher-budget operation - and yeah, you can see it all on the screen. Director Jonas Åkerlund has abandoned the labored grittiness of his videos for The Prodigy and Metallica and gone full LaChappelle here - I'm surprised the thing wasn't shot in Technicolor. The first third or so, which takes place in a high-glam women's prison and features a hermaphrodite joke in its opening minute that actually made me laugh out loud, is the best part of the whole near-ten-minute thing. The costumes are great, mixing the aesthetics of porn, gang culture, and Broadway in a way that really works. Gaga's thinner than she's been in previous clips, and she's wearing even less clothing, at one point dancing in a studded bra and thong with her hair half-bleached and curled with Diet Coke cans (the most subtle product placement in a film bursting with it) and looking like a demonic Amy Winehouse.

When she leaves prison and hooks up with Beyoncé, driving away in Uma Thurman's "Pussy Wagon" from the Kill Bill movies, my heart sank a little.

Previously, Gaga's stolen everything that caught her eye - costumes from old Samantha Fox videos and The Night Porter, imagery and a general vibe from Matthew Barney, Alien and The Warriors, Japanese kegadol (girls in bandages) fetishism...not to mention all the occult symbolism...but she's always made it her own. Gaga-world has always been its own thing until now, with references to Earth that were recognizable, but not blatant and pandering. The presence of the "Pussy Wagon" is clumsy, lowering the whole video to the level of rappers reciting dialogue from Scarface.

The video pretty much goes off a cliff from there - Beyoncé goes to a diner, poisons Tyrese (things perk up again when Gaga is seen in the kitchen, poisoning everyone's food as a recipe appears onscreen), and then the two women dance and sing in a diner full of corpses before driving off in the "Pussy Wagon." The End.

The mini-movie-ness of "Telephone" (which, lyrically, has nothing to do with any of this, though both Gaga and Beyoncé are seen using telephones at several points during the clip) points out what's been becoming more and more obvious with each succeeding Gaga clip - she's not writing songs, she's writing musical numbers. Without the visuals, they're no more interesting than it would be to listen to a Busby Berkeley number on TV in another room. I may well watch this video another time or two, though I doubt it - it's just not as good as her last two or three have been. But would I listen to the song by itself? Absolutely not. As I said above, even right now I can't remember what it sounded like. That seems like bad news for her label, which almost certainly had to lay out some money for a production this elaborate, no matter how many product placements they shoehorned in.

Well, to be fair, it says "to be continued ..." so I'm going to withhold judgement until I know for sure how it ends.

That said, I love how she changes costume from scene to scene ... in prison! Awesome.

haha there must be like 80 other music videos that end with "to be continued" that you're still earnestly awaiting the resolution of

it basically does the same thing that has pissed me off abt every music video ever that has as much talking as it does of the song, I feel like it would be a tougher act to compress her visuals and narrative into something that expands/explodes what a music video is w/o adding a five minute of a student film with crazy-high production values.

But would I listen to the song by itself? Absolutely not. As I said above, even right now I can't remember what it sounded like. That seems like bad news for her label, which almost certainly had to lay out some money for a production this elaborate, no matter how many product placements they shoehorned in.

― neither good nor bad, just a kid like you (unperson), Friday, March 12, 2010 6:55 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

had u heard the song before watching the video? it took me a few listens.

kind of hilarious to rate LoveGame over Poker Face, Telephone or Just Dance.

I like Gaga's videos and many of her costumes, and her live performances - the bloody MTV Awards one in particular - are excellent. But her music continues to be utterly dependent on the visuals. It's a total package of which the purely sonic component is still the weakest part.

i feel like this is the antithesis of my reaction to the whole lady gaga phenomenon. the costumery, shenanigans and bloodwork are all slightly cloying if entertaining in their shock appeal, but through it all, you end up finding out that the music is actually kick-ass.

yeah i didn't realize anyone liked that song -- it was pretty lucky for her career momentum that the "Paparazzi" video leaked before "LoveGame" could get a proper chance to try and fail

Always seemed like she was repeating Madge's career on ffwd, but between Bad Romance and Telephone, feels like Gaga's gone all the way from Vogue to Hanky Panky or something.

x-post Yeah, I think this is one of her strengths. She assumes that everyone recognizes that the songs kick ass, so instead moves on and turns her attention to the visuals, which don't really support the music or enhance it but supplement it.

she's already more pretentious than Madge in full British accent mode

the "Bad Romance" video totally supports and enhances the song

i dunno i think the papparazzi blood thing could have been exactly what you're saying surm, but the way she sang that line while she starts to drip with blood is what makes it amazing, its one of the few moments where she's temporarily gelled as the whole package for me.

wait sorry i didn't read your post properly, my one neither agrees or disagrees with u!

yea i totally love some of her visuals, but i find them secondary. like i don't put lady gaga on for the spectacle, i put her on for the songs.

the blood thing was so weak sauce! she totally broke character to look down and make sure the blood was coming out, probably because she wasn't hearing the gasps of shock she'd expected.

^ haha

Well I loved the video, it was so fucking cheesy! It was so knowingly kitsch and tongue in cheek, I even loved the god awful stilted dialogue, the broken mirror line is the best.
Fashion wise it was brilliant, the prison chic was excellent, Beyonce looked perfect as usual, I like her Betty Page wig and GaGa's telephone hair. Loved the 'eh-eh-eh-eh-eh' bits and Tyrese's surely award worthy performance, it was just all round hilarious.
Didn't like the incessant product placement or how long it was and I wish GaGa would stop trying to justify her 'art' until she can actually explain herself clearly.

"Told you she didn't have a dick"
"Too bad"

(Still not as great as the trolololololo vid tho)

ya the mirror line was great - and when B's feeding her the sammich in the beginning

did a side by side comparison of GaGa and Roisin Murphy videos last night, inspired by gin. GaGa's are so much more... American.

Roisin's videos are rediculous

I don't know why I ever had anything bad to say about "Bad Romance" on this thread

feels like Gaga's gone all the way from Vogue to Hanky Panky or something

not sure what you mean because Hanky Panky came straight after Vogue, so its the same timescale!

lol good point, i totally forgot Vogue was on the Dick Tracy soundtrack!

I think "Telephone" is a great song. For Rihanna, it represents probably her best ever single.

the 12 month variation in style between Dear Jessie and Justify My Love has never been matched by a pop star

you mean Beyonce

xpost

For some reason I thought Geir was attempting some incredible zing.

"probably" being the operative morbsesque word there

the 12 month variation in style between Dear Jessie and Justify My Love has never been matched by a pop star

― mdskltr (blueski), Saturday, March 13, 2010 5:57 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lololol

the 12 month variation in style between Dear Jessie and Justify My Love has never been matched by a pop star

Depends on your definition of a pop star. The Beatles, for starters.

Madonna should never have made "Justify My Love" though. Still horrible and worthless crap.

Wanna read something terrible?

The Beatles, for starters.

doubtful, but let's have your example (4 or more singles in a year all markedly different stylistically)?

sequence is different in the US tho (Keep It Together not a single in UK)

Shit just 1966 alone:

"Paperback Writer" / "Rain" · "Yellow Submarine" / "Eleanor Rigby"

How about 1968 these songs are all EXTREMELY different:

"Lady Madonna" / "The Inner Light" · "Hey Jude" / "Revolution"

b-sides don't count!

for the beatles they do

Pretty sure some of those are double A sides.

Bad Romance is easily one of the best pop songs of the 2ks.

she looks pretty good in panties and bra, but I will challenge Gaga to a dance-off with one leg tied behind my back.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_kz6kc57O1K1qzw3gpo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0RYTHV9YYQ4W5Q3HQMG2&Expires=1268611622&Signature=Cyzbb4KamrjExe%2BZlVwt6Eq5QC8%3D

I have the same sunglasses as the chick on the right.

So what's all this I've been hearing about some Gaga video where she wears a jacket with GISM and DOOM patches? I have friends who listen to nothing but grindcore and harsh noise who are all pumped about Lady Gaga.

Yeah this just came up in my blog reader - t-shirts taking off Black Flag logo, mock up of Doom's Police Bastard EP etc:

http://damagingnoise.blogspot.com/2010/03/and-mere-minutes-later.html

Reminds me of David Beckham in a Crass t-shirt.

Heh looks like the Doom/Black Flag pics were done by someone from the Profance Existence board, v impressive photoshop skills tho!

haha that blog is hilarious

I have the same sunglasses as the chick on the right.

― How to Make an American Quit (Abbott), Sunday, March 14, 2010 1:55 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark

the chick on the right is Lady GaGa's sister

ohokay, cos there was a shot where i thought that WAS gaga, looks a lot like she did in the old clips of her w/ dark hair

yeah exactly, me too

Maluca didn't invent can rollers, lots of Gaga stuff is derivative but come on

I dig this video

i like beyonce and lady gaga together a lot

I liked their dialogues much more than their song and dance routine

I agree that Gaga outclasses Beyonce in this video and I like unperson's idea that this collab was Gaga's idea, sort of her showing the world that Beyonce is two thousand and LATE

lol, apparently MTV banned this video

mtv show videos?

um i watched this video on MTV the other day? and i mean it was the whole thing, bleeped swears and pixellated asses were virtually the only changes i noticed.

People watch MTV?

there exist people?

the AMTV video block every morning is pretty good, kinda what people were demanding for years and years (albeit in a timeslot when only people like me with newborn babies are awake and at home)

http://angryape.com/news/lady-gagas-telephone-video-not-banned-by-mtv

Speaking about the 'Telephone' video - which you can see here - Gaga revealed she was inspired by Tarantino when making the clip.

wow, really?

http://techpolicy.typepad.com/iamadamsmith/11-12-02-pwagon.jpg

never would have guessed!

i believe they mean she literally got the idea from QT in a conversation she had w/ him

she can't dance, she can't act and she has those cold dead eyes but she has written some great songs (although, i don't think this is one of them). the thing that really irritates me about her is her complete lack of style, only a kind of desperation to have an effect and she's do anything to have some kind of impact. this is her at her most desperate - smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense.