Lady Gaga needs her own thread

kinda expected i'd catch more shit for praising redone to the skies upthread. listening to how poor his track on the new usher is - as mostly all his outside work is - i almost want to suspect he does it deliberately just to create the drab landscape he tears up with gaga.

he'd produced some good trax here and there pre-gaga (kat deluna's "whine up" and "run the show", christina milian's "l.o.v.e.") but i guess circa gaga's emergence realised that the overdone electropinkpound formula was proving rather successful, so just went full-bore on it. (and i blame him for the sundry copyists, too.) haven't heard the usher track but gaga obviously forces redone to up his game - specifically the way the sound of the fame became so ubiquitous probably made them realise that he couldn't get away with repeating his usual formula. the synth madness on "bad romance", esp the shit going on under her first round of rah-rah-ah-ah-ahs, is still astonishingly good.

still have to mount a defense of "speechless" at some point...

Her career is pretty much unblemished from the standpoint of influence and commercial success from 1982 through 2002; it wasn't until American Life that people started giving her the stinkeye

In Europe, "Ray Of Light" was considered a return to form after two way below-par albums. I know they fared slightly better in the US, but she was largely written off here by the mid 90s.

1992 Erotica

* Released: October 20, 1992
* Label: Maverick, Sire, Warner Bros.

US: 2
Australia: 1
Austria: 5
Canada: 1
France: 10
Germany: 5
Italy: 3
Switzerland: 4
UK 2

* World: 5,000,000
* US: 1,890,000
* US: 2× Platinum
* CAN: 2× Platinum
* AUS: 3× Platinum
* UK: 2× Platinum

1994 Bedtime Stories

* Released: October 25, 1994
* Label: Maverick, Sire, Warner Bros.

US: 3
Australia: 1
Austria: 7
Canada: 2
France: 7
Germany: 4
Italy: 7
Switzerland: 4
UK: 2

* World: 8,000,000
* US: 2,309,000
* US: 3× Platinum
* EU: 2× Platinum
* CAN: 2× Platinum
* UK: Platinum

I can see how going multiplatunum and being top-ten albums across several different European countries could be seen as a sign of her being written off.

and like, the editing with all the food? i mean . . . why are we focusing on nasty scramble plates covered in syrup in a song about HER CELL PHONE

― big (surm), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 13:42 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

because she is poisoning people for calling her while she's trying to dance

― smoking cigarette shades? it doesn't even make any sense. (HI DERE), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 13:44 (2 weeks ago) Permalink

this response still cracking me up

^_^

and i know that it's complicated
but i'm a loser in love, so baby
raise a glass to mend all the broken hearts
of all my wrecked up friends

the pure ridiculousness and vocal power behind the line "i don't wanna be friends" in Bad Romance is fucking great

tonight i'm not takin no calls cuz i'll be dancin. i'll be dancin

the backing vocals in telelphone are something else: disturbed, big but compressed, luscious like a sea

and props to beyonce for her vocal solo

said this in my jukebox review but "telephone" strikes such a chord b/c it's obv not just about escaping yr boyfriend's hassling - it's about escaping these constant, intrusive lines of communication, blackberrys* buzzing and phones ringing, all these demands on your attention which, as wonderful as they are, completely do your head in at times. it rings true because the majority of clubs i've been in seem to have no/limited reception so the club as a place of escape from all of that is something i recognise.

*it's pluralised like this, right? as is proper noun

Well, also, going to the club has always had an "escape" function in pop, that resonates with people, so you tie that in with the specific escape from jealous bothersome nagging boyfriend (which is something people go to the club for, especially with their girlfriends - - - hence why this song has to be a duet with SOMEBODY to really work), and with the escape from texts/Facebook/etc., and "just dance."

Always as in since 2001?

uh what? u think club dancin pop songs started in 2001?

Lazy zing; I take that back

my thought was that the specific 'in da club' conceit is fairly new to urban pop, which is retarded, though I do think it's become lazy pop shorthand like rhyming 'crazy' and 'baby'

the club's functioned as a place of escape (and liberation, self-discovery etc) in pop for 30+ years now!

and yeah i agree that gaga's tapping into that deliberately, but tying it to a very specifically 2010 thing that people want to escape from is what lends it that extra frisson of recognition

Yeah! It's a nice, neat maneuver I think.

I like Lady Gaga a lot, but there's no way I'm going to pay $60 to see her at the fuckin' Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Sorry, Stephanie.

$60 for what exactly?

also btw this is maybe kinda obvious but the whole jailbreak, Thelma and Louise story of the video is the perfect blown-up, giant-size version of your best pal calling up and saying "leave that loser at home, let's go dance our troubles away."

Also, also, that little skip-step sashay thing that Gaga does just as she's being let out of prison is basically the funniest thing she's ever done, kills me every time.

omg YES

saw a pair of tickets advertised at face value on a toronto message board; $350 or somesuch. And the loonie is almost at par with the US dollar lately. Feel better? :P

$60 for a ticket for a seat in the farthest reaches of the monstrous Xcel Energy Center. Pff, no way.

fuck that

the xcel center is a really good arena though, in terms of sound and viewpoints....the stands are so steep that even the far up seats aren't that bad IMO....i saw tool in the nosebleeds and it was fine

$60 is too much for me. If it was, like, Kraftwerk, I'd go.

Lady Kraga.

Laftgerk.

bad computer romance

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

By pressing down a special key
It plays a little melody

(cue opening shots of "Bad Romance" vid)

really disappointed in Alejandro as next single

weakest track imho

"alejandro" and "so happy i could die" are the ones i really haven't got into yet - too cheesy for me, too poppers o'clock

"dance in the dark" should've totally been the next single (though it reeaaaallly needs to lose the diana reference)

personally v glad 'alejandro' is the next single since i've long hoped it gets co-opted as a football chant 4 my team's ace argentinian midfielder. ^_^

besides that though i am quite fond of it, albeit probably for no reasons that will stand up to critical scrutiny - perhaps it's to me what 'speechless' is to yall in terms of indefensible caseous extremity? but less wrong obv.

this (and the mia thread sorta) reminds me that i really should have got back to lex when he rightly called me out for apparent brit seaside cheese double standards on the dizzee thread way back when - v fine line i'm not sure i can be bothered with right now though.

"so happy i could die"

This one's killer. One of my favorites on the album.

Finally breaking down and ordering Fame and Fame Monster vinyl. Excited!!

' so happy i could die ' is one of the most poignant songs i have ever heard. the accuracy with which she depicts a night of drunk emotion, best friend in tow, and a life of " superficial " thrill-seeking is almost too much for me to bear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXqXsZfInJw&feature=channel

one thing i love about Telephone is that you can hear the grit in the teeth in the stuttering of t-t-t-t-t-t-t-

it's hot

i figured out what they're playing in the Telephone video in the scene where she's outside with all the inmates: gaga's Paper Gangsta.

which i actually love, i had never heard it before ?

uhhhh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haHXgFU7qNI&feature=player_embedded

actually amazing

I can see how going multiplatunum and being top-ten albums across several different European countries could be seen as a sign of her being written off.

"True Blue" and "Like a Prayer" both hit #1 virtually everywhere.

'telephone' is hitting me in a way that other gaga singles haven't. the buzzsaw synths sound absolutely caustic on nice headphones. <3 darkchild

yes, surprisingly, for such a dance-oriented track, "telephone" is definitely a headphones song

I have been listening to the instrumental and it's fire