Lady GaGa - Born This Way [May 23, 2011]

http://i53.tinypic.com/aeo28x.jpg

Single premieres this Friday! WHO'S EXCITED?!? I wonder if she can top The Fame Monster (which is pretty much perfect)...

font is cool but i wouldn't have even guessed that was her if i just saw the image w/ no type

please it looks just like her

She looks like the old dude who runs the Shell station across the street from me.

someone should've popped that zit

http://blogue.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Marilyn-Manson-ps03.jpg

aw

does her tattoo say "TORT LOVE"

cant wait til her fans get horns implanted in their foreheads

hate the font/cover art in general, but looking fwd to the tunes

that font is pretty much the same as that one M83 record right

tokyo love

http://i51.tinypic.com/erhrfk.jpg

should have picked a tattoo artist w/ better handwriting imo

Single cover looks too much like an 1980 underground disco album, but maybe that's the point. Looking forward to album.

I anxiously await it.

i'm seeing her live in april -- assuming she'll play at least a few of her new tunes by then

Lady Gaga’s new album, Born This Way, does not come out until May, but the first single, of the same name, is, by the time you are reading this, no doubt blaring from the radio. I first hear the song when Gaga, iPod in hand, gets up from the sectional where we have been sitting, walks over to the stereo, plugs it in, and then looks at me and says, “Are you ready? I don’t think you’re ready.” She turns it up to eleven. The song at first sounds suspiciously like a Madonna tune and then switches into something that feels a bit like a Bronski Beat hit and then finally transforms into its own thing: a Gaga original. Clearly an homage to the obscure underground disco record “I Was Born This Way”; it is an unbelievably great dance song, destined to be the anthem of every gay-pride event for the next 100 years.

She tells me that Elton John pronounced it the “gayest song” he had ever heard. “I wrote it in ten fucking minutes,” she says, “and it is a completely magical message song. And after I wrote it, the gates just opened, and the songs kept coming. It was like an immaculate conception.” She plays a few more songs and mentions a few others—with tantalizing titles like “Hair,” “Bad Kids,” and “Government Hooker.”

The second single to be released is called “Judas” and is, typically, a mash-up: The melody sounds like it was written for the Ronettes, but it is set to a sledgehammering dance beat and is about falling in love with backstabbing men of the biblical variety. Another song, “Americano,” which she describes as like “a big mariachi techno-house record, where I am singing about immigration law and gay marriage and all sorts of things that have to do with disenfranchised communities in America,” has a resounding Piafesque chorus. Turns out it was intentional. “It sounds like a pop record, but when I sing it, I see Edith Piaf in a spotlight with an old microphone.” (Piaf is an apt reference—they both evince a similar brand of heroic vulnerability.) But, she says, “there are some very rock-’n’-roll moments on the album, too: There’s a Bruce Springsteen vibe, there’s a Guns N’ Roses moment. It’s the anthemic nature of the melodies and the choruses.” She feels it’s different from—and better than—anything she’s done before. “It is much more vocally up to par with what I’ve always been capable of. It’s more electronic, but I have married a very theatrical vocal to it. It’s like a giant musical-opus theater piece.”

http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/lady-gaga-our-lady-of-pop/

this is v exciting

^^^

tantalizing titles like “Hair,”

is there any word on what producers worked on this album?

a gis comes up w/ a bunch of different images, what cover are you guys on about itt?

huh sorry one at the top of the thread didnt load last time for some reason

LADY SASA

tantalizing titles like “Hair,”

looooool

lol "hair", artists with songs already called "hair" in my itunes include pj harvey and ashley tisdale.

fyi there is a zip file of a couple of versions of that disco song they mention here - http://www.gagafrontrow.net/2011/02/born-this-way-covers-others-mp3.html

(plus some delete-on-sight fan remixes which presumably used shonky live footage?)

it is a completely magical message song
it is a completely magical message song
it is a completely magical message song
it is a completely magical message song
it is a completely magical message song
it is a completely magical message song
it is a completely magical message song
it is a completely magical message song
it is a completely magical message song
it is a completely magical message song

Different "A"s but identical "G"s on cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDiRSv2wFi4

it was on Pet Shop Boys Chris Lowe's Back To Mine compilation. a great track to steal from to be fair, hats off.

i'm still waiting for a GaGa track that's as good as her meat dress.

Elton John's been a one-man Gaga publicity guy for a couple of weeks.

xp to fit - uppercase G vs lowercase G; all As lowercase..

that font is pretty much the same as that one M83 record right

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 9 February 2011 03:36 (Yesterday)

marina and the diamonds morelike

LADY SASA

― if there is a King Moaty, apparently he is huge into slapstick. (a hoy hoy), Thursday, February 10, 2011 12:08 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

loooooool

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

Still showing no false modesty, Lady Gaga says of herself now, “Speaking purely from a musical standpoint, I think I am a great performer. I am a talented entertainer. I consider myself to have one of the greatest voices in the industry. I consider myself to be one of the greatest songwriters. I wouldn’t say that I am one of the greatest dancers, but I am really quite good at what I do.”

lol

love it

and... she's right!

HFS this rocks!

ughhhh she gets an automatic demerit for premiering this on perez hilton http://perezhilton.com/2011-02-11-lady-gaga-born-this-way-single-premiere-debut

apparently it premiered on a bunch of stations just now... it's everywhere now

found a link on one of the gaga sites.

ufghhdhjdjd it totally rips off something that i can't quite put my finger on - the chorus melody - some 90s pop dance hit - AARGH

i havent heard it (im at stupid work) but i keep seeing ppl referencing express yrself

it totally rips off something that i can't quite put my finger on - the chorus melody

I KNOW! It's driving me nuts.

"Express Yourself" is totally OTM. It's got this great buzzing drone in the background that hits all the right spacerock buttons

It kind of follows the same melody as Madonna's "Express Yourself," but I still don't know if that's what I was initially thinking of.

it sounds kinda like gina g but that's not the song i'm thinking of

the font is p much gerald scarfe

If you stripped all the technology out of this and just used some crummy guitar/drums/bass setup, it sounds like something Sheryl Crow would do (or Cher in the '70s).

i think it was "express yourself" that i was thinking of

weirdly i like it better now that's off my mind but...this isn't great, si it? catchy, would dance &c &c but def not great.

Express Yourself + Vogue + Confessions on a Dancefloor

+ ooh aah just a little bit

a twitter friend says it reminds her of dannii minogue but i can't vouch for that due to shameful* unfamiliarity w/the dannii minogue back catalogue

*not shameful

it even has the "express yourself" cowbells

The whiff of Gina G/Geri Halliwell type naffness is why I've never really been able to come round to Gaga, despite seemingly everyone else in the world having done a complete 180 on her.

also i REALLY HATE wannabe gay anthems that are as obvious as this - i just imagine someone rubbing their hands together and counting their anticipated profits and thinking how much the stupid gays will lap this shit up

Popjustice says the original version(s) they heard last year were had a much cleaner, less terribly busy mix, and that this one was just finalized this past Sunday. The production in this final version is so crowded it's distracting.

also i REALLY HATE wannabe gay anthems that are as obvious as this - i just imagine someone rubbing their hands together and counting their anticipated profits and thinking how much the stupid gays will lap this shit up

― lex pretend, Friday, 11 February 2011 10:21 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^

You make it sound like that's not going to happen anyway.

i also hate that those people are entirely right, and the stupid gays WILL lap this shit up

yeah i think that's what annoys about this situation, the gays would've lapped ANY new gaga up even if she hadn't slathered GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY all over the lyrics

sounds like Prince doing Hi-NRG or something... and the verse melody reminds me of TLC's "Waterfalls"

Well, THIS stupid gay is LAPPING, darlings! Love it. All my buttons: pressed.

i like the new tune but was way more thrilled by the 15 seconds she belted out at the MTV awards in her meat dress. hits harder when it's sung like this, kinda disappointed it was sped up to a simple thudding beat in the chorus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdSa7WKwo7A

it totally rips off something that i can't quite put my finger on - the chorus melody

I KNOW! It's driving me nuts.

Ha ha it's TLC "Waterfalls" imo

Yeah, "Waterfalls" - I agree.

I also like this: http://33revolutionsperminute.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/i-was-born-this-way-lady-gaga-carl-bean-and-the-disco-protest-song/

Using Madonna maths, Born this Way = Express Yourself (imperious self-help vibe) + Vogue (deadpan spoken-word bit) x Confessions on a Dancefloor (whooshy electro-disco rampage).

yeah i think that's what annoys about this situation, the gays would've lapped ANY new gaga up even if she hadn't slathered GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY all over the lyrics

Yeah, gays just love the attention and can't possibly recognize when we're being pandered to

Homage can only go so far - this sounds way too much like Express Yourself, which you obv just don't fuck with.

it's funny i was in bed this morning, and thru the din of the TV i heard Ryan playing something on his laptop. i knew it was the new gaga cuz he had been excited about hearing it. and right away, Express Yourself came to mind. I was like uh oh...

if that's the first thing comes to mind from 2 rooms and a TV away, you might have a problem :P

fuck that "God make no mistakes" twaddle.

This song sucks
Lex's assumption that gays will lap it up is suckier

Elton John already did though; he's been her most hapless promoter for weeks.

Did Elton John use the phrase "the stupid gays will lap this shit up"?

He didn't have to. Last week a couple of our fellow gays were in this convertible at the stoplight singing this awful song, which turned out to be the new Gaga.

gays will lap this shit up tho

i heard the last half of this on the radio driving to work -- i also felt instantly like it ripped SOMETHING off but it seems like you guys got to the bottom of it

it certainly isn't bad but it's not really that great, just kinda eh & at first blush seems worse than all the 'fame monster' singles by a fair margin

& my hope that the lyrics would get less worse in the context of the song did not come true

guys there are so many worse things she could be ripping off instead of "express yrself" -- let's count our blessings

would be better if it was the same tempo as 'express yourself'

Most gays got off the Gaga bus about 10 minutes before the vidjo to Alejandro premiered

vidjo

intentional?

ja

"alejandro" is best gay anthem imo u_u

it's like "Express Yourself" + Erasure. Which is fine by me!

this is underwhelming...then again I thought Bad Romance was horrible on first listen and came around to that. the gays will indeed go crazy to the second half.

http://blogout.justout.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/664x600ftgaythe_ritz10.jpg

Is that in 3-D?

I totally thought "Telephone" was underwhelming the first time I heard it. In fact, I first thought it was Ke$ha then thought it was a new Madonna until I learned it was Gaga. Now, of course, I love it. So I no longer discount the staying power of anything she does, esp considering literally everything she's released remains in regular rotation on the radio.

Poppers are a helluva drug
xp

which one is alfred?

The black chick in peach way in the back.

Telephone was underwhelming at first . . . . but it's very different from blatantly copying something . . . . for like the 3rd time. Alejandro and Dance In The Dark are pretty shameless about it, and at some point it's more insulting than flattering to the original artist.

not sure what it means that this is the title track

"dance in the dark" is a rip of what exactly? i must've missed that convo

Reactions of two gay friends today:

"Don't be drag, just be a queen. Piss off."

"Absolutely fantastic song! Especially the lyrics... 'don't be drag, just be a queen'.... says it all!"

this doesn't sound THAT MUCH like "express yourself" imo - in fact Madonna song it reminds me of is "open your heart" (that recurring, shimmering synth line is straight out of "open your heart"). Melodically I guess I can see the similarities but sounds more like TLC's "Waterfalls" to me.

I'm not entirely sold on the song though - it doesn't really "sound" like GaGa. I feel like she's done a great job of creating her own lane/aesthetic and this song comes off as sort of slight. Also, it feels way too busy.

Dance In The Dark is actually a beautiful song - it's just the spoken verse bridge that pays tribute to Vogue.

Loooool at this. I keep expecting "you're Lebanese you're orient, SHE'S TYLER MOORE, SHE'S MARY"

I do LOVE the "ooh there ain't no other way/ baby I was born this way" part though

i just have a very strong connection to Express Yourself -- it's a far more subtle anthem, not to mention just a much better song.

"Dance in the Dark" was my breakthrough GaGa moment.

Funny how most of us were innately suspicious.

i've said this before but like to most ppl everything after her first three singles is sooooooooo much better than those first three singles

like, even i adore "just dance" but b/w "poker face" & "lovegame" i pretty much thought that she had gold once & i was never gonna like another song more than that -- she stepped it up tho

this is trite and underwhelming and will finish top 10 in the ILM 2011 poll

one of the singles off the album will, dunno if it'll be this one tho

this tune would make more sense as a one-off promo single between albums, or a charity single for whatever cause she's behind these days. doesn't really hit *HARD* like the first single from the year's most hotly anticipated pop album should have.

lj, this has as much chance of going top ten ilx poll as something off the trail of dead record

i always feel like, with this stuff, at this point, "courting a gay audience" is way less the intent than "allowing all kinds of teenagers to use gay issues as a dramatic metaphor for whatever bits of outsider angst they personally experience"

so suddenly every young fan's little-monstrous transgressions are supposedly like part and parcel of the same struggle

which is weird and messed up in the same way it was when pop did that with race

she seems to be doing both. the latter is actually less offensive to me, because i feel like a lot of pop songs equate all sorts of issues with each other emotionally as a way of reaching out to people. the former is just annoying and insulting.

i think love songs are a great example -- sure, a lot of songs are about romantic love, but i think a lot of listeners are hearing them attributing all sorts of issues to the emotional narratives of the songs.

This isn't great. But I'm no fan of "Express Yourself" either.

yeah, i have no inherent problem with making it universal -- that's what pop does, and it's a meaningful way of talking about, umm, expressing yourself, and it's not like it tells anyone that arguing with their mom about clothes is their own personal Stonewall or anything. but something about it does seem worth noticing, i guess; something feels a little weird about it.

"Born This Way" aims to be an inclusive, partcipative anthem - either experienced collectively (woo, we are one, let's celebrate!), or by suggesting an individual's connection with a wider collective (woo, I am not alone!). So if it doesn't make you feel included, or if you don't want to participate/celebrate, then it's going to leave you cold, or else actively irritate you. (Personally, it makes me yearn to experience it on a big gay dance floor, at peak time on a Saturday night.)

xp it's definitely worth noticing, and perhaps strange, but i don't find it disturbing -- certainly not in the way that i find it disturbing to pander to the gay population so superficially and sophomorically.

i mean, what should bring us together is Really Good Pop Music, not after-school special diddies about nature vs nurture.

this is pretty good!

yeah i'm totally down with the sentiments but they're expressed too heavy-handedly and obviously here to be anthemic or celebratory to me - like the phrase "born this way" is actually ENOUGH, to make that the focal point of the song was a great starting point, but it's so overdone, and in a really superficial, non-transgressive way. cf madonna's "jump" - not explicitly a gay anthem despite its lyrics about liberation, daring to be yourself and take risks etc, but it had that one line tucked away, "my sisters and me", pitched down as though it's a man singing, and that's the kind of nod that i think works better.

Lex's assumption that gays will lap it up is suckier

my original argument was that the song feels lazily constructed to fit some suit's idea of what the gays will lap up, which is what's vaguely offensive. a lot of gays will nonetheless lap it up, though you can dispute that if you want.

daring to be yourself and take risks etc, but it had that one line tucked away, "my sisters and me", pitched down as though it's a man singing, and that's the kind of nod that i think works better.

YES

gr8 call.

(From above) Wait, the gays don't like Gaga no more? Really?

i heard this song and switched directly to "express yourself" :( lady failga

@ Lex, I understand your point and agree, wholeheartedly.

The problem with this avenue of discussion, however, is that one's perception of the efficacy of songs like these-- or the "It Gets Better" videos, or Jane Lynch at the Golden Globes or whatever-- is dependent upon too many variables to arrive at any concrete conclusions. I mean, most gay DJs I know wouldn't touch a song like this. Then again I can imagine there are people living in rural parts of North America who are going to find the message very uplifting. To make a statement like "stupid gays will lap it up" effectively corrals a diverse population into one meta-psyche.

And I'm not even trying to bust your chops, it goes both ways, too: when people like Elton, Perez or Gaga presume to speak for an entire culture it makes my skin crawl.

@ NYCNative, I was just kidding. But that video was the moment when she moved from being casually subversive--i.e. "I have a humongous donkey dick"--to the current heavy-handed crusade.

heavy-dicked crusade

comments from an irl friend, huge gaga fan:

wow very Madonna
it's not as rough
i'm having a hard time connecting to this song
of course, i love it because its gaga
but i'm not in love
it's ok
the song is too busy
too diva
she's a diva, but....
this will totes be featured on glee

(she is 100% otm re: glee)

lololol

like your friend

and woah YES i think that's what was so jarring about the song - it sounds like it was lifted from glee

there is nearly unanimous approval on my facebook feed and one party pooper:

it's so bad. like, beyond-comprehension-bad. like, B-side-from-an-album-kylie-never-made-bad. like, shoddy-karaoke-to-"express yourself"-bad. it is bad.

Born this Way sounds like it was ripped from the thrift store fashion montage scene in a straight-to-video sequel of "To Wong Foo."

but i'm not in love
it's ok
the song is too busy

decent song lyrics

lol, good idea to search facebook

comment from one of my friends (he's gay fwiw):

Born this way is not a gay anthem, it's just another barley cohesive jumble of random words that just barley makes sense, and all you gays are gonna be allllllll over it. I still hate lady gaga. [...] it's awful. And if you dare compare the stupidity of gaga to the glory of Madonna we will no longer be friends.

here's another (he's not gay I don't think, also his name is Ned Raggett, he of ILX legend):

Someone, somewhere, is feverishly planning to see that the new Lady Gaga song becomes the theme song for the collapse of the Mubarak regime.

No, that's "Bad Romance," ilxor

i don't know if i have the strength to fight this on facebook

oh god this is embarrassing!

i'm no huge fan but like she had songs you can't really argue with. they were hits.

the madonna ginger rogers dance on air rap thing was omg bad

a single that's sorta big dumb and familiar makes sense for her right now, doesn't it? i mean, this is basically warm-up / entrance music for the album. it's easy and obvious and you already know the melody -- like a big ol instant "hi i'm back" before she (hopefully) releases something actually complicated

so basically a "don't play all yr best cards at once" strategy? i guess so

the Doyle Brunson of gay disco, surely

also it is just exactly blocky and familiar enough that she can peform it at the grammys sunday and anyone who's listened to it once will know it as well as if they'd listened a thousand times

xpost not even a best-cards thing, but like a quick easy fanfare of stepping back on stage. a dumb celebratory re-rallying of troops probably makes more sense than if she'd just done something challenging or confusing

just listened: like lex i kinda balk at self-conscious gay anthems but i don't think this is terrible

nabisco i understand what you're saying but couldn't all of those things been accomplished by a song that didn't suck as much as this one does?

u don't put any stock in her telling the vogue writer it was a magical world changer then, nabisco?

haha m@tt

i think just dance is a good example of a safe first song that is actually great. re-rallying doesn't have to entail a subpar song.

I don't know why you guys are bitching and complaining about this song to be honest. Lady Gaga's third or fourth singles are going to be the good songs anyway. I commend Gaga for trying but she did miss the mark a tad. Oh well.

Being a gay man myself, I like the idea of pop stars including themes related to my sexuality and culture it just has never been executed well in pop music history. I think it is due to the fact that acceptance of different sexualities is never properly discussed as a mature, legit issue in society. Hell the discussion in this thread of "the gays" lapping it up is loaded with some social baggage.

Random Note: When I first heard Carl Bean's I Was Born This Way I smiled ear to ear. You can tell he was enjoying himself. I wish we had more gay male musicians who enjoyed themselves singing rather than acting morose or jaded.

it just has never been executed well in pop music history.

but Rufus Wainwright, the Pet Shop Boys, Bronski Beat, to name three, have all done it.

Bah i forgot to add (I know there are a few gay male pop stars, I don't need a list). Alfred just reminded me of that ilxor habit. :P

In addition, just like all songs are political, all songs are sexual. By which I mean: you can decode any song. As gay men it's part of our metier, I guess.

S/D: Gay anthems not written by gays

(Franz Ferdinand - Michael, anyone?)

^^i was just gonna ask about these! "we are family"

lola?

Alfred just reminded me of that ilxor habit. :P

say what?

john, i'm only dancing by bowie? (depending on if you believe he boned lou reed or whatever)

I pretty much agree with what James St. James said on the song and being a gay anthem:

Below are the lyrics to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," the anthem she has written for all the LGBT teens out there, her beloved "little monsters." I hate it already. A gay anthem, whether it's "I Will Survive" or "The Man That Got Away" or "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going," BECOMES a gay anthem because we find ourselves empathizing with the singer's passion or pain or exuberance. It's the realization that their pain is our pain too, that their joy is our joy etc. It's that our commonality has brought us together. It's ALMOST NEVER because it was written FOR GAY MEN TO HELP GAY MEN DEAL WITH BEING GAY MEN. That's just cynical and obvious. It's like bit like Susan Sontag's explanation of "pure camp" being something that strives for greatness but fails spectacularly, while "contrived camp" is something that intentionally sets out to be bad and cannot, therefore, be as satisfying. Gaga here isn't allowing us the choice of deciding whether or not this song will be a gay anthem (like "Bad Romance"), she's TELLING US that it is, and that makes it somehow less pure and less satisfying. It's contrived. I haven't heard the melody yet, and although I'm sure it will be a foot-stomper, I already feel manipulated.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

otm

Gaga here isn't allowing us the choice of deciding whether or not this song will be a gay anthem (like "Bad Romance"), she's TELLING US that it is, and that makes it somehow less pure and less satisfying

YES this is what i was trying to say otmfmffmfmfmf

let's not forget: Elton reminded us too.

***talk about late to the conversation but I'll post it anyway***

I don't want to drag race into it and you guys don't have to discuss it at all, but I could not identify with Rufus or Pet Shop Boys in that way. Maybe that's why I latched onto Carl Bean's song so much. Having a black gay man singing "I Was Born This Way" is certainly a thrilling, rare thing in pop music. Yes we have/had RuPaul and Sylvester (who've done great tunes as well) to but the drag element then gets dragged in and more social baggage for gays insecure about their masculinity. So those guys are seen as a novelty and not as legit artists.

tl;dr synopsis -- I'm getting tired of straight women doing the gay male anthems, I want to hear the men doing it for a change.

xpost

yeah he was all like THIS IS YOUR SONG!

Whether they are in drag or not and more non-whites singing them too.

xpost - haha i don't think the song sucks, really -- i think as a big dumb obvious crowdpleaser fanfare it's fun and playful enough. i'd probably like it less if it were actually trying to accomplish something. but yeah, if she thinks this is magical and the rest of the record follows that line, i will regret that and shake my head at her, etc.

xxpost - yeah there's definitely not much emotion here to connect with, unless you think of "hooray" as an emotion

"BECOMES a gay anthem because we find ourselves empathizing with the singer's passion or pain or exuberance"

Whoever wrote that paragraph makes no real case for why a critical mass of gay people choosing some unexpectedly affirming song to be a gay anthem is the only way to create a gay anthem. Just because that's how it has tended to happen in the past, when it was much more difficult for mainstream pop stars to sing openly gay-positive songs, doesn't mean that it will or should always be that way.

lilsoulbrother have you heard much stuff by aaron-carl

People.com journalists reading ILX much?

Does Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' Sound like Madonna's 'Express Yourself'?

people.com journalists have functional ears much?

it's embarrassing, really

pretty much everyone said this within 60 secs, check the perez comments for instance

"Express Yourself" was trending #6 on Twitter earlier today, a lot of people have noticed the similarities!

lilsoulbrother have you heard much stuff by aaron-carl

― lex pretend, Friday, February 11, 2011 10:31 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

aaron-carl? nope what are they like?

xxxxxp I never thought I'd have an argument resolved by James St. James but yeah OTM

"Express Yourself" was trending #6 on Twitter earlier today, a lot of people have noticed the similarities!

I can't hear it. However, I prefer the original, sly stone-like version of "Express Yourself"

sadly he passed away last year, but C/D, S/D: Aaron-Carl for more basically

xps re: aaron-carl

Hell the discussion in this thread of "the gays" lapping it up is loaded with some social baggage.

Yes, but so far as I can tell, all of us arguing over this particular aspect of the song are gay men? Anyway, I'm listening to it now, and while it certainly panders in fairly obvious ways, my main beef is that it's unsubtle, in similar ways to a lot of the stuff on The Fame. The EP seemed to indicate some interesting directions, both musically and lyrically. While this is a sonic switch-up, there's a kind of monomania about the whole thing.

prolego u got a link for that paragraph on gay anthems?

thank you lex. I'm listening to Sky (Original version) on youtube now. I like this very much. :)

lex - http://worldofwonder.net/2011/01/28/Gag/

cheerz

Yes, but so far as I can tell, all of us arguing over this particular aspect of the song are gay men?

I cringe even when blacks talk about "the blacks" in conversation. I just hate the term "the gays" even when I'm in a gay group. To me, those terms just have to much baggage in the society we are in now.

my main beef is that it's unsubtle, in similar ways to a lot of the stuff on The Fame.

I like the overblown moments in The Fame Monster ep, but those songs aren't overly political. It reminded me of Michael Jackson not giving a fuck from Dangerous on.

"Born This Way" is very pandering and unsubtle. Not good combinations.

I always wondered what happened to James St. James. I assumed he died or something.

i'm just trying to imagine . . . . like if i were lady gaga, and i was like "ooh! the world is so excited for my return!! what am i going to give them????" ....

" I KNOW! a 2nd rate cornball version of express yourself! PERF "

Ham and cheese sandwiches

chicken croquettes

Hendricks and tonics.

yeah i'm totally down with the sentiments but they're expressed too heavy-handedly and obviously here to be anthemic or celebratory to me - like the phrase "born this way" is actually ENOUGH, to make that the focal point of the song was a great starting point, but it's so overdone, and in a really superficial, non-transgressive way. cf madonna's "jump" - not explicitly a gay anthem despite its lyrics about liberation, daring to be yourself and take risks etc, but it had that one line tucked away, "my sisters and me", pitched down as though it's a man singing, and that's the kind of nod that i think works better.

OTM. When I initially heard the song I immediately thought of Madonna's most overt discofied gay anthem - "Deeper and Deeper" - and how it tackled a similar theme ("I can't help falling in love" :: "I was born this way") but was so much more successful at it on every level. It didn't need to explicitly mention gays but that's because anyone who is gay knows exactly what the song is about - "This feeling inside, I can't explain/But my love is alive, and I'm never gonna hide it AGAIN!" alone is so much more anthemic and liberating than all of GaGa's blugeoning directness. On top of that the parental relationship doesn't feel like a tossed off cliché as it does in "Born This Way" - there's a real tension and struggle between paternal authority and maternal love ("think with your heart not with your head") that reflects Madonna's ovn very real experiences (her mother's death being the cause of her overwhelming ambition & her fight against her father's strict religious control), and even the reference to God seems so much more potent ("kisses sent from heaven above" - though that could equally be her dead mother which is totally heartbreaking). There's a real pathos and desperation to the song that makes it so much more successful, and indeed a lot of the Erotica album tackles the issue of homosexuality in the night-life of the AIDs era very effectively. I really feel Madonna understood and could evoke so much of the nuances of the homosexual psyche in a way GaGa can't whose just pandering to this one-dimensional image she has of "the gays".

Ok, I listened to the Shep Pettibone version of Express Yourself (I fucking hate that version) and Born This Way and I still can't hear the similarities at all. I can hear vague audio textures but as far as phrasing, song structure, and themes they are not similar to me.

dig the slate-worthy header

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/blogs/pop-life/lady-gagas-born-this-way-much-better-than-express-yourself-20110211

I agree with it being her fourth-best single of 1989 at least

Feels like she wants it to be used for a Coke commercial.

o

m

g

whoever wrote that article needs to be clubbed over the head. right now.

i can't even read it.

So you guys would rather her make a gay anthem that is so subtle that no one except the most critical listeners will think it's a gay anthem? "Jump", is that a joke?? I don't see anything wrong with beating people over the head on this topic. All of her other songs are just as ridiculous and unsubtle. And she already HAS made songs not explicitly about gay issues that turned into gay anthems.

really feel Madonna understood and could evoke so much of the nuances of the homosexual psyche in a way GaGa can't whose just pandering to this one-dimensional image she has of "the gays".

Meanwhile, in the real world, most gay people who are into pop music, especially young gay people, love Lady Gaga and love this song and can't name one track off Erotica.

The whole problem was GaGa "making a gay anthem" in the first place.

Meanwhile, in the real world, most gay people who are into pop music, especially young gay people, love Lady Gaga and love this song and can't name one track off Erotica.

Meanwhile, in the real world, most gay people who are into pop music, especially young gay people, love Lady Gaga and love this song and can't name one track off Erotica.

Meanwhile, in the real world, most gay people who are into pop music, especially young gay people, love Lady Gaga and love this song and can't name one track off Erotica.

the song "erotica" comes to mind...

skip, how do you know that most young gay people love this song?? it's only been for ... a morning

and nobody said it should be so subtle that you can't identify its intent. just doesn't have to make you feel like you're in 4th grade.

And, yeah, she does "steal" one of the melody lines from "Express Yourself," so what. If it keeps a gay boy from throwing himself off a bridge, great. I'll probably dance to it in a club. But this has got too much self-help nonsense for my taste.

young gay ppl are pretty quick

we better make sure young gay people don't get their hands on Erotica.

Reading this thread before hearing the song, all the "express yourself" talk had me thinking NWA. Disappointed now.

And it begs the question: what do young gay folks think of NWA?

Meanwhile, in the real world, most gay people who are into pop music, especially young gay people, love Lady Gaga and love this song and can't name one track off Erotica.

I think what skip said is important. This is more of a generational thing and not music copying. If ilxor was around in 1989 I highly doubt you guys would say "Express Yourself" copied The Staple Singers "Respect Yourself." What really bothers me is people being surprised that newer artists get inspired/steal/lift from pop artists from the 80s and 90s. I feel like decades prior, it was expected of an artist to do that. Nowadays it's like public execution on twitter.

Also, many gay men liked a lot of black soul singer songs so I wouldn't be surprised if Madonna lifted from "Respect Yourself" and similar songs. If anything "Born This Way" just shows how cyclical the relationship between female pop/r&b/soul singers are to gay males.

Yeah, I haven't heard any of Erotica to my knowledge, but that doesn't mean that 'Born This Way' is a particularly great song, even for GaGa, or that the bridge isn't totally cringe-inducing, or that "It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M" isn't self-serious in the most ridiculous way possible.

I could give a rat's ass how good a gay anthem it is. I care how good a song it is, and while it's not bad, it's nothing special. I'm not sure what exactly a 'gay anthem' it is - my queer friends and I are far from homogenous, and this will appeal to some and not to others, but this makes me feel *marketed to* in the same uncomfortable way that Ke$ha's We R Who We R and Katy Perry's Fireworks did. I'm glad that these singers are down with gay rights, etc., but at the end of the day, they're making money off of every purchase of their songs. I'll admit that GaGa's taken a more active role in queer visibility and advocacy than others, but let's not pretend that there isn't something to be gained from singing to and aligning with 'the gays' viz. pop music.

Ugh. This is incoherent and poorly thought out, but I need to run. I just...can't shake the feeling of a vague unease. Something to do with commodifying queerness, or making self-acceptance purchaseable or something.

If ilxor was around in 1989 I highly doubt you guys would say "Express Yourself" copied The Staple Singers "Respect Yourself."

Nonsense. Most of us are critics or listen to a lot of music.

However, many young gay men know the Erotica album.

this makes me feel *marketed to* in the same uncomfortable way that Ke$ha's We R Who We R and Katy Perry's Fireworks did.

and Aguilera's "Beautiful."

Ann Powers said on Twitter re this song: "Gaga reveals herself to be the Andrew Sullivan of pop" -- and I have no idea exactly what she means.

Anyway, all of that is secondary to the fact that I just don't like it that much. If I did, then this wouldn't be the focus of the conversation.

I won't generalize about the listening habits of Young Gay Men (although I hang out with/fuck more of them than Old Gay Men), but a twenty-three-year-old acquaintance, who once lent me a CD-R he'd burned of Madonna's earliest demos, just posted on Facebook that loves this.

What really bothers me is people being surprised that newer artists get inspired/steal/lift from pop artists from the 80s and 90s. I feel like decades prior, it was expected of an artist to do that. Nowadays it's like public execution on twitter.

But Lady Gaga is lifting from a song from an artist who she's continually compared to, that seems a little bit wierd, right? Or at least a bit of a mistake.

Nonsense. Most of us are critics or listen to a lot of music.

But I doubt you would give her a hard time if it was known she did copy the concept.

"Gaga reveals herself to be the Andrew Sullivan of pop"

was Gaga a shrill supporter of the Iraq War in 2003 or did she bareback in 1998?

she's bald

But I doubt you would give her a hard time if it was known she did copy the concept.

but I said I I don't care what she borrows/steals/"appropriates."

And, yeah, she does "steal" one of the melody lines from "Express Yourself," so what. If it keeps a gay boy from throwing himself off a bridge, great. I'll probably dance to it in a club. But this has got too much self-help nonsense for my taste.

― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, February 11, 2011 7:26 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what she copies is pretty substantive -- it just seems cheap, unintelligent and manipulative to do something so obvious, especially coming off the heels of alejandro. there are plenty of other ways to keep gay boys from jumping off bridges!

they can fall into our arms

^^^

Yeah, I haven't heard any of Erotica to my knowledge

ayo alex you need to hear erotica!!

But Lady Gaga is lifting from a song from an artist who she's continually compared to, that seems a little bit wierd, right? Or at least a bit of a mistake.

Prince's guitar riffs sounded similar to Jimi Hendrix's and people compared them. Michael's staccato singing was similar to James Brown's and they were compared also. It's not weird, it's the usual way of how western music is cyclical.

We could market It Gets Better popcorn
Or Accept Yourself deodorant

What really bothers me is people being surprised that newer artists get inspired/steal/lift from pop artists from the 80s and 90s. I feel like decades prior, it was expected of an artist to do that. Nowadays it's like public execution on twitter.

seems like all this is saying is that now twitter exists. inspiration and re-appropriation will always be ok. but there's a thin line, and even decades prior, i don't think stealing was ok.

re: the 4th grader thing...

There aren't many ways to say "I'm proud to be gay" or "you should be proud to be gay" - while including the word "gay" - that aren't direct and forward. Making that kind of declaration is not treating us like we're in 4th grade, it's calling something what it is. I think it's important that the country's biggest pop star has made an openly gay-positive track that doesn't couch the message in abstractions. The music is as brash and unrefined as a bunch of her other stuff, as it should be. Perhaps the combination of the two is a bit much for the critical ear but that's not going to matter at 1 a.m. on a Saturday night.

Maybe she should have just covered "express yourself" and changed the chorus hook to "express yourself, gay, gay, gay, gay"

what she copies is pretty substantive -- it just seems cheap, unintelligent and manipulative to do something so obvious, especially coming off the heels of alejandro.

also disappointing because - like, i've long caved, i basically like gaga and was really anticipating this, and i think she's talented enough to have made a better pop song than this.

but the lyrics are total abstractions! And if it doesn't matter at 1 a.m. on a Saturday night, why would young gays care about the lyrics?

seems like all this is saying is that now twitter exists. inspiration and re-appropriation will always be ok. but there's a thin line, and even decades prior, i don't think stealing was ok.

We will see if Madonna and Motown will sue Lady Gaga then. Haha.

agreed lex

and i think it will matter at 1am skip. i don't want to dance to something that corny. just feels silly. and i don't know about including the word "gay" or not, but there are plenty of ways of getting that message across without spelling it out as if on a chalkboard -- as lex was alluding to before. people are really smart. they can get it.

Well she isn't saying "I'm proud to be gay" she's saying "it doesn't matter if you're gay, or black, or 'beige,' or bi, or trans, or chicana or whatever" which is not the same. One thing in these big self-empowerment pop anthems that I find somewhat annoying is this nonchalance when it comes to identity "it doesn't matter..." well it does MATTER obv

but i think think Alex in Montreal has a good point - if the music here were really great, this might not be the central point of conversation.

I guess I disagree that this track is any more corny than her other stuff. The chanting in Bad Romance, GA GA OOH LA LA, disco stick - come on.

also disappointing because - like, i've long caved, i basically like gaga and was really anticipating this, and i think she's talented enough to have made a better pop song than this.

this. initial ILM reaction to GaGa was pretty hostile, focused alot on finding things wrong/problematic with her shtick/presentation/ideas/whatever. but at the end of the day, once the songs caught up with the rest of it, the complaints dissipated and most of us got on board. part of me thinks that the fact that we're talking about anything about the *song* means that the song itself just might not be that good (also, that we're a bunch of music writers).

xp @ skip. It's not just that the lyrics are corny. Bad Romance can CARRY the corniness because the OOH LA LA whatever is a fucking earworm.

ALSO i guess we touched on this when the lyrics leaked, but, fbook comment from a friend:

Plus isn't it kinda racist that some rich white bitch is referring to latinos as 'cholas'?

+ uhhh "orient" :s :s :s

like for a supposed minority-empowerment anthem, it's oddly insensitive when it comes to how it actually describes those minorities

the ooooh's in the chorus of bad romance are nowhere near on the same level of corniness. if anything they are the kind of classic schmalz that can last decades. in fact i still maintain that the melody of the ooooh's are from some other song from a while ago. but that's the kind of re-appropriation that apparently works cuz i still can't figure out what

Plus isn't it kinda racist that some rich white bitch is referring to latinos as 'cholas'?

+ uhhh "orient" :s :s :s

Even more :S was the response that I've seen comments like this get from (usually white) gay guys, i.e. 'why do you need to be so overly p.c., it's a good message, it's just a pop song, etc.

And what she's endorsing is a featureless universalism, not gay liberation.

I like how the conversation is turning towards sensitivity with regard to ethnicity, but one of the most talked-about topics on the thread and the rest of the internet is with regard to the woman who created "Vogue"

I don't think she's being racist
I think she's saying that it's OK to be a style of furniture

I like how the conversation is turning towards sensitivity with regard to ethnicity, but one of the most talked-about topics on the thread and the rest of the internet is with regard to the woman who created "Vogue"

crosspost to Strictly 4 My Underground Homo Deep House Thugs: DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues

I think she's saying that it's OK to be a style of furniture

it's ok to be rococo

Even more :S was the response that I've seen comments like this get from (usually white) gay guys, i.e. 'why do you need to be so overly p.c., it's a good message, it's just a pop song, etc.

:s is right :s

I was waiting for "you might be a Thai but I don't care why, you come from Mauritius but you're still delicious" style lyrics to pop up.

ha, i'm starting to wonder if this song short-circuited my brain: i can't perceive it as "self-serious" because it's so duh in the first place, but perhaps this really and truly is self-serious, despite all audible evidence that it's just blowing confetti. it scares the hell out of me to imagine she is dead-earnest and not at least PARTLY "fun" with these lyrics, though.

umm "chola descent / orient" is an abomination that suggests both an attempt at playfulness and total overestimating-herself clueless lunacy, so i'm not sure where that fits

Off the top of my head there are plenty of songs that are clearly about gay lifestyles that don't explicitly mention it yet are pretty obvious, "Pride (A Deeper Love)" and "Reckless With Your Love" jumping right out at me.

"orient-made" is explicitly trying to be welcoming to manufactured goods -- gaga will use pop to change u.s. tarriff and import policy

I don't think she's being racist
I think she's saying that it's OK to be a style of furniture

― Prick Squad (Ówen P.), Friday, February 11, 2011 2:52 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

This is the point in the thread when Owen announces that Lady GaGa will be contributing to an EP of Has a Good Home deep cuts remixes.

the OOH LA part in "bad romance" is important tho bcuz it was fun & funny -- there was a subversive element to it, getting something that ridiculous on the radio as part of a #1 song -- not that it matters necessarily but there's nothing like that in "born this way" (& no i don't think the song itself is that subversive, also if you're talking about musical elements it's certainly not)

yeah it was kind of like the throwaway vaudeville intro to the song that was too obnoxious to hate

I didn't warm to it - I hated the timbre of her voice, and it explains much of my resistance to her generally – but it's the kind of throwaway gesture that Madonna did well too.

Off the top of my head there are plenty of songs that are clearly about gay lifestyles that don't explicitly mention it yet are pretty obvious, "Pride (A Deeper Love)" and "Reckless With Your Love" jumping right out at me.

definitely, but there are not plenty of songs that mention gay (and bisexual and transgender) people using those words in an explicitly affirming manner.

i guess this might be important for kids but hon it would seem weird to me for an adult to be genuinely moved by a song that panders so heavily

but that's more identity politics theory than pop crit and it's something i'm completely interested in judging music by -- mostly i think the song is kinda indistinguishable from tons of other super house-y stuff that comes out -- it's pretty good, not great, idk

something i'm NOT completely interested in etc

i don't like that it's humorless & it wipes away gaga's personality aside from 'person who cares about non-white ppl' which i think is more boring than she is as a musician

i guess this might be important for kids but hon it would seem weird to me for an adult to be genuinely moved by a song that panders so heavily

― don't make me go plop the trunk (J0rdan S.), Friday, February 11, 2011 8:07 PM (51 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol yes

'person who cares about non-white, non-straight ppl' i guess

also i thought you were calling somebody "hon"

i was like he's embracing another side of himself

lol that's the second time someone has said that -- "hon" is a phrase i use to shorten "honestly" in texts to a friend all the time but i forget that it's not a real thing

i will call you "hon" as short for honey tho, ramz

lol @ this "hon" thing

The song is working

ahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

jordan you can call me hon anytime you want

thanks : D

time to LOL at the britishers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHG2LJGfEdw

UK top 20 hit in 1978

also posting this just because its WAY better than Born This Way. THANKS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xa79n1CdKY

way more crewsh tom robinson jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKnjK7bTuG0

ha wait this is a gaga thread, i gotta leave before i post some brinsley schwartz

Well FACT don't seem to be fans...

pretty funny comments section with 50+ remarks at the wall street journal

a preview:

Sort of amusing watching a copycat who’s had several cosmetic surgery ‘adjustments’ imploring her vacant (and unhip) listening audience to ‘be themselves’.
Watch the marketing steamroller plaster this tinny tripe over a Sketchers outlet near you…

I am gonna pick this up and want to get it at Target since they will have the exclusive edition with three new songs and several remixes.

I have trouble preordering something I won't be able to get for THREE MONTHS however... Isn't that length of time a bit insane?

Gaga says, “One of my greatest artworks is the art of fame. I am a master of the art of fame.”

rolling my eyes

shaking my head

"Self-parody is the last refuge of a pop star" -- Samuel Johnson.

RAD BROMANCE
The world's greatest (and perhaps only) all male, all rock Lady Gaga Tribute band! This fun, high energy show has entertained people of all ages, and has appealed to casual Gaga fans and Lady Gaga fanatics alike. An entertaining yet incredibly musically intricate show featuring plenty of glitter, vocal harmonies, shredding guitar solos, and flamboyance, a Rad Bromance performance always gets everyone in the audience moving and singing along. Imagine Def Leppard-era glam-metal with semi-hardcore breakdowns. Chunky guitars, tastefully utilized synth, heavy drumming, and a front-man who could have been a David Bowie/Scott Weiland test-tube nephew. This original, explosive live show is one that should not be missed!

!!!

I give credit to the people behind the curtain for Lady Gaga. I wondered the other day if even her "Little Monsters" nickname for fans didn't derive from Yvette Guilbert's pet nickname for Toulouse-Lautrec. It's probably a stretch but considering how the other pop call-backs, and how meta and in-jokey her act already is, I wouldn't put it past her handlers to throw that reference in.

12:17 pm February 11, 2011
Ryan wrote:
Another in a predictable line of musical guilt anesthetics for a debauched Saturday night. Psychologically guarantees it will be well received. Sadly it persuades the listener to accept the labels society put on them in the disguise of self acceptance. Clever work GaGa Inc.

CLEVER WORK INDEED

Gaga Industrial Complex (which Eisenhower warned us about)

i am listening to it again

it's almost good but then it's middling which is annoying. i sort of expect to be moved by her, even in her poppiest moments, and this is like

the emotion sounds like a farce, and there's nothing behind it

haha i was thinking a few months ago that Weird Al really missed a chance at capturing the zeitgeist with a Gaga parody called "Rad Bromance"

j0rdan better be careful or he's gonna owe this lady royalties: http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/bs-ae-hon-trademark-20101209,0,7828781.story

no idea how it will age for me but the one time i heard it on the radio this morning it sounded good to me, although really i just love "Express Yourself" enough that hearing it vaguely evoked pushes my buttons in a good way. also this song is definitely at least catchier and more viscerally enjoyable than all the other cloying veiled or unveiled gay pride pop anthems that have been on the charts the last few months.

Catchier and more ridiculously over the top than pretty much any other pop song I've heard over the last 6 months, but then again I'm a 45 year old straight male drone rock fan.

I like how Wall Of Sound tremelo wibble and buzzing drones has become such a staple of Hi-NRG Eurostomp.

Fave part: the whispered vocal just audibly double-tracked at 1:30

After reading some of the press critiques and comments from readers, I am officially scared shitless of internet pop fans. (Both the lovers and haters of "Born This Way.")

Really positive review at About.com:

It is a rare thing to feel that a recording artist has delivered the record that is exactly what they intended as both a pure artistic statement and a commercial bullseye. Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" is that type of record. As soon as the hi-hat and thumping bass kick in, there is no doubt the song is a new smash hit. At first you are excused if you think this sounds like a disco retread, but it doesn't take long before you realize the disco is just a means to Gaga's end of creating one of the ultimate pop anthems of all time. It is an exciting time to be a pop music fan, and Lady Gaga is the #1 reason why.

Musically, there would be no "Born This Way" without Madonna's "Express Yourself" and "Vogue." However, Lady Gaga embodies Sir Isaac Newton's classic statement, "If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants," like no other pop artist. Her further vision sweeps across the listener with the audacity of a gale force wind. This is no copy or retread. It is Lady Gaga's music brought to the next obvious level, and she knows how to take us with her in a full hands in the air party frenzy.

"Born This Way" kicks off with Lady Gaga issuing a direct call to her "little monsters" to hit the dance floor with their "paws up." Then she instantly creates a sense of timelessness invoking memories of being taught empowerment as a little girl. It's not long and we are swept into full glitter ball disco. "Born This Way" is filled with bumper sticker worthy slogans that do not feel kitschy or trite. "I'm beautiful in my way, 'cause God makes no mistakes." "Don't be a drag, just be a queen." "I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way!" It won't be long before these statements are swept into mainstream pop culture.

There are those already who have issued complaints about the lyrics of "Born This Way." Use of the terms "chola" and "orient" have offended activist organizations. In a defense of Lady Gaga and the overall structure of the song, if life were a musical, "Born This Way" would be one of the moments a key character gets swept into a celebration on the dance floor making powerful pronouncements in a language that is the character's own. Some of the language may be a bit clumsy, but there is absolutely no mistaking the point being made. To focus on criticism of specific words is clearly dispensing with the forest for a fixation on a single branch on a tree.

There is no question "Born This Way" will be a #1 pop hit. It will most likely do that around the world and smash some sales and radio airplay records at the same time. I doubt that Lady Gaga herself wants us to focus much time on analyzing her latest efforts. Instead, she would prefer we hit the dance floor with the multitudes and celebrate the ways in which we were all "Born This Way." Excuse me while I go throw my hands in the air.

It is Lady Gaga's music brought to the next obvious level

"Born This Way" is filled with bumper sticker worthy slogans that do not feel kitschy or trite. "I'm beautiful in my way, 'cause God makes no mistakes."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a45z_HG3WU

i'm a bit daily mail reader "pc gone mad" when it comes to objections to "orient"

would you refer to asians as "orient-made" in public?

ahaha no, nor in private

No objections, it's more funny than anything
It's something my grandma says

I don't want to charge her with a hate crime, but I want my next-level-pop-star-equal-rights-and-respects-to-all to show more racial sensitivity than my grandmother

"orient made" is also probably her clunkiest turn of phrase outside of "hot like mexico, rejoice"

http://i.imgur.com/hJyK2.jpg

She's going to come in on a saddle, riding Elton John

And Lada Gaga wasn't born that way! Assuming "that way" is a fashion-risk-taking crazy woman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM51qOpwcIM

(She was born with talent, however...)

"Norah Jones, look out!!"

looooool

Looking forward to Weird Al Yankovic's misguided parody "Homosexuality is a Choice, Young Man."

lol

lol

kids at work today were talking about how much this sounds like "express yourself"

:(

have u ever heard express yourself?

actually yeah tho i didn't know what it was called

the video is good

express yourself and monster boast 2 of my fav spoken word intros

have u ever heard express yourself?

― i like lucy (surm), Saturday, February 12, 2011 9:37 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark

straight. furnace.

lol what does that mean??

u know jordan!

i'm pretty sure that surm was genuinely asking me the question

I'll hum it for him soon.

lol i was genuinely asking!! and if you you notice -- jordan's answer was not THAT far from a no

you weren't the only person wondering, surm :)

yea it made no sense to zing there anyway

haha it's ok ship and i are always cool :P

ha surm there was a whole thread last year where j0rdan admitted that he'd never heard "Holiday" and only knew like 5 Madonna songs so i thought you were referencing that. and "straight furnace" is just someone's (i think HOOS) version of saying "zing" or "ya burnt" or whatever.

in a way i kind of admire how that thread hasn't actually prompted j0rdan to listen to any madonna, but for real GO AND LISTEN TO SOME MADONNA

she's just turned up at the grammys in a giant egg/womb. presumably she will be "born" "this way" later, on stage.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/241002218.jpg

this is the kind of thing i have to admire, really.

oh ffs why don't twitpic images show?

http://twitpic.com/3zhii2

someone shd steal the egg & make an omelet

i hope she's having a nap in there. a nice way to avoid red carpet stress if one is eg hungover.

I was thinking more Alien facehugger.

lmao - I figured she would dial back the 'outrageousness' with this era, but I guess she's going in the opposite direction lol

nah i think she's definitely gonna revel in the goofy fashion statements and over the top videos for a while, maaaaybe will do a stripped down no frills kind of thing a couple more albums down the line.

eggspress yourself

madonna just posted an express yourself video on her website or somewhere

i hope she comes out and says something

like step off bitch

trying to think of other instances of something like this happening at this high a profile -- like someone big putting out a new single that isn't a sample or cover of an older song but everyone acknowledges it as a total bite

"Beverly Hills"

yea it's crazy. apparently it was her official youtube thing that she uploaded express yourself on.

madonna's brother has already lashed out on the topic.

apparently gaga has a 60mins interview coming up and says something like "[my critics] want me to fail"

or maybe it already happened i dunno.

nah "Beverly Hills"/"The Joker" wasn't nearly as big a conversation or as big a piece of the conversation about it. plus it was just the riff, not the whole structure and vibe of the song.

Thanks, I was mistakenly under the impression that there was literally no difference between "Beverly Hills"/"The Joker" and "Born This Way"/"Express Yourself"

i'm sorry but "my critics want me to fall" is kind of an annoying response

http://i55.tinypic.com/okswpf.jpg

uh oh, someone fed her after midnight!

still don't think this sounds that much like express yourself...

Let's Watch the Grammys! (ca. 2011)

still don't think this sounds that much like express yourself...

it's more that she sounds like "madonna", and the song's lyrical content is similar to express yourself (with extra hamfisted racial/sexual specifics), not that she lifted a key musical hook

egg reminds me of http://www.rovang.org/wg/pics/hyperlockchamber-egg.jpg

Thanks, I was mistakenly under the impression that there was literally no difference between "Beverly Hills"/"The Joker" and "Born This Way"/"Express Yourself"

― da croupier, Sunday, February 13, 2011 6:26 PM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol sorry if i was being harsh or w/e, just always thought the "Beverly Hills" thing was a little overstated even to the point that it was talked about

it's more that she sounds like "madonna", and the song's lyrical content is similar to express yourself (with extra hamfisted racial/sexual specifics), not that she lifted a key musical hook

― da croupier, Sunday, 13 February 2011 23:36 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

really? i think its sounds like she lifted a 'key musical hook'

i guess this is being talked about in the grammys thread but i don't have the time to wade through it, but anyway, obviously people were going on about the egg on twitter last night, and caitlin moran was like OOH WHAT'S SHE GOING TO BE BORN AS, and some wit joshed back "80s madonna", which was obviously a joke, but then...it actually happened?

i thought madonna uploading "express yourself" was throwing shade but surely she must be in on it - if not she must have been throwing knives at her tv last night.

How much leeway do people here think Gaga's campaigning re: DADT gives her? I'm a lot more forgiving of this record's blatant bid for gay anthem status because she actually threw her weight behind a cause - made videos, spoke at rallies, etc - instead of just paying it lip service. I don't think that makes the record any better but it makes me think she's guilty more of clumsiness than cynicism.

i think it's her actually being openly gay/bi that makes her music on the topic seem a little less calculated or whatever than when Katy or Ke$ha or whoever make their gay pride songs

still don't think this sounds that much like express yourself...

It is almost the exact same chord progression.

x-post

No. Do you know what gives Gaga "leeway" to record a "blatant bid for gay anthem" and "throw her weight behind (queer) causes" instead of "just paying lip service" ?

It is *her* status as a queer woman.

Because this is what has been repeatedly ignored, rejected, and even outright *DENIED* in this very thread.

That Lady Gaga, by her own admission, by her own relationships, by her stated own desires, is an openly Bisexual woman, which gives her every right to speak for the LGBT community.

Lady Gaga is as Queer as Oscar Wilde was - and *that* is what gives her her authority. And yet in this thread, I see, repeatedly, gay *MEN* asserting that it is "we, the gay MEN, get to decide if a queer woman is *gay* enough for us. She does not get to define her own sexuality - in fact, we will simply ignore and erase her sexuality by referring to her as a straight woman."

Queer women are used to seeing their sexuality and their desires ignored, coopted, denied or outright erased by straight men. To see it done to them by queer men is, frankly, beyond disappointing and just gross.

I'm not denying that this track is problematic on many levels. The use of racially questionable terminology is something which I've seen debated up and down the feminist blogosphere. The reliance on the totally deterministic is something which bothers me, personally, though I'm prepared to accept it in the political climate in which the song is intended.

However, what bothers me most of all is nothing to do with the song, but with the men on this thread's *reaction* to it. This deeply offensive male assuption that a (queer) woman making a bold and open claim about *her own* sexuality is not actually about *her* sexuality at all, but is yet another *performance* for the (gay) male gaze.

now *THAT* is a song I've heard before.

"we, the gay MEN, get to decide if a queer woman is *gay* enough for us"

i dont think this happened? ppl just didnt like that she was so obvious abt writing an anthem

I do feel for Lady Gaga, having been marginalised and ignored and rendered invisible by the gay male community throughout her career. How ironic, given she is bisexual, that they have steadfastly refused to embrace her music.

Yeah, I don't think anyone said she's not "gay enough" to sing this song, rather than that the song itself felt too calculatingly gay.

FWIW, I assume her queer male audience is much bigger than her queer female audience, and she must know it. I'm not saying there aren't lesbians who like "Born This Way", but all the signifiers point more towards a gay male anthem. Maybe the song is just a personal expression of her heartfelt sentiments, but I can't imagine a star of caliber wouldn't also assess what the primary audiences for this kind of a tune is. Hence I don't see anything wrong with gay men criticizing a particular song (not the perfomer) if they're quite obviously one of its prime target groups.

lol tim

I still can't hear this song without thinking it'd be better with Andy Bell singing it. But it does showcase the fact that Gaga can sing, sort of the same way "Express Yourself" did that for Madonna. Like, I don't really like "Express Yourself," but I do think it is one of her best performances, at least before she got all affected on us.

wait, gaga is openly bi?

In Celebrity World, there's no such thing as closeted bi.

i don't think gaga's sexuality has really any bearing on whether or not she can 'speak' for the lgbt community & it really has no bearing on whether or not the song works -- it doesn't work because it's just kinda hamhanded & corny

so tuomas otm

also this

deeply offensive male assuption that a (queer) woman making a bold and open claim about *her own* sexuality is not actually about *her* sexuality at all

i don't think the song really has much to do w/ her sexuality at all -- she uses the first person sure & the first verse is vaguely biographical but it's pretty explicit in being about the sexuality of all queers -- of course gaga is inlcuded in that but i think you're overselling it a bit

also, to say this song is a bold clam is just...

wait, gaga is openly bi?

― J0rdan S., Monday, February 14, 2011 10:08 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark

you may have noticed that arguably her biggest hit is about thinking of a woman while being with a man and she's given countless interviews explaining it as an autobiographical song

i honestly don't even know which song that is

i'm guessing "poker face" -- i don't really like that song so i never paid much attention to it

Her presentation reminds me of Elton John's actually. Despite her statements she, like Elton, exudes no sexuality; she's harmless. But since she's neither as tuneful and weird as classic Elton, I can't quite forgive her.

More than any gay stuff Gaga playing into usual "be yourself" tropes. She's flown her freak-flag proudly, regardless of orientation, which makes the song even more universal in sentiment (as micro-targeted as it may be on paper). Then again, she's been very vocally thankful for her gay supporters, and both her activism and this song could be read as explicit "thank you"s to a specific demographic of her fan base. In which case, we should expect a children's album from her soon, since damn do the little kids love Lady Gaga.

Despite her statements she, like Elton, exudes no sexuality

dude her videos are pretty sexual (just not as conventional as the norm)

i do agree that she's pretty sexless but i'm not sure if it really hurts her music all that much actually -- in fact i think that you could make the argument that in inverting the female pop star stereotype her music becomes more interesting... i'm sure ppl have made this argument

also w/ her, unlike elton, she's not necessarily doing it to make herself safe? it's more, again, of an inversion, i.e. i think she purposefully 'uglies' herself to play with that stereotype

But for the inversions to work the artist has to give the impression that the body of work has "subtext." What it comes down to, ultimately, is how her music fails to communicate anything to me.

this blows

in what universe is Lady Gaga "sexless"

The one in which Bieber isn't either.

it's more that she sounds like "madonna", and the song's lyrical content is similar to express yourself (with extra hamfisted racial/sexual specifics), not that she lifted a key musical hook

yea this is like, hogwash. if it were just that, it would not be as offensive. she lifted a key musical hook, and a chord progression - as others have noted.

The thing that makes Bieber so creepy and gross is that he isn't sexless!

at this point i don't think anyone even cares whether or not she's copying madonna's like style.

i've seen, like, pretty much every inch of gaga's body - pretty sure if i was into girls i wouldn't find that sexless

gaga's body is fierce - and u know i don't even like the word fierce

those hips are something else

lex, it took you this long to out yourself as gaga's gyno?

gaga's gyno is not a phrase i would like to use often

Pretty sure her average teenage "monster" doesn't know, and definitely doesn't care if they do, that she is biting Madonna so hard.

If my work hadn't blocked Youtube, I would do a closer analysis of the original "Express Yourself" and "Born This Way" to (dis)prove the chord progression lifting, but I will say that last night I heard BTW for the first time and was able to sing "Express Yourself" to it without any harmonic or structural clashes; I can't confirm that they have the same bridge but the verse/chorus progressions are very closely related if not identical.

also, no one is denying gaga her voice as a queer woman - though i agree that it should be more acknowledged. she explicitly caters towards a gay male audience. the marketing, the sound, her public statements, the lyrics of the song all bear this out. gay men are not the only, but a significant proportion of her audience. this song is, in content and style, in a historical lineage of gay anthems. i think gay men are perfectly entitled to state when we feel like we're being treated as a demographic, or whether a song that's explicitly aimed at us (among others) works on that level.

i told my boyfriend about your JUMP observation last night and he liked it

lex, it took you this long to out yourself as gaga's gyno?

it is not fair to say a sentence like that to me when i'm on two hours sleep, have just filed 1300 words and have to travel to mill fucking hill in 45 minutes

a morning show on the radio played bits of the two songs next to each other & yeah...

i love that this and lindsay lohan's dress is all anyone's talked about for days

oh and egypt

an indie band won a grammy, too

i think rather than being either ugly/sexless or attractive she's kind of fucking w/ it and idk like, jacking the whole phenomenon of ppl drooling over pop singers sexy bodies. wish i had a specific example off the top of my head but in many of the videos it'll switch b/w looking p hot & looking mildly repulsive, i'm p sure it's intentional

Pretty much in that exact order, too.

(xpost)

oh yeah definitely flops, that's like the thing

OTM. I think turning people on, in a straightforward way, is pretty far down her list of priorities.

I do feel for Lady Gaga, having been marginalised and ignored and rendered invisible by the gay male community throughout her career.

Really? I've been inside a few gay bars in Atlanta recently and every time I go they play "Bad Romance" and one or two others.

lol wait what was that sarcastic? the part in quotes?

Tim in sarcastic mode always throws people off lol

Waiting for the mashup of "Born This Way" and VU's "Rock And Roll" (both are pretty damn close to each other too)

Did anyone else hear "Scheiße?" It was a track Gaga recorded for a fashion show last month. Strange track (some of the lines spoken in German) and hopefully more in line with what the rest of the album will sound like.

wasn't that just a 'remix' of this song?

wasn't that just a 'remix' of this song?

No, it's something completely different.

I think Missy Elliott's handle on the grotesque/attractive dichotomy works so much better - Gaga's intentional oddness dehumanises her, whereas Missy's weirdness seems presented in a way that, especially when coupled with her lyrics, make her seem strange, OTT and threatening yet also weirdly human and approachable. I bet I'd have more fun with Missy "keep the lights on so I can show you" than Gaga "I want to take a ride on your disco stick" because generally, Missy seems more grounded in humour and the reality of sexuality.

(this may not make much sense because I have been in the pub)

Karen, your post is absolutely wonderful.

awww

Also check out 'Born This Way' on Dusty Springfield's 'Reputation' album, for comparison. There are some, uh, similarities with Gaga's. I'm just saying. I put my paws up for the Gaga song, and I'm very excited about the album.

What does it mean to "put one's paws up"?

I picture like a lolcat, or a dog, you know, gimme gimme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do133uwAxOk

Whenever Lady Gaga "raps", it reminds me of Divine.

holy crap, you go away for like a week or two and the world upends itself. goddam, shit is tremendous. great voice, great production, great style, great everything. can't believe there's any debate.

the criticism that gaga's sexuality isn't actually sexual holds no weight, cuz i think she's always both exploiting and critiquing the trad presentation of pop sexuality. like, she's brilliant to the extent that she IS plastic and also (visibly) the tongue-in-cheek human creative sensibility behind the plasticity, not because she makes the sexy pantomime "real" somehow. she doesn't. that's the point.

i think this song might sound better if i were on coke.

The first time I listened to the song I wasn't that impressed, but it has really grown on me after about three or four more plays. However, the mix of the record sounds over-compressed and her voice, although it sounds fine on the verses, isn't quite loud enough in the bridges and choruses, where the lead vocal seems to be drowned out by all the noise--the effects of the compression. The balance at the Grammys performance, with her live mic punching out over the track, endeared me to the song a lot more. I also loved the bit in the middle with the organ, followed by slowed-down beat and her frenzied vocals. I wish that could have been incorporated into the finished record.

The "Toccata and Fugue" organ bit in the middle of the Grammys performance made a great lead-up to the "No matter gay straight or bi, lesbian transgendered life" section. ("TA-DAH! I'm SAYING it!") And her delivery was particularly passionate on those lines, I thought.

That said, I think it could only have worked in a live performance context; would have been too much on record. Agree with dubmill about the overly submerged vocals, BTW.

"There really is no one that is a more adoring and loving Madonna fan than me. I am the hugest fan personally and professionally...well, the good news is that I got an e-mail from her people and her, sending me their love and complete support on behalf of the single and if the queen says it shall be, then it shall be." - Lady Gaga, telling Jay Leno that Madonna has no problem with any seeming similarity between her latest release and Madge's 1989 smash, Express Yourself.

On the same day that Born This Way was released, Madonna fueled the comparisons when she quietly uploaded Express Yourself to her YouTube channel.

From http://joemygod.blogspot.com/

the criticism that gaga's sexuality isn't actually sexual holds no weight, cuz i think she's always both exploiting and critiquing the trad presentation of pop sexuality. like, she's brilliant to the extent that she IS plastic and also (visibly) the tongue-in-cheek human creative sensibility behind the plasticity, not because she makes the sexy pantomime "real" somehow. she doesn't. that's the point.

Most of us understand this, but this song is particularly awkward and condescending example.

*is a

From the Guardian thread on the song. Vintage.

gabriel100

14 February 2011 1:01PM

So, a talentless nodoby (gaga) writes some half assed song, and some homosexual nobody (hilton) gets all excited about it, in a camp way.

Tell me, is there still fighting going on in Afghanistan?

think someone needs to point "gabriel100" towards that video of US soldiers performing "telephone"

I think someone needs to point "gabriel100" towards a shallow grave TBH

maybe we could send him to afghanistan to see for himself whether there's still fighting going on there

He does have a point though. Because of this one piece about Lady Gaga there was no space for any coverage of world events in the newspaper or website.

this sounds like a shampoo commercial

hahaha

shampoo commercials ARE purposefully 'empowering' in a condescending way too, so you have a point

"a talentless nodoby (gaga)"

"Chunky guitars, tastefully utilized synth, heavy drumming, and a front-man who could have been a David Bowie/Scott Weiland test-tube nephew. "

"It won't be long before these statements are swept into mainstream pop culture."

Lols... but seriously, what does "capital H-I-M" mean?

HIM = The Big Man Upstairs, he who "makes no mistakes".

I wondered that myself. I've never heard God referred to like that. I kept thinking of the Swedish goth-metal guy H.I.M.

Well, it's "Him" as opposed to "him". That's how I read it, anyway.

yeah it's yet another example of horrible songwriting clunkiness that only hasn't got attention yet because, you know, chola and orient.

actually i think "don't be a drag, just be a queen" is the line that i genuinely hate listening to - i mean it's dumb and patronising and reductive enough in itself but it's also really lazy from a songwriting point of view, like she couldn't be bothered to think up another line that rhymed with it so she just repeats it three unnecessary times? ugh.

Just heard this song. Really sounds like they came up w the title first and wrote the whole song around it. Still pretty catchy, but all the criticism is definitely because it sounds way too over-calculated.

this song is growing off me a lot - initially thought it was disappointing but adequate, but the "must-hear-on-loop" earworm factor isn't kicking in (lol i just want to listen to "express yourself" instead) and i'm finding more things that actively annoy.

You could switch out that chorus with lyrics about anything. Its so incredibly generic. The melody doesn't do a single interesting thing.

I finally listened to this. Such trite bullshit.

the 2nd line of the song is good

that vocal

the rest of it is shit

hey i said something nice about it!

if u cant deal w/ the cringe y do u even bother listening to any gaga song

Actually what this song reminds me off is Jacko circa Dangerous. Really obvious blunt, straight, quasi-universal "statement" pop. I'm sure it will actually genuinely help a lot of confused young kids and will inspire a load of bullshit from the kind of older people who like to misuse the word 'empowerment' but that's not really an indicator of quality.

rich defends http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2011/02/born-right.html

i totally agree with most of the criticisms of the song, but enjoy it as a song anyway. at least half of the Fame/Fame Monster hits are way more annoying to me.

rich gets on my nerves

From Billboard.com:

[i]And you thought her entrance at the Grammy Awards was attention-getting.

By storming the Billboard Hot 100 song chart at No. 1, Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" makes history as the 1,000th leading song in the list's 52-year history.

"It is a tremendous honor," Gaga tells Billboard of the milestone. "To be the 1000th no. 1 on Billboard...I would be silly not to say this is the greatest honor of my career."
"I am so humbled and so honored and overwhelmed by the reception to 'Born This Way,' " Gaga adds. "It has been so life changing for me as an artist, and between Billboard and the international number ones and the radio numbers...I couldn't be more blessed to have the fans that I have."

Fittingly for such a milestone, the first single and title track from Lady Gaga's third album, due May 23, arrives in record-breaking fashion.

On Radio Songs, the Hot 100's airplay component chart, "Born This Way" begins at No. 6 with a first-week audience of 78.5 million. That's the highest bow and largest opening airplay figure for a song since the tally began incorporating all radio formats in December 1998. The arrival of "Born This Way" bests the previous debut record on Radio Songs, set when Janet Jackson's "All for You" soared in at No. 9 with 70 million in 2001.

With opening-week digital sales of 448,000, "Born This Way" likewise breaks barriers with the largest debut sum for a female artist. Britney Spears established the prior mark four weeks ago upon, the arrival of "Hold It Against Me" (411,000). The opening of "Born" marks the third-largest debut among all digital tracks. Flo Rida's "Right Round" started with 636,000 in February 2009 and the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" with 465,000 two months later.

Notably, "Born This Way" rewrites airplay and digital history after just five days of availability at radio and three days at online retailers.

The song is also just the 19th title to debut at No. 1 in the Hot 100's history.

eugh

does that have more to do with the anticipation than the song itself?

The song is also just the 19th title to debut at No. 1 in the Hot 100's history.

behold the magic

Billboard Hot 100 Number-One Debuts

i totally agree with most of the criticisms of the song, but enjoy it as a song anyway

yep

It garnered both strong airplay and sales, and since everybody had a chance to hear the song before they bought it, it seems like it has to do with both anticipation and people genuinely liking the song or at least being a Gaga fan.
(x-post to surm)

the airplay of this has possibly even crazier than its sales - it's looking like it will debut top 5 in the radio charts in its first full week, which is the biggest debut since "erotica" (which reached #2 in its first week, where it ultimately peaked).

the big pop station down here played it at the top of the hour, every hour, from friday morning on thru sunday & i suspect many other stations were doing something similar

yeah those airplay numbers are genuinely shocking

the big pop station down here played it at the top of the hour, every hour, from friday morning on thru sunday

altho to be fair this is still about 3x less than the amount that radio stations play "no hands", so \(o_O)/

xxp yeah, i saw some promo saying stations were doing that. it was the number one played song on radio on friday, saturday and sunday (roughly 1800 spins each day) which is completely unprecedented for a new single.

radio, especially pop radio, feels very fast and decisive about their playlist changes these days. it's almost like i get in the car and they've just immediately swapped in the newest Ke$ha or Rihanna song in place of the same artist's last hit.

the biggest debut since "erotica"

i had no idea "erotica" did so well that it could be used as a comparison point for success - i <3 "erotica" but that's def not its reputation 19 years on.

(by implication, i don't think "born this way" will go down as a particularly special moment in the gaga canon, if she's in it for the long haul, which i think she is)

the big pop station down here played it at the top of the hour, every hour, from friday morning on thru sunday & i suspect many other stations were doing something similar

Here too. But lol @ all these people paying $1.29 for the single. I'll wait til I get the whole album for $9.99, thank you very much.

the idea of paying for this song makes me uncomfortable

this is obnoxious

it just sounds like a novelty song -- like there could be keychains made around this song

is that less true of say "Poker Face"?

i had no idea "erotica" did so well that it could be used as a comparison point for success - i <3 "erotica" but that's def not its reputation 19 years on.

well it was madonna coming off the back of her imperial era at the height of her fame with a controversial single - not too disimilar to lady gaga's situation now perhaps. i think mj's "black or white" got a huge debut too, and although there's no radio records from the 80s i guess the same was similar for quite a few michael/madonna lead singles. i guess props to gaga for being the first artist since those two to really get that level of anticipation and fervour with songs being "events" from pop radio (even though i think she's no way near as great as either).

yeah "Erotica" made a huge huge initial splash even if as far as actual Madonna hits go it ended up being such a small blip in her catalog

oh man I remember the MTV WORLD DEBUT of the Erotic video. so funny.

Didn't realise there was such a widespread backlash going on.

http://www.businessinsider.com/lady-gaga-born-this-way-reviews-gays-1-2011-2
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-14/lady-gagas-new-single-born-this-way-makes-gays-turn-on-her/?cid=sexybeast:featured1
http://www.advocate.com/arts_and_entertainment/media/the_lady_in_the_slaughter/
http://www.dlisted.com/node/40783

oy thank god

it just sounds like a novelty song -- like there could be keychains made around this song

― i like lucy (surm), Wednesday, February 16, 2011 9:00 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

is that less true of say "Poker Face"?

― tellysavalas (some dude), Wednesday, February 16, 2011 9:08 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yes i think so. sonically, the poker face chorus had a let's-get-away sort of postcard vibe that totally worked.

lol the lady in the slaughter

wait -- "Poker Face" isn't a keychain because it's a postcard?

yeah. it's kind of a postcard, but in a way that works - a beautiful postcard with a sunset on it, and reds, pinks, and midnight blues. born this way sounds like a tacky keychain with light blues, beige and a fake image of the sun on it.

:)

what i know for sure is that the word "novelty" rings true for me with born this way. not for other gaga songs.

basically what i was trying to do is acknowledge that i can see the similarity you suggested - but point out that i think it works in different ways.

fair enough -- they're all bumper stickers to me

So is it a postcard, keychain or bumper sticker?

I thought it was an egg?

a novelty keychain from a fire island giftshop

with an egg on the back of it

Quick kid!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG0wi1m-89o

advocate article is straight garbage

i was enchanted by the phrase "meat diaper" tho

iTunes customer review!

https://sites.google.com/site/pnauert/Picture3.png

wow you found a comments box where someone misspelled something good job

uh...

Lol

Advocate comments I found interesting...

Name: Demian
Date posted: 2/17/2011 12:51:38 AM
Hometown: MD

Comment:
This guy is an idiot - complaining about lady gaga while rocking out to "Paparazzi" !!! Come on, now, most (almost all) "gay" music at clubs is cheesy, mindless trash in the scheme of things, yet the queens do love it. I personally can't stand it! (although I do listen to Pet Shop Boys out of nostalgia). But to complain about this? Come on, now. She says she is bisexual, she doesn't need permission to do this, certainly not from this deuschebag author. There's another idiot on the Daily Beast saying its like "white people writing a song about breaking free from slavery" - guess she's not gay enough? I think maybe living in "gay" populated cities like NYC or DC warps the minds of some gays - they forget how the rest of the world lives.

Name: Matthew
Date posted: 2/16/2011 6:42:44 PM
Hometown: Los Angeles

Comment:
THIS IS TERRIBLE! like her or not she is one of the main reasons DADT was repealed. if her constant support and press brought to our cause wasnt there who knows if it would ever get passed. shame on you!

Name: JP
Date posted: 2/15/2011 12:43:31 AM
Hometown: Omaha, NE

Comment:
Like her or not, she has a number one song on the radio that explicitly says "gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgendered life, I'm on the right track, I was born to survive." People who don't like Gaga, will hear this song and will have to rationalize their response to those lyrics. No other artist has released a song that has become this popular with such an explicit message. Isn't that what we want? Or would we prefer brainless popstars to produce heteronormative songs for us to dance to at the club.

Name: Jaavik
Date posted: 2/14/2011 6:20:38 PM
Hometown: Jacksonville, FL

Comment:
I never ceases to amaze me how you can have someone in your corner (enjoy their music or not), and you can be so...absolutely..NASTY to them. I personally enjoy rock and roll more than pop music, but I've always like artists like Gaga or Katy Perry who take a firm stand in the corner of their gay supporters only to have a gay magazine like "The Advocate" publish an article that proves to be little more than "hate mail" from someone who only seems to be taking this viewpoint because "they don't understand the appeal" of an artist like Gaga. But this article goes WAY beyond that... it's sad that our community can't just be happy for an artist once they have achieved a "superstar" level of success and not attempt to "tear them down" for no discernable reason other than THEY think they don't deserve the success they have. This article comes off as a PERSONAL attack as if Gaga drove over your dog... It's not well thought out or insightful, it's just dripping of bitterness and resentfulness.

Name: Jan Gonzales
Date posted: 2/14/2011 3:06:51 AM
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

Comment:
This is an editorial article, a writer's own opinion. I respect that you are voicing your own opinion. But I personally disagree with everything that you wrote. Your opinion is very irresponsible. You are a "one of those" individual who likes to complain, a little bit sarcastic and overtly pessimistic. You totally missed the mark on the message of the song. You like to be nit-picky with your words and "facts" because you are a writer. You like the idea of going against what's expected. You are driven to be counter-culture. You like to write articles that makes reader think. You did a great job publishing this article. It's sad because you are too critical that you cannot even accept the basic message of the song. And I bet the mere existence of my comment reaffirms how much you loathe this song. You are just typical. And guess what, you are quite predictable.

Name: FRANCIS
Date posted: 2/13/2011 11:29:28 PM
Hometown: LEEDS

Comment:
Just say Gaga on the Grammies. You ungrateful little bitches. The song isn't an intellectual masterpiece (yeah, like you sissies dance to Rachmaninoff at The Cock) but how many openly gay songs have smashed at the Grammies? This song will be a hit, like it or not. And it puts us all in it. It's commercial, it's dumb enough for any dim witted Advocate columnist to bitch about (and please don't get me started on the horrendous choreography). Love it or Leave it, The Lady shall Abide.

eh i guess misspelling AND accidental double negative, but still

er not double negative, but yeah, didn't catch that part of it at first

The song isn't an intellectual masterpiece (yeah, like you sissies dance to Rachmaninoff at The Cock)

looooooooool

she doesn't need permission to do this, certainly not from this deuschebag author

cross between douchebag and Deutsche Bank

like her or not she is one of the main reasons DADT was repealed.

O rly?

oh man I remember the MTV WORLD DEBUT of the Erotic video. so funny.

This happened in Canada too ... and there was like a half-hour mini-special about Madonna and the video as a lead-in to the airing. IIRC, to that point they'd only done that sort of roll out for Michael Jackson videos ("Bad", "Black or White", "Remember the Time").

So yeah, Erotica's debut was huge.

Very surprised that this still hasn't become UK number one, even though it was released at the worst possible time to do so, at the end of a week and just before the Brits which has given Adele a massive boost. Could be a sign that people actually don't think it's any good and won't just buy on hype, though that's difficult to believe when it's behind Jessie J. Maybe it will take until the video comes out?

rocketing to #3 in its first week instead of #1 doesn't seem like a strong indication of the whole country soundly rejecting the song tbh

it's behind two songs by hype-driven artists that are even worse, and also managed to get to #3 with just two days' worth of sales - it'd certainly have been a #1 if released on a monday.

*clears throat*

it's #1

in the UK?

*clears throat*

--no

lol

damn, score one for gaga http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/56501016.html

:-)

that's really great.

Good work Gaga.

Weird thing I found after blogging about this song - people making a fuss about the title phrase and saying that Gaga doesn't understand that sexuality is not innate but socially constructed, and she is affirming an "oppressive narrative", etc etc. I got this comment from a Cultural Studies teacher:

The problem with GaGa’s song is that it celebrates the very things that CREATED race and sexual “others” (if you will, racism and homophobia) in the first place. It is a remarkably stupid song, on this level, and your dismissal of her support for the very things that turned us into “others” in the first place indicates that you do not understand her colossal mistake nor how these “discourses” of race and sexuality work. Such discourses and their power are not transmitted (necessarily) by research papers. They are transmitted in popular culture, the media, and everyday ways of speaking about and seeing something we call “race” and “sexuality” (something we assume we know and take for granted, as fact). As Foucault would say, power (in this era) is often “humble” “minor” and comes from “below” (rather than the top down). This is what makes Gaga’s song so destructive. Moreover, she is a complete fool for not realizing that this will kill her academically (as someone cultural theorists … although not this one… take seriously). Clearly, she does not realize the huge mistake and miscalculation she has made.

Just because people do not choose their “sexuality” nor their skin color does not mean that race or sexuality are biological or genetic. It is MORE THAN LIKELY that, like race, sexuality will never be proven to be biological nor genetic (our brains and bodies simply do not work this way–the way we socially and culturally want to attribute meaning to them). It is simply a mistake for people to believe that just because people are “born” with a certain sexual attraction that this is genetic or biological. These do not mean the same thing. At all. Jones and Spierer’s song has none of these problems. Lady Gaga’s song is drenched in them. My take is that she will never recover her reputation among academics as a result of this song and she has no idea, literally, what she has done.

Apart from the fact I think he seriously overstates how much the world's biggest pop star gives a shit about what Cultural Studies departments think, is anyone else bothered by this? Seems to be reading way too much into a secondhand slogan to me. The strongest argument I would make against the title in this context is that it goes against Gaga's ideas of remodelling yourself and relishing artificiality, right down to the prosthetic horns she wore during the Grammy performance.

goes against Gaga's ideas of remodelling yourself and relishing artificiality, right down to the prosthetic horns she wore during the Grammy performance.

ha i think this was prob the most clever thing about it all, intertwining ideas of natural and "unnatural" like that - like she's saying that the impulse/need to express yourself in this way is something fundamental that a person can't help; that the artifice of drag is actually deep-rooted and innate.

Lady Gaga’s song is drenched in them. My take is that she will never recover her reputation among academics as a result of this song and she has no idea, literally, what she has done.

loool. Well at least we'll be saved from anything akin to all those essays & books on Madonna Studies circa 1990.

"her reputation among academics"

did Paglia write something that I missed?

Maybe she should write an anthem for the academics - win 'em back.

I like your reading Lex - I'm not sure the lyric supports it but the idea that it's both/and instead of either/or is tempting.

oh i'm sure the lyric doesn't support it cuz the lyric is pretty dumb - more the juxtaposition of singing a phrase like "i was born this way", putting that idea front & centre, while wearing prosthetic pointed shoulders and going out of your way to look artificial and "unnatural"

It's a recurring pop dilemma - is this deliberate contradiction or just muddled thinking? But like I say, your reading is more fun.

Apart from the fact I think he seriously overstates how much the world's biggest pop star gives a shit about what Cultural Studies departments think, is anyone else bothered by this?

It's not just a cultural studies thing, though... Both academic queer studies and queer activists have been talking against the idea of "essential" sexual identities ever since the early 90s. The idea that "I was born this way" sorta goes against the fluidity that's seminal to queer, that all identities (straight and gay) are constructed and not just expressions of some unchanging innermost qualities. (This doesn't mean you can just choose an identity like you choose a shirt, though - identities are constructed in the intersection of individual desires and social expectations, and the latter can obviously be quite demanding.) When Carl Bean sang "I Was Born This Way" in 1977, that was an apt slogan for the gay activism of that era, but when Gaga does the same in 2011, it feels a bit retrograde. Especially considering (like you say) that previously her act has put a lot of emphasis on the constructed nature of identity.

On the other hand, there's still so much rampant homophobia in the world, that maybe "born this way" is still a more forceful argument against it than the decidedly less rigid queer politics. Even if you think queer, IMO you have to have some political pragmatism, so I can't really condemn the song the way this cultural studies teacher does.

I agree with all of that. I think Gaga's being a pragmatist rather than a theorist.

And that's what annoys me about Mr CultStuds and his friends - this absurd indignation that a massive pop song doesn't adequately reflect modern gender theory and queer activism, and extrapolating from that that it will encourage homophobia.

I don't think you have to be a theorist to express queer sentiments (arguably, Gaga herself has done so in the past), but in this case the tune seems to be more pragmatically political than queerly utopian.

(x-post)

A lot of queer activists still recognize the need for "old-fashioned" identity politics as means of getting to political goals. There's even a term for this, it's called "tactical essentialism". IMO the cultural studies person should know that sometimes these tactics are valid even if they go against the queer dogma.

I wish I'd had you on hand when I was dealing with this guy on my blog. Queer theory is outside my area of expertise. I like "tactical essentialism" a lot.

"Tactical essentialism" is used in other types identity politics too... For example, in cases where political action is based on gender or racial identity, even if the activists recognize that there's no universal identity based on biology or any other factor that all "women" or "people of race" would share.

And of course those who hate/fear certain groups rarely know or care about such ideas of fluidity, so often it makes sense to fight as one "essentialist" group if you're being discriminated as such.

With all due respect to queer theorists/gender performatists and those whose sexual identities have indeed been shaped by conscious choices, and without wishing to universalise my own experience, I do feel that I am "born this way" in terms of same-sex emotional and physical attraction, which I can trace back to feelings that emerged in early childhood. Maybe GaGa simply feels the same way? The song is as much a first-person testimony as a rallying cry, after all.

This was another argument I was having. I interviewed John Grant recently and he certainly feels that way and, growing up in a religious environment where homosexuality meant he was going to hell, the "God don't make no mistakes" message would have been of far more use than the idea that all sexual identities are constructed. One of the theorists I was arguing with then told me that Grant was deluded and conspiring with his oppressors. So that was fun.

i agree w/mike and john grant - "born this way" is a much more helpful and accurate description of my own sexuality. hesitate to universalise it, but way less than the idea of universalising the all-sexuality-is-fluid-and-constructed theory.

but then cult stud types, both in queer theory and not, send me into massive rants anyway - amazing to me how intelligent people can be so stupid

I think most queer theorists wouldn't say that people can't have felt gay ever since their early childhood... The point isn't to deny these experiences, just to say that there's no essential (genetic/biological/etc) basis for same-sex attraction. Of course it's possible that this attraction has been part of your personality from early on, but (unless genetics prove otherwise) from what we know no one is "born" gay or straight. You can't examine a newborn baby and deduce whether it'll come to like guys, or girls, or both.

Queer theory/activism was kind of counter-reaction to earlier gay and lesbian theory and politics, which (for perfectly understandable reasons) was often based on the idea that there was some universal essence that united all homosexuals. What queer wanted to say is that such essence can't be found, that identity and sexuality and attraction are often more fluid and flexible than what people used to think. But this doesn't mean everyone does or should feel their identity is fluid, just that there is always the potentiality for that. So yeah, maybe personally Gaga feels she was "born this way", I don't think queer should be against that. What it is against is the idea that "we were all born the way we are".

(x-post to Mike)

That's a useful clarification, Tuomas - thanks.

tuomas i dont think u really understand queer theory like at all?

Pls explain then

Maybe you can tell what I've misunderstood, then? Besides, I don't think there is any singular "queer theory" anymore. But yeah, I admit that what I wrote above is my interpretation of the queer theory and activism I've been involved with, others might see it in other ways.

Personally, even though I agree with a lot queer theory, I'm not in favour of its more extreme forms, and I feel there's no reason queer can't co-exist with tactical essentialism, in the cases where the latter is more pragmatic.

okay holy shit you guys, this setlist looks phenomenal. anyone see one of the NY shows? i have tix for april, texas...

Dance in the Dark
Glitter and Grease
Just Dance
Beautiful, Dirty, Rich
The Fame
LoveGame
Boys Boys Boys
Money Honey
Telephone
Speechless
You and I
So Happy I Could Die
Monster
Teeth
Alejandro
Poker Face
Paparazzi
---
Bad Romance
Born This Way

what a phenomenal setlist, she's playing all her songs

i mean yeah, obviously, but just seeing it all on paper brings out how many great songs she has to draw from. i mean, i might strike "money honey" or something, but otherwise this is like 100% great to f-ing marvelous brilliance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK5wzJEf7Lg

what a phenomenal setlist, she's playing all her songs

― just sayin, Thursday, February 24, 2011 10:41 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol

lady gaga: madonna for the kids who've never heard more than 3 madonna songs in passing

amirite, j0rdan? :D

i don't even get what that has to do with anything

sorry that you made another worthless post and someone called you on it

okay yr right

go tell us about roxy music plz btw

i haven't listened to the album yet

but notice that there are actually ppl who care what i think about such things

</derail>

anyway i would actually be interested in knowing if anyone went to her shows tho i assume such a person would've posted about that already

haven't seen this posted here btw...

Lady Gaga gave Rolling Stone an advance preview of four songs from her upcoming album "Born This Way" an hour before the first show of the final leg of her Monster Ball tour in Atlantic City.

Though Gaga's people were quick to point out that these were not the final mixes, the tracks certainly sounded like polished, finished recordings. Here's a track-by-track rundown of what we heard backstage, as well as what she played from the new record in concert.

"Judas"
Currently scheduled as the second single from the album, "Judas" is a classic Lady Gaga pop banger with three huge hooks, a thumping house music breakdown and a vocal part that borrows a bit of Rihanna's distinctive cadence. Gaga has written about falling for the wrong guy before in "LoveGame" and "Bad Romance," but this time around she's a bit less dark and dramatic. There's a bubbly sweetness in her voice as she sings "I'm just a horny fool / baby it's so cool / I'm still in love with Judas, baby."

"Edge of Glory"
This one sounds crazy in print -- it's a massive power ballad with heavy club beats that features Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band wailing on his saxophone (Clemons also plays on "Hair") -- but somehow it all seems totally natural when you actually hear it. There's an element of cheesiness to it, but it's totally captivating and incredibly catchy. If any of these new Gaga tunes demands to be a big fat hit, this is it. The inclusion of Clemons is an inspired touch that amplifies the song's Eighties stadium rock vibe, but his actual performance is amazing and ranks among the best of his career.

"Scheiße"
A remixed version of this number was used in a recent runway show by fashion designer Thierry Mugler. The album version doesn't have the same hardcore European house flavor, but it's definitely the tune most likely to bring back memories of early-Nineties dance crossover hits by C&C Music Factory, Snap and RuPaul. The opening of the song -- in which she flatly intones "I don't speak German, but I can if you like" -- is fierce, but the song is saved from being a slight novelty by a soaring chorus that vaguely recalls Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger."

"Hair"
"Hair" is another inspirational song in the mold of "Born This Way," but it's a bit weirder, mixing the yearning romantic melodrama of Pat Benetar's "We Belong" with the hard industrial metal edge of Broken-era Nine Inch Nails. The lyrics are essentially about embracing one's hairstyle as the ultimate expression of their identity, climaxing with Gaga triumphantly declaring "I am my hair!" in its huge sing along chorus. An anthem for hair salons everywhere.

"You and I"
Gaga didn't share the studio version of this theatrical rock ballad, but she did perform it in her concert later in the evening. This one has been part of her Monster Ball setlist for months now, and at this point it's already a crowd-pleasing showstopper. Assuming that the album recording will have more or less the same piano-centric arrangement, "You and I" will provide a necessary break from the high energy beats on the other tracks.

"Born This Way"
This is the Number One single in the country, so you've probably heard this one by now. This was the first time Gaga has played the song in concert, but it's already the ideal conclusion to her show, ending the night with a giddy communal celebration of personal empowerment and self-acceptance.

not sure how much you can trust an article that misspells "pat benatar" but hey

those rundowns are always kinda tantalizing but more often than not the writer makes the song seem like 10x more interesting/weirder than it actually is, regardless of who the artist is

that said, the third one sounds v dope & all the lyrics sound terrible

i just googled that + its written by perpetua?? he's writing for rolling stone??? wtf

we need him to tell us that a song called hair is 'an anthem for hair salons everywhere'

not sure how much you can trust an article that misspells "pat benatar" but hey

― Damn this thread seems so....different without ilxor (ilxor), Thursday, February 24, 2011 11:01 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

karma http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/rolling-stone-publisher-wenner-media-sued-for-stiffing-copy-editor_b21036

big perp doin big thangs

i think he's been writing for their website for a while now

lol m-perp

i think i read that "judas" is redone-produced but i'm not sure

It is.

COngrats Tuomas: this thread is the fourth result in a googles search for tactical essentialism.

"i am my hair" as a triumphant chorus? sounds awful honestly

but hey you never know

i hope it's an india.arie cover

oh no wait that was i am NOT my hair

Is there anybody who knows what drum machine samples or house samples or synths or any specifics Lady Gaga uses when recording her singles? Specifically "Bad Romance"? Is there some kind of pop sample set that they use? I really love those drum sounds...

anyway i would actually be interested in knowing if anyone went to her shows tho i assume such a person would've posted about that already

I went, but I'm pretty sure I posted about it in one of the other Gaga threads. Good show, but pretty much identical to the show a year ago. Waiting until next year when the whole revue is retooled for the new album.

I'm now convinced that "Born This Way" really needs a J. Spaceman or Kevin Shields remix.

video premieres in 3hrs if anyone's interested

video premieres in 3hrs if anyone's interested

― lex pretend, Monday, February 28, 2011 7:08 AM (2 hours ago)

yaaaaay i'll keep an eye out!

wait, does this mean i have to visit perez? if so i'm out -_-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FrqwZyKw&feature=player_embedded

Ke$ha's use of rainbows and unicorns in 'Blow' was infinitely more hilarious/better.

seven minutes? ffs

starts promisingly with a unicorn in an upside-down pink triangle, fwiw

And GaGa giving birth to the UNIVERSE! And her uterus!

so I heard this at the club at 1 a.m. on a Saturday night expecting it to be awesome and it just wasn't. Too fast to sing along, too jerky to really dance to, too much of a gap between its anthemic aspirations and the actual music. People seemed to enjoy it but I can't imagine it will have the staying power of her other stuff.

I'm coming around to the belief that no video should be longer than the actual song. Fuck these long pompous build-ups.

The bit at the end where she seems to be being spit-roasted by extras from a Fever Ray video is a bit o_0 but otherwise this is even more boring than Alejandro. Someone needs to take her down to Blockbuster and get her more films to be "inspired" by pronto.

are the people getting excited about gaga and ke$ha's new unicorns/rainbows/sparkles steez actually unaware of the life and times of mariah carey?

lol bra & pants. this is like one of the pussycat dolls' empowerment anthems except with 1) less clothes 2) more hamfisted lyrics 3) tune cribbed off someone else.

PCDs' "beep" >>>>>>>>>>>>>> gaga's "born this way", fyi

are the people getting excited about gaga and ke$ha's new unicorns/rainbows/sparkles steez actually unaware of the life and times of mariah carey?

― lex pretend, Monday, February 28, 2011 11:31 AM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark

I wasn't excited by the rainbows and unicorns. I was making the point that GaGa manages to make unicorns and rainbows seem ponderous, self-serious and boring.

Contrasted with Ke$ha, who makes unicorn-people shoot rainbow ray guns at James Van Der Beek.

Empowering women and oppressed minorities everywhere through the medium of unicorns, rainbows and not wearing many clothes. Take that Suffragettes!

Contrasted with Ke$ha, who makes unicorn-people shoot rainbow ray guns at James Van Der Beek.

yeah this sounds worse

ke$ha makes me feel much more kindly to even gaga at her laziest and most heavy-handed

new ke$ha video is 100000x better than gaga's

That's not what happens in the Ke$ha video, btw...she and JVDB are in a gunfight and whenever one of the unicorn people get hit a rainbow explodes from the wound.

The Ke$ha video is my favorite big budget romp in a LONG time.

lol at that terrible intro voiceover. Too much like a terrible japanese rpg.

Can't wait for Vigilant Citizen to reveal the subtly hidden messages in great detail.

I think she IS Vigilant Citizen or atleast has them in her employ.

Cool video but the song is sooo tedious...

yeah i've def grown to like it less

"no judgement"'s just about right

i like the song more now that it reminds me of "Born To Be Alive" after fourfour pointed out the similarities -- also the a cappella harmonies on the I WAS BORN THIS WA-HEY outro are dope.

the song is good

also the a cappella harmonies on the I WAS BORN THIS WA-HEY outro are dope.

― some dude, Monday, February 28, 2011 3:55 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

yes

Almost hit play, then saw "7:20".

ugh thanks for the warning

Actually did hit play just to see if the unicorn/pink triangle thing was for real.

the voiceover in the intro was vomit-inducing

also BORING

that said i at least felt moved to watch it, even w/the whole seven minutes thing. ke$ha, not even gonna touch that one.

the ke$ha video is really stupid

not bad, just a dumb idea, idk why ppl on here are freaking out about it

probably cuz the dawson's creek guy is in it

ke$ha, making starved pop fans freak out unnecessarily over nothing since 2009

"Blow" video is a simple concept with funny details. I never watched Dawson's Creek, but JVDB seems like an okay guy and he's amiable in this.

"Born This Way" video is an elaborate concept with even more elaborate details and kind of a huge mess.

lol at that terrible intro voiceover. Too much like a terrible japanese rpg.

lollll

I know this is loony talk, but between the pointy jaggedy fake bone implants and the Catrina makeup, my first thought was gagas was being "thinspiration"? Which makes like no sense w/her general message but you know what I mean. Like am I supposed to think 'starving to death' when I look at her?

endless memes its exhausting

Lone dissenting voice - I enjoyed the video!

I like it a lot too. Also it's kinda cool that I used to see Zombie Boy all the time in my neighborhoud not that long ago.

Cool video, or at least the beginning is pretty rad. There's something about it that keeps bringing my mind back to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Jth4UtsY0

http://www.omgif.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/born-this-way.gif

is this song about being intersexed

Yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqXSB7glctg

Wow, the first Gaga song I actually enjoy and it turns out it's a remix.

the first Gaga song I actually enjoy

... o_O

that track is some large number of times better than Born This Way.

Agreed. Really liking this one so far.

lold at 2:12 followed quickly by a laugh track.

"Government Hooker" echoes "Living on Video" by Trans-X and some Duran Duran song that never was. Also, that is the original backing beat to the song in the Mugler clip.

This is just amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEB3nnIsAmQ&feature=player_embedded

Very cute!

She was great in Chicago last week, a subtle but still big improvement over Lollapalooza. Having seen both Gaga and Madonna now, the differences are vast. The later is untouchable, royalty; it's an honor to bask in her glory. But the line dividing Gaga from her fans is not as wide. She really does seem down with her fans in a grassroots sort of way, which def. heightens the party vibe.

Also, she can sing.

well... there goes that!

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/lady-gaga-ends-deal-with-target/?ref=music

I guess it'll shut up the cynics who say she's pandering to the gay crowd only for their money. If she was only in it for the money she would've gone on with the deal. Good for her, not many artists would do that.

Well, if I'm reading it right, she's not pulling the basic version of her cd from Target. She's just not doing the special package with them anymore. If she really wanted to make a statement...

The cynic in me thinks this was a total stunt. Clearly Gaga knew Target's policies when she signed up; they definitely precede the creation and promotion of her new album. So what a coincidence that Gaga, more gay-aligned than ever and riding high on her latest explicitly gay pride-y anthem, should suddenly make a stink about her affiliation with Target? She means well, but still.

Josh, this was what was said a month ago in Billboard:

[q](Billboard Editorial Director Bill) WERDE: During my interview with Lady Gaga, I said, "I think some people are confused about your deal with Target, because the company has a track record of financially supporting some politicians who haven't been so friendly to the issues of some of your fans, and yet that's who you ended up doing a retail deal with. I think it would be meaningful if you wanted to address it." She said, "Part of my deal with Target is that they have to start affiliating themselves with LGTB charity groups, and begin to reform and make amends for the mistakes they've made in the past. And that was one of the most intense conversations I've ever had in a business meeting. I wasn't comfortable with it at first. But [manager] Troy [Carter] and I sat down with them and we had a wonderful meeting. I don't want to say too much, but I can say that our relationship is hinged upon their reforming the company to support the gay community and to redeem the mistakes they've made in the past in supporting those groups." So that's pretty specific: She said she had a conversation with the entire executive group, she said her relationship with Target is hinged upon reforming the company to support the gay community, and to redeem the mistakes they've made in the past in supporting those groups."

Billboard