While I’ve been known to throw my opinion around where it’s not needed, I tend to stay away from Gaga. I can’t explain her. She’s the Apple Jacks of music – people can’t explain why they like her; they just do. She came along, and all of her weirdness has just been embraced and encouraged by the general populace. Her major label debut was the pretty-mediocre-for-a-pop-song “Just Dance”, but things got weirder from there. After “Paparazzi”, “Poker Face”, and “Bad Romance”, people began to realize that Gaga wasn’t just going to be some run of the mill pop starlet.
From a musical perspective, I can get down with the Lady. I’m just surprised that people eat up her idiosyncrasies when they would normally drive people away with a simple “That bitch is weird!” I’m not one of Gaga’s “Little Monsters”, so I don’t claim to know the motivations behind this and that. I was just sitting here, with little to do, and her new album, Born This Way, at my disposal. So, I figured I’d throw in my two cents, as far as what I took away from the listening experience. I was a bit surprised by the 80s direction she took with the album, but that just made me love it more. So, let’s see what’s inside:
1. Marry the Night: This was the first song released on Gagaville, so I have a bit more history with it (yes, I play Farmville; you can either laugh or shut up and add me as a neighbor). It was the first track I’d heard other than the polarizing “Born This Way” and the familiar “Judas”, and it made me realize Gaga had something different in mind for this album. From a melody standpoint, the bridge sounds like it was lifted from Lara Fabian’s underrated hit, “I Will Love Again”. So far, so good.
2. Born This Way: Since its debut back in February, everything’s pretty much already been said about this song. Yes, it’s basically an update of Madonna’s “Express Yourself”. What started as a gay anthem turned out to be so cloying that many of Gaga’s gay fans seemed to turn their backs on her for it. It isn’t, however, the “Madonniest” track on the album.
3. Government Hooker: People are gonna hate me for this, but this sounds like an edgy Aqua song. You know why I say that? It’s because of the weird Swedish (German?) dude saying shit in the background. It wasn’t as prevalent on their first album, but the second Aqua album was FULL of him trying to sound “deep” with his “I learned English by watching American television” accent. And what’s with the John F. Kennedy reference? I swear, where would pop culture be without Kennedy and World War II?
4. Judas: Hands down, one of my favorite tracks on the album. Why? Because it’s “Badder Romance”. RedOne took a page from Max Martin’s book and threw the same damn song in our faces with a new title (like you didn’t realize “Since U Been Gone” and “My Life Would Suck Without You” started with the same damn riff!). Go ahead, sing the “Bad Romance” chorus over this instrumental. I’ll wait. All the vamps are still there. I haven’t loved a pop song as much as “Bad Romance” since “Tearin Up My Heart”, so I have no problem with this clone.
5. Americano: This is gonna be one of Gaga’s best songs once she gets older and starts playing the cabaret circuit in the Village. I can just hear the spots where she’ll yell, “Barkeep, another Manhattan!”
6. Hair: As I mentioned on twitter, the electric piano riffs sound like they were lifted from a Solid HarmoniE song (Pearlman rest their souls). The subtle background sax sets us up for what’s to come a few songs down the tracklist with “The Edge of Glory”. Like that song, this one feels more like a P!nk track. I don’t feel anything particularly “gaga” is being brought to this song.
7. Scheibe: “What if La Bouche covered ‘Du Hast’?” Ain’t nothing wrong with that.
8. Bloody Mary: This, to me, feels like the closest ancestor of The Fame to be found on this album. I love that it has a haunting Hurts/later Duran Duran quality to it.
9. Black Jesus – Amen Fashion: This, to me, is the “Madonniest” track on the album. Starting off with “Jesus is the new Black”, for a little religious controversy, the verse follows the early 90s “bounce beat” model of the “Express Yourself” era. If ever there was a video screaming for a Leon cameo, this would be it.
10. Bad Kids: While the middle of the album hovers around the early 90s, this track seems to signal the shift back through time. This feels very 1989, and we just go back from there. Love the Robert Miles-esque loop in the bridge.
11. Fashion of His Love: LOVE this. We continue our trip back to the 80s, as this is the kind of song Tiffany (or Robin Sparkles) would be singing in the food court of the local mall. Not that mall – the other one, with the Gadzooks and the Long John Silvers.
12. Highway Unicorn (Road To Love): this is the kind of song I expect to hear when I think “Lady Gaga”. Plus, the title would make a kick ass Lisa Frank folder!
13. Heavy Metal Lover: as close to a filler track as you’re gonna get from Gaga. Again, it sounds like “Gaga”, but doesn’t really do much for me.
14. Electric Chapel: Nice 80s guitar shredding going on, taking us into Kylie-esque synths. Come to think of it, this would’ve probably sounded the same had they just given it to Kylie.
15. The Queen: Synth craziness! I’m putting on my legwarmers just so I can do the Maniac dance. This song is so 80s, it makes me want to buy an inflatable cactus and write love letters to Justine Bateman. Then, we slow it down. The contrast between beginning and end are so striking that it alomost feels like 2 songs were glued together.
16. You and I: This song sounds like A) something Jesse & The Rippers would sing, B) an early 90s jingle for Diet Coke, C) a theme song demo for A Different World or D) a rocked out interpretation of Anna Nalick’s “Breathe (2 AM)”.
17. The Edge of Glory: Again, this sounds like a P!nk song. Or a Kelly Clarkson song that had previously been rejected by P!nk. This song will be a money maker, though, as it seems like it was written just to be used during sports championships and reality show competitions. It’ll be the “Bad Day” of 2011. And that motherfucking sax solo! Clarence motherfucking Clemons! A lot of people said that it was jarring having it in the song, but there’s never a wrong time for a sweet sax solo (After a few listens, I think it would’ve worked with a Steve Winwood synth solo, too). Plus, how come nobody’s talking about the Reading Rainbow thing going on at the end of the sax solo? Anyway, it’s definitely a strong closing track that leaves you wanting more.
So, there ya have it. You may disagree, or you may say, “Damn, you’re a genius!” I’ll take whatever ya got. A lot of y’all won’t even have the album til Tuesday, so we can reconvene then. Until then, take care of yourselves…and each other.
