Caught in a Bad Romance : One Year of Lady GaGa
Lady GaGa’s debut single Just Dance was named BNW’s 2008 Song of the Year for it’s ability to perfectly capture the attitude of a year that saw the world spiraling out of control only to culminate in one of the greatest outbursts of hope ever seen.
What better way to react to the death, destruction, and joy than to JUST DANCE?
Now a year later, Gaga seems to be everywhere as people bestow titles like Princess of Pop, future of music, and icon upon her fledgling career of outlandish fashions and grande statements. Though Just Dance‘s follow-up Poker Face could easily be called the Song of 2009 (more on that later), Gaga spent much of 2009 releasing hit single after hit single and yet it seemed nothing she did could win back the hopeful title BNW bestowed upon her only a year ago.
In our estimation what made Just Dance stand out from so many other brilliant singles in 2008 was the simplicity of Gaga’s spirited ode to dancing for inspiration. It was the exact kind of song her materially inclined mentor has been in desperate pursuit of for the last decade. However, that may have been one of the only times Gaga has successfully thwarted her idol.
In reality it is almost impossible not to see the streaks of blonde ambition in what Gaga says, does, and wears. Essentially, many of the things that the public identifies Gaga for and say makes her stand out, can be traced back to Madonna’s career throughout the 80s and 90s.
Though Gaga wants to say that anyone who compares her to Madonna (or Amy Winehouse, Gwen Stefani, and Christina Aguilera) are just lazily reaching back into their limited frame of reference, the fact that alludes Gaga is that her statements, demeanor, and fashion choices all harken back to a time when Madonna still mattered. A time when the Material Girl was more interested in trying to sound insightful than to inspire you.
John Norris may think the comparisons to Madonna are largely superficial or have more to do with Gaga’s upbringing and drive than anything substantiative, but regardless of whether she (or the press) realizes it, Gaga’s speech, mannerisms, wardrobe choices, and stances do little to dispel the theories.
Perhaps we could all put the comparisons to rest if the music press finally admitted that the things Gaga says and does around topics of sexuality, fashion, gender identity, and art are in fact nothing new for a Pop star. The true sign of laziness in the press’ limited frame of reference may lie in the fact that they herald Gaga as a new force in Pop music when in reality she is a continuation of a pattern that has been carefully crafted and re-crafted by some of the biggest names in Pop for decades now.
Then again, the press’ inability to see Gaga as a continuation in a vast spectrum of pop chameleons may be a sign of the times we live in. A time where despite the ubiquity of an instantly accessible media moving (if not by the creators then by its consumers) towards a path of greater and greater archiving, few people understand the cultural and historical antecedents of the current zeitgeist.
Madonna:
Lady Gaga:
With that said, Gaga’s double whammy of videos for the singles Paparazzi (helmed by Madonna favorite Jonas Akerlund) and Bad Romance (with Francis Lawrence, a favorite among Janet Jackson and Britney Spears behind the camera) may prove just how lazy two of Pop music’s most famous females known for turning out one groundbreaking video after another have gotten in recent years. The opulent, over-the-top, highly stylized videos show a Pop star reaching back to a time when Pop stars were holding nothing back in using their songs as launching pads for a then un-explored art form. Gaga is not content to compete with her contemporaries, instead she is chasing the originators of a megastardom that traverses geographic boundaries and artistic mediums.
This may lead to questions of how Gaga would have fared against her inspirations two to three decades earlier? Of course, with an audience whose attention spans and frames of reference are getting shorter and shorter by the day, age may have worked well in Gaga’s favor as her contemporaries are happy to merely continue where their idols left off, not compete against the output of said idols at the heights of their respective careers.
Does this make Lady Gaga the savior of Pop music and the iconic Pop star? Hardly. But her willingness to approach Pop stardom from a more intellectual point of view (no matter how shallow) may push others to work harder and make the work of a Pop star more interesting.
As for the follow-up to Just Dance, Poker Face is a follow-up single that mimics the proven formula of its predecessor. In fact, the song only comes to life in its remixes that far surpass the original by adding newer, more engaging beats and production to a single that was otherwise a carbon copy of its lively predecessor. The single then went on to enjoy a second life, that was still infinitely more interesting than its initial incarnation, thanks to sampling by fellow Blog darling Kid CuDi, covers by the likes of Eric Cartman and dramatic readings of the double entendre laden lyrics by Shakesperian actors.
If the past year of Lady GaGa as a Pop star has left us with any feelings it’s that she chased us down with hit after hit until we all knowingly fell victim to the horrors of something that we should easily see through as bad but could not entirely resist. Yes, Lady GaGa’s career so far has been the ultimate bad romance.