I will post the link to the article when it goes live, it will probably have a few changes so what is here is my original article. Enjoy.
Is Lady Gaga Still Relevant?
In this fickle world of celebrity culture, the question of Lady Gaga’s relevance is already being batted about only 18 months after her being hailed as the new Princess of Pop; the welcome refreshment we needed to rid us of the bad taste that the likes of manufactured Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera had left in our mouths. Here was someone different, someone who wasn’t scared to break down barriers or wear outrageous, fashion-forward clothing or put two fingers up to the manufactured pop system, while at the same time banging out a melody that has everyone on the dance floor at 1am on a Saturday night. And yet...I am now left underwhelmed.
I was a fan of The Fame and The Fame Monster; I loved Just Dance, Paparazzi, Bad Romance. The immortal lyrics “Cause I’m bluffin’ with my muffin” from Poker Face will of course stay with me forever. Yet with the release of Born This Way I am left feeling a little deflated. The single Born This Way from the album of the same name sounds so much like 80’s Madonna that on my first listen I had to check my iPod to see if I had clicked on the right song. It not only seems to be influenced by Madonna...it almost IS Madonna. And frankly, I was expecting more from the woman who has captured the attention of over 10 million twitter followers.
Hoping this was a little blip, I then encounter Judas. Oh Judas. I am not a religious human being, far from it, yet if I was a world famous pop star and I brought out a song called Judas and the frankly uninspiring video had me straddling a metaphorical Jesus on the back of a motorbike, I don’t think I’d be surprised if one or two (million) fans of this Jesus person were to be a little upset. In fact it is something I would do for a little attention. But Lady Gaga? Oh no. She was surprised. Why would they be upset that she was masquerading as an underdressed Mary Magdalene while singing “Jesus is my virtue, and Judas is the demon I cling to”? Because it’s slightly blasphemous perhaps. And that is why it seems she has written this song and brought out this video; to cause controversy and to stay relevant, but when it comes down to it the only way to stay relevant for more than ten minutes in this day and age is in writing excellent music, not arriving to the Grammy’s in an egg. And Judas, in my opinion, is not excellent music.
Lady Gaga has turned into a caricature of herself; gone are the interesting fashions in her video’s and in their place are the skimpiest underwear known to man. It’s boring. I am far from prudish but if you love fashion so much...why not wear some? With stunts like swallowing a rosary as well as the infamous Meat Dress, it would seem that Lady Gaga has forgotten about the music and started to concentrate on attempting to shock as many people as humanly possible. And I wouldn’t mind, but the new song’s are such a letdown. With her album arriving on May 23rd and new single Edge of Glory number 1 all over the world, I hope I do not have to put Lady Gaga on the shelf with the rest of the pop stars who started to believe their own hype. Edge of Glory is the first single she has released in a while that doesn’t have the word “Gaga” in it...so maybe there is hope.
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