“Love the sinner, hate the sin.” 
Perhaps the only biblical cliché Lady Gaga hasn’t made, is a perfect nutshell for my thoughts on the Lady’s most recent “art.”
When Beyonce’s new single was released yesterday, my Twitter feed was filled with users shredding it to bits. “Awful!” “Couldn’t make it through.” “WTF?” To me, it wasn’t that bad. It’s not something I’d listen to, but certainly no worse than the sludge being pumped out over at Camp Gaga.
I then remembered, when Judas had been released a few days previous, I saw hardly any rumblings of disliking. Anyone that did seem to disapprove of the single had to go on to defend his or her opinion.
I tested this theory by tweeting my thoughts of disappointment.
Sure enough… “I thought you liked her!” “She’s a genius!” “Whatever!”
Let’s be clear. I do like her. She has done genius work.
To my surprise, there were also a number of “My thoughts exactly” on my feed, in addition to the defenders. It occurred to me that other people out there might feel the same as me.
For a while I’ve kept mum on my Gaga opinion, but after her latest antics, and a fly by night, hack job of an album cover that even fans are upset about, I’m done with holding back.
My Question Is:
Is Gaga relying on her charisma and talent to distract her fans from the ways in which she is full of shit?
(Keep in mind: everyone is full of shit. What’s important is being aware of the areas in which we’re full of shit, how much shit of which we are full, and when we’re bullshitting.)
Couldn’t Stand Her, Then She A-A-Ate My Heart Out:
When I first heard Just Dance, I wasn’t impressed. A friend had given me the single as a promo, with an aside like, “I dunno… some Lady Gag Me or something…” I distinctly remember ejecting the CD halfway through the song, thinking it was dull and didn’t stand a chance.
Wrong!
Within a few months, Gaga exploded. After the song saturated the radio, I realized it was actually pretty fun and it grew on me. Poker Face came out. I liked it more than Just Dance, but wasn’t in love. The video was alright, nothing deep. I checked out her album and went from liking it to obsessively playing it over and over within just a few listens.
Then came the Bad Romance video. That’s when I “got” Gaga. What other pop star has ever covered her face with latex for a an entire dance sequence?
I thought all this time she’d been playing a bimbolicious, pop blonde, shaking her scantily clad ass to the top, only to drop a bomb of cutting edge pop art and create a revolutionary new incarnation of the modern artist.
Her MTV Music Video Awards performance of Paparazzi, covering herself in blood and hanging from a wire — jaw dropping!
When I heard the song Telephone, I thought she’d tapped into a very real and unexplored aspect of the youth culture.
“Stop calling, I don’t want to think anymore.”
Escaping our over connectedness via emotional and communicative disassociation …but here I was dancing!
The music, the lyrics, the melody – this was the definition of genius in the 21st century.
I was a full-fledged Monster. I eagerly anticipated the video to Telephone, checking updates and staying tuned for any teasers or new photos. I saw the video within half an hour of it going online.
Initially, I was confused. What was the concept of this video? …aside from “sexy murder.”
Struggling to understand, a thought occurred.
Sex and violence are two of the most consumed elements of our culture.
It suddenly made complete sense why the third most prominent element in Telephone was product integration.
Yes, indeed. What we were being served was a super expensive, seven in one, commercial spectacular!
…with some sporadic Gaga music.
Don’t get me wrong: I am not against product placement.
In fact, I think it’s great and I highly support it.
Make your money.
Make money for your art.
Spend it on a fabulous house, give to your fans, and give to the poor.
I also think brand integration is totally natural. When was the last time you updated your status with how much you love a certain show, celebrity, or specific kind of anything? People recommend, do, or buy and other people are influenced. So goes the world.
The problem arises when the brands interfere with your art. The “vision” of Telephone is “Shop here! P.S. Here’s some naked weirdness!” It was a completely hollow creation, gutted because the effort and detail clearly went to featuring Miracle Whip, Plenty Of Fish.com, Polaroid, Virgin Mobile, Heartbeats Earphones, HP Envy, Chevrolet, Wonderbread, and Diet Coke.
That’s nine brands.
Some of which are featured more than once.
Several literally take “center screen.”
To give you some perspective…
As an avid fan of the show 30 Rock, I can tell you they integrate advertising into just about every episode. I’ve never seen as many as brands promoted in an entire half hour of 30 Rock as I did in the ten minutes that Telephone spends desperately attempting to be anything but the moving billboard that it is.
Did we really need nine brands? Understandably, the more plugs, the more money can be spent on a kick ass video.
But as a fan, I’d be okay with an artful and interesting half million-dollar video, as opposed to a ten-minute commercial that cost 1.5 million. Wouldn’t you agree?
As if the brands weren’t enough, the imagery and ideas are recycled for their controversial legacies of sex and violence. You can almost hear the pitch meeting for the video.
“I know, we’ll replicate imagery from the most iconic, sexual, violent, controversial films of the last twenty years –
Natural Born Killers, Tarantino, Thelma and Lousie – we can call it an ‘homage!’”
It was after Telephone that I started doubting how connected Gaga was to her fans, though she incessantly reinforces it.
…doth thou protest too much?
As her career moved forward, it became clear how much she thought of herself.
So is thinking you’re amazing a problem? Nope.
She is amazing. You’re amazing. I’m amazing. We’re all fabulous. Own that shit.
But could a disproportionate ratio of confidence and humility combined with overnight fame create a narcissistic nightmare, obsessed with their own press?
Yes. Yes it can.
I held out hope she might surprise me again, but my hope was fading after the forgettable Born This Way and the heaping pile of pretension called Judas. Ooooh, the guy who betrayed Jesus! How edgy… there’s even a cross on the cover. A red cross. The color of a whore! Of blood! (And the most attention catching color to the human eye.)
And why? Was Alejandro not religious controversy enough? 
What happened next, I never saw coming. I found myself cheering the words of Bill Donohue, the President of the Catholic League, when he said:
“This is a stunt…Lady Gaga tries to continue to shock Catholics and Christians in general: she dresses as a nun… she swallows the rosary. She has now morphed into a caricature of herself.”
He’s absolutely right. It reminds me of when Victoria Beckham asked,
“If I’m being completely honest, is it fair to say she may have become a little bit of a parody of herself? Is that fair to say?”
Yes, Posh. It is completely fair. Anyone who can’t see the self obsessed-meta-fame-monster-massacre taking place is hitting the Kool Aid a little too hard. (See, product placement is even stapled into cultural expressions.)
Furthermore, criticizing Gaga is not snark or hate and should not require defending.
Art is discussed, examined, and critiqued. …it is art, right?
I am simply observing that as an artist, Gaga is increasingly losing touch with her art. Her latest career moves are provocation for the sake of provocation; the ultimate hallmark of a media personality manufacturing a conversation for profit. It’s the same reason Ann Coulter says single mothers are responsible for crime when she has a book to promote.
If someone walked into a room and screamed, “I love having sex with Baby Jesus! Buy my album!”
You wouldn’t call that brilliant. You might even be less inclined to buy the album. Unless maybe it was so good, you looked beyond the odd marketing tactics employed. Last time, NONE OF THE ABOVE IS A BAD THING. Above all else, the bitch is loaded. Amen to that.
It is the transparency with which she executes these acts that remove the craft that fans crave from an artist.
Being that her moniker is Lady Gaga, one can assume that reinvention, self-creation, and the fantasy element are essential to what she creates as an artist.
It is by the same logic that magicians swear an oath never to reveal their tricks.
While Gaga’s most recent decisions may be effective (respectable, even) “buzz strategies,” blatantly showcasing the inner workings of your business turn the “Wow” factor into the realization that there’s a trap door, leaving no trace of magic at all.
Agree with so much of this, and I had a similar trajectory of reaction to her.
You might really enjoy the AdBusters magazine and website which touches on similar themes.
http://www.adbusters.org/
http://twitter.com/adbusters
I adore Adbusters! Consider them an influence and an inspiration.
Dude – I knew you were funny and all, but didn’t know you had a degree in English! Absolutely love the article. Wish more people were able to express their opinions as objectively and eloquently as you have. Oh, and by the way, I agree with pretty much everything you said. Not to mention where the “cross” and “formula1″ image references brought me back all the way to Madonna and “Like a Prayer” but without the cultural effect.
Thank God, thought it was just me having these thoughts about Lady GaGa. Since Born This Way came out I’ve been trying very hard to educate our young artist about the relevance of “authentic art” v “manufactured art” maybe, just maybe this will help him learn to evaluate Lady GaGa with a more critical eye. The funny thing is, he wouldn’t accept the type of commericial manipulation Lady GaGa is using in his own work but like you’ve said, he’s been hitting the kool-aid pretty darn hard…LOL
This was BRILLIANT. Working in marketing myself, I have to say that I completely agree with your critique of her work and what she’s doing. Now I just have to wonder: does she understand exactly how it’s not working for her?
It also made me think of this movie trailer: a must-see when it comes out. Thought you would enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Ng2P3zxfM
….don’t mind me, I’m just petting your brain!!! Nice intellect, very nice!
And yes, I agree with you – on practically all of it. I did’t even finish listening to Judas. And don’t have a desire to relisten again – I can just rewatch Dita SNL clips with Mike Myers if I want weird German industrial music…lol. At least that is funny. Judas just came across as sounding sad.
And like you, I’m a fan of Gaga. Seriously, adore her – but with a grain of reality. I get that she’s a gimmick. She is her own parody.
But she’s stepping into the Leigh Bowery side of “art” a bit now. I’m starting to hear “Ich Bin Kuns” whenever I see a new image of her…lol.
The art of the grotesque.
THANK YOU.
I get the fisheye from other Little Monsters on a semiregular basis because I point out the flaws in Gaga’s work (like . . . what the hell WAS the Alejandro video, anyway? I feel like there was supposed to be a coherent story there, but whoever set the manuscript in type was stoned when they did it), when what they fail to realise or acknowledge is that I do the same thing to EVERY ARTIST OF EVERY STRIPE, even the ones I really, really like (in fact, maybe ESPECIALLY the ones I really, really like; once upon a time I was the go-to girl if you wanted to bitch about the plot holes in Harry Potter). We’d all be much better off if we could view the world, and work, around us with a critical eye. Gaga in particular would be better off if she could take a step back, examine the long view of what she’s doing, and realise that while she gets plenty of press, a lot of it is laughing at her.
I know she’s trying to exploit her image to do good for GLBT and homeless youth (you saw the Monster Ball, so you probably know the campaign I’m talking about), but “exploit” is just the problem. Those things have to come naturally. I don’t feel like I’m looking at Stefani by a different name anymore; I feel like I’m looking at Lady Gaga, who is holding Stefani prisoner somewhere inside the cage of weirdness, and it’s both kind of heartbreaking and not as good.
This is ABSOLUTELY why I love you so much! You are incredibly intelligent, you don’t just take other peoples opinions, and pretend they are your own. You don’t fit into a mold simply because that is what you “should” like, say, do etc…I personally don’t care for Gaga at all. I do however respect other people’s right to like her, and that again is why I love you!! I never have the fear that my opinion of something will cast me out of the Cheeks fan club…
All I have to say is – THANK YOU FOR THIS! If it’s possible, I love you even more now than I did before reading this amazing piece.
Bravo!! Loved this article. I like some of Gaga songs but have never been able to watch her perform or watch her videos, except Telephone. I have bought only one of her songs. I really don’t understand her and really feel she seems to be trying too hard to one up everyone, trying too hard to be the best.
I must say this is a really brilliant dissection of everything that’s gone, well, not wrong, but weird with Gaga’s music and persona recently.
The first song I heard of hers was Poker Face, and at first I wasn’t sure, but then it kind of caught me (I must admit, a Star Trek Reboot fanvid set to this song helped, a lot!).
And then Bad Romance came along, and I wasn’t sure about the song at first (talk about deja vu), but I saw the video, and it just stunned me. I’ve watched it so many times, and showed it to my students over and over, it is just so amazing. I don’t teach film studies, you understand. I showed it to them, or we watched it together, just because. It was so revolutionary for me because while there were plenty of ‘pretty girl in her skimpy panties’ shots, there were so many others where she just let herself look ugly and discordant and weird. And the dancing, instead of just being overtly sexual, and smirking, was strange and puppet like. The movements sometimes reminded me of those Japanese horror movies where ghosts are really scary again – I never watched Ringu, just the American remake, and that was enough to scare me shitless – sometimes the dancers moved like that, and it was ok, more than ok. It. Was. Awesome.
After that, Telephone, with its smirking sexuality and faux-ironic stance, could only be a huge disappointment. Woo, Gaga’s panties shrunk again. Woo. I loved the song, very much. But the video? Feh. 10 minutes of self-indulgent bull.
Alejandro was La Isla Bonita (and Fernando; gotta give Abba their due), Born this Way was Express Yourself – sometimes a homage is a homage, and sometimes it’s just plagiarism.
And the whole, OMG THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SUCKS OMG! thing is really getting old. I share a lot of her experiences in that regard; but really, if you’re going to rag on them, at least make it funny. South Park wasn’t as annoying as Gaga, and they turned Saint Peter into a rabbit.
Tl; dr – I love what you wrote, and wish I could express myself that well.
That’s interesting that you mention puppetry. when I wrote my excited spastic, not very well-written review of the born this way video http://cattheminion.deviantart.com/journal/38793525/ I mentioned that the dancing “seemed a bit spastic to me, but I ration that if she’s a newborn, maybe she’s not that coordinated?” But that’s exactly what it is, she’s like a marionette, and it’s even more pronounced in born this way than it is in bad romance. Her movements aren’t human and fluid, they’re not sexy. They’re aggressive and mechanical. I would say inhuman, perhaps. I think perhaps that they’re not necessarily clumsy, it more reminds me of “The Vampire Lestat”, when Lestat finally goes back to visit the theatre he worked in, and bursts on to the stage, jumping around doing acrobatics more and more elaborate, more manic, until he is moving in a way so unnatural to the audience that he scares them out of their seats. He is a Monster, an ill puppet mirroring real society as grotesque. I wonder if she’s doing it on purpose… truly I wonder….
Yes! THIS!
Very astute observations and thank you for mentioning that it’s not hateful or snarky to criticize “art.” I thought it was because I am “old,” that when watching la Gaga, that I’d really seen it all before, been there done that, and really wasn’t impressed with the meat dress or the egg either. Bad Romance was pretty good, and Alejandro too but otherwise, eh. I really hate to compare them, but Madonna wrote the book on finding great ways to be innovative, and on constantly changing it up. Gaga might want to read that book.
I don’t dislike Gaga and I wish her well, I just won’t be going to a concert any time soon.
Thanks, Cheeks, very well stated.
Thank God somebody else noticed!! I am Catholic, and I usually don’t agree with the Church but on this I must. It’s almost like she’s glamorising being disrespectful towards other peoples’ religions which is not cool. At all. Thanks Cheeks
You should never stop writing words. So accurately and eloquently written!
My roommate and I had the same discussion this morning.
Art should promote discussion whether positive or negative. I have a problem when artists stop trying to challenge themselves and us, as their audience. Expecting us to eat up everything they do because of past success, personally, insults my intelligence. I can respect what an artist does, whether I like or dislike it, if I can tell they have put thought into what they are expressing.
After-all we ARE discussing her art and paying attention to what she’s doing, so she’s maybe “doing it right.”
I wasn’t in to lady gaga when she first came out, and in fact I didn’t even know who she was. There were rumblings about disco sticks here and there. But I didn’t think much of her until I saw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVUxDCEcH5A and I thought to myself “OH! Bitch can play! and sing!” But I went about my business until a day or so after one Adam Lambert tweeted that the bad romance video melted his brain (or something to that effect). I thought that I’d better just go see, and for me, bad romance didn’t melt my brain but it made me a little monster.
Teeth, Telephone, Speechless. Genius. The video for telephone got me all excited, not as “good” as bad romance, and I didn’t specifically notice blatant product placement, because it’s all around us all the time. I noticed the Thelma and Louise and then Tarantino references right down to the use of the Pussy Wagon from Kill Bill.
From the new material I’ve heard a live version of “You and I” which I really liked and a remix of a new song as yet to come out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQb4bMIG2IY , which I adored and had to listen to on repeat. Then born this way came out. I didn’t hear as many songs in it as you did, but definitely the TLC and the Madonna. I was disappointed, but the music is like blood. MOOOORE! It has that familiar “I already like this song” sound, like when you have a dream and something is what it always is, but in the reality of the dream it’s actually distorted. Rooms are bigger, people that don’t go together are in the same place and time.
For me, the only weird thing about Born this way the video was the extremely spastic dancing and the sometimes on-sometimes off lipsynching. It was like Kubric for me, and I loved the storyline and the psychedelic visuals. I also like Rico Genest and squeed a little over his appearance in the video, after seeing him in association with lady gaga sound in the anatomy of change video.
No doubt the cover for Born this way is “bad” it’s like having Michelangelo suddenly decide to draw a South Park character. We know there is something more refined and intense available by the artist’s standards, but what are we getting now? To me the cover doesn’t really matter, I think it’s begging to be a meme. I’ve even photoedited it already – I won’t say “photoshopped” because I use gimp.
I don’t think any one human is infallible, everyone who puts themselves out there is destined to be criticized. I don’t claim to understand where gaga is coming from, but she’s almost like a society function box. During math in school Y=f(x) it’s almost like lady gaga is the function box and all of culture is x. Y= bad romance, born this way, judas, disco heaven, etc.
Maybe she is to modern music what ancient rome was to greek learning. She’s recycling pop culture back at us, and maybe some of it was crap and that would explain why people think her new stuff is less good. Any monster could scream “she’s amazing! you just don’t get it! leave lady gaga alone!” but that’s not right either. I loved Judas and was hooked by the first minute into it. I’ve been listening to it the whole time I’ve been typing this, even. To me the religious overtones don’t mean much, and probably it is for shock value. What is the basic idea of the story of Judas though? Is it all villains in all stories since then? Is every brother against brother story based on Cain and Abel? At any rate, Judas is a rockstar, known by millions. he’s an easy target, and people get their panties in a twist over him. Between Judas and Alejandro though, is it the same or different, less shocking than madonna singing like a prayer over burning crosses? “It’s been done before. She’s copying madonna. Yawn.”
Catholic girl grows up to be a pop star. Starts using christian imagery in a scandalous manner! It could be copying, but it could be her expression of a similar theme. The fame monster is chewing up society and spitting it out… but make sure you talk about it while you wipe the entrails off your feet. I don’t really have a point, just thinking out loud. I both agree and disagree with you.
http://twitpic.com/4mpn8t
the biblical crap really is getting ridiculous!
i agree Cheeks..!
Thanks Mark, great article. I understand violence, anti-Christ, sex, etc., in art is to provoke thought; sometimes the observer just feels offended and insulted.
I trust you when you say that she’s in danger of becoming a parody of herself in terms of self presentation. I’m not interested in her visuals, product placement, or mvs, however, though I found your essay fascinating. I don’t care about the way the music is marketed, so long as the artist is musically talented, which Gaga is. That talent makes her stand out in a genre where too many “artists” can neither sing nor write.
I loved Poker Face, and really, really loved Bad Romance and Telephone. I was disappointed in Fernando, which was too derivative, and furious with BTW, because it was clearly plagiarized.
Judas made me like her again. Its manic, fun to move to. Also, I have (sorry) had it with Christianity and its oversensitive stranglehold on our culture, and almost fell off my chair laughing about its Easter release. I applaud her for this particular advertising gimmick.
LOVE this! This site is turning into something very special.
Now that I have already commented on the actual post, I just have to drop in once more and say that I love your font choice for the big blocks of text. …I just really like Century Gothic. *shrug*
Anyways, once again, brilliant post!
Thanks. I like to give a visual POW with important points.
Also, I love font nerds!
When I heard Judas… then her recent interview, I thought, “She is channeling Madonna and Charlie Sheen! She’s gonna be famous as hell!”
Brilliant!! I was a fan and she’s lost me. She’s lost the “smile and the wink.” I keep saying “The Emperor is naked!” I wish more sites would call her out on this!
Thank you for this article full of insight and truth!
Articulate and funny. Is there anything you can’t do, Cheeks? She had me at Bad Romance also but I am fading fast.
Hey Rydravyn, fellow Bama girl! Nice to see you here!
“It is the transparency with which she executes these acts that remove the craft that fans crave from an artist.” I agree Cheeks and excellent analysis! The overt, heavy-handed execution of some of her latest work is beginning to make her creations feel false and manipulative. And the fans are too afraid to exclaim, “the emperor wears no clothes!” I like Gaga; I thought the Bad Romance song and video were very exciting and fresh. But she’s starting to lose her edge. I hope she get’s it back. I really do! She is extremely talented. I don’t want the House of Gaga to become a House of Cards.
Sublime (and totally on point)! Never been gaga for GaGa, but have always admired the fact that she keeps her private life seperate from her public persona and she works her skinny ass off.
Those two qualities alone are so singular in showbiz these days that even if I don’t appreciate/admire the art – I do appreciate/admire the businesswoman. I have complete faith that I will never have to to endure a drunken/swollen mugshot pic of La GaGa. For that alone, she has my admiration. ;o)
AMAZING post. It’s like you have articulated everything I have been thinking about her after her latest two singles dropped, but without all the typos and general mangling of the English language I do on a regular basis. It’s like there is someone smarter in my brain, roaming around up there with a thesaurus and spell check, making sense of my thinky thoughts! “Parody of herself” is such a nail on the head description (and this is coming from someone who is a fan and is seeing her in concert next week). I wonder if that’s what she is going for? Is she pulling her own Spinal Tap? I hope that is what she’s doing, sitting home and smirking at everyone who thinks her bullshit about horns finally emerging from her chakras or whatever is true, but then I actually hear her speak about said horns or whatever nonsense she is babbling on about and I just shake my head. BAD GAGA! NO SPEAKA THA ENGLISH GAGA!
Oh well, whatever the case it sure makes for a fun brain vacation. Thanks for the great essay.
I thought that too, maybe she IS just playing us, seeing how far she can take the fame monster persona, how much her fans will buy into it, how far they will go, how far she herself can go into the belly of fame. Can she do no wrong? Maybe this is her “evil experiment” until she calls foul on herself. Which will then be the next act. hmmmm…..
Funny you mentioned “Spinal Tap” – when she was coming out of the pod thing at the Grammy’s, I kept yelling, “Mook – get the blowtorch!” ;o)
This is amazing! Exactly what I’ve been thinking! I didn’t really want to hate on her, cause she is really inspirational and I really admire her, but you’re right; it is art. I had high hopes that ‘born this way’ would live up to all the hype that gaga herself created, but i was really disappointed
Dayum boy you can write! I agree that she is losing her touch. Altho i think that the hidden messages in the telephone video are amazing if you put the product placement aside. I think gaga has become so wrapped up in the gaga character that she seems to have lost that lyrical genius that was within steph. I am a fan but i do believe that her stuff was better pre gaga. & even on her albums her real music such as speechless in my opinion is her best work. You once said yourself “as long as you believe your own bullshit, you are untouchable” and with her self promoting, build ups and claims of how btw is ganna be ” the greatest record of alltime” noone can come close.
god, you’re so much more intelligent than … certain other people who may or may not have ALMOST A MILLION FOLLOWERS ZOMG!!! and a substantial platform for disseminating bullshit with no regard for how full of bullshit he or she may or may not actually be. hypothetically.
i feel comfortable being a grammar nazi with you because you actually take the time to make sure you don’t end sentences in prepositions even when it sounds goofy, so:
“It occurred to me that other people out there might feel the same as I,” not “me.” as in, “other people out there might feel the same as i DO.”
but you write good. and stuff. very nice.
only an ass would use Cheeks’ blog to make a veiled bash against one of his friends *eyeroll*
As for your grammer lesson, out of the entire blog, if that’s all you found I’d say that’s an A+ grade.
Wow, way to be negative and . . . assy, TBH. This blog, as I understand it, is supposed to be about COHESION, not tearing each other down. There was absolutely nothing whatsoever constructive or even pretending to masquerade as critique in what you said, Amy.
I think the problem is that on one end of the extreme, you have the idiots who proclaim that EVERYTHING is a persecution of their religion (like the weirdos in my hometown who tried to get the homecoming dance shut down one year because dresses above the knee were in style, and allowing the school to hold the dance was promoting secularization and taking our kids out of touch with Christ–I kid you not), and on the other end of the extreme, you have people to whom NOTHING is sacred–whether they believe it or not. Gaga is firmly entrenching herself in the latter category, and that’s only going to alienate people.
If you look at the picture that Cheeks posted from the Alejandro video of her in the latex nun’s habit, you can see part of what’s going on there in terms of really unsavoury religious “symbolism”, but there’s more–the video takes place in some kind of dystopic world where the Nazis met the women from Cell Block Tango and had lots of babies who grew up into sex-obsessed soldiers who get chained to beds while wearing drag and just wait for Gaga to come by and molest them (I wish I was kidding), and toward the end of the video, these soldiers reappear to grab Gaga (in the sequence Cheeks posted), throw her around, and simulate raping her, which she sort of passively goes along with. If you go with the standard interpretation in which nun!Gaga is representative of the church as a whole, then the message of the video is . . . the church is a whore? I’m not overly religious (and I’ve never been any stripe of Catholic, even nonpracticing), but I was absolutely disgusted. There are tasteful ways to do religious commentary/symbolism, and there are let-me-shove-this-in-your-face-in-the-most-obscene-way-possible ways to do religious commentary/symbolism, and that video was definitely the latter. I have ATHEIST friends who watched Alejandro and went ” . . . the hell, Gaga? Why was that necessary?”
Falling on that side of the spectrum again and again and again isn’t going to earn her any fans, or dig her out of the rut she’s in (especially after the BTW video essentially had her declaring herself to be God). Pushing boundaries is one thing, but she has to be more cognizant of her audience. It’s the only way for her to succeed.
I was only semi-into Gaga until last weekend when I won tickets to see her live and totally fell in love… Honestly, going to the show I wasn’t expecting much other than skimpy costumes and awesome pyrotechnics
but I must say I was blown away!
She seemed so real when she talked to the fans and the audience and was so vulnerable (wierd, I know, but that’s the only way I can describe how she sat at the piano and pulled, seemingly nervously on her hair as she talked about the tour ending and her new album) that it made me see the real person beneath all the wierdness she radiates. I totally agree with this post though, Telephone and all its promotion was just ridiculous. I think people would appreciate her art more if she kept it real and all about her and cut the promotion/pissing people off for attention for (at least) a minute. Great to finally hear someone voice a REAL opinion (besides “I love her, brilliant!”) about Gaga! I thought I was the only one who had ever not been totally into her craziness!
So since you wrote your Gaga post today, i thought id forward this onto you.
I had to write this back when i did design school – we had to analyze a music video and i chose Gaga.
I know you’re all for meta and analyzing things, so i thought this was appropriate.
Analysis of Gaga’s “Telephone” Video.
The video begins in a prison. Instead of low lifes, drug addicts and people with nothing going for them, the prison is instead filled with beautiful women with self expression. It is a very girl power start as there are no males in the jail scene – although there is slight irony in the way that all these women are locked behind bars – shown with the cage/barbed wire fences. In a way, we are introduced to how females are often locked away in society – that it is often more acceptable for a male to speak out rather than a female.
As Gaga is getting thrown into the prison cell the line “i told you she didn’t have a dick” is spoken. As well as obviously slamming rumors that were swirling around the media at the time, the line is also saying that you don’t have to be a man to make a stand in music today. You can be just as successful as a female.
The lesbian kiss is a shot at homophobes. The kiss takes place in the prison, behind bars. Touching on how some people see that as something that should be hidden away from society. As a couple, the two girls seem to have to be locked away and out of sight in order to find their freedom in love.
Next is the idea of how much people rely on technology. And obviously, in this video, it is the telephone. At one point the phone is literally made into her head dress, and at another point it is woven into her hair. this shows attachment, how people become attached to technology and how it becomes a part of us and a part of our lives. There is a part in the video where time kind of freezes and almost spasms. This shows how when technology breaks down, so does everyone that uses it. We rely on it too much.
The mass murder in the diner shows how unsafe our world can be. Even in a public place. There is also the aspect of death vs celebration. After people have died they all dance like it is nothing. In today’s world, death happens so often that it is often as if it doesn’t matter. We just shake it off – shake, dance….you get it
A diner is also a typical american place but here it is portrayed as the murder place.
Also in the diner there is a part when someone feeds the dog. This is a reflection of human nature and how we care for animals but not people. Or in the way that at times we treat people as animals. In the death scene there is a dog. It touches on the way that we see the people in the diner all dead and we don’t think anything of it. We then see the dog and it touches us.
A huge part of the video is product placement with nods to virgin mobile etc.
The use of the “Pussy Wagon” goes back to the idea of female empowerment. Gaga’s ultimate goal is to push boundaries in the music industry. It is kind of an aspect of the video that people are either going to laugh out, snigger about, or be completely outraged. Depends how liberal a person you are.
Throughout the video there is an MJ tribute and Gaga also channels Madonna (as she does in most of her videos). with nods to both the king of pop as well as the queen of pop, in Gaga’s vision, it is time for them to step aside and for her to make her mark. When Gaga gets released from the jail she does a little MJ foot shuffle. At the time that the video was shot, Michael Jackson’s death was huge in the media. A lot of people believed that in death – the king of pop was finally able to be free, after living a life on the run. The idea of her coming out of the cell and being able to dance is a nod to this.
There is also a race element. If you think back into history, it is usually white people that set black people free. This is flipped here – because it is Beyonce that saves Gaga.
In conclusion, in what may seem like a basic mindless pop music video, gaga has clearly put a lot of thought into her message that she wishes to portray. The video is a genius piece of art and in a little under 10 minutes, gaga has managed to open society’s eyes to a number of important issues and flaws. . . Either that, or to some people just created a video that makes no sense to a funky dance beat
Anybody who knows me, knows I am a HUGE Gaga fan.
I think she’s genius at what she does and she’s going to be around for a long time to come. I became a fan back in 2008 when she was an opener for New Kids on the Block tour and Just Dance was all over the radio. It was just her, her disco stick and 3 male dancers. It’s pretty awesome to see how far she has come in such a short time.
She may be on a little on the weird side, but I don’t take her too seriously for I know she lives for her performance art and doesn’t want to be taken too seriously. She is a unique and exciting performer that always has something new to share. And EVERYTHING she does, gets people talking, fans and haters. And in doing that, she’s doing something right. For when people stop talking about you, then you have a problem. I see people daily on my twitter hating on Gaga’s latest more than they talk about the artists they do like. Just like at the Grammys. She didn’t say a single word until she was on stage singing, yet she was the talk of the whole show with her egg. She’s a marketing genius!
I also don’t see anything wrong with her speaking out publicly in support of gay rights. She believes strongly in equal rights for everybody and knows that being a celebrity she has a platform for speaking out in support of what she believes in. So she does. Heck, she was playing the gay clubs at age 12 in NYC before anyone knew who she was.
And until she seriously shows me something that says “I don’t give a rats ass about my fans”, I’ll be right here supporting her career and enjoying her music and art.
Yes, but when she does something utterly ludicrous–and not in a good way–don’t you think it’s the part of a good fan to point it out? People did it to Cher in the mid-90s (with the hard-to-find-because-it-bombed-so-badly R&B album “It’s A Man’s World”), and her response was to come back bigger and better than ever with “Believe” and “Living Proof.” I love “It’s A Man’s World,” but the hard truth is, half of it is covers and ALL of it is lazy. Cher fans wouldn’t put up with it, and she was forced to work–and came back with what, arguably, was her best album ever, out of 30+ albums. If the last generation of fans had put up with that shit, the album following “It’s A Man’s World” would have been a general release of “Not.Com.mercial” (limited, just-for-curiosity’s-sake release in 2000), and that would have been the end of her career. She’d have become a total laughingstock, in spite of the fact that she’s ridiculously talented (matter of objective judgment: she’s an Oscar-nominated and Broadway actress, singer, songwriter, producer, television comedian, miniseries director–name me one other artist you know who can do ALL of that and do it well).
Gaga doesn’t have that kind of resume to fall back on. She’s got two albums, one of which isn’t, by 2000s standards, very long (the only two albums I can think of that are of comparable length to The Fame Monster are both from the 1980s–”Bat Out Of Hell” by Meat Loaf and “Thriller” by MJ). She has a few writing credits outside of stuff she’s recorded herself (notably Britney Spears, Beyonce, J.Lo, and Adam Lambert), but even there there’s something to note: she gave “Telephone” to Britney and then recorded it herself, essentially taking the writing credit back (since Britney, as far as I know, never recorded it), and while Adam’s “Fever” is notably different from Gaga’s version (available on YouTube), the new backbeat crafted for Adam’s release also appears . . . in “Born This Way.” It’s not just a matter of “well, ALL dance beats sound a little alike,” either. They’re so close to identical that when American Idol used a “Born This Way” instrumental during the Final 24 selection this year, I thought it was Fever until the point the lyrics kicked in, and then for a second I still thought there’d been a mistake (and that was BEFORE I heard Cheeks’ BTW pastiche). Even if Gaga wrote the new backbeat, recycling it for another song less than two years later smacks of unoriginality and laziness.
A good fan is like a good gardener; even the best-bred rosebush in the world will throw the occasional rogue branch or have a bad year for roses. It’s the job of the gardener, not to pet the rosebush and tell it what a good, pretty rosebush it is no matter WHAT it does, but to prune off those rogue branches and deadhead the bush so the next crop of roses will be bigger. Without doing those things, the rosebush will die. Likewise, if a musical artist is just fed a constant stream of “you’re so GOOD! OMG!” and receives (or accepts) no criticism, his or her career is headed down the john, and it’s the fan’s hand on the flusher.
Gaga needs someone to tell her “no.” She needs someone to tell her “this is getting out of hand” and institute some control. Otherwise, her career is doomed.
This is absolutely true!
Hey cheeks…you totes never told us how the gaga concert was…*taps foot*
Cheeks, you are a WRITER! I would read whatever you write for the pure joy of experiencing your use of the English language….the words dance and flow and make me think. You speak with empathy, frankness, humour and truth. Thank you.
JFC Cheeks keep saying words!! This was nail on the head f’ing brilliant! I love your funny stuff but I love this even more!
Gaga is no longer “in on the joke” she is the joke and that’s a shame because she really is quite talented.
Hopefully she takes a step back and reevaluates her decisions and stops trying to shock just to shock because that’s grown old very quickly and as a fan I have no interest in her new album at this point.
Cheeks, this is an excellent post. I love it! It is full of wit and charm, but at the same time it inspires us to think. This is not about whether you are a Gaga’s fan or not. As in your Miss California Controversy video, it is not about whether you are a Christian on not. It is about to take a deeper look of what is presented to us, rather than accepting them as a habit. I love you and I love your inspiration as always. ~K #MetaCulture
p.s. And thank you for continuing to surprise me! This is not Youtube, but it is more visual than YT. You are brilliant.
@Nina, watched the video…I don’t see rape, but a lot of sex going on in/out of the nun costume lol. For me, it was not objectionable, but then I’m not religious. Even when I was religious, I didn’t mind art that combined sex with religion. The video was more interesting than the song, which is kind of boring…imo.
@Jaleh, I prefer the song to the video, TBH. The scene to which I referred reminded me uncomfortably of the scene from West Side Story known as “The Taunt” or “Taunting Anita.” In the movie version, Anita is simply thrown around and Doc steps in before she can take any real harm, but stage versions vary all across the spectrum from a bit of tossing around to Doc physically pulling Baby John off of her mid-assault. It seemed like Gaga was trying to reference that scene as well, and failing badly.
I’m not conventionally religious, but there are some things I just feel like you should respect (e.g., I’m not and never have been Muslim, but I’d never walk into a mosque with my hair uncovered–it’s roughly the equivalent of walking into a Christian church naked save for a pair of pasties and a G-string). You don’t have to like it and you can certainly critique it, but when you cross the lines Gaga has crossed, it ceases to be critique and just becomes outrageous. Alejandro-the-video reminded me of the so-called art photograph “Piss Christ”–and just based on the name, you can probably guess why that’s a bad thing when your audience is predominantly a country whose farthest-back roots date to Puritanism and whose values still in some measure reflect that.
Bravo! I really enjoyed reading your critique. I’m so repulsed by Gaga that I refuse to listen to her music.
Wow. Totally agree. When considering BTW’s derivative (read plagiarized) concept; and taking into account the red carpet stunt that followed shortly after the release of BTW during which Gaga was carried into the Grammys while sitting inside an egg; the only conclusion I felt could reasonably be reached was that she had lost touch with her art and become consumed with the marketability of her image. The integrity of her artistic vision lost out to her need for attention and fame. Sadly, talent is not a requirement for acquiring and retaining fame. Exhibit A? “Lady Gaga, let me introduce you to Paris Hilton.” Hopefully Gaga will take a step back from the publicity machine she has created and reevaluate the road she is on at the moment. Because underneath the antics, she is truly a talented performer whose fans want and expect more from her.
You said it so much more articulately than I could even think it, let alone put into the written word. Bravo, Cheeks!
Oh and FYI: There is no rule of English grammar that prohibits ending a sentence in a preposition. Another apparent urban legend unleashed against unsuspecting school children everywhere. ;D
*Stands up and applauds*
Amen to that! At last, somebody who voiced out what others can’t seem to do so (such as myself)
Lady Gaga is showing what A marvel Madonna is. She made it look easy to keep reinventing herself.
http://www.theprophetblog.net/lady-gaga-flips-out-over-madonna-plagiarism-claims
I have a big problem with Gaga saying she champions the rights of the oppressed and then uses the word “retarded”.
I have a big problem with Gaga saying she champions the rights of the oppressed and then using the phrase “Orient-made.” I have friends in Asia who were disgusted by that (the term is “Asian,” Gaga, not “Oriental”).
BRAVO!
She apologized for using the word “retarded”
http://perezhilton.com/2011-04-20-a-statement-from-lady-gaga
Thanks for the link. I like her music and I hope this was a good lesson for her. I don’t know that I read a true apology (sounded more like an excuse). Perez doesn’t really count, but I will give her a break. Humans show their true self under stress. I will be watching just like I did Perez after his apology. His new ways didn’t last long.
I was very glad that she immediately apologized publicly for her use of the r-word. It’s a very personal, very huge issue for me, the use of that word – I’ve spent so many years working with adults with developmental disabilities and volunteering with Special Olympics, and personally think I learned more from the clients I’m helping than I ever taught them.
It has been my experience that kids with disabilities possess something the rest of us don’t. They seem to possess a sixth sense, much like animals, and are an excellent judge of people. I am convinced it is the rest of the world that is truly disabled. The people who choose to work with these children are more highly evolved. I think they are reincarnated angels.
This makes me think of one of my favourite quotes:
Bless those who play like children. May they infect all those who doubt. A knowing wink to you.
-Hawksley Workman
I totally agree with you! For the past seven years I have been working as a Support Worker with adults (and sometimes kids) who have developmental disabilities. I am always coming across people who, on hearing what I do for a living, make some kind of comment like, “I don’t know how you do that. It must be really hard. You must be so patient,” and offer up praise like I’m some kind of saint or something. I get that a lot of people have limited (if any) experience with people who have a developmental disability, and I get that not everyone is suited to what I do, but when I get reactions like this, I always think it is so bizarre. I absolutely love my job and feel blessed every time I walk through the door of the home of the gentlemen I support. Yes, it can be trying or difficult at times, but usually because of some shortcoming on my part, not theirs. The people I support have taught me more then I ever could have imagined about myself, the world around me, joy, love, heartache, equality/inequality, acceptance, compassion, humour…(the list really could go on for quite awhile), and recognizing the unique and beautiful gift that everyone has to offer the world. I can only try to give back as much as I receive.
I realize this is a total detour from the original Gaga post (which I loved, btw), but I really wish more people, instead of shying away from or being disturbed by someone with a developmental disability, would open their minds and hearts and try to get to know the person that too often gets backgrounded by the disability. We will all be better for it, I promise
Love your Born This Way video, just saw Weird Al’s take http://youtu.be/fUxXKfQkswE
A very well and honest article. I have had these same feelings since the “Alejandro” video, during that time is when her ego became bigger than her career. It’s sad that a talented woman like her has jumped the shark in such a short time. In my opinion, she is just trying to revenge the childhood she claimed was horrible because she was not popular (I.E. Paris Hilton).
Nothing we can do now but watch the artistic decline.
Amen to a very well written piece! I have never been a fan of Lady Gaga from the start. Saw her inside/out. The “lightning eyes” in Just Dance is a harbinger that she will always copy something from the legends..in a way to make her a legend herself. Everyone is influenced but c’mon, almost everything she came up with has an identical twin done in the past.
And the most annoying part is her pompous attitude like she is above all else. People will be the one to decide if your album will be the album of the decade..not you! Yes she is gracious to her fans which is great but on the other hand it is also less genuine at the same time.
Best thing ever http://thetruthaboutgaga.wordpress.com/2011/04/
Brilliant and perfect
I was hoping Lady Gaga would have exited the egg at the Grammy’s as Stephanie. It would have been brilliant and unexpected to shed the persona and show her vulnerability.
I’m sure in the beginning Stefani used the Lady Gaga persona to help get past her insecurities. However, if you’ve followed her as long as I have, you can see that she has evolved and now there is no difference between Lady Gaga and Stefani. She is who she is, there is no “real” Lady Gaga that is hiding somewhere. Even people who work closely with her and know her personally have said in interviews that Lady Gaga is who she really is.
Omg her coming out of the egg as Steph wouldve been AMAZING and actually tap into the ‘born this way’ lyrics. I dunno bout you….but not sure i was born with my prostetic shoulders and cheekbones haha
I think the article makes some reasonable points, and I can understand why many people would share those opinions. I don’t, however. When you criticize an artist, you’re basically just projecting your own values, tastes, preferences, and standards onto him or her. Perfectly alright, of course, but not particularly valid in any absolute or universal sense. An artist is not a critic. An artist marches to the tune of his or her own drummer, and sets up his or her own creative principles. Critics then comment on them, with approval or disapproval. Lady Gaga is currently doing her over-the-top overblown megastar media prankster performance art thing, with hooky neo-retro dance songs. You may relish it for it is, or not.
I want to hug you, Alex.
That is sweet.
Here’s the thing, though, okay. Yes, Gaga has a message she wants to send, etc.–but people are more likely to accept a message from a medium that’s at least somewhat comprehensible. Gaga isn’t just marching to her own drum–she broke the drum over the flag-bearer’s head and is now waltzing gleefully through the ranks bareass naked to the strains of a mandolin and bagpipes. She’s so far out there that the people she’s hoping to influence no longer understand, and on the contrary, are standing there with eyebrows raised in a mix of bemusement and shock going “really, Gaga? REALLY?”
I LOVE Gaga’s message, and I love that she’s chosen to bring to light the all-too-often-ignored plight of GLBT youth–but I think she’s gone so far past what most people are willing to accept that at this point she’s hurting, not helping. She’s become a divisive figure rather than a unifying one, and if nobody tells her she needs to chill a little, it’s going to kill her career.
Nina, those are your opinions. And probably a lot of people share them. Nothing wrong with opinions but they are not facts. Which means a contrary opinion is just as valid. Lady Gaga has a vision and sensibility which, to me, are crystal clear. Now, the appeal is not necessarily to the intellect. It may be more of an aesthetic, dramatic, emotive, symbolic thing. When I went to her Ft Lauderdale show on April 12, she put on an incredible performance. She filled the place with a positive and exciting energy. Now she’s the one who got up there and accomplished that. The show I saw and heard negates a lot of the criticisms; they just don’t hold water for me.
But no matter what an artist (or anyone, for that matter) does, there are always going to be people who don’t like it. That’s just how it goes.
I saw the show in Phoenix, and for the most part, I agree (obligatory: DAYUM, that girl has PIPES). But during “Teeth,” she started having some kind of . . . religious seizure (?) in the middle of the stage, and in very short order the entire arena–comprised of everyone from way casual fans like my mom, who went just to hear two songs live (“Bad Romance” and “Paparazzi”) to some of the biggest Little Monsters you’ve ever seen (the chick two sections over who’d completely recreated the outfit made out of mirrors . . . and was wearing it)–got very uncomfortable. People were murmuring, some people–among them a couple of becostumed couples–actually left. These aren’t her critics here. These are the people who WANTED to come and watch her go wild, and even for them it was too much. When you get to that point, there’s a problem.
I see what you mean, except that I don’t think that’s necessarily a problem. A problem is simply a situation that a person doesn’t like. If someone else LIKES that situation, it’s not a problem (to them). So if Gaga loses some fans because they feel uncomfortable with her displays of religious experience, then a shifting fan base is just a natural part of an artist’s evolution. Just like when David Bowie lost a lot of fans after he shed his Ziggy Stardust persona and got into soul music and disco. Other fans may appreciate the religious dimension. Music can be a very powerful force, even to the musician performing it. Iggy Pop used to get into trance states in which he’d abuse himself on stage and not feel any pain. Anyway, there’s been a connection between religion or spirituality and music/theater since antiquity. The theater itself has its origins in the ritual mystery initiation dramas of ancient Egypt and Greece.
I’ve always know you were funny, artistic and brilliant but after reading this you just proved your own genius. wow I totally get what you were saying and can agree. BRAVO on a very well written piece you have stolen my heart again with your insight and your brilliance. hugs
tweeted today
uniVEErse @GoCheeksGo Like this Gaga piece very much…real thinking and critical reflection is golden.
Great article, Cheeks! I agree with most points.
I do like Gaga, but it seems like she’s trying too hard. Not everything has to be a big production & shocking! I can’t help but wonder what she’s going to be like in 5 – 10 yrs or so? Will she even still be around? Or just a memory?
She’s done both brilliant & not so brilliant songs & vids. I personally love Judas. To me it sounds like a struggle between good & evil and wanting to do good but still going back to a more evil way of living. Not saying Gaga is evil! But that song really speaks to me. I’m a Christian & not offended by it.
Telephone vid is a little hard to watch. I really don’t “get” it, but the overall look is very cool, plus Gaga’s costumes are very visually interesting.
Big NO to the newly revealed Born this Way cover!! I just can’t fathom this. What?????
I really like Monster, lyrics are so true. That’s exactly what it feels like to have someone you love hurt you.
Well, still, I can’t imagine much that Gaga hasn’t done & shown us. Pretty soon, the “shock” just isn’t going to work anymore.
I thought that was a very thought out and interesting commentary on Lady Gaga. It’s refreshing to hear criticism that’s actually intelligently written. I consider myself a Little Monster but I actually agree with many of the points that were made. I find myself not liking her as much as I used to. However, I was just reading her recently released NME Magazine interview and she directly addresses the product placement in Telephone:
“You’re keen for people to take your work seriously. Do you regret any of the product placement in your videos?”
“No! But actually, people thought things were product placement in the “Telephone” video that weren’t. They were me making a Warholian comment on commercialism in America in relation to the telephone, communications and the internet, and being inundated with information”
So it appears that the product placement IS a part of her art and not what’s interfering with it.
Source:
http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/58554627.html
Warhol didn’t make money from Campbell’s soup to use their logo. He turned a logo into an art piece, which was a revolutionary idea.
For her to claim it was a “Warholian” whatever… is a complete pile of shit.
She holds up products, gets paid for it, and then attempts to justify it with an elaborate “artistic concept” that makes absolutely no sense to anyone who knows anything about art history. Can Lady Gaga name the German artist that directly influenced Warhol’s entire artistic philosophy? WHY he was Warhol? It goes beyond, “pop art.”
She’s surface level and paper thin, but thinks using big words and “references” can hide the fact that she’s a CASH COW.
That is a perfect example of my problem with Lady Gaga. Quit pissing on my leg and telling me it’s raining!
@Cheeks, dunno about Warhol, but I love pre-1850s art and music. Those who provided this art were as a rule clear about the fact that they needed to please their patrons and their audiences, didn’t attempt to “justify it,” and said little about subverting their patrons’ expectations. The very cool fact is that these artists did, in fact, often subvert their patrons’ expectations, and the patrons, occasionally, kept on paying.
I wish that, instead of coming up w/an obviously hypocritical statement about her product placement (ie, pleasing the patrons), Gaga had said, “Yes, I use product placement in my videos. I have a label backing me. I go on tv shows, etc., to promote my music. I was on American Idol last year. Without all that, I’d be singing in my local bar on Fridays. I’m lucky. Deal.”
Gaga’s gutless, not because she relies on wealthy patrons, but because she can’t admit that she does so. How awful is it to be in the company of Bach and Shakespeare?
Edited to add that I don’t for one moment believe Gaga’s music&lyrics are on the same level as Bach and Shakespeare.
@Cheeks I’m reading over your original post and your reply here, and it’s kind of reminding me of a scene from the 1973 version of Jesus Christ Superstar–the one where Christ leaves the temple and gets accosted by a bunch of beggars asking to be healed. Gaga’s not Jesus (not even the Norman Jewison version) no matter how much she’d like to be a symbol of him, but if you let her stand in for Ted Neeley in that scene, it’s sort of like the corporations are the beggars who keep coming up saying they need eyes, legs, healed from leprosy, and before too long she’s not going to be able to touch every single one or even make a fair pass at doing so–she’ll be the one collapsing in the middle screaming “heal yourselves!” while they all ask for more. Except in her case she didn’t start out as a carpenter-cum-teacher, she started out wanting to BE Lady Gaga, Superstar, and that made it all the worse (like Judas says, “if you’d come today you could have reached a whole nation, Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication”).
I’m just hoping she can find the integrity she MUST have left in there somewhere (she did this gorgeous song when I saw her in concert that’s off her new album, and all I can say is “Gaga, you fucked up, THAT should’ve been the second single”), grab on, and let it grow again. There’s still something good in there somewhere. The key is that she’s got to find it and realise it’s okay to stop sucking the corporate tit. She’s got enough fans that she could do it, if she wanted, and that would buoy her until she could get a good name back for herself.
Check out “The philosophy of Andy Warhol: from A to B and back again” by Andy Warhol on Google Books.
Page 92 regarding making money…
“Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. During the hippie era people put down the idea of business – they’d say, “Money is bad”, and “Working is bad,” but making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”
Gaga is free to express her views and I feel free to consider or disregard them. I can’t remember how many times I rolled my eyes at so-called art. Maybe I am too dense to get it or maybe the artists are full of shit. No big deal.
“Good business is the best art” is one of my all time favorite quotes. I’ve had it in front of me since 2004. I adore Warhol and have for years.
In my opinion, good business being the best art means: being able to capitalize on advertising and corporations without compromising the integrity of your work. Holding a product in the center of the screen is not skillful. Integrating products into a piece that clearly retains some sort of cohesive vision… that takes craft, talent, and finesse. See the difference?
Yes, but it is also fair to say opinions on talent, skills, finesse, and compromising of integrity are rather subjective.
The advertisement in the Telephone video ARE blatantly obvious, but I also believe subtlety was never the intent nor is it necessarily ‘better’ than the obvious. As a casual listener (not a Monster!) of Gaga’s music, I find the visual aspect of Gaga has always been about attention grabbing so I simply did not expect the video (or the advertising element) to be any different. Perhaps as a dedicated fan, your expectation was high and felt let down.
But I definitely do not take artists’ explanations too seriously. Sometimes they are really insightful and sometimes they are just BS. We as consumers are free to question…
btw, I really enjoyed reading your perspective on Gaga and her work. I find her rise in the music industry and pop culture very interesting.
BRILLIANT assessment & FANTASTIC comments!!!
LOVE reading all.
YES!
)
Fuck, I love you. I wanna reach through the screen and give you a hug for being so damn awesome. My trajectory of WTF is this crap to full fledged Little Monster was remarkably similar to yours, and I find myself getting more disappointed as more things(like Judas) come out. Between July and September I found myself traveling, a lot, in Canada and the States to see her shows….and by the 3rd found myself more excited to see Semi Precious Weapons. Not that her glitter was fake…but theirs just seemed more real, somehow. A lot of the music became tedious, and more apt to get stuck in my head than, y’know, actually being any good.:P I still adore Bad Romance. I have a Gaga tattoo(admittedly lyrics relating more to my trans identity than being on a full on hardcore little monster with hir paws up for the rest of my life, but still). This is so well written. I found myself giggling and punching the air on various occasions. All we can do is hope the rest of the new album is not ‘Judas’. (and if it is, you’re gonna come out with more kick-ass sparkly words making me feel better about my obsessions, and entertainment, lol.
Thank you thank you thank you *loves*
*runs off to read more*
(may have more coherent things to comment when i actually get some sleep
Some reassurance: I saw her in Phoenix with the Scissor Sisters a few weeks ago, and she did some material off the new album (“Born This Way” in a really pretty acoustic piano ballad version that’s way superior to the original, plus a new song I can’t remember the name of). If “Born This Way” and “Judas” are the only two of their kind on the album and the rest is of the caliber of that song (I want to say it’s called “You And I,” but don’t hold me to that), it’ll be worth not just a listen, but a purchase. It all depends on which way she chose to go.
Yes.
My thoughts exactly! She lost me at Alejandro and that ridiculous Telephone video. So many “artists” are getting away with garbage under the category of “art”. And the foolish masses are lapping it up in an effort at trying to be cool and with it. I prefer to be without it.
In the same vein, maybe Cheeks is the one who has finally stood up and said:
“The Emperor has no clothes!”
Useful blog website, keep me personally through searching it, I am seriously interested to find out another recommendation of it.
ILU Man, great article!
I’ve never been a fan of Gaga, but i’ve some of her song on my iPod and i have no problem to recognise her talent ( Or, at least, the talent i think she showed until the release of BTW). Her grammy’s performace with Elton John was REALLY good IMO, and i’ll never stop to thanks her for givin’ Fever to Adam.
ìIf we wanna talk about Born This Way, i’ve found the video pretty incoherent with the theme of the song, which is powerful, and i’ve to quote this (http://tinyurl.com/65lg9fc) amazing tweet: “I think it could have had an actual impact on people if it had people in it showing they were BORN THIS WAY. A simple video. You were NOT born with horns or pointy shoulders and cheekbones Gaga.” Yes, she do a lot for the LGBT community, but when was the time to really show supports, love and equality for everyone, has prevails the desire to shock people through a weird alien video. Wanna provoke?! Well, there’s a lot of great ways to do it while still giving a good message.
About Judas.. I can only say that i’ve tried to listen it right after reading this post but i’ve stopped the audio after 40 seconds :/
ps: sorry for any grammar mistake guys or for some senseless rant LOL i’m just tired + english is not my 1st lenguage ;P
xoxo
http://youtu.be/XvOucvTpKrE
Have you seen this parody of “Telephone” ? It sums up your theory
Cheeks when you decide to wrap your mind around something, you are so lazer sharp it wrinkles my mind. Have to say you make some very good points.
Superb blog post, I have book marked this internet site so ideally I’ll see much more on this subject in the foreseeable future!
[...] The Fall of The Haus of Gaga, I mentioned that every human being is full of shit. One of my favorite quotes: “Nobody [...]
Great article Cheeks. I really think you have nailed this.
You do realize you just contradicted yourself in your argument right? If the elements of her art (weather manufactured or not) stayed the same, the same argument you made about her changes and evolving expressions can be said. Which waters it down to why made this article in the first place.
Unfortunately I can’t recall the source of this information, so I can’t confirm it is true, but I’ve read that not all of the brands in Telephone paid for the exposure. I actually think that the extreme amount of product placement was a conscious comment in the debate from her side. It definately set another mood in the video, not necessarily for the worse.
I don’t think gaga uses her videos to amplify the feeling and message of her songs. Rather, she uses them as an excuse to make a completely different work of art, not in the slightest related to the song. Would “telephone” have been viewed by as many people if it had been an artsy short film, not connected to her music?
I’ve been really disappointed with Gaga’s latest stuff…I like Telephone as a song but the video was nonsensical . I get the performance art thing, but I couldn’t make the connection to the song at all. And this last Judas, well, ok, I feel betrayed, so maybe that was the point.
As and aside, I hope that Katy Perry is not going to try to follow Gaga down her rabbit hole, because I’m not really liking ET either, and the first thing I thought of the video was slightly watered down Gaga. Say it isn’t so.
First songs were ehhh ok, electro pop, ok, Bad Romance fantastic, video disturbing but interesting, paparrazi very very good, the performance you refer to also yes great. Two great things and then more mehhh, but now she’s GAGA!!!! and everything she touches turns to gold and she rules the world. She clearly is buying into her own BS which is dangerous, on a lot of levels. But she still rules the world………….