Gaga's pretty rad yo

[Kim]

So, I really only started listening to Gaga yesterday. I'd kinda avoided her because she gets a bad rap as being awful pop online, and I'm kinda weird with my tastes so just didn't bother. Well, then I did, and I have to say she's pretty awesome.

The first music video I watched was Alejandro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqrrmev4mA), which I had been told was a criticism of the military's DADT policy. There are homosexual overtones present in a military setting. Gaga, the lone female, is at times clearly representative of religion. Other times, she is engaged in sexual activity with these men, but during those times it's clear that those homosexual overtones are still present. All you need to do is look at the positions to see that.

The male-centric homosexuality present in the music video is a necessary bit of shock. Pop culture always treats lesbianism as okay so long they're hot, so the best way to avoid coming off as just more of that is to have it be primarily male. There are a couple other details that I've noticed, but some of them, like the cross on the front of Gaga's underwear being extremely phallic, might just be me reading too much into the song.


Next was Bad Romance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I). Bad Romance is, as the title implies, about an abusive relationship, or so I gather. The symbolism in this music video is a bit more impenetrable for me, but I get the distinct impression the whole bit where the men are sitting around and one purchases Gaga is sort of a commentary on the similarities between being a pop icon like Gaga and whoring yourself out. There's a better way to put it, I think, but that's the best I've got right now. I may come back to this one later, and analyze it some more.


The last one I'm going to talk about is Paparazzi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2smz_1L2_0), which is easily the best of the ones I've seen. Obviously about how pop culture works. Gaga is at the top, she falls (Literally!), and then she murders her boyfriend at the end of the video to get her attention and popularity back. It works. This is pretty much exactly how things are. Keep in mind that the only time anyone pays attention to Britney Spears anymore is when she's being a crazy person. There are also some definite parallels between Gaga when she's dying on the ground and the paparazzi are just standing there taking pictures for their magazines and the whole Princess Diana incident over a decade ago. It's hard to believe those are unintentional.


I also just gotta love the complaints people throw at her. "She's just stupid pop!" She clearly isn't. "She's a Satanist!" She's Christian. "She's a slut." This last one is especially hilarious because the people who use it are pretty much outing themselves as misogynists in the process. I also gotta love, in the loosest sense of the word, the absurd number of homophobic comments under her Youtube videos.


Plus, I mean, all her music is really damn catchy, the dances are beautifully choreographed, and her costumes, bizarre as they are, work well within the context of her music videos.


So yeah. Gaga is pretty rad, yo.

[Krylo]

ut I get the distinct impression the whole bit where the men are sitting around and one purchases Gaga is sort of a commentary on the similarities between being a pop icon like Gaga and whoring yourself out. There's a better way to put it, I think, but that's the best I've got right now. I may come back to this one later, and analyze it some more.


The last one I'm going to talk about is Paparazzi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2smz_1L2_0), which is easily the best of the ones I've seen. Obviously about how pop culture works. Gaga is at the top, she falls (Literally!), and then she murders her boyfriend at the end of the video to get her attention and popularity back. It works. This is pretty much exactly how things are. Keep in mind that the only time anyone pays attention to Britney Spears anymore is when she's being a crazy person.

From what I've seen of her stuff a lot of it has to do with these themes: which is to say the themes of pop culture and it's various amounts of awfulness and the dehumanizing effect it has on the artists.

They become more poignant when you look at some of her pre-Gaga stuff.

The sound and whatnot isn't really to my tastes, but I can definitely respect her as an artist, which is more than I can say about most stuff that comes out of the mainstream.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

I never cared for videos and all, but I think Lady Gaga is just about the best pop you can find right now. I'm not a fan of her and I don't listen to her or the radio much. But it's good at least. It's still pop, though (by which I mean vocalist-centric, catchy and likely repetitive stuff. More than half the buzz isn't even related to the music), so it's nothing I can listen to over and over. The occasional radio listen I get when at other places is really enough.

[Regulus Tera]

What I like about Gaga's music is that it sounds like Persona music.

Shoji Meguro + Lady Gaga collaboration = eternal bliss

[Token]

If you liked Paparazzi, check out Telephone as well, it's the next part of that story.

[Regulus Tera]

Paparazzi is crap.

[CelesJessa]

I agree with everything here, except I really love her music and listen to it... quite frequently really. She somehow manages to bring the insanity that is fine art into her videos.

I just have a lot of respect for what she does and I love her commentary in her videos, and just what she does outside of her songs too. (like defacing a $5000 purse with a sharpie marker declaring her love for her fans (which some people were just flabbergasted about her "ruining" her purse like that).)

And her music is catchy, I can't help it.

[Julford Hajime]

Man, see, I really really really don't like the sound of her music. Like, at all. However, I have a great respect for her in just about every other aspect of her career. Her political stuff, the design of her music videos, and the point of the music itself.

So yeah. I'm a Gaga fan who hates her music. Go figure.

[Kim]

If you liked Paparazzi, check out Telephone as well, it's the next part of that story.

Yeah, I watched that, but it's not nearly as catchy as the other songs to me. *shrug*

[Archbio]

The meaning behind Lady Gaga's music videos is that she likes music videos from the 1990s.

[Teal Mage]

I also just gotta love the complaints people throw at her. "She's just stupid pop!" She clearly isn't. "She's a Satanist!" She's Christian. "She's a slut." This last one is especially hilarious because the people who use it are pretty much outing themselves as misogynists in the process.

Fun fact! She's also celibate. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPMbLdFIm0w)

So yeah. I'm a Gaga fan who hates her music. Go figure.

I don't know if this will change the opinions of any one who doesn't like Gaga's music, but here's a video of her singing one of her songs acoustically. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7HvURBhMGE) One way or another, the fact that she can actually sing under all that autotune means that the way she sounds in her songs is an artistic choice, and I read it as a pretty stinging comment about our current music industry. Since she was pretty much an entirely unknown character in the entertainment world until she changed from her old style (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM51qOpwcIM) to, well, her Lady Gaga persona, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Abk1jAONjw&ob=av3e) it doesn't say good things about how we treat vocal talent.

Anyway, I personally really like Lady Gaga, both her music, what she stands for in her videos and the active stance she's been taking regarding gay rights and pop-culture commentary - its pretty rare now-a-days to see artists like her. She's even an excellent speecher! Check out the Don't Ask; Don't Tell (http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=38794) thread if you're curious, NonCon and I posted some links to her talking about it (bottom of page 2 and 3 respectively); she's actually pretty smart.

Also got her own TV Tropes page. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LadyGaga)

So, in conclusion, I'm pretty proud to call myself a Lady Gaga fan. Seems like she's got more talent than the majority of the mainstream music industry. Plus she's a joy to analyze - did you know her costumes are symbolic?

Because they are.

[Drownball-Champ]

Since she was pretty much an entirely unknown character in the entertainment world until she changed from her old style (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM51qOpwcIM) to, well, her Lady Gaga persona, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Abk1jAONjw&ob=av3e) it doesn't say good things about how we treat vocal talent..

Ok, that first link is better than all 3 of the other Gaga stuff I've heard. I've heard Bad Romance, Alejandro, and the song in the link after her original stuff. I didn't care for any of those, but the 2 old style songs were good. I'm not anti-pop either, in fact I've started listening to some pop lately (Selena and the Scene, Taylor Swift), I just don't like her music. Although, I do commend her on that odd meat dress during the VMA's she definitely has her own style.

[Magus]

Lady Gaga is just a gimmick. The gimmick is weird-ass dresses. I'm glad she has personal opinions about gay military guys that she can express artistically but (besides the fact I dislike the music) it all just kind of gets dumped under a big pile of stupid outfits that are stupid. So stupid.

[Azisien]

Not even Gaga is pretty rad when her songs are played 10 times during an 8 hour shift.

[Tev]

Although, I do commend her on that odd meat dress during the VMA's she definitely has her own style.Apparently the dress is getting turned into beef jerky. (http://celebrifi.com/gossip/Lady-Gagas-Meat-Dress-To-Become-Beef-Jerky-3567892.html) When I first heard about it I thought they were going to sell off parts of it to people who wanted to eat stuff she was wearing (I'm sure there's a market for it) but it turns out they are just gunna freeze dry it and store it.

[pochercoaster]

Oh, so now NPF finally likes Lady Gaga. Pfft.

I never really enjoyed dance music until Poker Face came out. Since then I've been hooked. It's not fair, as many people do, to compare Lady Gaga to most of her pop contemporaries because there just isn't any content to their music, whereas Lady Gaga's music has some sort of theme beyond typical Brtiney Spears crap. People automatically assume that there can't be intelligent undertones to pop music because it's pop. Part of her artistic goal, I think, is to change that attitude because the industry has suffered from shitty pop and dance music for a long time.

I like all her music, but some of her lesser known songs are my favourite: Monster (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eK7RCmR-9I), Dance in the Dark (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVCCjSGcnZE), and Teeth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk5vRoc0_nk).

Oh yeah, and she actually performs, and she can actually sing. Every time she plays in Toronto I kick myself for being poor and not having the money to go to her concerts.

Also, check out her Telephone video, it's nothing if not entertaining.

Really I think I like her because her success basically comes from giving the middle finger to the record industry by being the opposite of the status quo. It's refreshing to see a female icon who isn't a bimbo.

For example, compare her to Taylor Swift. All her songs are about high school and boys and ponies and blah blah blah crap that reinforces outdated gender stereotypes. Her music is disgustingly immature and sentimental. Lady Gaga manages to make music that incorporates sex without going in the completely opposite direction, i.e. "all I care about is platinum blonde hair and breast implants and fuck anything else."

That is, there's this tendency in the media to either completely emasculate women and portray them as pretty little innocent princesses or to over sex them with little variation little in between. Although Lady Gaga leans towards the over-sexed end of the spectrum, mostly to garner attention/fame, she seems to understand this dichotomy and mocks it in her music videos.

[Tev]

For example, compare her to Taylor Swift. All her songs are about high school and boys and ponies and blah blah blah crap that reinforces outdated gender stereotypes. Her music is disgustingly immature and sentimental. Lady Gaga manages to make music that incorporates sex without going in the completely opposite direction, i.e. "all I care about is platinum blonde hair and breast implants and fuck anything else."

Funy you should mention that....
Also got her own TV Tropes page. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LadyGaga)

Fandom Rivalry: Lady Gaga fans versus Taylor Swift fans. Any thread discussing the former will bring up the latter as a point of debate, and vice versa. Gaga fans scoff at Taylor Swift's Tastes Like Diabetes love songs and antifeminist undertones (maybe), while Taylor Swift fans dislike Gaga's hypersexual image and prefer their pop to be sweet. For the record, Gaga has said that she loves Taylor Swift, and it's very difficult to imagine Taylor saying anything mean about anyone.
-Taylor Swift said that she loves Gaga, so the whole thing is pathetic.

[pochercoaster]

I wasn't even aware that it was commonly brought up as a point in debates. Regardless of their opinions towards each other (it's not wise to diss other celebrities publicly. Not saying that's why they say they're fans of each other, but still), I think my point still stands. Taylor Swift can barely sing. I could've also compared her to a bunch of other musicians but Taylor Swift is currently one of the more popular ones, so...

[Tev]

I could've also compared her to a bunch of other musicians but Taylor Swift is currently one of the more popular ones, so...I know, I just thought it was kinda funny.

[pochercoaster]

Lady Gaga is srz bizniss yo.

[Nique]

Eh. She's ok. I think pop artists are entitled to the magic 4 chord arrangment like, a few times in the course of their career and she has spent her allotment basically overnight. But there is some substance there so thats cool.

[CelesJessa]

I like all her music, but some of her lesser known songs are my favourite: Monster (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eK7RCmR-9I), Dance in the Dark (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVCCjSGcnZE), and Teeth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk5vRoc0_nk).

Hnnng yes to all of those.


I tried so hard not to be a Lady Gaga fan (it's true), when my mom and sister-in-law were constantly singing "pa-pa-pa-poker face" I was along with my brothers in the "oh god my ears" but then I actually sat down and gave it a listen and I was like "nooo god I like it whyy" but then I continued my downfall and I'm okay with it. My greatest regret is that she wasn't popular when I was still in dance class, some of her songs would be a blast to do a routine to.

[Kim]

I want a DDR game that is nothing but Gaga songs. I demand it.

[Nique]

You know what's sad? I was on the whole ugh-wagon about Lady Gaga until that episode of Glee. Still not my favorite by any stretch but Glee tends to use pretty legit music. Plus the outfits were fabulous! [/highpitched]*

*That one's for you Nonsie**
**I'm sorry but you're asking for a Gaga themed DDR game I don't know what you want from me***
***Possibly not to make light of very hurtful stereotypes****
****Or possibly making an ironic...*****
*****No. Just no. That's just insensitive. But then again being oversensitive might be seen as... Ah...eh. hrm.... ******
******NonCon, I have so many gay friends.

[DarkDrgon]

I'm not a big fan of Gaga, but thats probably because I'm one of them "Hardcore Tough Guys". Nothing against her, I just prefer my music more angry, and my shows more violent.

I will throw my hat in for the respect thing, though. tons of it for her

[Kim]

******NonCon, I have so many gay friends.

Are you hitting on me?

[Nique]

Hot Crackers, sir! I take exception to that!

[Kim]

Hot Crackers, sir! I take exception to that!

Don't knock it 'till you try it!

[Mondt]

Was a closet-Gaga fan for a while, then it became okay to like her publicly.

So I like Lady Gaga. Fuck anything her videos mean, they are still amazing.

[Lost in Time]

I'm still a closet Gaga fan. Never really cared for her until I saw one of her acoustic videos and then heard Bad Romance on the radio. She has a great voice and I hope to see what she does with that in the future, seeing that she only has 1.5 albums out.