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The following is me doing my typical long and meandering rants, thrown in with a lot of gushing about this woman that people either love or hate. Weirdly enough, I don't expect people to read it. But I'm a compulsive writer so what do you want from me.
PS: LJ Cutting in rich text is a BITCH. So this very obvious error down there? Fuck that it's late and I can't figure it out.
Original Article Can Be Found Here:
http://www.anchorweb.org/opinions/lady-g
Every time I turn the radio on, I am harassed by singers that are deemed to be talented. It is in moments like these (of annoyance and pain), that I realize what the music industry has become. Artists now record in a studio, editing their voices and adding new effects, covering the truth of what their voices really sound like. The word “talent” has been thrown loosely to artists who are able to retain the same note without falling flat. That’s not talent hun, that’s called “not being tone-deaf”. One “artist” in particular that should definitely be discussed is Lady Gaga.
Uh oh. What's that sound? It's the sound of Jade being irritated! Let's begin!
She is one of those artists in particular that really grinds my gears. Many of my friends, many people in general, have become obsessed with everything that is Lady Gaga. It seems like there is a pandemic of crazy Gaga-obsessed fans who are hypnotized so deeply into the hype that they never stop to reevaluate their favorite singer.
Lady Gaga is a creature (I actually really like that the author puts it this way) that is unoriginal, frightening and sets an inappropriate example to young women as to what is an acceptable way to act and dress. It has become blatantly clear that she is not a singer; she is an entertainer at best.
Why is THAT bad?
Her voice is mediocre with a quality that is not far beyond many of the artists we hear today on the radio. The music industry today has become a joke, with Lady Gaga as its mascot. We’re not even sure what gender Lady Gaga is.
We are, actually. But you can keep acting like you aren't if it makes you feel better.
Even in the skin-tight leotards that she kinds fashionable to wear, we aren’t quite sure if she is male or female.
No, no, we ARE. Stop lumping me in with you.
Rumors of her being a hermaphrodite only heighten the excitement found around all topics concerning this artist. People are quite literally going gaga for “Lady” Gaga, and for what reason?
1) She has little to no vocal talent.
Subjective. Just because a lot of her songs feature a synthesized approach to her voice, doesn't mean the talent isn't there. Have you heard the girl play the piano and sing live? Can a lot of people sing that well? Can YOU? Then it's called talent. I'm not James Jean. But I can draw. Not everyone can draw. So I has a TALENT.
2) Her lyrics encourage listeners to ride “disco-sticks”.
Noooo, SHE wants to take a ride on YOUR disco stick. At no point does she tell ME to go out and ride a disco stick. But honestly, it doesn't seem like a bad time.
But setting aside your vague and unsophisticated means of criticizing this 'creature', I'll assume you mean it's bad for her to encourage sex. To this I have a very simple defense - people are already having sex. Lots of it. Just tons. You may like to pretend it's not happening, but one is not in the minority if they engage in lots and lots of premarital, kinky, crazy-ass sex (and crazy ass-sex). Lady Gaga not only knows this, but thinks it's AWESOME.
3) She is unoriginal. If you think she isn’t, try looking up Madonna.
Huh, and Madonna was wildly popular and considered a good artist too. WEIRD.
I'm going to go ahead and say that no, of course she wasn't the first person to get out there as a performer and be crazy. Pink, Madonna, David Bowie, fuck, even Christina Aguilera had edge, and they were all people who challenged the public and media with sexuality and glitter and being whoever the fuck they are.
I'm actually very curious as to whether or not this person likes Madonna. If this person defending Madonna's originality? Or did she hate her just as much for being different at a time where everyone else was being 'safe'?
4) At the VMA’s, which recognized the death of Michael Jackson, her performance was extremely inappropriate for the event. At the VMA’s, which memorialized his death, she acts out a death of some sort with blood spewing from her chest, covering her face, much of her body and eyes. The scarring scene ends with her dangling from a rope, screaming.
This is an incredibly ignorant way of looking at this performance (never mind how fucking cool it was). Lady Gaga said herself that this performance was supposed to reflect what the media has done to performers. Check it, yo -
"I would say that the fashion for the performance is a representation of the most stoic and memorable martyrs of fame in history. It's intended to be an iconic image that represents people. I think after watching the performance and maybe studying it after you watch it on YouTube, you'll see the references and the symbols come through." - Lady Gaga
SO. I'm just saying, the performance was actually very appropriate. ...And very sad. And rather moving. Even with all her 'outrageousness' I don't reckon her intent has ever been to disrespect anyone. She's always very gracious in interviews. Also, anyone else find it funny that this person is semi-trying to defend MJ's honor?
5) She prefers to walk around with her crotch and back-end barely covered.
Problem?
6) She wears a bow made of some sort of hair, in her hair.
PROBLEM?
THIS is what you're nitpicking?? You are running out of reasons!
But getting back to actually putting some content into this process of ripping apart this review; what is the issue, with wearing a hair bow made of hair? Did the telephone strapped to her head made of hair just throw you over the edge? I can kind of sort of grasp the walking around nigh-naked, except ultimately I'm going to take Lady Gaga's side because I am a fan of the virtue of naked women.
I think it's become clear by now that women's sexuality makes this uncomfortable. I would peg them as being an older woman in her late 40's, but unfortunately when I looked back at the original article to double check, the individual's name isn't there. They could easily be an older man. Or someone younger but very religious. Or a prude. And I can try and sympathize, to a point. Because Lady Gaga both sexualizes and distorts herself. She will often times obscure her figure just as much as she displays it. She arouses and frightens at the very same time, and for that she has earned my respect. But I can squint really hard to see from their point of view (someone who probably waited until they were married to have sex) that Lady Gaga would be nothing short of terrifying to them. To this, I say: grow up. We're adults and we can handle it.
7) She calls her fans “monsters”.... I’m just confused.
Of course you are. I am having a hard time combating this one without making it seem like "Ohhh, you just don't understand." But I have this feeling that Lady Gaga refers to them as monsters because she knows that if they follow her, they're bound to be just as freaky as she is. As a fan of Lady Gaga, I feel a sense of pride in being called a monster... because life is ugly and hard and the world is on fire and considering how much I slobber all over this woman I might as well be a monster.
8) Her music videos are outrageous, probably to hide the lack of vocal talent.
I don't see how a visual medium is supposed to hide an auditory medium. You can't hide a barking dog by doing jumping jacks in front of it. Also, I'm not really sure why outrageous is being used in such a negative context. How long has it been since we've seen such high budget, high quality music videos? This woman has the money to do whatever she wants with costumes and concerts and videos. She turns everything around to be the entertainer she wants to be. This woman puts so much time into her performances that she has no home, no intimate relationships, she's collapsed on stage due to running herself into the ground from doing show after show and she keeps on going. She doesn't want to exploit the other celebrities she's met so she won't tell anyone about them. If this is not devotion to the craft, I don't know what is. ...Sorry. Tangent. But back to the original point - I don't think the videos go unappreciated. No video has been so anticipated as Telephone in years. YEARS.
9) She uses her sexuality to gain a wider audience. Since when is it appropriate to profit off of gay rights?
Hold it right there. I don't think she's doing this to profit off gay rights. I think she's using it to for the media to accept it. That's my humble and mayhaps biased opinion, but as someone invested in the LGBT community, I think I'd know if I was being exploited.
...You don't even SOUND like the kind of person who gives two beans about gay rights. If you aren't pro-sex, you probably aren't pro-gay. This accusation is so out of left field it only further drives it home that this person doesn't know what they're talking about.
10) Her whole persona is a marketing tool. Its time to wake up, look at what you are being sold and realize it isn’t talent. You falling for it, is allowing yourself to be made a mockery for being so easily fooled.
The music industry today is full of artists such as Lady Gaga who do whatever they can to make a profit. Talent is no longer required to be successful. Isn’t it sad that artists such as Kanye West, Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne have generated more hype than artists such as Michael Buble or Josh Groban who are actually talented.
It tells me a LOT about you that you're singling out mother fucking Josh Groban to call talented. If you have such a narrow veiw of talent that can only encompass these types of singers into a category that you call 'talent', then... well... there's really no use for you to listen to ANYTHING on the radio EVER.
So I guess you have to ask yourself, are you one of Lady Gaga’s monsters?
Why do I have to ask myself this?
Ok, I'll play the game. Because I know why you're asking. You're asking under the assumption that anyone who likes Lady Gaga is merely a victim of good marketing.
Is this true?
If it is, then what do we say about liking anything? A lot of the things we like we like BECAUSE of the marketing, and I good go into all of that but mostly, if you cut down her argument, it's less about 'falling' for good marketing and more about making an accusation that something is being celebrated for being good when it isn't.
So I tried to think about it this way: Joining Lady Gaga on top songs on iTunes consistently is Ke$ha. (Oh god, I can't believe I just typed her name like that.) Regardless; I just this instant sat through her song TiK ToK on youtube. I watched the video. And it is so incredibly hard for me to sit here and not turn this into a comparison pointing out how much more integrity Lady Gaga's lyrics and videos have. I'm not going to turn this into why Lady Gaga is better than Ke$ha (but ahg I really want to).
But okay, I'm playing the game. This person (Ke$ha), who I think does poor work that lacks depth and is promoting youth to value the wrong things, is topping the charts and that makes me want to throw my hands up at the world and be like "WTF?" Well. That's what the author of this article feels about Lady Gaga. And while I think the distinction of the two should be obvious, there's little to be argued over the fact that music today isn't what it used to be back when I actually enjoyed music.
This article accused me of (essentially) blindly loving Lady Gaga without stopping to evaluate her as a performer. Not so. When I first heard of Lady Gaga, I too hated her. I hated her for many of the exact same reasons that this article pointed out. She was weird and scared the shit out of me. And somewhere along the line (in between the 5,000 times Lindsay played Pokerface in our apartment), I switched over and realized just how beautiful, and intense, and incredible, and fucking crazy-scary this woman was. It goes beyond the music, which admittedly DOES often come across as generic dance-electric with similar bass lines and repetitive percussion. It reaches past her as a singer and goes into her as... well, "an entertainer at best." Put simply, it's not just about the music anymore. And maybe that's why she's the only music artist of today that I care about enough to seek out and listen to.
I couldn't tell you all that makes me like Lady Gaga, just as I could not tell you what makes me like Barenaked Ladies, or Cake, or Gorillaz, or Daft Punk. I like songs because there's something in them that makes me want to listen to them again and again. Am I merely a victim of an entertainment ploy perfectly crafted to make the masses fall in love?
No. I'm a monster.
And fuck I really want those concert tickets.
