Music Mondays?

Themed days? Bahah. I'm ridiculous.

Anyways. Going to try something new.

Each Monday, I'm going to try to write about music. I may write about an artist, an album, a musical period, or all of the above.

I'll make a button. Eventually.

Today's subject?

Everybody's favorite fame monster of course!



So, I know there are plenty of people who think she's just way out there strange.

But I love Lady Gaga. I think she's pure genius. She's also an example of our culture, and what it takes to make it in America.

Here she is in the past. Before she went Gaga, she was Stefani.




She's...umm...normal, right?

Listen to a couple songs on that album. Different, huh?

But good!

But, the Fame Monster 1 & 2 is also pretty good in my opinion. On our way to Florida, my best friend and I listened to those two CDs for hours on end.

Which makes a pretty good CD if you're not tired of it after 50 hours. (Okay, 50 hours is exaggerating, but we listened to it a lot. Ha)

The music is infectious. And even if you think the ro-ma-ma-ma-ma-oo-la-ga-ga-ga stuff is stupid, you know you've sang it to yourself more than once.

I mean, Beyonce has worked with the woman. You don't hear of Beyonce collaborating too much either.
So I think that has to say something.

Why do we like her?

Because she's strange.

America -feeds- off of the odd and peculiar. Ironic for a country that pushes for so much conformity, eh?

But it does! We normal folk aren't interested in normal people. We like people who are different.

Think Michael Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, or any other celebrity would gain that status being normal? Sure, they're celebrities, but our culture fixates on these oddballs. (Look at the people still buzzing about MJ's death, or "death" as some would call it.)

I don't think so.

So, it doesn't surprise me that Lady Gaga gets as much attention for her quirks as her music.

I do find, that her music repeats themes though. There is another song on the same album (can't remember which off of the top of my head), but it has the exact same background music as Just Dance. The lyrics and melody are different, but, she does recycle a lot of her other pieces into new ones.

Not saying it's a bad thing. But, I suppose interesting is a good word.

Occasionally, artists will refer back to other hits. For example, Bon Jovi sings a lot about the same couple, Tommy and Gina. Michael Jackson in his videos usually referred back to other songs. Wanna be Starting Something refers to Billie Jean, and Dangerous (only when performed live) refers to Smooth Criminal. Britney Spears's Stronger refers back to Baby One More Time. But, it's not quite the same, because they are just snippets of the song, or are sung completely differently. Lady Gaga is the first I've personally heard to just use the background for another song and turn it into a new completely different song.

At first, I thought it was lazy and unoriginal. But, I think it's actually kind of creative. You're free to disagree if you wish :]

Her music itself is interesting too. All of her songs, at least the ones I've heard are very ...dance-y? (I can't currently think of the right word I want to say.) But they do make you want to get up and dance. And all of her songs are upbeat, even the ones that are classified more as pop ballads.

And cripes people, she's ORIGINAL. Sure, she borrows on some themes, but what's wrong with being inspired by other songs? There are only so many combinations of notes, sometimes they are bound to get repeated. It happens. And how many people do -you- know that would wear Kermit the frog?

None. Props to her.

So yes.
I like Lady Gaga. Overall thumbs up, for being a capitalist genius and pretty cool.

What do you think about her?