![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mollyporterI think it was yesterday that someone posted Lady Gaga's new video for Bad Romance up on my flist. And yeah, it's pretty awesome. And I was surprised, because I remembered not really liking her videos for "Just Dance" or the Disco Stick song (which yes, I know, is called LoveGame, but every time I hear the title I just think of Old Gregg.)
Because I liked the new video so much, I decided to see if maybe her other music videos were worth a second look. And while neither the Just Dance or Disco Stick videos were compelling, I did discover the GEM that is her Paparazzi video!
It plays out like a mini-movie, in which Lady Gaga and Alexander Skarsgard star in an epic drama of Fame, Lust, Murder, and Revenge! More relevant, a silver eyepatch and a whole mess of crazy outfits! Why, you ask? Because Lady Gaga is crazy and ASkars is game enough to go along with it.
Lady Gaga is interesting as a celebrity, because she doesn't fit into traditional celebrity molds - She markets herself as a singer and a musical artist, but her music is very nearly beside the point of her art. She's a performance artist performing the role of pop star, which is really very interesting because it means that her music is just a vessel for her art, it is not in and of itself her art. I love the way she uses fashion to create a cohesive artistic vision as a celebrity personality. She wore this crazy getup to the red carpet of the VMAs this year, the most notable part of which was the collar. It completely restricted movement in her neck, having a brace-like quality (albeit an elaborately adorned brace), and the fashion choice didn't make sense to me until I saw the Paparazzi video - the plot of which has her thrown off a balcony, then returning, injured but still fabulous, to exact her revenge.
Part of me wonders why she even made an album, rather than only putting out singles and creating music videos and doing live performances where she pushes the boundaries of what a pop star is and should be. It would have been a really interesting artistic and career choice to not put out an album, one that might have been a commentary on the state of the music industry at present.
I like her as a celebrity and an artist. I think what she does with fashion and music videos and her presentation of her self is interesting and compelling and thought provoking. Her music itself is kind of bland dance pop music, which is why a lot of music snobs look down their noses at her. Her lyrics aren't bland, but the actual music is pretty conventional. It's catchy and popular, and I actually do like it quite a bit, but it doesn't begin to approach the level of Avant-Garde present in everything else Lady Gaga does.
Because I liked the new video so much, I decided to see if maybe her other music videos were worth a second look. And while neither the Just Dance or Disco Stick videos were compelling, I did discover the GEM that is her Paparazzi video!
It plays out like a mini-movie, in which Lady Gaga and Alexander Skarsgard star in an epic drama of Fame, Lust, Murder, and Revenge! More relevant, a silver eyepatch and a whole mess of crazy outfits! Why, you ask? Because Lady Gaga is crazy and ASkars is game enough to go along with it.
Lady Gaga is interesting as a celebrity, because she doesn't fit into traditional celebrity molds - She markets herself as a singer and a musical artist, but her music is very nearly beside the point of her art. She's a performance artist performing the role of pop star, which is really very interesting because it means that her music is just a vessel for her art, it is not in and of itself her art. I love the way she uses fashion to create a cohesive artistic vision as a celebrity personality. She wore this crazy getup to the red carpet of the VMAs this year, the most notable part of which was the collar. It completely restricted movement in her neck, having a brace-like quality (albeit an elaborately adorned brace), and the fashion choice didn't make sense to me until I saw the Paparazzi video - the plot of which has her thrown off a balcony, then returning, injured but still fabulous, to exact her revenge.
Part of me wonders why she even made an album, rather than only putting out singles and creating music videos and doing live performances where she pushes the boundaries of what a pop star is and should be. It would have been a really interesting artistic and career choice to not put out an album, one that might have been a commentary on the state of the music industry at present.
I like her as a celebrity and an artist. I think what she does with fashion and music videos and her presentation of her self is interesting and compelling and thought provoking. Her music itself is kind of bland dance pop music, which is why a lot of music snobs look down their noses at her. Her lyrics aren't bland, but the actual music is pretty conventional. It's catchy and popular, and I actually do like it quite a bit, but it doesn't begin to approach the level of Avant-Garde present in everything else Lady Gaga does.
