This time, I'm not leaving without you

Is the world ready for another incomprehensible Lady Gaga video?  No?  Okay, so here's Yoü & I.



The entire "Yoü & I Era" has been touch and go for me, and it hasn't really even taken off just yet.  Following The Edge of Glory - the third single which was wildly and widely successful - and its beyond lackluster video (five minutes of gyrating on scaffolding, smashing), it's safe to say I was a little bit apprehensive about Gaga's direction.  When Yoü & I was released, I was both disappointed and relieved: disappointed, because she's been playing the song for over a year, and that songs like Scheiße or Hair or hell even Americano were now still waiting on the sidelines for their chance as the successful singles they will be; relieved, though, because, judging by The Edge of Glory's success, conservative Gaga (though a risk) has proved to be just as successful with her fanbase and exponentially effective with newer and older fans alike.  (my mom much preferred Glory to Judas) In that sense, Yoü & I is the last safe choice for a single, and while I appreciate that and can foresee astounding success for it based on its safety and commercial appeal, I do wish she would've picked something edgy and something new to a public that might've already heard Y&I before.  But that's just me being picky.  I'll keep complaining until I hear that thumping German gibberish on the radio.

I've been appropriately hyped for this video, so imagine my joy when stills of the video began to leak this afternoon and Gaga herself rushed the release - she had promised that the 1000th tweet on her Twitter would be the video, and despite a deal with MTV to premiere it on Thursday, she promptly tweeted "FUCK." "THURS." "DAY." as her 997th, 998th and 999th tweets before finally releasing the video because damnit, she wanted us fans to see it.  I think my family has some sort of magical pull with Gaga on our birthdays: on my birthday, the album leaked, and today was my sister's birthday, and bam, video.  Too bad we need to wait until January for my mom to prove herself.  Maybe by then - Scheiße video!!

Look: if you go into the video thinking you'll fully understand it, you're a fool.  If you come out of this video thinking you've pieced together a storyline, you're an idiot.  Sure, there's some sort of story underlying everything, but not everything will be a cohesive story; instead, I take each of the massive "scenes" of the video - say, Robotic Gaga, Corn Gaga, Creation Gaga, Mermaid Gaga - as each representatives of a set-piece, and what I mean by that is each, while seemingly all the same, are rather different "mini-stories" representing the same theme - relationship.  To say that the Gaga created on the machine by the scientist is the same Gaga as the mermaid who is the same Gaga as the bride at the end is foolish: instead, the Creation Gaga may represent a love that is manufactured and is doomed to work due to the scientist wanting something out of her that she can't give; the Mermaid Gaga may represent a strange love (okay, I don't really need to ever see a man fucking a mermaid ever again.. ever.. again).  All these set-pieces of ideal or damaged love are tied together by Gaga on her piano while overshadowed by Jo Calderone, her male alter-ego representative of her on-again off-again now on-again boyfriend Lüc Carl.  (oho, get the "ü" now?  And oh my gaaad he's from Nebraska) Another common thread to the video is the Robotic looking Gaga, who Gaga herself said has walked from New York to Nebraska - hence the bloody feet - in search of her love.  She comes to a creepy ice cream man on her journey, and I guess his telling her that they're out of chocolate causes her to collapse on the ground.  Whhhhhyyyyyy?

Bottom line: the fact that it wasn't directed by a professional director is blatant - though, not as much as TEOG or Judas.  The last professionally directed video was TELEPHONE: Alejandro and Born This Way were both filmed by photographers, and everything since has been filmed by Gaga's own team.  Gaga: hire a professional director!

On the flip side, though, Judas and this are both masterpieces, and the visual quality to this video is astounding.  The saturated earth tones are beautiful, as is the cinematography.  Visually, she's en pointe: I found myself actually liking the blue wig, and she's never looked more beautiful than sitting on the piano in natural makeup and clothes.  Mind you, I always laugh when she does her troll run across the screen.  Fuck the police!

All in all, I'm very pleased with the video.  Anything would've been better than The Edge of Glory, and better it was.  My biggest gripe is the apparent incoherence and that Gaga's vision sometimes gets muddled (do I even understand Alejandro yet?  No fucking way), but I blame that on the decision not to have professional direction or editing.  And while I'm not yet entirely to terms with the choice to have Yoü & I the next single, I'm beyond satisfied with the video and the idea that I know it'll be commercially successful.  And damn, it sounds good on the radio.

Born to Slay

It's been a little over a month since Lady Gaga's third album Born This Way was released.  I never got the chance to write a review of the album, and every time I'm on blogger or thinking of my blog I think to myself, "damn, that's a void I need to fill."  Hence, here I am: I'll be giving my thoughts on the CD now that I've had a month with it and now that my opinions and outlooks on songs have changed - some for the better, or some for the worse.

In a broad sense, it was unreal to finally have new music.  I'm a massive, massive Gaga fan, and that's no secret to anyone; time drags on without anything fresh, and while I'm the first to recognize that she needs time away from the spotlight to avoid overexposure, I was itching for something new.  As a whole, BTW is fantastic, though it isn't perfect, nor is it the greatest album of the decade as it was touted before its release.  (that is the album's downfall: unbelievably high standards that, even if it was flawless, would be impossible to meet)

The album opens with Marry the Night which is incredible letdown.  It was one of my most anticipated songs and everything about it comes across as underwhelming for me; I like that it's daring enough to change up the beat after a "fake-out" ending - and by that I mean conventionally the song ends with a final chorus before it kicks into an entirely different tempo with an extended outro; it isn't enough to save the great expectations I had, but so be it, as I see this as a future single.  Born This Way itself follows, and while I'm glad it did it's job as a lead single and garnered great success, it's just not my favourite.  Perhaps its just too corny for me.  The final real personal "letdown" is the third track, Government Hooker, merely because she used a remix of the song for a fashion show months ago and the final version was almost identical - in that sense I was only disappointed because it wasn't fresh to me.  It is, still, a great song, and I particularly like the obnoxious bleep censoring in the final lines as well as the filthiness of the lyrics overall. You'd think I'd hate the album after disliking the first three songs, eh?

Judas is next, and the album kicks into high gear.  I've already detailed my thoughts on Judas here on my blog, and nothing's changed; I love it all the same, if not more, since the video is the best she's made.  Americano, the fifth song, a Mariachi inspired dance powerhouse with a killer beat and instantly catchy hooks (la la la la la la la, anyone?), is perhaps among my top three Gaga songs of all time, if not my favourite Gaga song ever, even though it's ridiculously cheesy; Hair screams single potential despite its unique manufacturing (and by that I mean the first verse is like a ballad, the second verse is onwards has a dance beat, and the whole song features a saxophone), and the song is only heightened by the sheer excellence of her live acoustic performances of it.  Seriously, Youtube any acoustic performance of Hair - maybe the one in Singapore, where she literally cries when the crowd belts out the lyrics to her, and I swear to god if my heart wasn't made of adamantium I would've cried too (I got massive chills, though).  Scheiße is amazing.  The beat is ridiculous.  Mark my words, it's the next single, and it will be huge, aside from my paranoia about the profanity - it is, after all, named the German word for "shit."

The eighth song, Bloody Mary: holy shit.  Hands down the finest song she has ever, ever written.  Lyrically, it's incredible; its sound is haunting.  I look at Bloody Mary like I consider Dance in the Dark to be the high point of The Fame Monster; dark, not overly radio appropriate, though bloody incredible, and almost "unknown" to the point where it's a personal gift to the fans, unspoiled by overexposure on the radio.  I adore this song.

And so we hit our sang.  Black Jesus † Amen Fashion, the first of three bonus tracks, is too misguided for me to like it, even though it still is bearable to listen to; I try to like Bad Kids as hard as I can, but it too underwhelms me, given that the hard attitude of the verses is completely yanked away by the overtly bubblegum choruses; the second bonus song, Fashion of His Love, is easily my least favourite of the entire album, and I look at is as just plain awful.  The 80s sound to it doesn't do it for me, nor do the undeniable similarities to Whitney Houston; I do like, however, that she uses a verse from an unreleased song of hers called Earthquake which I adore.  It isn't enough to save the song for me, though, and I would go as far as saying I do hate it.

The album regains its momentum with Highway Unicorn (Road to Love); this song in particular was a standout to me given that I completely wrote it off before listening to it just because of its stupid title.  Instead, it sounds in the vein of Poker Face, and the multitude of hooks keep it continuously fresh.  Heavy Metal Lover has quickly become one of my all time favourites, but unlike Americano, it took a while to grow on me.  The song reminds me so much of her first CD The Fame, and the cool vocal style and lyrics coupled with a great beat makes it amazing.  Electric Chapel, aside from the bonus tracks, is the only song I look at as album filler, but even then, it's still a great song, and only recently has it started to creep up in my mind more and more much like HML did, and who knows, after playing it on end to get it out of my system, I'll probably adore it.

The Queen is just awful.  I like the direction of her lyrics (an ode to the fans, beautifully written at times, too, but the sound is bad) but it comes off as, simply, awful.  (it's extremely off putting where instead of a post-chorus she sings "the que-ee-ee-ee-e-e-een, que-que-queen, que-que-queen, que-que-queeeen."  Bloody terrible) I only enjoy the song as it switches tempo much like Marry the Night; if the entire song was slow with the guitar, I'd love it.  It's a treat to finally have Yoü & I officially, but nothing can compare to hearing it live, as I've had the pleasure of hearing it.  The album comes to a close with The Edge of Glory which is beautiful.  While I'm not overly thrilled it became the third single (even though it's very successful), and while I absolutely loathe the video (utter, utter shit), I love the song dearly.

Do not miss: Bloody Mary, Americano, Heavy Metal Lover, Scheiße, Highway Unicorn (Road to Love), The Edge of Glory, Hair

There you have it.  An overlong and overdue review of Born This Way.  As I said before, it's a solid entry to her repertoire, despite some missteps which are easily remedied by the skip button.  No, it isn't the greatest album of the decade, but it's way up there, and I'm more than okay with knowing that these seventeen songs (save some) are the songs I'll tide myself over with until her next release - I'm not greedy; I know it'll be in a few years.  It'll be worth the wait if it's anything like this was.  Waaaa-aaaah, waaaaa-aaaa-aaahhh, Americanoooo!

(I would also like to say: I am no longer going to mention Lady Gaga on my blog, or at least, it won't be as frequently, which I realize has happened and I swear to you, while I am a huge fan, she does not run my life)

Juda-Judahah

Immediate reaction: INCREDIBLE.

Thought out reaction: very, very good.

This morning was a good morning for me: I woke up to find that the majority of Judas had leaked online, and like the bad fan I am, I listened to a fanmade "seamless" version, which pretty much turned out to be the finalized version, save for a missing intro. Imagine my joy at hearing that it was decided that Judas would be officially rush-released to capitalize on not losing sales / audience due to the leak; and before 1pm I had my shiny high-quality copy of Judas.  By 4, I heard it on the radio.  Damn, it sounds sexy on the radio.

Here's the thing.  Judas is, pretty much, Bad Romance.  Straight down to structure: the same kind of hooks (the woahing: caught in a bad romance vs I'm in love with Judas, Jud-ah-as; the hooks: rah rah ra ra ahh vs Juda Juda-ahah), the same structured chorus, the same placement of the hooks throughout the song (the beginning, the post-chorus).  It may seem to be irritating in that sense, that Lady Gaga is stuck in repetition; to be honest, I kinda blame Red One, the producer on - wait for it - Poker Face, Bad Romance, and Judas.  If you listen hard enough in Judas you can hear the "Red One Airhorn" - I can't explain it any other way, you'll recognize it if you hear it.  (in fact wait.  It's crazy evident in Just Dance)

The fact of the matter is that what Lady Gaga does, she does it well.  Yes, Judas is 100% formula: but honestly, the formula isn't broken.  If it ain't broke, leave it the hell alone.  Bad Romance is without a doubt Lady Gaga's best song; to nearly replicate it is smart.

The sound, however - much like Born This Way, regardless of how much I now detest the song - is fresh and progressive.  The only comparison you can make to 2011 Gaga is 2010 Gaga - no other artist has yet had a song that sounds anything like Judas.  Lyrically, it's impressive - she isn't singing about the fame like she did on, well, The Fame; she's mastered metaphor and timing.  I can see this song exploding with controversy - it already is, since she's playing Mary Madgelene in the video - and, honestly, it's what we've come to expect from her, pushing the envelope.  No, I don't think it's only for shock value; while the song on surface value is a platform to spew as much blasphemy as possible, it's about falling in love with the wrong person, a "Judas."  The message of, say, Alejandro is still intact, it's just a bit more heavy handed.

Like I've already said, her hooks are 100% formula.  I loved them the first time around, and I love them even more now.  My favourite parts are easily the Juda-Judahah chant as well as the woooooooooah I'm in love with Judas, Jud-ah-as.  They're absolutely catchy, and as a pop song, it has done its job: it was stuck in my head all shift long at work.

I can't get enough of this song.  It's very familiar while new.  It's renewed my faith (pun intended?) in Born This Way the album, as I'm sure the sledgehammer beat and improved lyrics will carry over to the other tracks.  Can't wait for the video.


THE NEXT DAY: I wake up to this monstrosity.  Yes.. yes, she posted this herself.

This is the real deal.  This is the album cover.  As horrific as it is it's slowly growing on me.. I think I was so let down because I was expecting so much more.  But as it is it's campy and it's pretty much exactly what she set out to do.  Still, that isn't stopping me from using the single cover as the album cover on my iTunes..

B-B-Born This Way

Two Gaga posts in a row?  I know, I know.  I really can't pass this up.  Not that I have a defined plan for this post at all, I think it'll be all over the place.

Do I love the song?  Absolutely.  The beat is unbelievable, the fast pace is refreshing (if not a little TOO fast - but I think that's just because for the past six months the slow tune of the chorus sung at the VMAs has been stuck in my mind and I'm used to it), her vocals are as good as ever.

I'm glad the song is doing extremely well on its first day of release.  #1 on iTunes in 20+ countries around the world - awesome.  I'm more than confident that the song will debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.  If it's any signal, every radio station in the area (and upon my research, in the country and in the US) has been playing the song every hour.  I am beyond excited for the Grammy performance of the song.

Now for the negatives.  Oh, yes, there are always negatives.

I'm worried that the song will fail, commercially if not with reception.  Gaga fans alike have expressed a dislike for the song, and countless sites and media outlets are calling the song out as ripping off Madonna.  I'm concerned that the revolutionary sounding dance beat isn't overly commercial, and that the general public may not receive it overly well on the radio.  That's just foolishness now, though, looking at the sales and radio airplay.

My main problem with the song, though: I've grown bored of the whole inspirational wave of music on the radio - We R Who We R, Raise Your Glass, Firework, Fucking Perfect (Fucking Perfect is a really really gorgeous song though).  We get it, it's a great message to send to listeners.  Love yourself.  If not for the overload, I'd still like the idea.  In fact, I don't have a problem with the message in Born This Way at all.  It's problem is that it's a bit too heavy-handed.

Gaga's new song comes across as nearly TOO specialized.  (I'm opening a can of worms here) The thing is, given her outspoken stance on the issue and lines like "don't be a drag, be a queen," the song feels far too much like a gay anthem.  Yes, yes.  She addresses race and religion and beauty and what have you, too; in fact, race plays a big role in the spoken word bridge of the song.  Like I mentioned, though, the fact that we know Gaga is a massive gay rights advocate and that people like Elton John have branded the song as "the new gay anthem," the song feels like nothing but that.  Again, I don't have a problem with that.  I don't have a problem with the song being a gay anthem.  My problem is that the song seems ONLY like a gay anthem.

Consider, say, Ke$ha's We R Who We R.  Dreadful song, I know.  But that song, too, is a "gay anthem."  Its lyrics are largely applicable, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Ke$ha herself stated that she wrote the song in response to the influx of gay teen suicides.  Here's the difference: the song isn't "exclusive." (and I really, REALLY loathe using that word, but it's the only way I can make the point clear enough)  What I mean by that is sure, a young gay teenager can take the song and apply it to themselves; so can a straight male teenager, "they are who they are;" so can a female teenager, straight or gay; so can those with self esteem issues; so can those of varying races.  The song's lyrics, however poor as they may be (poor in this example.  For the sake of this you can ignore it all and use Firework as this whole example), are general, so general that ANYONE can relate.  Born This Way, on the flip side, as I've mentioned, seems a bit too focused and specialized.  Maybe it's just me.

Either way, I truly do appreciate Lady Gaga for the heart she puts behind her lyrics.  I appreciate her growth as an artist; definitely in her sound, but more specifically in her subject matter - she's gone from songs like Money Honey to Born This Way.  I only hope that her album isn't full of her political agenda - yes, while I like the growth from singing about the superficial to singing with meaning, I DON'T want my enjoyment of the songs clouded by an overbearing message.

Born This Way, though, seems like it might be just that.

The Gaga Effect

We've come to an era in music where nearly everything and everyone is being compared to Lady Gaga.  Rihanna's wearing weird clothes?  She's ripping off Lady Gaga.  Nicki Minaj is wearing a crazy wig?  Gaga wore it first.  Oh, their music sounds like Lady Gaga.

To be honest, as a huge Gaga fan myself, I've usually been one to say such things myself.  In fact, I'm probably going to play both sides of the argument right now, since I half agree with what I'll be complaining about while half think it's just bollocks.  And so, the central theme of hypocrisy once again shins through on this blog here of mine.

As I said, I'm one to call out similarities to Lady Gaga.  In her absence, though, I've looked to other music to pass my time.  I came across a certain Natalia Kills, and I quite like her.  She's only just getting radio airplay here with her song Mirrors, and I'm sure you've heard it if you aren't familiar with the title.  Naturally, I wanted to hear more from her.  I came across the music video for her song titled Zombie, and I couldn't help but notice the video had a very Alejandro vibe to it (dark imagery, big white block letters at the beginning, etc etc).  I then moved onto the comments: nothing but slanders about how she's just a huge Lady Gaga ripoff, about how it's a copy of Gaga's Alejandro video.

Here's the interesting thing.. the music video for Natalia Kills' Zombie was released on March 15th 2010.  Alejandro was released on June 8th.

This is, perhaps, one of the better examples of this: yes, Lady Gaga is unbelievably amazing, but SHE DID NOT INVENT MUSIC.

I will agree that since the Gaga Revolution many artists have been greatly influenced to change their image.  Ever since Lady Gaga, image, overall, has become more edgy and unique.  I wouldn't call that mimicry or stealing though; it's merely a sink or swim reaction.  Cultural revolution doesn't happen with one person's action; a change at all happens with one large motion, not by one instigator.  Change doesn't happen with everyone remaining static.  Yes, everyone out there seems like Lady Gaga now; that's because she was the biggest and first motion, and everyone soon followed her.  It isn't ripping her off, acting a bit like her: she didn't invent her music style, she didn't invent the idea of shock imagery, she didn't invent high fashion.

Even she drew inspiration from other people.  In this world, it's absolutely impossible to be 100% unique: in your writing, you'll find you'll use cliches since they're the easiest way to say something; in the way you dress, it'll reflect what you saw and liked on other people.  And that being said, I reiterate that Lady Gaga didn't invent music: as her songs or image may look a great deal like artists in the past, the artists of the future will bear some resemblance to her own.

On the flip side, though, there are blatant motions of mimicry.  These instances are a bit more inexcusable: Lady Gaga, instigating change, doesn't DEFINE what change is; therefore it's up to everyone after her to interpret her change and apply it to themselves.  Therefore releasing a video that looks a bit too much like Bad Romance is an undeniable copycat move (I'm looking at you, certain unnamed once popular female singer).  Aside from that, yeah, I scratch my head when I see Katy Perry's chest emit fireworks, or when I see absolutely every recent music video start with a title card.  Even still, they aren't blatant attempts on ripping Lady Gaga off; they merely reflect her huge impact each time (the level in which they reflect her impact may be a bit too obvious, though).

I could launch into so many more topics about the so called "Gaga Effect" - for one, how difficult it may be to be a straight fan supporting her whole Born This Way era, but that's a whole different and much more touchy subject - but I figured I had to say something about how over the top and easy it's become to write off new talent as a Lady Gaga ripoff.  If everyone were to come to a halt completely and accept Lady Gaga as the be all end all of difference, then we'll never see anyone else shine.


EDIT: It's kinda funny now how Born This Way is under fire for sounding too much like a handful of Madonna songs.

Medium rare

If you knew me, you knew this was coming.

I'm overjoyed that Lady Gaga picked up eight awards at the Video Music Awards (seven for Bad Romance, one for Telephone).  I was in absolute AWE when she announced the name of her album would be BORN THIS WAY, and I became practically paralyzed when she added the chorus of the title track,

I'm beautiful in my way / Cause God makes no mistakes
I'm on the right track, baby, / I was born this way

But, to be honest, I've found myself repulsed at her meat dress.

I remained ignorant to the Vogue Japan cover she had where she donned the meat bikini; yeah, I look at it once or twice, I shake my head and wince, but I move on.  Of course, though, she revisited the idea, and wore it in front of millions; with all the news, now, perhaps twicefold.  Ellen DeGeneres has said she was disgusted (being a vegan) that Gaga didn't change out of her meat dress to be on her (Ellen's) VMA special, saying she found it "gross."

Here's the thing.  I'm Gaga's biggest fan.  I know that her shtick is being outlandish, shocking and provocative.  Yes, I like the message she was putting out behind the meat, that if we don't speak out for our beliefs we're "nothing but the meat on our bones," and I like that she added "I'm not a piece of meat."  I get that.  I'm just partially disgusted when I look at her latest outdoing.  Honestly, the idea is just gross.  She wore and SAT IN a dress made out of slabs of MEAT.

At this point, Gaga, we're all listening; the world is listening to you.  Your zaniness caught out attention.  We realized you're obscenely talented.  You don't need to keep shoving shock value in our faces; we're listening.  I know that I, personally, want her full blown, straight-up talent.

She's got both hands in her pockets

It's no secret I'm a huge fan of Lady Gaga; saying "huge fan" might not even cut it.  Instead, words like "obsessed" or "crazy" or "crazy obsession" would fit the bill a bit more.  So, with this, I suppose I'll recount the history of myself becoming a bigger and bigger fan of the world's greatest artist, and I'll definitely be addressing the fact that Ms Germanotta has become such a huge gay icon, and the effect that has on me being a straight male fan.

It was 2008.  The song Just Dance started circulating the airwaves, and a great deal of people started to take notice; in fact, my friends, some of whom don't like Gaga at all nowadays, were onboard with the Just Dance craze.  It wasn't until a results show of So You Think You Can Dance did I first see Lady Gaga perform, where she donned the glasses which spewed the message Pop Music Will Never Be Low Brow, extreme shoulder pads, and a leotard covering next to nothing, crotch-wise.  Met with strange looks from the friends I watched the show with, I'd say, Come on guys, that's Lady Gaga!

Come August, when The Fame was released in Canada, I figured I liked Just Dance enough to check out the rest of the CD.  Appearing on my iPod in alphabetical order, the first song to come on was Again Again - and, by the time it was over, I couldn't bring myself to move on to the next song without playing the song again, again, again.  Even now it's one of my favourites.  In all honesty, the amount of songs I like on The Fame is greatly outweighed by the songs I DISLIKE.  I hate Poker Face.  I'm no fan of Money Honey or Brown Eyes or Beautiful Dirty Rich; however the amount of love I invested in the songs I did like more than compensated, and it was enough to cement myself as a fan.

The hits rolled on, the outfits got more outrageous, and more and more people took notice, though developed their own dislike for the singer.  I survived the Poker Face era, hating the song, though grateful that it propelled her to such fame; I was indifferent with LoveGame, feeling that it was superficial and honestly immature and embarrassing to hear on the radio; Paparazzi was next, my absolute favourite from The Fame, though it was my mom's least favourite, so I never got to appreciate it on the radio much.  At that point, if ever, was the time that I was becoming a big fan.  The video was the first of hers to become an event, and the accompanying performance at the VMAs was amazing, what with the blood and the hanging and the chill-inducing vocals.

The point that I became a massive, obsessive fan was when I had the opportunity to see her live, the night before the MMVAs, at the Kool Haus.  Being ten feet away from her onstage is an indescribable feeling; the magnetitude of experiencing the full blown force of her talent was UNREAL.

By that point, The Fame era was coming to a close, and The Fame Monster began to flourish, coming with a change in Gaga.  At first I was leery; I loved the bubbly Fame outfits and personality, and with the change came a confusion: Why does she look so different?  At first I thought it was a nose job, but I came to accept that it was maturity, and the loss of bangs with her wigs and heavy makeup.  At this point, her music videos became colossal events, and the album spawned bigger hits - Bad Romance, Telephone, my personal and all-time favourite Alejandro.  I saw her twice during this era; once, only days after The Fame Monster was released, and as I witnessed The Monster Ball 1.0 she thanked the crowd for knowing the lyrics to every new song despite only having days to do so; the second time, just a month ago, with the revamped setlist and stage (2.0) though the shame sheer force of talent onstage in underwear.  I eagerly await the release of her next album, to come in early 2011 with the title to be revealed as a tattoo on her body; until then, I'll bide the time by listening to the steady stream of unreleased song leaks I shamelessly play on repeat.

No more of that nostalgia.

The thing I've struggled most with as being a fan of Lady Gaga is the fact that she's become such a big advocate for the gays.  She makes it clear she loves her gay fans.  She spoils herself with glamour and has made a big part of her image about fashion.  Her songs are pure pop.

Let me say that I have absolutely nothing against the gays; in fact I can say I support them.  Love is love.  Nobody has a right to impose on a person who they can and cannot love.

Being a straight male, I've found it hard to be such an open fan of Lady Gaga, for reasons quite obvious.  Being a male and liking such a gay icon, I've been subject to accusations that I'm a homosexual - I'm sure if anyone knows me and has lurked my Formspring they'll see that harassment is nearly a daily routine, and that certain assholes are completely unable to accept the fact that, hello, I am straight, I've said so, and really, there's nothing above that than the person saying so themselves.  Idiots are idiots.  That being said, I find that I can't wear a Lady Gaga shirt in public without thoughts in my direction, equating "Male + Lady Gaga fan = gay."

This all culminates to this thought: I'm angry that in today's society, things are labeled "straight" and "gay" interests or habits or opinions or anything.  Sports: "straight."  I don't play sports because I'm "gay", but because I'm straight with no coordination.  Lady Gaga: "gay." "She supports the gays, a huge part of her is fashion, her music is 'feminine.'"  I don't listen to her music because I'm "gay;" I don't like her because I like fashion; I don't like her strictly because she's a gay advocate; I like her because she's TALENTED, because she's DIFFERENT, because she EVOLVES (which many artists are completely incapable of doing).  I'm sick of people writing off interests, habits, opinions, on face value.  I'm sick of stereotypes.  Are all homosexuals "feminine" and "into fashion?"  Absolutely not.  Are all straight men "football jocks" who like "rock music?"  Absolutely not.  (and I use quotation marks to prove the point - otherwise, I'd be a hypocrite, using stereotypes and completely defeating my purpose)


And so, I say to you, as a straight male, I love Lady Gaga.

That quickly evolved from brainless prose to intensity, didn't it?  Either way, I'm a Little Monster for life.  I'm her biggest fan, I'll follow her (until she loves me?) until I die.