After seeing Lady Gaga appear on my good friend IllDefined’s list of the “Top 3 Celebrities That Should Have Died in 09,” I feel the need to do something I never thought I’d do when she first arrived on the scene…yes, defend Lady Gaga. I have realized recently that this woman is really a powerful artistic force, and deserves a closer look from those who write her off quickly as a superficial pop musician. You really cannot possibly watch the live video of “Poker Face” above without coming to the conclusion that Lady Gaga is, in fact, extremely talented and also extremely intelligent. In light of that performance and the brilliant pop songwriting that made that song so big, I’d say it wasn’t a low point for everyone involved at all, but in fact more of a high point. Gaga has a powerhouse voice that far surpasses that of most current female pop stars (Rihanna definitely comes to mind, as does Britney Spears, who Gaga used to ghostwrite for before she had a solo career of her own), and also an incredible knack for performance. The fact that she went to Tisch before turning to performance art and then signed a publishing (i.e. songwriting) deal with Sony that made her successful before she ever put out an album says to me that there’s more going on here than one might think. For example, Gaga has a tattoo of a Rainer Maria Rilke quote in German on her left arm that translates in English to: “In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would die if you were forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer, and ask yourself, must I write?” Can’t hate on that.
More than her actual musical talent, she has carefully crafted her image, her performances, her lyrics, and even her statements in public appearances to mold herself into a pop icon in the lineage of artists like Madonna, Prince, David Bowie, and Little Richard. By that I mean an icon who so powerfully pushes the boundaries of what anyone thought could be accepted by the mainstream that she comes to widen the actual meaning of the term “pop star,” further defining what it will mean in the future. Keep in mind that people criticized all of those artists I mentioned above for setting a bad example by being too sexually provocative during their careers. I’m not saying Lady Gaga will be mentioned in the same sentence as those artists in 20 years, but she definitely shares certain characteristics with them that bear note. She may not have the groundbreaking artistry or musical skill of a Prince or a Little Richard, but she has definite vocal and songwriting chops, and like all of the artists listed above, she blends the masculine and feminine within her art, confirming certain gender stereotypes while eschewing others at whim. She also puts out outrageous performances that do not necessarily cater to what the audience might be ready for. Watch her change her vocal tone from completely sweet and feminine to totally screaming and androgynous within a single bar and actually pull it off. In the current musical climate, a Top 10 artist who can take that kind of risk and be successful is extremely rare.
One can argue that her scantily-clad, sexually charged performances reinforce negative gender stereotypes or set a bad example for young women coming into their sexuality, just in the same way you can say that about most of female pop stars today. But like it or not, Gaga is more than her skimpy outfits. To me, the fact that she intersperses those types of outfits with completely ridiculous ones like the dress she wore to the VMAs that covered her entire head or the ridiculous shit she is wearing in the “Poker Face” performance above show that she is very intensely aware of what she is doing. Lady Gaga is critiquing certain parts of mass culture even as she reinforces others, which is at times problematic, but also valuable and definitely fascinating to watch. She seamlessly blends biting ironic satire with a music and performance that partially conforms to the mass culture trends she is satirizing, and I think she is very aware of it.
Gaga is really walking to her own beat, creating a visual style that is equal parts high fashion, glam rock, and pop art. Watch the video for “Bad Romance,” her latest single. Yes, it is glossy, poppy, sexually charged, and decadent in a way that often seems completely over-the-top…but it works, and no one can say that it isn’t artistic. She has also taken several stands against the homophobia rampant in the music industry in a way that I found both thoughtful and genuine. Is Gaga perfect? No. I detest everything about songs like “Just Dance” and rarely listen to her music on my own. That said, she clearly has a mission, and that mission does not conform to the standards of the normal trends in mainstream pop music. In this day and age, I’ll take an artist like that over the normal run-of-the-mill drivel, even if I don’t like all of her music, or all of her artistic choices. You’ll never catch me bumping “LoveGame” in the whip, but I’ll be damned if Lady Gaga isn’t an artist to be reckoned with.
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