Album Review: Lady GaGa

Lady GaGa's rise from the dance clubs to world domination didn't take too long, less than 4 years actually. For her arty and controversial performances, and her headline grabbing outfits she's definitely become a household name. And now with 5 Grammys for her first two albums and countless Top 10 Hit singles she's a force in the industry as well. The only thing lacking in GaGa's arsenal thus far has been, to put it simply, good songs. Her 8-track EP "The Fame Monster" showed promise, but her full length debut album was almost all pure Pop/Dance fluff with pretty tepid dance beats and insanely stupid lyrics. On her latest sales-smashing release "Born This Way", GaGa manages to show sneak peeks of the artist she is while not totally shedding the commercial sound that made her who she is. Truth be told, the production on the album (taken on mostly by Fernando Garibay) is the best element by being four to the floor club fodder yet still managing to be a little more dark. The production highlight is "Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)" a dance song on ADD that refuses to stay put with it's constantly changing drum beats and off kilter tempo changes. This weird, almost Industrial meets House sound is present throughout most of the tracks so the albums sound is something a little familiar but also something not typical on Pop releases like this.

And here's where GaGa shows her greatness, by not getting drowned out by all the goings on within each track. Whether she's paying homage to herself with her stretched and exagerrated vocals on "Judas" (vocally a "Bad Romance" part two), playfully experimenting with German on "Scheiße", or emulating 90's Power balladeering over dance beats on the title track or "Edge of Glory", she always makes herself the main event somehow. Her vocal abilities really shine through on this album, not only that she can belt like some of the greats but that on nearly every song she attacks the vocals in a completely different way. By the time you get to her almost country/western ode "Yoü and I" you can fully appreciate her diverse talents. Even lyrically she brings something different to the table this time, by making themes and concepts a little more abstract yet still making the songs fun and catchy. All in all the album is a win and a nice step into a more artistic direction for GaGa, seems her music is finally starting to match up with her unique and creative personality which is a great thing. She's not fully escaping her Pop chains, but she's definitley stepping out and delivering something on this album you wouldn't hear from any of her competitors.

4 of 5
Best: Electric Chapel, You and I, Marry The Night

Album Review: Rihanna, Lady GaGa

I Love the Internet. Probably my most anticipated release of the year leaked about two weeks early. And I'm so happy it did. Coming after the hugely successful "Good Girl Gone Bad" and the trio of singles released from it's re-release, Rihanna had a lot to live up to on her 4th album "Rated R" (officially released November 23rd). Not even going into her personal troubles, Rihanna was definitley busy this past year fine-tuning what is actually a pretty amazing album. This wasn't clearly evident late last month when she leaked 3 of the tracks off the album. On their own they were very underwhelming, and I lost some faith in the album.
Luckily it turns out that the songs she leaked are basically all the filler, as she left some really outstanding stuff for the album. In fact the album is sequenced so well, that the filler tracks sound alot better while listening to the whole album. The similarities between "Rated R" and "Good Girl Gone Bad" end at the fact that they both are very well put together and can easily be played from front to back.
"Rated R" has Rihanna continually evolving from a teeny-bopper Pop personality into a more edgy Rock Icon. The sound of "Rated R" is Definitley darker, edgier, more street and more mature, which is exactly what I love about the album. What made me fall in love with Rihanna in the first place was her personality and aggressive attitude she left on the tracks, this album takes all of that to a new level. Her voice and her vocally delivery have improved quite drastically on this album, the official first single "Russian Roulette" and the perfection that is "Cold Case Love" (masterfully produced by Justin Timberlake's production team The Y's) show her vocal maturity. And tracks like "Rude Boy" and "Hard" show that even when presented with material that might sound a little dated, she owns with the delivery of the lyrics which make the songs.

Probably the three stand out cuts on this album are the aforementioned "Cold Case Love", which is such a great production in that it builds, her vocals and the great lyrics are at the forefront throughout most of the song and than it builds up to a grand finale. Truly an epic track. The same can be said for "Firebomb" a perfect Pop/Rock mashup, almost reminiscent of a Leona Lewis or Beyonce track, but the producers take it to a rougher edgier level. This song also has great lyrical content. Finally "Rock Star 101", an infectious track and her Swag is at 110% on this one. The rest of the album flows really nice, there are actually a bunch of great songs I could name, "Stupid in Love" "Hard" "The Last Song" "Photographs", even the one I like the least are undeniable. I was worried, but I don't have any doubts that this 4th album will establish Rihanna as a force in the industry that is definitley here to stay.

Now if you follow this blog, you might have seen my "Love/Hate" article about Lady GaGa. And I was on the "Hate" side at that time. I felt like she was getting alot of undue praise for being just average. Since than, a bunch of Lady GaGa songs have ended up becoming guilty pleasures and I have seen her turn in a few outstanding live performances. So when her "The Fame Monster" leaked, I got it. And boy am I shocked. Let's just clarify one thing first, "The Fame Monster" is going to have a bit of a complicated release on November 23rd. There is a Deluxe Edition that will act as a re-release of her debut "The Fame" and including the 8 new tracks she's recorded for the "Monster" portion. And you can buy the "Monster" portion by itself, it will still be titled "The Fame Monster" even though it won't include "The Fame".

Okay all of that out of the way, "Monster" is actually a really great set of dance material which subtly shows GaGa's growth as an artist. Listening to the album, it's like each track is a different form of Dance music. Unlike her debut, which I felt was a majority of uninspired and generic dance beats, this one ventures into everything from straight up House tracks, 80's Freestyle, Industrial, New Wave, Funk and even some R&B. The track "Speechless", reminiscent of "Brown Eyes" from her debut, actually is heavily (and obviously) inspired by the Beatles and the hook recalls "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, though her vocals make the song all her own. Which can be said about every song on this album actually. At certain points, there is a MAJOR Madonna sound ("Alejandro" "Dance in the Dark") but on first single "Bad Romance" and album closer "Teeth" it's 100% GaGa. She can even hold her own against powerhouse Beyonce who is featured on the Rodney Jerkins produced "Telephone". I'm not fully on the "Love" side for GaGa, but my ears and eyes are open and I think maybe she could become a bit of a force in the music world.

Love/Hate: Lady Gaga

Every Celebrity who has reached some public notoriety has their Fans and their Haters. If this Celebrity has undeniable talent, there are still people who find something wrong with them. And if the Celebrity has obviously gotten famous without any actual skill, there are still people who praise them. Every Celebrity suffers from the "Love Them or Hate Them" thing, or "Either you get it or you don't". So what I wanted to start on this blog is periodically showing opposing views of Artists and Celebrities like this.

And since her music is on the radio constantly this year, I think it would be very appropriate to begin with Lady Gaga who is having quite a successful breakthrough year. I recruited a friend from IMDB to come and give her "LOVE" side of the argument, because I'm definitely on the side of "I don't get it" when it comes to Gaga.

"LOVE" by LibraRhapsody

Has there been a female as daring or as commercially successful so early on in their careers since Madonna and Mariah? Yes. Two words for you. Lady GaGa. Lady Gaga, the outrageous fashionista, it would be suprising if you were unaware of her, but just in case, think 80's influenced heavy dance tracks, flirty electronic beats and lyrics like "I wanna take a ride of your disco stick". Think Gwen Stefani meets Christina Aguilera , with a hint of Grace Jones thrown in. Her first two monster pop singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face" (worldwide #1's) are wild, retro, sexy and intentionally ridiculous (like their music videos, from her hand movements to the giant dogs). Gaga is as original as she is daring. Unapologetic about her sexuality for sure when she declares shes "bluffin with her muffin" or "dont think too much just bust that stick". On her Top 10 Album "The Fame" she focuses on the glamour of celebrity, which she says, is about how anyone can feel like a celebrity. As well as being commercial and feel good Gaga has depth take "Paper Gangsta" or "Sommerboy" the slower tracks that don’t get lost on her hard hitting LOUD album. And she shows fragility in "Brown Eyes" when Gaga recalls "in your brown eyes, I was feeling low, got some brown eyes, but I saw her face, I knew that it was wrong, in your brown eyes".

Gaga is a breath of fresh air to music, the music industry now seems to ignore talent over image. Its not about vocals and lyrics anymore its about beats and sales. Sad but true. That’s where Gaga blends talent and substance with the relevant factors of a good beat and commercial hook. She plays the piano, writes and produces her own material and can direct a music video. She is taking the music industry by storm, giving hilarious and bizarre interviews and being nominated for awards. She's well on her way to becoming the next big Pop Icon.

"HATE" by ME

Hate might not be the best word to describe my feelings for Lady Gaga or her music. Upon reading about her I actually do respect her hustle. She was signed and dropped years before her recent breakthrough. She than began writing for other artists before she got her big break in hooking up with Akon who signed her to his Kon Live label. The result is the debut "The Fame", which is filled with catchy dance songs -- catchy dance songs that are poorly written, and have very unoriginal concepts. There in lies my problem with Lady Gaga, or maybe I should say Gaga fans. They seem to think her music is so revolutionary, so unique, so new. And I would say, look back just 5 years ago when Gwen Stefani released her "Love.Angel.Music.Baby" album. Upbeat dance ready songs concerning Fame and Riches with addictive hooks and juvenile lyricism. And let's just assume you're too young to remember that. Let's go back just 3 years ago when Fergie put out practically the same album. It's crazy to me that Gwen and Fergie's albums were panned for not having any substance, yet here we are today seeing people actually say that Lady Gaga is innovative?? I think not.
She is cute though, I mean her videos for "Just Dance" and "Poker Face" are captivating. And there are a select few songs from her (overrated) album that are worth checking out... the best being the title track. But there's no way in hell I'm buying that Lady Gaga is the new Madonna. She's not even the new Britney Spears. Not yet at least. I think she makes up for her lack of apparent talent (by the way I've never seen her perform live) or songwriting prowess with great imagery. Avant-Garde outfits that get her on the fashion wrap up lists, which undoubtedly get her name out there. She's become quite a Celebrity this year, but is she the Flavor of the Moment (like Katy Perry last year) or will she truly become the Star her fans seem to think she already is?