Consider me a newly converted little monster. Lady Gaga has managed to release the best pop album, probably of the last decade. Sure time will be needed to judge the work properly but I will tentatively say that she has created a pop masterpiece that will be remembered for a very long time.
First single Born This Way, despite doing very well on the charts, divided a lot of people. They wanted another Poker Face, another Bad Romance, what they weren't expecting was a dancefloor hit with incredibly preachy lyrics that sounded like a Madonna rip off. If you spent anytime on Twitter after the single's release back in February the names Gaga and Madonna were buzzing around like wildfire and she caught a lot of flack for it.
Next single Judas was released to give the people what they wanted, Bad Romance 2.0. It has a very similar song structure, industrial hard hitting beats but strangely enough it has failed to set the charts alight, despite a very creative/gorgeous video.
Shortly after a 'promo' single was sent out for Edge Of Glory (i.e damage limitaion), which has done very well on the charts despite not being an official single release (Gaga now plans to shoot a video for the song due to it's success). Lyrically it should be a ballad of sorts but instead it is set to a pulsing dance beat that never lets up.
That's a perfect way to describe her new album. Gaga has thrown in everything but the kitchen sink for this record, which is an hour in length with 17 tracks in total. In that hour the listener is constantly bombarded with the kind of hard hitting music that an industrial club in Germany would be proud of and boy is it killer.
Standout tracks include Government Hooker (a song with the dirtiest of lyrics and an even dirtier production), Americano (a techno, latin flavored stomper of a song that has a timely political message), Scheisse (previewed at the Mugler show but now even better with a great chorus and faster/harder techno beats), Bloody Mary ( Gaga getting all religious over a gothic, industrial, moaning background) and Heavy Metal Lover ( a sparse fuzzy track where she sings the praises of dirty sex and leather!).
It's one of those albums that you can't stop listening to and every time that you do, you notice something completely different. The production is absolutely top notch, the albums themes are complex and far reaching making it a deep record with a lot of replay value.
Gaga's vocals shine on a lot of tracks, unlike singers such as Christina Aguilera she doesn't feel the need to show off on every song, she pulls herself back when it's required and that restraint pays off (my ears thank her very much !). Of course everyone knows she can belt out the vocals with best of them and that's reflected in songs like Marry The Night, Highway Unicorn and Edge Of Glory.
Personally I'm more of a fan of the dancefloor flavored tracks, however, they are just the sugary instant hits on the record and I can imagine in a few months that I will be giving nearly all of the tracks a 10/10 (bar Bad Kids- something just isn't clicking with that song for me).
The two singles, Judas and Born This Way, sound a hell of a lot better when put in context with the rest of tracks from the album. I think that time will be much more forgiving to these songs that were victim to too much hype (calling something 'the song of our generation' is never going to go down well) and impossible expectations.
In conclusion, Gaga has made a pop masterpiece that is right up there with Madonna's Like A Prayer album, a watershed moment in her career. Very few artists are releasing albums of this quality, especially in pop music. While Britney put out a good record with Femme Fatale it doesn't come close to the depth and sophistication Gaga has shown on this record.
A very solid 9/10 overall for me.
Now back to the replay button :)
