Artist: Lady Gaga
Album: Born This Way (Special Edition)
Release Date: 5.23.11
Lady Gaga has easily made a name for herself in the past two years, striking a chord with her messages of self-acceptance and equality for all through her public stunts, activism and her music. It was during her acceptance speech for Video of the Year at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards that she announced the title for her sophomore album would be Born This Way. The project is a union of hard-hitting beats with messages of universal acceptance, self-love and empowerment, all the while oozing with creativity. On the whole, the project has quite the retro pop vibe, noted by the overflow of 80’s and 90’s pop/rock stylings with influence from artists like Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Whitney Houston. Some of the concepts are so deeply hidden in metaphor that the album may be a bit difficult to grasp for some of Gaga’s younger audience but there is a level of quality here that is unmatched by any others currently in pop music.
Born This Way is powered by mostly upbeat dance tracks, kicked off with Marry The Night, a pop/dance record about embracing the loneliness and owning it. The lead single Born This Way made waves upon its initial release in February, and was criticized for the sonic similarities to Madonna’s Express Yourself, but there’s no doubt this song is a hit that resonates for its positive message of empowerment, acceptance and confidence. On the second single Judas, Gaga presents herself as the outspoken outcast, encouraging her betrayers to ‘kiss me if offenced or wear an ear condom next time’. Yikes! But it’s the third single ‘Edge of Glory’ that sold me completely on the album. A masterpiece of song and style, Edge of Glory features a saxophone solo from Clarence Clemons of The E Street Band and an amazing vocal performance by Gaga over a synth-heavy, fast-moving electro-rock track; undoubtedly one of her best songs to date. Though I couldn’t tell you what she says through most of the song, I can tell you that Scheiße sounds like it’d be a hit in Germany, as its title translates to ‘shit’ in German. Americano is another bilingual track from Born This Way, with some of the lyrics in Spanish and it pushes back against newly formed anti-immigration laws. One of my personal favorites is Fashion of His Love (special edition only) and though Gaga has spoken of her love for Whitney Houston’s influence, this tracks shows that influence more than any other in Gaga’s catalog. Clearly inspired by I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), Gaga’s vocals on lead and harmony soar, and the song even includes a key-shift similar(if not identical) to the one in Houston’s 1987 release. Other notable songs include Government Hooker, and the Mutt Lange produced You And I (another favorite), which was previously recorded and performed by Gaga. Also check out Highway Unicorn (Road To Love), a Red-One produced mega song with a stadium sound, very big production and more of Gaga’s great vocals.
Though some of the tracks have grown on me with time (Judas, Bad Kids) there were a few that just didn’t light my fire, including Hair and Black Jesus – Amen Fashion. Hair was inspired by Springsteen and evokes that 80s rebellious teen spirit through the melody and the content but fails to hit as hard as the rest of the album, probably because the hair metaphor has been used so many times. Black Jesus-Amen Fashion may be a hit with some, but not with me. It just seems like another obligatory “push the limits” type of song for Gaga, but I’m sure it will resonate well in the clubs/party scene (think Throb for Janet Jackson).
Born This Way is full of electro-rock, pop offerings that rival any other artists in the industry, and the music is propelled by Gaga’s antics but even more so by the messages in her music. I applaud Lady Gaga for taking such a stand for equality and acceptance and using the creativity of her music to spread the message. Born This Way is a project full of inspiration, imagination and heart. Where some of her counterparts attack their content on the surface, moments of subtlety are few with Lady Gaga. She pushes her audience to think, and live with purpose. The important thing to remember here is that you don’t have to agree with her message to recognize that this is truly great music. Very few artists can reach so many creative highs on one album, but Gaga does it seemingly effortlessly. How does she do it, you ask? Maybe it’s the cigarettes, maybe it’s the Jameson, or maybe she was just born this way…
Sound-Savvy rates Lady Gaga’s Born This Way with 4 out of 5 platinum headphones.
