OUT NOW: LADY GAGA "BORN THIS WAY"

I first heard of Lady Gaga a few years ago when her single "Just Dance" was out and she was relatively unknown.  I didn't really get it at first and thought she was just another blonde pop diva wannabe with banal lyrics and eurotrash beats infused with forced US hip/hop.  Well, I can admit when I turn out to be wrong.  It wasn't until some time later, after "Poker Face" blew up all over the place, "Love Game" was blaring from all the clubs, and everyone seemed to be talking about Lady Gaga that I finally started to come around.  I saw a youtube clip of her performing "Poker Face" acoustic - just her and a piano - and I thought, "OK, she is different."  I hear a lot of perky, blond pop singers who some of my friends insist I listen to, and insist they are all the "next big thing," so naturally I usually dismiss them right away.  But, seeing one sit down and not only play a piano, but COMMAND it, with the pipes to go along with it, was refreshing.  Shortly thereafter, I saw another youtube clip of her, pre-"The Fame"-fame, as a young, brown haired Stefani Germanotta performing with her live band at some nondescript bar in New York.  Yes - this is the real deal, I thought.
It was only after I accepted the fact that this lady was more than just a "pop singer," but an actual musician - an artist - that I began to really appreciated and enjoy her music.  Sure, it came off as fluffy, almost generic club music, but it had a sense of humor, was catchy as hell, and knowing that there was something of a mastermind behind it (and not some svengali, middle-aged white man) allowed me to love her.  Lady Gaga isn't a guilty pleasure - she's just a pleasure.
I watched her on Saturday Night Live when she debuted a portion of "Bad Romance" and I knew it was going to be huge, and that she was just going to keep getting bigger.  I wondered if she worried Madonna!  The awkwardness between the two on their surprise SNL sketch seemed to indicated that Madge was less than excited about Gaga stealing her crown as the Queen of Pop.
Anyway, Gaga's latest release is the album "Born This Way," which right off the bat already has three big hits, the title track, "Judas" (my favorite), and "The Edge of Glory."  The album has more hooks than it should be allowed to, and sounds big and ambitious without completely crossing the line to being overblown.  Bombastic is a good way to describe it.  At times, it does get a little too loud, samey, and over-the-top, but luckily there is always something right around the corner to redeem it.
Opener "Marry The Night" seems to kick things off into high gear, and is broad enough that it should appeal to most anyone who has taken the effort to start listening to the album in the first place, although it's nothing earth-shattering or revelatory.  It's just kind of a nice way to start the set off.  Moving into the alt-dance fervor of "Government Hooker" really sets the tone and the bar for the album.  I'm not sure if anyone before has so successfully subverted the genre of club music / europop with so many layers of angst, metal, industrial and other more "hardcore" sounds.  "Judas" is another prime example of this, with it's aggressive, squelchy synths, discordant noises and powerful beats which lead to an unbelievably poppy chorus.
Some low points on the album are the ridiculous "Americano" which is really usually too much for me to take (it's the one song that I find grating) and "Hair," which I think could have been a great song if the lyrics weren't so silly.  Pretty much all the other songs are amazing and could all be singles.  This is an album of "Thriller" proportions, where it sounds more like a greatest hits then someone's sophomore effort.


Rating: OOOO (Four out of Five O's - would be Five if "Americano" had been left off)