Okay, seriously...who the fuck is Lad GaGa and why is she "famous"? Is she another one of those Paris Hiltons who are famous simply because they're hot and they just sort of...hang out where people can photograph them?
The first time I encountered Lady GooGoo (and what a
stupid name that is) was on the radio during my afforementioned Top 40 Immersion Week. I kinda liked that "Just Dance" song, even though I found the lyrics to be a little annoying in their celebration of being a drunken, drugged-up "hot mess"--but, hey, the beat was okay and the throbbing synth bassline was adequate. I later found out that Lady GewGaw had some actual experience in the world of electronica, was quite well-known as a pop songwriter, and had considerable musical training--so I figured...eh, what the hell: I'll check out
The Fame, her debut album...which apparently came out
last year, though I wasn't even aware of its existence until the day before yesterday.
Lady G-squared's got some serious pop cred under her belt, and it shows on her first personal production...but the album is, as a whole, a surprisingly lifeless--if impeccably-produced and surprisingly varied--example of the same kind of electropop best exemplified by Britney Spears. It's by no means a bad album, but it's not in any way memorable....
UNLESS you're talking about the third track, "Paparazzi." This is a song that is great literally despite itself. The music is flat-out excellent: beautifully melodic, with a stompin' pseudo-hip-hop-meets-electro beats, buzzing synths, and eerie atmospheric effects. The chorus in particular is spectacular, featuring one of those soaring melodies that transport the soul--or, to atheist materialists like myself, the limbic system--into the thermosphere. Lady GaGgle's voice is surprisingly mellifluent, and sounds naturally so (I've got a good ear for autotuning), and actually gives a certain heartfelt credence to the ridiculous lyrics "I'm your biggest fan, I'll chase you down until you love me / papa-paparazzi." The lyrics really are horrible, if you listen to them too closely, but even so it does not matter, because the song itself is such a lovely confection that it doesn't matter that it's all made out processed sugars and Chinese pesticides: it goes down as smooth as a shot of Bailey's Irish Creme and gives you that same transient warm feeling in your heart--gone quickly, but nice and comfortable while it's there.
In fact, I think the song--and Lady GiggityGiggity--is best summed up in the following lines from the song:
Real good, we dance in the studio
Snap snap to that shit on the radio
Don't stop for anyone
We're plastic but we still have fun
You can't get much more plastic than this song--and in today's fame-obsessed culture, plastic is perfect. But there can be art and heartfelt melody even in the most robotic recordings. Kraftwerk taught us that, and Lady GaGa (there, I said it right, for once!) exemplifies it...if only in this one song. I can't believe this was not the lead single from the album.