Music Review: Lady Gaga – Born This Way
We all knew her return was inevitable. Following up on the world wide phenomenon first album, Lady Gaga is back with her sophomore album Born This Way. It’s bold, brave and exciting. From the Queen of the Kooky, she’s proven that she has what it takes to dominate the charts for a second time.
The best thing about this album isn’t that it doesn’t try to mirror the success of The Fame/The Fame Monster. Gaga has kept a similar formula for creating her songs but has also expanded. It’s quite easy to hear the 80s influence which plays across each track while still staying true to her dance/pop roots.
By now we all know Born This Way, Judas, and Edge of Glory but the show doesn’t stop there. For example the opening track Marry The Night. When the track starts, you could be forgiven for thinking you’d just put in the latest Glee soundtrack. That is disillusioned pretty fast when the tempo and talent kicks in. It’s a great start for the album and you just know that you are in for an absolute treat with the next 16 tracks.
SCHIEβE is a brilliant club stomping track. With the start delivered in what, to an untrained ear, sounds like flawless German, the track is just fascinating and then after you get past the intro the heavy house music influences kick in and the beat starts. Please move to the dance floor and dance like you really don’t care.
Not content to remain in just the pop style of music,
Gaga also dabbles in electro-rock with the track Bad Kids. It’s an interesting combination which works to Gaga’s advantage. The lyrical content of the song is a story in itself. The younger generation who are, in essence, good people but have been told that they aren’t or are a ‘bad kid’. Those labelled a degenerate and those who have nothing the offer. It’s a song to remind them that they aren’t the lost causes and they are still a person with a heart that is pure.
There’s also the track You and I which has a country influence. It’s not the banjo playing, foot stomping, swing your partner around country. Don’t worry it’s not talking about the cows dying or the tractor breaking down either. It’s a story about the joy of having something special with that someone special.
Closing out the album is Edge of Glory. It’s catchy and filled with that Lady Gaga magic that singles out each track as hers. Of course, it has the club influence interpolated with the trade mark pop music that Gaga is so renowned for.
If you were wise enough to get hold of the deluxe version of the album, you will be delighted with that second disc which contains 6 remixes for your listening pleasure. Included is Born This Way (Country Road Version) which was streamed by Gaga not long after the initial release of the song. It’s such a change from the usual music we hear from Lady Gaga but it’s certainly a welcome change given fact that it does show her diversity. Also included on the second disc are remixes of Judas, SCHIEβE and another remix of Born This Way.
Many discounted Lady Gaga as a fad who was disappear quickly after the initial craze. With the release of this album, she’s proven that she isn’t going anywhere and is a musical force to be reckoned with. The album is going to garner her more attention and loyal fans. Be ready for the world to keeping going mad for Lady Gaga for some time to come. Either get on board with loving her or keep quiet. Either way, Gaga and her army of little monsters aren’t going to be silenced.
