Lady Gaga: A Musical Comparison

So why am I circling back for yet ANOTHER post on Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga? Well, there were a lot of people who objected to my previous post which outlined why Lady Gaga's talent is overshadowed by the production of her songs.

There are quite a few videos below so before you go clicking away, let me first be clear. As you'll soon find, she is a GREAT singer and talented pianist.

Let me say that again for those of you who are already poised to contest an argument that they have not yet heard: She is a GREAT singer and talented pianist.

Now, if we're all in agreement, find out for yourself below exactly what I'm talking about. Bottom line, if the piano version of 'Poker Face' went head-to-head with the instrumental track, her acoustic version would have no chance...as with 'Paparazzi'; and as you could imagine, "Just Dance" or "Bad Romance". This is why I cannot, in good conscience, say that Lady Gaga is famous because of her talent. To quote my previous post:

"...her music is not a sole product of her fixed creation; rather, she is a byproduct of/and outlet for, the music that she represents."

The amazing thing is that as you listen to these instrumentals, your brain will automatically begin to insert the vocals. While that might be because she's such a great vocalist, I would argue that it's because the track is so catchy and the production so seductive. Could you possibly imagine anyone else in the world singing this song? Maybe yourself perhaps? That woman down the hall?

Yeah, the song is still pretty catchy regardless of who's behind the studio mic...

Either way, I can't imagine your girlfriend falling over a pile of clothes on a Friday night while getting ready to go out because she was jamming so hard to the acoustic version of "Paparazzi". Acoustic versions give you coffee shop play, not global recognition. A hit track gives you fame, and fame gives you fans...

Take a listen for yourself-



Produced by RedOne:


FF to 1:30...


Produced by her ex-boyfriend Robert Fusari:


Produced by RedOne:


Produced by RedOne:

The Hypersensitivity of Stereotypes

I'm convinced that we learn to take offense.

As a child, I don't recall being offended by someone seductively waving a fried chicken leg in my face, I don't recall being offended by someone offering me watermelon, and I certainly don't recall being offended when people said "purple" kool-aid and laughed. All I knew was that fried chicken was tasty, watermelon was refreshing, and purple kool-aid was the best flavor.

At some point between then and now however, I irresponsibly learned to take offense to those things. After watching white person after white person on television apologizing for using these references (and most recently, Dan Rather), I began to realize that while I didn't know why I was supposed to be offended, I just knew that I was.

This creates confusion.

In attempt to protect the cultural image of my history in America, my priorities quickly became muddled while trying to police any potentially bigoted representation of my heritage. I found myself defending "Watermelon" on Wednesday and the "N-word" on Friday. All of a sudden I began to realize however, if I keep this up, how could my appeals ever be taken seriously?

I say all of this because I have found it absolutely essential to pick my battles. Although I don't always adhere to that, recognition is the first step. To criticize and mis-categorize my intelligence, drive, and humility to humanity, is something of which I will take offense every.single.time. Those are things WORTH defending. Someone suggesting that I'd prefer fried chicken over the swordfish while at a fine dining establishment, is something not dignified enough to secure a reaction. More than anything else, that's simply an illustration of how little this person knows about me as in individual; not a knock on my entire cultural upbringing and overall purpose in the universe.

Bottom line, the prioritization and distinction of these things are essential. I friggin LOVE watermelon, but who doesn't? I'm pretty sure fried chicken is just chicken wrapped in a crispy layer of salt which everyone enjoys, and who has ever turned their nose up at kool-aid? Seriously?!?! Everyone likes these things (among others) so why portray them as something that only black people like? Likewise however, I myself cannot bait these stereotypes by treating them as an all encompassing representation of who my people are. Afterall, you only get to cry 'wolf' but twice...

Why Great Production Trumps Lady Gaga's Talent

I'm not sure if I've said this on here before, but a friend of mine, Kelz, observed that Lady Gaga's weird avant garde wasn't at all congruent with how mainstream her music is. How does no one see this as a problem?! Well--probably because what we 'see' doesn't matter...

But that's what makes her so good. Even if she walked around in the Michelin Man suit with deer antlers over her head and shoes made of 2x4s, her music would still be hypnotically addictive. Hell, her persona could be that of 1-ply toilet paper and I still wouldn't be able to NOT tell people to quiet down so that I could let the build to the chorus of "Just Dance" hit just right.

But that brings me to thesis. Her brilliance lies in the fact that she can get away with and do, in theory, whatever she wants because her music is not a sole product of her fixed creation; rather, she is a byproduct of/and outlet for, the music that she represents.

Allow me to tease out that run-on sentence...

To be clear, I would argue that Lady Gaga is not a star because she's talented; instead, her talent was merely the asset which got her noticed. Sure she can play piano, she can sing, (I guess) she can dance, but how often do we see that? How often do we see her stripped down without the studio, sythesizers, and auto-tune? Shamefully, we don't (and music videos don't count). She, like all of the other pop stars who preceded her, are products of production.

Consider any of the following songs, if given to an attractive and consumable up-and-coming singer, would've produced similar pop-stardom:

1) Hit Me Baby One More Time
2) Since You've Been Gone
3) Promiscuous Girl
4) Party In The U.S.A.
5) I Kissed A Girl

Funny that you could likely name at least 4 of the associated artists with these songs...

AND THAT'S MY POINT!

At this juncture, I'm simply enjoying music that's made in a lab with a genetically engineered sound which naturally appeals to the pleasure centers of my brain. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about it because I'll gleefully sing along to any of the aforementioned songs like I wrote those suckers myself. I just want to make sure that we're all clear on where exactly our affection is originating from. I'm pretty sure if Gaga had her hits produced by my 10 year old cousin on a 1989 Casio Keyboard and still dressed the way she does, her relevance would be completely disqualified in all of our eyes.

Buuuuuuuut in the meantime...

"Just Dance! (Gonna be ok!) Da-doo-doot Just Dance! (Spin that record baaabe)..."

Why Am I Poor?

♫ I'm poor because I'm social--And even if I were rich, I'd still be poor--because I'm social.

A Weekend Without The World...

So I decided to turn my phone off and ban myself from the computer this weekend as a social experiment with myself. Given that I take my Droid and, consequently, the accessibility of the world with me everywhere I go, I wanted to see if I could manage to last 60 hours without this constant connectivity. Moreover, when I consider that I face a constant barrage of updates regarding everything (be it via messaging, email, twitter, or facebook), how different might my world be if I am unable to connect to information and my social circles with the immediate convenience that I’m used to?

Well to start, I’ll say that it was Fan-Effing-Tastic as I was able to engage ten-fold more with those sharing the same physical space as I. Sounds lame. But take a good hard look at how often you engage those physically near you relative to those out in cyber or cellular space. We all have a million friends but none of them are “here”. It felt great to actually be present for once.

When I went out on Saturday night, I realized that I had two options whenever I became uncomfortable at the bar. I could either BE uncomfortable, or I could talk to someone. What I didn’t have the option of doing was using my phone as a crutch. How often do you find yourself checking text messages that you haven’t received because you’re feeling socially insecure? I find that I do it, A LOT.

Despite all of that, perhaps the most unforeseen result of this was the ire that this experiment generated in other people. Confused? Well when I turned my phone back on Monday morning, I had several text messages from friends inquiring about stuff from what I’m doing to if I wanted to grab lunch. Nothing surprising there. What was telling was that upon explaining that my phone had been off for the weekend and that I was sorry for not getting back to them sooner, I had a few different replies which basically said, “You turning your phone off is more annoying to us than it is to you”.

Ding ding ding! This got me thinking…

Technology, accessibility, and connectedness have spoiled us to the point that we now expect information transfer to occur at a rate unheard of 15 years ago. Not only do we expect (and are able) to find the Farsi translation for “crusty feet” in 30 seconds or less, but we also transfer that over to how we expect people to behave within that same technological space. Imagine if all of the search engines decided to say, “Welp folks! We’re going to shut down for the weekend. Anything you need to find you’ll have to find at the library…or, just not find at all. Either way, we can’t help you until Monday. Sorry. Enjoy your weekend.” There would be pandemonium.

Same thing.

Your inaccessibility quickly becomes an inconvenience to others who are unable to reach you whenever they’d like. Your inaccessibility becomes an inconvenience when someone has to wait more than 1hr to hear back from you. Your inaccessibility becomes an inconvenience to everyone except those in your immediate physical space who you, arguably, will wind up appreciating more.

Remember back when if you wanted to talk to someone and they weren’t at home, you just couldn’t talk to them? Remember back when in order to find out the population of Wyoming you had to crack an encyclopedia? Remember back when you had to wait until the 11p news to find out the sports scores? Remember back when life required patience?

Either way, I urge you to give it a try. Detoxing from our phones might be a thought worthy of the withdrawal shakes, but I’d say that it’s worth taking a look at what you might be missing while living a life in pursuit of never missing anything.