My first encounter with Lady Gaga was hearing a group of my third grade students sing “Poker Face.” I had heard them talk about how much they liked this song and one of them brought it in for me to listen to.
When the song started, almost all of the students immediately started singing along with the opening instrumental hook, which was cute. Some of them started dancing around which was entertaining and also cute. The cuteness continued as they sang along to the lyrics. Then the line came “I’ll get them hot, show him what I’ve got” which was less cute and then the second verse rolled around and hearing a bunch of third graders sing “and baby when it’s love, if its not rough it isn’t fun” diminished any sense of cuteness.
This whole experience put a bad taste in my mouth when it came to Lady Gaga. I know that the kids had no idea what they were singing about and that it was harmless but it still felt a little weird. From my first impression, “Poker Face” seemed like a catchy dance song that had a good hook and was an obvious throwback to the 1980s.
But I wasn’t impressed and I didn’t really understand what the big deal about Lady Gaga was. Months pasts, I read about how Madonna loved her, learned about her background as a trained classical musician and couldn’t really ignore her presence on the popular music scene. However, the singles that came off of her album Fame simpy didn’t do much for me.
Once a month I take a look at the Billboard 200 charts and listen through the top 20 songs to stay current with what’s going on. After listening to Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears nonsensical single “3,” and the Black Eyed Peas” mediocre “I Gotta Feeling” I was ready to give up (good god the only reason these guys are popular has gotta be from a lack of options, I mean starting a song with repeating the same line for 1 and half minutes, seriously?!? “fill up my cup, Mazel tov” are you kidding? SIGH).
Does Oprah have any musical standards? That’s like her recommending a V. C. Andrews book for her book club.
Then I heard a thirty second clip of “Paparazzi,” Lady Gaga’s latest single, and I was blown away and immediately bought the song.
“Paparazzi” immediately reminds me of Madonna. Here is a song that is catchy, easy to dance to but also has intriguing lyrics that reflect contemporary issues. In “Like A Prayer” Madonna relates religious ecstasy to sexuality and in “Paparazzi” Lady Gaga examines the role of paparazzi in celebrity worship and stalking.
This song does sound a little creepy, Lady Gaga uses 1980s synthesized sounds not to imitate acoustic instruments but rather to create a whole new sonic landscape. Sometimes these sounds reflected dark feelings like paranoia as in Rockwell “Somebody’s Wathching Me” (which features Michael Jackson doing backup vocals).
Even though the words are creepy and clearly unhinged “I promise I’ll be kind, but I won’t stop until that boy is mine, baby, you’ll be famous chase you down until you love me,” there is something heartfelt and kind of romantic. It’s like the bridge of “Every Breath You Take” by the Police, you know its creepy but it feels sweet and loving. This takes you into the mind of the stalker who doesn’t see himself as doing anything wrong and also allows people to ignore the meaning of the song if they just want something to dance along to.
Lady Gaga understands that this song is for people to have fun with. The bridge doesn’t really make sense lyrically in the context of the song but it supplies the line “We’re plastic but we still have fun” for people to scream along to on the dance floor.
“Paparazzi” functions beautifully as a pop dance song, giving people everything they need to have a good time from off-beat hand claps to a catchy hook, but it also has an intriguing statement about the consequences of celebrity.
Lady Gaga, I don't understand your fashion sense and I don't like all of your music but thanks for reminding us what great pop music is: meaningful, interesting, skillful, and most importantly a whole lot of fun.
. . . just ask my third graders. . .
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