Lady Gaga last year went out on a limb and boldly announced “I promise to give you the greatest album of this decade”. Now that album is here and the question is did she deliver on her promise?
Having listened to the full album I too can now proudly utter, ‘Born This Way’ is the best pop album I have heard in the last decade and ranks right up there with the best pop albums of all time.
The album is very eclectic. Gaga has departed from her previous sound, and has entered the unknown dungeons of pop music, which makes one almost uncomfortable at first listen. She is no longer just making records that can be easily picked for play on mainstream radio. She is no longer just the party fool we were introduced to on “Just Dance”. She is maturing into her newly adorned crown as the queen of pop.
‘Born This Way’ is revolutionizing pop in a big way. For those of us who have been praying that pop can go back to its roots and start sounding like pop again, instead of being influenced by House synth, then this is the beginning of all our prayers being answered. Gaga is taking a huge departure from what pop is today, and charging it back to basics. This album could actually save the little that is left of the genre.
As I’ve already mentioned, Gaga has grown a lot as a musicians from three years ago. She’s unafraid here. She explores a lot with the album. She will take you back to the disco 80s (Born This Way, Hair), then wheel you right into the 90s ( Bloody Mary, Mary The Night), hell she will even get you spitting a bit of Spanish and German on a few tracks (Americano and Schiebe ). When you start to feel right at home, she then makes a huge leap into unfamiliar territories (Heavy Metal Lover, Edge Of Glory), experimenting with a lot of interesting melodies and beats, bringing sax into mainstream pop, marrying disco with metal guitars. It is hear that you will pause for a minute to ask yourself, which era am I in? I guess the answer to this question lays in the mind-vomiting fame hooker’s own words — “in the cultural sense I just speak in future tense”
The fact that she masquerade sexual innuendo with religious and political references (Judas, Bloody Mary and Government Hooker) makes Gaga more daring, and hell even more cooler. The album is full of anthemic, heart felt, club-thumping, dancey tunes. My paws are still very tired from being up throughout the entire album.
The best track on the album has to be “Bloody Mary”, which is the counterpart of “Judas”, but far less flamboyant. Singing from Mary Magdalene’s perspective this time, Gaga’s voice stand outs amid the moody and dark lyrics and goth synth of the song. Though not very uptempo, it surprisingly manage to get one on their feet.
“Heavy Metal Lover” is just as good. But the metals are hardly heavy on this one, but rather subdue and mellow. As soon as Gaga growls “I want your whiskey mouth all over my blonde south/Red wine, cheap perfume, and a filthy shout” — after the powerful lengthy instrumental lead-in — you know this is going to be eventful. It has a very interesting hook, but very catchy at the least.
Another highlight has to be album opener “Marry The Night”. The song kicks off sounding like an electro-pop ballad, but climax into this huge club-banger. The track sounds very influenced by what R&B sounded like in the 90s, but given a Gaga spin. Another great cut has to be “Electric Chapel”, especially the lyricism. This one is very rock n roll meet a horror movie’s soundtrack. Heavy guitar sounds are used on the track, complemented by freaky electro church organ sounds.
Three songs off the album also deserve a shout. For starters, “The Edge Of Glory”, not in a million years did I think a jazzy track could be made this dancey. Gaga brings in Clarence Clemons on the sax and it works like a charm. Secondly, “Government Hookers”, which is to the most filthiest song on the album. With lyrics such as “Put your hands on me, John F Kennedy”. Don’t be fooled by the titled into thinking that Gaga is making a huge political statement with the track, cause she’s not. Lastly, Scheibe — a huge banger and will have you wanting to learn German. Unlike its bilingual mate “Americano”, which is all over the place, Scheibe is without a doubt going to be a classic Gaga song.
The biggest disappointment on the album has to be “Hair”. It starts in an ok manner, but from there everything is just downhill, until it takes an interesting peak towards the end. By then it’s a bit too late since one might have already dozed off. The lyrics are very cheesy, and one can’t help but wonder if Gaga is trying too hard to create an anthem. While “Born This Way” and “Bad Kids” succeed in getting their message of self acceptance and embracing eccentricity across, “Hair” completely falls flat.
“Highway Unicorn” is another letdown. Gaga has too much going on that it starts to feel like a rushed song by an amateur pop princess, who has been given a once in a lifetime chance to record and they’re cramming everything they have on the track to show what they’re capable of.
