Pop bonanza encounters performance art fanaticism: perhaps the easiest way to describe Lady Gaga’s clutch on the pop music scene by her unilateral cult of Little Monsters. International fervor, aggregated from sparkly teens to social outcasts to those desperately clinging onto the Madonna 80′s, perfectly follows the gospel of Born This Way, where electropop opera is sung nonchalantly against liberal lambasting and sexual foray. But for Gaga, who calls it “assuming the role my fans expect”, the holy record bears matrimony between her congregation of misfits and and salvation.
Fernando Garibay, the creative director and a producer for the album, describes the Gaga-phenomenon as spiritual. The Monster Ball’s stadium arena played to a mindless, cheering crowd of costumes and zealots bantering her two syllable name- at one point, she could’ve led her audience against the White House. But the spiritual connection she maintains with her fanbase is genuine, and if not well-trimmed. If anything, Born This Way births a tangibly realistic religion devoted to nurturing her newfound practicioners. Paws up.
Ascension to the pop pinnacle after “The Fame” secured her standing among labels and audiences everywhere, and from this platform she preaches her Manifesto of Mother Monster: self-acceptance and realization. Born This Way is as much for her munchkin terrors as it is for her. The evolution of industrial techno still uses the same earworm hook and buildup format, but BTW is invariably darker, cynical, and deeper. Grunge chords often hit atonal shrieks and saw-edged vocalizations; religious overtones pursue metaphors on cultural trends and contentious establishments. This is her ode to being her own pop star, not a manufactured product from Hollywood but the Marilyn Monroe who roams the streets of New York City, marrying the stark. Or she’s the multilingual saboteur of government and gender norms everywhere. Gaga’s sonic evolution contrasts her social one. Whereas her rock-and-roll-electro-fusion plays into a more definitive song, she appeals to all races, genders, and sexual orientations in this catch-all album.
But none are throwaways: Gaga’s success probably predicates on her seeming honesty in these regards. And she does seem to be an advocate for the unspoken, rallying support against Prop 8, openly decrying SB 1070, employing starpower to call repeal for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, furthering safe sex and female empowerment with Viva Glam lipstick, and donating funds from her blasphemously successful tour to homeless teenagers. The album sings in four languages and carries influence from Madonna to Bruce Springsteen, while carrying minimalistic beeps on “Government Hooker” to the soulsy “Edge of Glory” ballad. In a display of musicality (most apparent when she blasts sermons on her piano), BTW combines “techno mariachi” with anthemic powerchords and inherently juxtaposed guitar riffs and church bells. “Electric Chapel” sets the recurring theme of the album: this is evolution. It may not be the ultracatchy radio tunes from her previous works, but all are guaranteed instigators of wasted nights on the dance floor.
This is her genesis, an attempt to create a legacy akin to the artists she was so influenced by. Already Born This Way set trends- sales of two million internationally propelled it to the zenith of pop charts everywhere. Each song tries to claim significance on her history, her fans, culture, and faith; together, the album portends the defining sound of the decade. To believe it so wholeheartedly may be too soon, but as with religion, whether you believe her depends on you.
