[LP Review] Lady Gaga’s 'Born This Way' Extends Elemental Module Nearly A Decade Beyond Its Deliverance.
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Lady Gaga exemplified a different sense of enthusiasm for “Art” than she does now and there is no doubt in that. We don’t see Lady Gaga take things to such an extreme anymore and that includes Fashion, Live Performances, her Music, and it seems like Born This Way has deteriorated in comparison to her art form today. Lady Gaga left so far from her dar/goth Pop days considering the albums she released following that amazing, inspiring era including ARTPOP (2013), Cheek To Cheek (2014) with Tony Bennet, Joanne (2016), and A Star Is Born (2018) with Bradley Cooper. Lady Gaga was displaying a lot of Goth-obsessed expressions probably largely due to the fact that she felt so alienated still being practically fresh in the music industry. In the album Born This Way Lady Gaga can be heard either electronically or like a demon along with synths and organ instruments and this gives the album the feeling of something like a haunted house or a haunted industrial city if you will. Born This Way was prominently the soundtrack of my life moving to New York City to Jackson Heights in Queens, so I definitely listened to it a lot walking at night or as something to listen to after a night at the bar or a party and would have some fun and interesting envisions of what I would picture the music videos to look like without them actually being released. With this album Lady Gaga has a solid piece of Art that is crossing into a decade of lifetime gracefully with some necessity. The power ballads like “Marry the Night” and “The Edge of Glory” had such an impact on me as a young adult wanting to be more in alignment with my true path and passions in life, these singles woefully embodied that change. Unfortunately, the song “Edge of Glory” carries a particular element who can’t woefully cross over the decade and that is Clarence Clemons as he collaborated with Lady Gaga playing the solo saxophone on “The Edge of Glory,” dying one month after the song was released.
A Continuum Necessity for Freedom and Self-Confidence
It’s impossible for me to deny all the freedom that Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” ushered the world with help from co-writer Jeppe Laursen and produced by Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow. The has growling synths, undertones bass and “Born This Way”is fairly upbeat which made it a club-ready anthem which really helped staple the song for Lady Gaga. All the clubs and bars especially in New York City had the song on a heavy rotation and it just multiplied the general love in the air, which is always a good thing. Though one of the downsides that “Born This Way” faced was being critically compared to Madonna’s 1989 song called “Express Yourself,” which kind of gave Madonna leverage to go at Lady Gaga in the media which ultimately masked the song in drama via mainstream media. The elements that “Born This Way” crosses into nearly a decade of a distance in music is the need of freedom to be who one was meant to be. We’re in a time where for instance Lizzo is taking the world by storm for something like the same kind of self-confidence booster also in the lane of LBGTQ+ advocacy.
Infusing Spanish and English into a Politically Charged Message
“Americano” was a song off of Born This Way that really kind of shocked me when I first heard it considering that ist was the first song after the familiar ones that were somehow surfaced online in various ways, as we all know some artist like to tease their music in vlogs, or cellphone clasps. “Americano” keeps a fast pace so if your moldable to what you listen too you can tolerate it for the time it’s playing as it starts with Lady Gaga singing, “I met a girl in East LA, in floral shorts as sweet as May. She sang in eighths in two-barrio chords, we feel in love but not in court,” beginning the song off in an interesting storytelling approach that invites you into the chorus of “Americano.” The thing about it is the song is difficult to take her serious even though she is singing/ rapping in Spanish intertwining it with English as well. “I don’t speak your, I don’t speak your language oh no (la-la-la-la-la) I don’t speak your , I won’t speak your, won’t speak you Jesus Cristo (la-la-la-la-la-la-la)” as Lady Gaga expresses her feelings dead on in that chorus she proceeds to the verse “I will fight for, I have fought for how I love you (la-la-la-la-la), I have cried for, I will die for how I care (la-la-la-la-la), In the mountains, las campanas estan sonando (la-la-la-la-la), todos los chicos (chicas) y los chicos (chicas) estan besando (la-la-la-la-la-la).” Honestly when looking back on this almost ten years as fun as I used to have with this song on in my room letting the tracks play down the list from “Marry The Night,” and “Born This Way,” the song is too quirky and doesn’t have a relatable touch. “Americano” sounds like it comes out of a bad Wild Wild West movie or episode in which I wasn’t so much of a fan of as a kid.
The American Prized Element of Country Wrapped in a Rock Ballad
“You And I” comes off as such a friendly song and has a downtempo that makes the lyrics impress a little harder, as the Lady Gaga starts with “It’s been a long time since I came around, been a long time but I’m back in town” and honestly these lyrics specifically left such an emotional mark on my heart from Born This Way as hearing it takes me back to the relationship that I was in. Continuing to still venture throughout New York City keeps the emotions from tugging too hard when hearing the song, a factor in this could be the country infusion of the song that tugs at my heartstrings along with the lyrics. “You and I” was produced by Lady Gaga herself along with Robert John Lange even lending her background vocal elements during, “Sit back down where you belong” and, “ It’s been two years since I let you go, I couldn’t listen to a joke or Rock & Roll. Muscle cars drove a truck right through my heart. On my birthday you sang me a heart of gold, with a guitar humming and no clothes. This time I’m not leaving without you,” Lady Gaga sings in. Do you know how many times my country raised self-played this song with my ex while letting a playlist run through, very many and they worked. Truth be told the element of Country dabbling into other Pop subgenres is becoming more viral and successful in reviews, Grammy nominations, making Born This Way still hold today. “You And I” was so commercially successful Lady Gaga took it to an even further extreme by dressing as Jo Calderone known as Lady Gaga’s male alter ego that was completely shocking which complimented the masculine like assertiveness that Lady Gaga sings in the song. “We got a whole lot of money, but we still pay rent, ‘Cause you can’t buy a house in heaven. There’s only three men that I am a serve my whole life, it’s my daddy and Nebraska and Jesus Christ”, Lady Gaga sings over the country instrumentals including the electric guitars and the piano. One thing that I did give her was a lot more respect for coming out at an Award show to perform in Drag like that. The male character Jo Calderone that she took the form of for the “You and I” single could still very well have a welcomed home 10 years after the release of Born This Way.
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