People We Covet: Lady Gaga

You all know this already: I love Lady Gaga.

I have a pretty serious problem with what radio stations do to my beloved Gaga. As with other artists, Lady Gaga's songs are sped up a little bit--this saves time, which means that stations can include more programming and (most importantly to them) advertising. Some artists don't suffer from this, usually because their voices are not the greatest instruments ever. But certain artists do take a hit. I've heard people say that they don't understand the appeal of Lady Gaga; usually these people don't think that she is a very good singer. And I blame that on the practice of speeding songs up. In doing this, they alter her voice to the point where she doesn't sound the same as she does on an album or in a live performance, and this is a real disservice to her. I've noticed this effect most prominently in the radio edit of "Alejandro," which totally blows, because, well, that's my favorite song of hers.

But that's really beside the point.

You might be wondering why I love Lady Gaga so much. Well, kids, it's because her songs are pretty awesome (even if they're not the most original ever, they ARE good pop songs), her Fame Monster videos are the shit, and she collaborates with truly talented people. To illustrate each of these points, I give you Exhibit A (a really boss acoustic version of "Paparazzi," live at 95.8, Capital FM Radio), Exhibit B (the glittering dystopia that is "Bad Romance"), and Exhibit C:

(Basically what I'm telling you is that anyone who puts Alexander Skarsgard in front of me in all his Swedish glory is okay in my book.) Plus, while I don't necessarily agree with all of her fashion choices--the heel-less boots come to mind--I do appreciate that she stands by each and every one of her outfits and isn't afraid to be herself.

I understand that some people think Gaga is too over-the-top. And maybe she is. But not any more so than, say, Madonna or even Beethoven (seriously). Besides, she's totally adorable (skip ahead to about 5:17 for the interview portion). So if you're holding out, I highly recommend that you give her a chance today. She's not so bad. I promise.

Lady Gaga photo via LadyGaga.com.

Alexander Skarsgard photo via here.

-Cate-

PS I recently re-watched the video for "Alejandro," and visual references keep coming to mind, even after seeing it about 10 times. Calvin Klein ads, Chicago, Equus, Annie (the movie musical--and here I'm really thinking of Lily St. Regis, Rooster's girlfried), Madonna's "Open Your Heart" video, Metropolis (which, ultimately, can also be attributed to Madonna's "Express Yourself" video, which was mentioned in my first analysis of "Alejandro" and heavily influenced by that same film), Elizabeth, Karl Lagerfeld, Gwen Stefani, Judas Priest (or at least Rob Halford), Swing Kids, and the house mother from the film adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha (specifically, the way she holds her pipe) are the latest, and I'm sure that there are many more to follow!