9th Mar 10
Lady Gaga: Just How Good is She?
by Amarjeet Kalsi
Music experiences ups and downs. For a long time there has been the sense of an unoriginal vibe surrounding the music industry. The artist has lost all integrity, selling their soul for the price of fame. Michael Jackson passing away could have been seen as the natural conclusion of the creative act of popular music, disappearing up its own arse into the deathly pale facsimile pop of Simon Cowell’s manufactured pop (say what you like about Pete Waterman, he knew how to craft a catchy tune), the looming bastion of dull yet ineffably febrile pop sung through a straw by pasty-faced kids destined to ever be launching their own label when the silver labels drop them.
Instead, Jackson’s passing coincided with passing of the baton to a figure that just oozes showbusiness and self-destructiveness in equal measures. Lady Gaga appeared seemingly from nowhere, her voice, a blend of Madonna and David Guest, catapulting her career into the stratosphere with the hit Just Dance. It was very much an ice breaker record, an announcement, very PC compared to her future records but displaying the songmanship that separates her from the majority of her contemporaries. The music and accompanying promo video were intelligent, spiky, vital – they were like nothing else on the pop radar.
With the second single, Poker Face, her listenership started to become aware of the articulate, intelligent artist and there was a genuine appreciation for her music. She was a shocking, new artist. Every track was a story, but no similarities could be found. It’s was like a mini mix, delivering big hit after big hit. It’s rare that genuinely exciting music is coupled with commercial success so immediately. Whatever she was cooking, the music-buying public had been starved of it for too long.
Lady Gaga produced music for various artists from an early age. She gets her inspiration from the icons of generations gone by – David Bowie, Queen, Michael Jackson, Madonna – and also often states that fashion inspires her to create. Can she stand the test of time? She will continue to have a massive impact the media, for good or ill. Seen as an outsider from an early age for her eccentric behaviour, she might be in danger or falling into a downward spiral almost always seen in the obscurely talented if success does not follow success. She once stated that she felt like a freak, though it could be argued that there is almost always something ‘freaky’ about the great popular musicians, whether it be The Beatles’ foray into mysticism, Madonna’s ever-changing persona or Bowie’s complete inability to be satisfied with his lot. Lady Gaga certainly occupies this same position in the popular culture – whether she can sustain this and become as iconic as the aforementioned artists is something we’ll have to wait to find out.
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