‘The Fame‘ is the long-awaited (to roll off one cliché) debut album of possibly the most talented young musician in years, Joanne Stefani Germanotta; better known as Lady GaGa.
Dance music has a stigma around it.
Most readers of this rock-dominated music blog will likely follow the same point-of-view: It is a repetitive, generic, overly-irritating genre of music listened to only by those without taste, and Lady GaGa proves you all wrong with this stunning album. Dance music has never sounded so good, simple as that.
But then, it isn’t. There is more to it. It would be easy for me to say ‘what you see is what you get’ and check that off my cliché list, but GaGa is more than that.
You look at her and you see the blonde hair extensions, the (NOTE: Awesome) fashion sense, the cute little thunder-bolt she painted on herself and you think Paris Hilton: a Metropolitan fashionista that carries herself like a star, even if she is not one just yet. You may look away, but it takes a second look to see just how amazing she is.
If I say she taught herself the piano, you’d agree ‘Well done to her, quite impressive’, but I would keep on talking. I continue, she taught herself the piano aged four. Now you are thinking ‘Wow, not that is impressive, a young music prodigy’, but you interrupted again. I finish, she taught herself the piano, aged four, BY EAR. Now she really has your attention. The fact that she used to leave the safety of her home in Upper West Manhattan in her teens to develop her act in the Lower East just adds to it.
Hopefully you see why she is a talent that deserves to be appreciated, so it is time to talk music.
Best described as diva vocals over dance and R’n’B synths, The Fame is a beehive of surging dance-pop potential hits. The lead single, ‘Just Dance’, illustrates this perfectly. Aside from there never being a song about getting drunk and clubbing this good before, it is also unmistakably catchy. Trust from experience that it works.
Such tracks as ‘Poker Face’, ‘Boys, Boys, Boys’, ‘Paparazzi’ and others follow suit in much the same way. They are electronic little monsters that force you to dance along. Of course, there are some negatives; there is bound to be on a 16 track album. Those who pay particular attention to lyrics will find themselves cringing as the shallow Paris Hilton-esq side of GaGa’s personality comes out. However, you will find that while some of the 16 tracks are hit and miss, half of them are all hit.
I am excited by Lady GaGa more than I have ever been about a new artist, to the extent that she gets an entry on this rock-heavy music blog. She is Grace Jones, she is Christina Aguilera, and weirdly enough, she is David Bowie. Hopefully that illustrates enough.
Admittedly, a lot of you won’t ‘get it’, but to one his own. As I said, dance music really hasn’t been much better.
Rating: 8/10
I’ve heard some of the singles on the debut album, including the aforementioned “Just Dance” and “Poker Face” and I’d have to say that GaGa brings Dance music to an entirely new level with jumpy synths tht make you wanna jump out of your seat. I’m going to look into the rest of the album, for sure.
This review really hits the spot in regards to my feelings for lady gaga, only I think there could of been a bit more description on how fit she is; seriously she’s fit.