Lady Gaga’s popularity stems from her eccentric and unconventional approach to entertainment that has catapulted her to become to the most powerful celebrity in the world. What encompassed her debut album, The Fame, is missing from Born This Way. The sophomore effort that was two years in the making walks its way into your ears as a blanket of hard grunge and techno rhythms that feel like 80’s leftovers. The album’s title cut released a few months back found her grabbing at shock and awe while the follow-up single, “Judas,” merges many audio techniques displayed on her debut, while trying to stray away from the pack like a runaway child with its eyebrow raising lyricism.
Born This Way operates on different facets of Gaga’s personality, making it hard to distinguish whether Gaga is going for aggressive angst or impactful martyrdom through the seventeen song journey. This is especially true on “Americano,” a flamenco laced love story, the Kraftwerk sonic hum of “Scheibe,” and Rock n’ Roll trembling of “Bad Kids.”
The album tries too hard to please fans, while trying to snatch up new ones. There aren’t any memorable songs such as “Paparazzi,” “Just Dance” or “Telephone.” Born This Way does have two crowning achievements, however; “The Edge of Glory,” a soundtrack-esque song where Gaga channels Madonna like qualities over a saxophone vibe and the opener “Marry The Night,” whose sound resembles heavy metal pop thrown against Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,” which save the album’s otherwise boring and one dimensional qualities.
Born This Way receives a PA
Rating:
P…Horrible
PA…Tolerable
PAR…Good
PARL…Kinda Great
PARLÉ… Classic
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