At first I was somewhat embarrassed to admit that I, the queen of all things indie and alternative, admired this glitzy pop icon so much. However, it didn't take long for me to become unashamed of the fact that I had joined the ranks of the millions of Gaga fans (or "little monsters") roaming the planet. "Bad Romance" has been my ring tone for months now.
She even pops up in my dreams occasionally. Yes, Lady Gaga is alive and well in the world of my sleeping subconscious. Once I had a dream that Lady Gaga and I were at Costco together and we were throwing meat around like it was a football. The intro to "Bad Romance" played repeatedly (probably because my phone was ringing next to my head in real life) and I couldn't help but note that the meat we were tossing around was raw, raw, raw-ah-ahhh. Sigmund Freud could probably have a field day with all of that.
But I digress. The point is, I have an ongoing affinity for Lady Gaga.
That being said, I must confess something else: I'm not digging her new songs.
"Born This Way" was fairly contrived and unoriginal. But it was catchy and I was glad that she was finally coming out with new stuff, so I let it slide. I downloaded it and jammed out to it on my iPod, being careful not to cringe at some of the cheesy lyrics.
I was a little bit turned off by the video. I know that Lady Gaga videos are weird by definition, but her slimy, cosmic, alien mythologies took things to a whole new level of strange.
And then she went public with "Judas" - the ultimate train wreck. I expressed my disappointment in the form of a lengthy Facebook status. This only resulted in a conversation with a random Italian guy who friended me because we both like "playing the keytar."
When I went into the kitchen that night, The Chef was singing "Poker Face" while downing clamato beer (it was on sale at the gas station). He had read my Facebook status and had his own opinions on the matter.
"Don't be too hard on the girl, Lauren," he says, taking a swig of the bright red liquid in his glass. "She's boring me too, but I think she's just tired. She needs to take a break so she can get back on her game. Her stuff is so lacking right now."
He launches back into a chorus of "Poker Face." I become slightly relieved that he chose to have this conversation with me in person rather than on my status. Though I always enjoy a good awkward Facebook moment. Consider the following:
Note To Self: Gay Italian Theatrical Electronica jokes belong in the kitchen, not on the Internet.
I'm getting off-track again. I apologize.
The moral of the story is this: Lady Gaga is bumming me out.
I even ranted about it on Facebook again yesterday after listening to her new single, "Hair." First, it was received with crickets. Then, it turned into a conversation about something else.
As you can see, I never heard back from this friend. I'm beginning to think it frightens people when I refer to my fictional characters as if they are living creatures. Personally, I think it's hilarious. But I also think it's funny to list "THE UNIVERSE" as my employer and put my job description down as "Freelance Rock Star."
It's official - I'm an obnoxious Facebook friend.
Anyway, Lady Gaga's album comes out next week (assuming the world doesn't really end). I really want to buy it and fall in love with it, but I don't know if that is going to happen. I'm already unimpressed. I'll probably end up streaming it on Grooveshark so I can construct my inevitable Gaga-related Facebook status appropriately.
Though I don't know if any of my Facebook friends actually care at this point. But you know what they say: Once you kill a cow, you gotta make a burger.
And with that, I think I'm going to go to bed. Wow, I think this might be the most trivial post I've ever written. I'll be back tomorrow to ponder the meaning of life. Or something like that.
But in the meantime, what do you guys think of the Lady Gaga craze?
