Originally posted by Patrick
When I read these lyrics I immediately farted a rainbow and my wrist became so limp that my hand just up and fell off. This is the most glorious thing to ever pander to the gay community, beating both Glee (Kurt will burst into a cringeworthy rendition of this sometime close to the end of the current season) and liberal politicians (who play up their tolerance of and support for the gay community each election) at their own game. This will be blasted from loud-speakers on Castro Street for at least the next 18 years, and assuming it lives up to all the expectations, I know that I will probably love it, and Elton John will love it, and John Travolta will secretly love it, and Ellen DeGeneres will worship it, and so will every confused 15 year old Gaga fan who claims that the Lady allows them to be who they are. (Thank God we have celebrities to tell us who we can or cannot be, right?!) I have no doubt this will be a huge gay anthem, however, I do doubt that this will be widely embraced by anyone who wasn't born that way, if you catch my drift.
Gaga, as vocal as she has been about her gay friendliness has never addressed homosexuality through her music in such a straightforward fashion. There's always been a certain ambiguity to what she's said in previous singles that has allowed for listeners to make of the lyrics what they want (the mainstream listener is mostly here for the beat anyway) and ignore her cryptic references to lesbianism or gay couples. (Her most obvious flirtation with gayness was the "Alejandro" video. Is it any coincidence that the track was not as widely appreciated in the wake of it's true-meaning-revealing video?) It will be a bit more difficult for them to avoid the inherent gayness of lyrics like "It doesn't matter if you love him, or H-I-M," and I think that it will be an issue that limits this song's broad appeal. Susie Redneck loved "Pokerface" cause she literally thought it was about keeping a straight face while playing poker, but she ain't gone take too kindly to a song that talks so freely 'bout dem butt pirates. We naturally expect this sort of reaction from clueless Bible-belters who are doing their best to keep America's moral britches secure and the never-met-a-gay-persons of America's Heartland, but to be completely honest, I don't expect even our most progressively thinking hipsters in our nation's urban centers to be overly receptive to this track... unless of course they are gay. (Global reception of the track, particularly in Europe, might be more favorable.) With a little less specificity on gays and little more consideration to world's other downtrodden minorities, Gaga really could have had an anthem of universal empowerment and created something that would have appealed to a larger audience and would have (as far as I'm concerned) taught her overall message of tolerance more effectively. Am I crazy for thinking that a track created specifically for the gays seems a bit exclusionary and unappealing to anyone who isn't gay, particularly if said song is intended to be released as a mainstream pop single? And since I've seen some fans saying it in various places online, let's not pretend that this is an anthem for people of different ethnicities, or people who just feel like social outcasts, or people with a taste for scatological ****, or people who look like lizards. How can these lyrics be interpreted as anything but an ode to gay culture, and more specifically an ode to gay men. Besides a brief "oh yeah, you guys too..." moment in the second verse, there's not enough to deviate away from gay anthem territory. (Poor lesbians have no voice of support in popular music. Yes, I realize the lesbian community is not really her core fanbase, but I don't think it would kill Gaga or any other prominent pop star, the ones that are preachy and "have something to say," that is, to step forward in support of lesbianism or reference lesbianism in a way that doesn't trivialize lesbian relationships by playing up the sexiness of girl-on-girl action for horny straight males and media attention.)
Perhaps I am attempting to give this track a purpose it was not intended to have by implying that the message should have been made less gay-centric, after all, the gays made Gaga and she's certainly entitled to dedicate a track specifically to them out of appreciation or support or whatever motive. It's a sweet gesture, but I can't help but feel like the gesture would read more sincerely had the song been included as an album track for the adoring gay fans to discover and connect with on a more intimate level, not made into a single, an album title and a launching platform for a new musical era. To build prerelease hype for this track for almost a year in advance might lead some to question Gaga's true intentions, and unfortunately this would tarnish some of the good she's done for the gay community. Though I think these lyrics verge on hokey and might serve to reinforce gay stereotypes (obviously not every young gay man experiments with mama's lipstick or is a queen and yes I did some major stereotyping at the beginning of my post), I don't think she's being dishonest in her support of the gay community or necessarily trying to use this single for her own benefit. I really believe she thinks that giving this song such a prominent status on her new album will do wonders to further her great message and serve as an amazing statement piece. It's quite likely that will be the case, but I can smell the skepticism from a mile away and I think that general public would be more receptive to the core ideas of this track were it not paraded in front of them in such an unnecessarily publicized fashion. I feel like the whole buildup to this single has been a bit like a large celebration from the gay community in a moderately sized midwestern American city; great fun for local gays but something that seems completely over-the-top, if not unnecessary and somewhat annoying to heterosexual bystanders. Ultimately, it might do more harm than good by introducing a large group of people to something they're not ready to experience and encouraging them to embrace a distorted the view of the gay community as a giant hub of attention *****s and people who wear their sexuality on their sleeves. I expect someone to tell me that the only way to achieve the level of tolerance and acceptance we all want is by being upfront and perhaps by shoving our gayness in the faces of others, but I really think there are more delicate methods of making people feel comfortable with the idea of same sex relationships.
But this could go any way. Could Lady Gaga usher in a wave of acceptance for our gay brethren? It's quite possible. She's certainly got the media on her side. And really, all of this is prejudging on my behalf. I need to hear Lady Gaga's studio version of this song, which, for all I know, could be the most amazing thing I've ever heard (I do think I will like the track despite my early opposition to some of it). And furthermore, her rendition might be dripping with the perfect sort of earnestness that might strike a major chord with people outside of the gay community, in which case they might not bother to question her motives or label this disingenuous attention seeking.
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jk that's cheesy.
