Lady Gaga’s Bizarrely Straightforward ‘Edge of Glory’ Video Is Here
New York Magazine
Quote:
Justin Timberlake, on Lady Gaga: “She’s just plain old good. But I don’t know what the future holds for her. Her sound is so big. She’s got the outfits and she shocks you, but you kind of wonder how an act that big stays around forever.” What the ever-wise JT is getting at is that for some of us, overly concerned as to the Lady’s ability to churn out ever-more-innovatively revealing clothing, Gaga appearances and videos are all about second-hand stress. Which is why the new “Edge of Glory” video — despite being, in the traditional sense, boring — is a success. As is appropriate for a third single, Gaga steps back both from prerelease buildup ("Edge" premiered on So You Think You Can Dance, which for Gaga is a relatively inconspicuous thing to do) and unwieldy video treatments. For the first time in this album cycle, instead of tossing buckets of arguably subversive allusions for eager analysts to parse, she plays it very, very straight. Like, really straight: The entire thing consists of her pirouetting around an L.A. set while Clarence Clemons chops on a stoop. It looks like it was shot in 45 minutes. The biggest moment is a particularly intense jacket fling. But, more important: With the gloriously uncomplicated “Edge of Glory” as the soundtrack, we finally get to catch our breath for a moment.
The video gets better and better at each watch. It got something special. I'm the first to ditch and slam videos I hate, like the Born This Way one. But, this one can be watched again and again so easily.
I still can't believe that of all of the videos Gaga has released... (Alejandro- slamming don't ask don't tell, Judas- a video with a biblical interpretation, etc) the simplest one, The Edge of Glory, is proving to be her most divisive and controversial.
It's her best video this era in my opinion. I found her to be very endearing in the video. Her charisma and fierceness brought the video to life. New York Magazine agrees with me
She always creates the most reaction though. Be it positive or negative.
Something Madonna and Britney always used to do. Is that a sign? You bet it is.