Washington Post slaughters Joanne calls Gaga a FRAUD
Quote:
Lady Gaga’s ‘Joanne’: Where the freaks have no game
After a week of listening to it, Lady Gaga’s “Joanne” still sounds like a medium-size bowl of who cares.
Considering that this superstar once strode across the world’s biggest stages with the valiance of a freak, she now seems to be exuding the quiet desperation of a fraud.
The difference is important. Freaks lead. Frauds follow. Freaks want out. Frauds want in. Freaks are truth-tellers. Frauds are *attention-hounds. Freaks are driven by their weirdness. Frauds perform weirdness for the delight of strangers. Freaks are tenacious. Frauds are thin-skinned. Freaks are in it for life.
Frauds risk very little. In fact, their performative freakiness is simply a means of achieving greater security through affection, praise, admiration and acceptance.
...her response to a review of “Joanne” in the New York Times that accused the singer of sounding less than inspired. On Twitter, Gaga replied, “how far must ANYONE need to [fishing pole emoji] 4 inspiration & write a song re: the tragic murder of Trayvon Martin as I did w/ ‘Angel Down.’ ”
Yikes. Gaga was referring to one of the deeper cuts on “Joanne,” an overwrought, oversung ballad about gun violence that never specifically mentions Martin. Which is disgusting on a few different levels — leveraging a human life against a bad review, for one.
And so this muddled little album — and its subsequent thud — have thrown Lady Gaga’s entire endeavor into question. What if her altruism has been opportunism all along?