Quote:
Originally posted by TheNight
The Fame: Fame & Popularity in Popular Culture
The Fame Monster: Fear & Darkness in Popular Culture
Born This Way: Self-Consciousnesses & Acceptance in Popular Culture
ARTPOP: Art & Creativity in Popular Culture
Cheek to Cheek: Standards & Tradition in Popular Culture
I have cracked the Gaga code. I wonder what aspect of pop culture Gaga will discuss next.
EDIT: I will try to elaborate more later.
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I said I would elaborate a bit, so here we go.
Every one of her albums is about popular culture, to an extent at least. We can see this through the albums themselves, interviews conducted during each album’s eras, and visuals released during each album cycle. "The Fame" is a commentary on fame and popularity in popular culture. On it, Gaga discusses fame, glamour, and Hollywood life, before she even had it, thus presenting us with an outsider’s perspective on a life that she would go on to come into in that very era. (Incidentally, she also foreshadowed the next few years of her career with the music video to her smash hit “Paparazzi” from this era.) "The Fame Monster" is a commentary on fears and figurative darkness in popular culture. As the name implies, it’s a darker take on her debut album’s theme. Here, she talks about the darker side of Hollywood - drugs, emotionless sex, loss of passion or love, etc. - that she conveniently left out in “The Fame”, perhaps because she understandably hadn’t experienced it when writing for that album. "Born This Way" is a commentary on self-consciousnesses and acceptance in popular culture. On her “Monster Ball Tour”, Gaga saw and met many fans that were experiencing hardships due to homophobia, sexism, racism, and the like. Because of this, she put out an album that dealt with these issues in her own world, exploring how they exist in pop culture in the hopes that she could heal herself and fans through it. "ARTPOP" - my personal favorite - is a commentary on art and creativity in popular culture. On this album, Gaga discusses the freedom and power of creative rebellion and artistic freedom through the lens of EDM. She was also hinting through this album at what she had been doing for her entire career - creating “Art Pop”. Finally, “Cheek to Cheek” is a commentary on standards and tradition in popular culture. On this album, Gaga created no new material, instead electing to cover classic jazz songs with Tony Bennett. Because of this, the album speaks less through lyrics and more through melody and intention, as she showcases her voice as she hadn’t on previous releases to promote the idea of natural talent over cheap tactics as a selling point within pop culture. I’ll admit that perhaps I’m delving too much into this and giving Gaga a bit too much credit, but, well, if the shoe fits…