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Well, with ARTPOP less than a month away, I figure it's time to review Lady Gaga's third and, at the time of writing this, most recent album, Born This Way. I have a lot to say about this album before I do my usual run-down of each individual song, so I hope you'll pardon the wall-of-text. First of all, if any of you followed Gaga for quite some time now, you'd know that this album had an insane amount of hype built up for it. Gaga started talking about this album as early as March of '10. For those keeping score, that's before Alejandro even released as a single. From then on out, she teased songs from the album several times in the coming months. Because she wanted to finish her Monster Ball Tour before releasing the album itself, she ended up releasing three singles to further build up hype.
When the album finally came out, it was during a somewhat low point in my life, and I hadn't listened to any Gaga in nearly a year, so hearing these new songs really cheered me up. I listened to the radio a lot back then, and my local pop station was playing tons of Gaga in celebration of this new album, which sort of re-kindled the crush I'd had on her years earlier. So, did it live up to all the hype? Let's take a look at each song and find out.
Marry the Night: Though this was the first song on the album, it was actually the fifth and final single. It's a song about not letting life get you down, and instead seizing the day(or marrying the night?) and living life to its fullest. It sounds phenomenal and quickly became one of my favorite songs on the album. The music video isn't half-bad, either!
Born This Way: This is the one that everyone has heard, regardless of whether they're a Gaga fan or not. It's the title track as well as the lead single, a first for Lady Gaga. You could argue that Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and Pink all sent a similar message with "Firework", "We R Who We R", and "Raise Your Glass" respectively, but I think Gaga pulled off the "self-respect anthem" the best. She's been a proud LGBT rights activist ever since The Fame, and this song served to solidify that even further. It's incredibly catchy, and I think even someone who doesn't care for Gaga might enjoy this track.
Government Hooker: You know, I'm honestly not sure what message this song was trying to send, but it could perhaps be, well, how corrupt the government is? It's a generally fast song that goes back and forth from sounding happy and bouncy to dark and serious. The chorus is particularly driving and I consider it the best part. This isn't one of my favorites on the album, but I still like to listen to it.
Judas: For all the praise I've given Lady Gaga up until now, this is where I must give criticism instead. You can say that I have no taste, you can say that I'm not a "true fan", or anything else you want to say, but this is my unbiased opinion. Judas is the worst song on this album. Not only that, it's Lady Gaga's worst song overall. Considering how solid the rest of this album is, I truly don't know what went wrong here. This song sounds and feels like something that was originally supposed to be given to Britney Spears or some other generic pop artist, but was passed off to Gaga at the last minute. It isn't very catchy, and the overload of religious references in the lyrics make it very uncomfortable to listen to. I generally don't like the way it sounds, and the music video is rather lackluster to boot. Why she chose this as her second single is beyond my comprehension. I seem to be alone in my opinion of this song, as I've heard many fans call it their favorite, or at least one of them(sometimes the same people who will shun songs such as Brown Eyes or I Like It Rough). Thankfully, this is where my negative thoughts toward this album end.
Americano: Another one of the best songs on the album. Gaga really shows off her vocal range and prowess here, and the acoustics in the instrumental complement it well. It's another political commentary-ish song, but makes itself a lot more apparent than Government Hooker did.
Hair: This promotional single is another fantastic one! Lyrically, It's undeniably happy and uplifting, and the instrumental is one of the best on the album. Many fans consider this a very relatable song.
Scheisse: (I don't have German characters on my keyboard) I literally can't get enough of this song. It's my second-favorite from this album, and it's an upbeat, powerful feminist anthem that even a dude like me can appreciate. Parts of the song are sung in fake-German as an analogy to how many people hear feminists as speaking gibberish.
Bloody Mary: I know I'll sound a bit contradicting when I say I love this song after I just ranted on Judas, but this one doesn't shove the religious reference in your face as much as that song did, and it sounds loads better! It's a bit slower paced than the other songs, but catchy nonetheless. It has a very creepy, ethereal vibe to it, and the scream after the chorus really catches you off-guard the first time.
Bad Kids: A happier-sounding song than the last two, this one's sort of an anthem for all the would-be revolutionaries of this generation. I enjoyed this one quite a bit as well, as it stands out quite well from the rest of the album.
Highway Unicorn (Road to Love): The first romantically-themed song on the album, and yet another one of my favorites. To me, this song always had some Cher vibes to it, which is never a bad thing. It has a very happy, positive feel to it that should be able to lift anyone up.
Heavy Metal Lover: With prominent elements of techno and rock in the instrumental, this song kinda takes you by surprise. It's another love song with some interesting double entendres in the lyrics. Incredibly driving and danceable.
Electric Chapel: This song sports some more evident electric guitar than the last song and features a very "pulsating" beat that goes well with the romantic lyrics. It seems like she put all the love songs on this album right next to each other, and it really adds nice pacing to the whole thing.
You and I: By far, this is my favorite song on the album. Harkening back to "Brown Eyes", "Again, Again", "Speechless", and the feel of her older music in general, this lovely rock-piano ballad is not to be overlooked. It's a staple of hers to have at least one of these on every album, and I'm glad she finally decided to release one as a single(the fourth for this album, to be precise). It features a well-used sample of Queen's "We Will Rock You", and the song has a sweet, endearing feeling to it. This is something I'd suggest to anyone who tries to say Lady Gaga can't sing.
The Edge of Glory: The last song on the album, as well as the second single. This one is about living out the last night of your life, with a nice, romantic touch to it. This was one of my favorite songs throughout most of 2011, and rightfully so. It has some deep meaning to it, yet still manages to be catchy and dance-worthy. The music video for this song is easily the best out of the five, and she looks positively beautiful in it. The saxophone in the instrumental sounds great as well!
Born This Way (Jost & Naaf Remix): The sole bonus track on the standard edition. It's a very dance-oriented remix to the title track that somehow manages to be even catchier than the original. A nice extra addition!
Final thoughts - This is the album that Lady Gaga wanted to be her best, and most, if not all of her fanbase generally agrees. While I don't think it quite outdid The Fame (Which is my favorite pop album overall), I still consider it a fantastic record. There was a lot of controversy over Amazon initially selling this record for 99 cents each, but I think it can be overlooked considering that it sold rather well even without those figures. I'll give this record five stars because I don't think one bad song is enough to bring it down, though it's still her only song so far that I outright disliked. I actually did see Lady Gaga live at the Born This Way ball at the start of this year, where I was treated to live versions of all these songs as well as her older songs, and it was an absolute music lover's dream! In summary, if you enjoyed Gaga's previous work, this is definitely something to pick up!
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Reviews with images
Decent album, but I prefer her older stuff
[Update]Amazon.com finally got around to delivering the album. I am imagining that whoever it was that came up with the "really popular artist's new album on release day for $0.99" promotion is probably in some hot water right now.But, anyway, Amazon's spectacular issues with digital file delivery in this case aside, the album itself is decent. It is, in my opinion, a love letter to the 1980s, specifically to Madonna. The album screams 1980s in its beats, "synthesizer" additions, and general feel of the music.None of the songs really grabbed me, unlike past albums.4 stars (updated from 2 stars from earlier today, when I couldn't get hold of the album to properly review it)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Please see the "customer image" I am uploading along with this review. I went ahead and purchased the album with the Gold Box deal for my girl. I have my mp3 store settings to put any new songs into my Amazon Cloud drive storage, AND to auto-download to my PC. The auto-download didn't happen.So, OK, no problem, I can just go into the Amazon Cloud Player for the web, and select the album, and download it manually... um, actually, no ... I can't.I can't listen to the songs, I cannot download them, I cannot interact with them. Only "Hair" seems to be available to me right now. I am going to fire off an e-mail to customer service, but I thought I would put a "head's up" out there, to anyone who might be considering this deal.It is, most likely, just server load issues, and they will get it worked out. But I (and I imagine, you) will be quite irritated if it is some DRM thing, or some sort of a "street date" thing. If the album is available for purchase (at whatever price is set for purchase), then if I purchase it, I should have immediate and full access to it. Period.I will update this when/if this issue gets worked out, or I get more information.
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