Like many, when I first heard of and saw Lady Gaga, I passed her off as an artist destined to be a flash in the pan. That still might happen. But when she started to get critical acclaim, I wondered if there was more to her than the crazy costumes, looks and “Poker Face”. It turns out there was (Don’t stop reading if you disagree, there’s more to this). I heard a quite impressive, slower, acoustic version of “Poker Face” and saw great live performance. The girl can actually sing. Then, I started to hear of her work as a producer and songwriter before she became an artist. I thought “Wow. She has other talents?” So I finally buckled down and got the deluxe version of “The Fame” to give her a try. I was disappointed.
The material on the record failed to display any of the great vocals I heard on some of her acoustics sets. Some of the lyrics were intriguing, but I thought they had to compete too much with the hardcore, futuristic techno-pop that was the music. Which, by the way, unless techno-pop is your thing, a Lady Gaga album may be too much for you. My ears began to grow tired of the music.
I was really surprised that none of the songs seemed to really grab me. Being a lover of pop over the years, I expected to REALLY like at least one track, but instead, I just “KINDA” liked some songs. Like Alicia Keys’ “Element of Freedom,” most of the songs were “just ok”. At the end of the day, all I liked was what I originally liked- which was “The Cherry Tree Sessions” version of “Poker Face.” I’ve figured out that I like my Gaga slow, chilled out and just singing. All the over-production on the songs was just too distracting and gave me a headache. So, in conclusion, Gaga’s got potential, but her music doesn’t do her much justice. We’ll see what happens with the next album. I hope it isn’t more of the same.