Guest Blogger: Kaitlyn 1

Many critics have been comparing Lady Gaga’s album Born This Way to a lot of retro 80’s pop artists such as Madonna. Lady Gaga quite obviously takes a lot of inspiration from older songs. For example, one critic stated that ‘the bassline in "Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)" keeps threatening to turn into the bassline from "Don't Stop Believin'," while "Marry the Night" is more or less a rewrite of Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero."’ Many of the current pop songs take some of their elements from the 80’s as well. However, the lyrics of Lady Gaga’s songs are more current than the underlying music. They tend to speak on important issues like gay marriage. One song, “Judas,” speaks of a woman that is still in love with a man who betrayed her and also tells of Lady Gaga’s past. Another song, “Hair,” is about how Lady Gaga was forced to dress a certain way when she was younger and could only express herself with her hair. The song is about personal freedom to be who you want to be and express yourself. Lady Gaga is not the first person to describe hair as a means of showing your individuality, but some people would say that she is committed to the idea more than others have before. Many critics say that Lady Gaga’s music is edgy and is bringing in a new era of pop, while others say that Lady Gaga is merely bringing back older music and updating it for our current times. Personally, I don’t like Lady Gaga’s music. I feel that it can be rather crude. Lady Gaga also tends to substitute grunts and other odd noises and syllables for actual words. For example, in her song “Bad Romance,” one line says, “rah rah ah ah ah/roma roma ma/Gaga ohh la la/want your bad romance.” That isn’t exactly thought provoking or meaningful. It’s just filler with a catchy sound to it. Although I disagree, many people enjoy listening to her music and would consider it worth the time and money.