Lady Gaga pretty much single-handedly made the music video relevant again with yesterday's premiere of her "Bad Romance" video. Haters who have labeled Gaga as disposable, unoriginal or irrelevant seem to be eating their words after viewing this unforgettable video. Whether you love it, hate it or are just plain confused by it, you'd be hard-pressed to come up with an argument that the Lady doesn't put on a hell of an entertaining show. Just try to look away when she and her dancers claw at the air wearing skintight body suits or when Gaga sings to the camera with tears in her eyes, face startlingly free of makeup.
More than any other popular recording artist today, Gaga is 150% devoted to the art of performance. The set, the clothes, the makeup and the choreography are all working together to tell a story, and we haven't seen anything like this in a music video in years. Christopher John Farley said it best on the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog, noting that Gaga is, "one of the few pop stars these days who really understands spectacle, fashion, shock, choreography—all the things Madonna and Michael Jackson were masters of in the 1980s." I completely agree. And nothing demonstrates Gaga's understanding of what it means to be a pop star better than this music video.
All Gaga like or dislike aside, I think it's worth noting that in our excessively informed, ADD-afflicted culture, everyone has something to say about this video and this artist in general. Heck, Bad Romance and/or Lady Gaga has been a Twitter trending topic for more than 24 hours--practically weeks in Internet time. I know our attention spans are shorter than ever and there's always a new distraction around the corner, but I think this could be one of the biggest music video events in a long time. If Lady Gaga aims to do nothing more than stay in the public eye for as long as possible, I have no doubt she will succeed.
OK, now I'm going to take my amateur pop culture analyst hat off and get back to what I know: the fierce, off the wall fashion that defines this video.
Tiny fences are your nails are so chic!
I loved this look for its simplicity with a touch of weirdness in the black crown.
Don't you wish you were one of Gaga's back-up dancers? I know I do.
The orbit!
Most notably, the SS10 McQueen outfit I compared to a disco stick back in October... remember?
Looks like Gaga snagged it in gold though. Unless it's just the lighting.
One of the most insane outfits came towards the end when Gaga approached her suitor wearing a coat made out of a polar bear. What you may not know is that this coat originally appeared on designer Benjamin Cho's Spring 2004 runway with the Humane Society of the United States. That's right, no polar bears were harmed in the making of this video.I could go on for days about how amazing I think this video is, and I know I'm not alone. So, if for some odd reason you haven't watched the video yet, please do so immediately. If you don't like her music, turn the sound off and watch a true artist at work.
She is sort of fascinating. It would actually be shocking to see her in jeans and tees now...wonder when she will catch on to that! ;)
ReplyDeleteseriously! i think that's why so many people found the no-makeup part of the video so shocking.
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