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Not GaGa for this Lady

Susan Wooddell

She's well known for instructing Oxford to "Just Dance," and now Lady GaGa wants to wow the world outside of the club with her debut album The Fame.

What Lady GaGa does best is create techno-dance mixes that make drunken, drugged-out orgies feel like something we can all get on board with. Unfortunately, she attempts to diversify her sound and ends up creating more bore than sex.

Images of Lady GaGa with glittering stars all over her face, writhing on the floor, licking her own fingers while couples make out against the wall are hedonism at its finest. For times when students have "had a little bit too much," the only instructions needed are to "Just Dance."

Her music celebrates over-consumption in a time when the falling economy provides no other safe escape. Vicarious living sells, as Lady Gaga understands the importance of having "Money Honey." It's "good to live expensive," but "touch (is) so delicious."

Money and sex consistently become intertwined in her message of savory decadence. While in the title track she outlines her "addict(ion) to a life of material," she also recognizes that her music serves as a "pornographic dance fight" where everything becomes "Beautiful, Dirty (and) Rich." By far the best songs off The Fame are the ones that match the lyrical content and image of Lady GaGa to the rough techno beat.

Her collaboration with Flo-Rida on "Starstruck" is middle of the road, with the central rap seeming out of place. "Boys Boys Boys" fails to deliver a raunchy climax, instead having a happy delivery for its chorus. Songs like "I Like it Rough" and "Lovegame" are filled with dirty lyrics that should inspire, but instead end up repetitive and slightly dull. Worst are Lady GaGa's love songs, for her strength is her uncomplicated and easily understandable lyric that promotes indulgence simply through dance and image. In both "Eh, Eh" and "Brown Eyes," lyrics of guilt and love just do not keep her audience entertained. Her lyrics are trite and unoriginal, and sad love songs succeed only when their melancholy backdrop is matched by creative, yet universal lyrics.

All in all, any fans would be better off purchasing individual tracks they enjoy off iTunes rather than investing in the entirety of The Fame. Recommended tracks are (if it hasn't already been played 20 times on a playlist): "Just Dance," "Beautiful Dirty Rich," "The Fame" and "Money Honey." While the global world has fallen on some hard times, Lady GaGa's a fun, gyrating chance of escape. All we can hope is that the Lady herself plays into her strengths for future albums. No more love and repentant guilt. It's college bars and clubs-sex and money are so much more interesting.


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