Alter Ego
Lady Gaga unveils her dark side as she releases her eagerly anticipated follow up to her multi-million selling debut album entitled ‘The Fame: Monster’. Much more than just a standard re-release, the double CD collection contains eight entirely new songs marking the start of things heading in a new direction for the megastar…
Whether you love or hate her, there is just no missing Lady Gaga. After taking the music scene by storm a little over a year ago with her debut: ‘The Fame’, her name has practically been permanently integrated into popular culture. Her often bizarre sense of style combined with her ridiculously catchy pop hooks have made her the latest artist everyone seems to want a piece of.
The public seem to be divided in their opinions of the star. She’s either an original that has suitably refreshed the bland music of today or a copycat who’s just taken ideas and looks from various stars and called it her own. Whichever side of the fence your on, one thing that is certain is that she’s going to be around for quite a while.
Born in New York City, the 23 year old, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, originally started out as a burlesque dancer before signing her record deal. The rest, as they say, is history. Her album ‘The Fame’ has gone Platinum across the globe, notched up four hit singles including Just Dance and Poker Face (which has been certified the most downloaded song in the history of the UK singles chart) and sold just over 4 million copies worldwide. Not half bad for the artist who was an unknown a year ago.
Out on the 23rd of November, I know a lot of you must be thinking that the re-release in question is just a cash-in of The Fame with a few tracks added on at the end. It's not that at all – this is a collection of songs in its own right. When you buy this you will not be buying The Fame again in order to get at a couple of extra songs – you'll be buying a new album which just so happens to have a copy of The Fame in the same box.
Lyrically, sonically, melodically and conceptually it's right up there with its predecessor The Fame, with a definite feel of things moving in a new direction.
First up, lead single off the album: ‘Bad Romance.’ She’s collaborated again with producer RedOne so think Poker Face reinvented. A dark mid-tempo song with a catchy chorus that fits right in with the whole ‘Monster’ theme of the album. A solid first single release.
Next is ‘Alejandro.’ Rumoured to be one of the 3 follow up singles after Bad Romance, Gaga seems to pay homage to Madonna with this modern version of ‘La Isla Bonita.’ It has a definite Spanish feel to in terms of the lyrics and music and marks a change in direction for her. It’d be nice to see more of this from her in the future.
We then have ‘Monster’ - Opens with snatches of dialogue ('Don't call me Gaga') then launches into a story of Gaga pulling a "wolf in disguise". This one has dark lyrics, plenty of sexual innuendos and is almost irritatingly catchy. Produced again by RedOne (There’s a lot on the internet about how he seems to be keeping all this best songs for her which will of course be open to debate for some!) don’t think this one will be a single but an important element to the album and ‘So Happy I Could Die’ - A mid-tempo number with some Tiesto-esque bits thrown in. Again, possibly not single potential but a good listen with some very interesting lyrics.
Next single after Bad Romance is rumoured to be the Beyonce collaboration ‘Telephone.’ I’m not a huge fan of this one but the lyrics are quirky and it’s a definite grower. This duet between the two, will conviently be released after Beyonce’s individual collaboration with Gaga on her song ‘Video Phone’ also out later this month. Neither song has connections to each other in case you’re wondering.
The biggest surprise on this album for me was the Ron Fair produced power balled ‘Speechless’ written by Gaga herself about her father’s heart condition. It doesn’t sound anything like the stuff we’ve heard from her before and is a potential single. It’s going to be huge for her.
Finishing off we have the brilliant ‘Dance in the Dark’ with the super chorus and the Madonna ‘Vogue’ style rap thrown in the middle – my personal favourite off the CD and the downright weird closing track: ‘Teeth.’ A bouncy marching song that hints at the new direction for the third album.
In brief: A worthy follow up to it’s predecessor, with at least four potential singles, some elements of the songs don’t work at times but there are no real filler tracks here. ‘Monster’ and ‘Bad Romance’ have elements of ‘Just Dance’ and "Poker Face’ these being nods to The Fame while other songs like ‘Dance In The Dark’ and ‘Teeth’ hint at what lies ahead for the next Lady Gaga album.
She’s here to stay it seems and even if you’re among the music lovers who dislike her, as the lady herself said: “A good pop chorus never killed anyone.”
