Pop Goes Gaga

It seems we are getting to the point in Gaga's career where the naysayers are beginning to be heard through the din of her fans.  In essence, her critics call her the unoriginal of the unoriginal, a "mimic" as one M.I.A. has stated. 

I'm not one to defend her because, well, honestly, her music isn't particularly innovative.  In fact, when I first heard her I shrugged her off due to her 90's "everybody dance now" sound.  Part of this shrugging off, however, came from a personal attempt at being musically elitist which requires one to have a healthy aversion to pop music unless, of course, it's totally ironic. Like Gaga evolved from girl about town with awkward fashion sense to all out avant garde warrior, so too has my opinion of her and, really, pop in general.

Frankly, I've always been a closeted pop fan.  In my musical development I shunned it in an attempt to garner a more elitist cred with the alternative people I hung out with.  I never did grunge but I got into the Alt Rock of the 90's, but never really the whole College Rock thing.  I have a love/hate relationship with Punk; I dig some country, mostly the older stuff; and I dabble in other genres.  I'm still pretty into hip-hop and have been totally turned on to the Reggeatton sound. 

I didn't find my swagger, however, untill I participated in the Electrclash scene of the early aughts that, frankly, was the turning point in music.  Of course, it had to get mainstreamed before it really made an effect but it did.  Now you can't throw a stick out of your car window without hitting some electro synth riff.  Pop, however, I felt neccessary to keep at bay no matter how much I secretly loved one or two Brittany Spears songs.

I have come out of the Pop closet and hold Lady Gaga as an example of why I am comfortable doing so.  Again, the claims of her unoriginality are not unfounded but, it does not matter.  Pop, for the most part, has never been a genre that has boasted originality.  Pop is about performance, one way or the other and Gaga is an exceptional performer.  Pop is a genre in which you are not supposed to sit around pondering the depth of the lyrics or the meter of the music.  Pop is meant to be clear and unadulterated gratification and the best form of gratification is the instant and basic kind. 

I don't care who you are, a deep baseline will want to make you move, a catchy chorus will get stuck in your head, and an over-the-top performer will keep you talking.  That's what Pop is about. It's not meant to be intellectual, it's not meant to be purposefully socially significant, it's not even meant to be particularly original.  It's meant to get you moving using the tried and true methods of music. 

So, Gaga may not be putting out anything that has not been put out before but, the thing about Gaga is that she's putting it out there without pretention. She's putting it out there as Pop, 100% Pop.  She understands that beyond the music it's about the performance and boy does she provide. 

She said it best in an interview for SPIN magazine, "I like to have unprotected sex with my music."  She sure does, and we can't get enough of listening through the walls.