Lady Gaga

The enigma that is Lady Gaga returns with her second proper album. Since releasing Fame Monster a couple of years she has become a global sensation and brand, amassing in excess of £60m if the reports are to be believed.

Now, can the pre-release hype of Born This Way (including the Radio 1 Big Weekend performance) actually be justified? I guess it depends on how hype vs. reality is measured – is it reviews, $’s made, hit singles or something less tangible? Well, at present only reviews can be used as a measure, and for me, whilst this album is not the future of rock n roll, groundbreaking or other glorious descriptive, is a damn good listen.

Lady Gaga has managed to fuse electro-pop with 80’s guitars, big choruses and a great sense of fun. Yes the Madonna influences are plainly there to see (Born This Way, Highway Unicorn and to a lesser extent Americano) but that is surely a compliment to Ms Ciccone? The stage shows are equally well structured so comparisons in all her art are likely.

The public have already heard Born This Way (Express Yourself Pt II), Judas, Hair and The Edge of Glory through a series of pre-released tracks that have all charted. The 11 tracks that are left are on the whole similarly styled. ‘Government Hooker’ is a pounding electro-pop track getting close to electro-metal, Americano is a Latino styled track that could be straight out of Evita – for me probably one of the top three tracks on here and hopefully a future single.

Scheiße is a peculiar German orientated track (starts off with “I don’t speak German but I can if you like”) that launches into more electro-pop after a German chanted opening. Quite Girls Aloud really once it gets going. Bloody Mary is one of the slower tracks on the album, with quite an atmospheric production, as the slower vocals wash over the music.

‘Bad Kids’ gets the pace back up again with a high energy number over another pounding bassline – this time it has a feel of a non-specific pop RnB track that sneaks into the charts every so often. ‘Highway Unicorn’ is Poker face pt II with more that a hint of Madonna’s Open Your Heart – it is a great combo though and makes for a driving dance track – Love It!!

Heavy Metal Lover has more huge industrial drums and chanted vocals – probably one of the weakest tracks on here, and one that could have been left off. ‘Electric Chapel’ redeems things with a fantastic guitar driven number and pop merged to create a mammoth number.

‘You And I’ is the second slower number on here, and one that would easily fit on a Miley Cyrus album, capturing her brand of country-rock chick with Queen inspired guitars – that said it’s a big power ballad.

It all closes down with ‘The Edge of Glory’ which has remained my favourite track (for now) from the album. Journey might have a lot to answer for, but they are inspiring new tracks like this then they can be partially excused. This epic 80s fused track is bliss, and probably a bit of a guilty pleasure – but I think it’s great!!

Overall Born This Way is a great album of catchy electro pop and dance tracks. Certainly not groundbreaking but sure to be success and but a few more $m is Lady Gaga’s bank account.