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I recently read a review for the Lady Gaga themed Glee episode. It mentioned the singer as being still too outre and avant-garde to the get the treatment Glee did on Madonna. I beg to disagree. Lady Gaga is actually pretty mainstream. The 224 million views “Bad Romance” has on Youtube suggest it. The thing is, musically, we’re in a post decadence, shock value, indie, alternative, everything period. There is no “new”, or “shocking”, or “original”. Well, there’s still originality, but it’s not reinventing the wheel. What Lady Gaga is doing today, Madonna had done it before her, and it had a way bigger impact back then.
Let’s just have a look at the Billboard Hot 100. You’ve got Katy Perry there, Rihanna, Ke$ha, Pink, Nikki Minaj in some small part on a Ludacris song and, of course, Lady Gaga. These are all female singers who put a lot of thought (or they don’t, they’re just a product of years of pushing boundaries) in what they act like and look like. They’ve got unique styles (which are not set in stone), and from a certain point that’s good. 
Katy Perry’s retro, Ke$ha’s party glam, Pink is rebel couture and Lady Gaga is somehow all of the above and more. What’s so avant-garde and outre about incorporating haute couture in music? They’re not the first (not thinking too far back, we’ve got “Vogue” and George Michael’s “Freedom” – that had supermodels in it, it was more than a blatant mix of fashion and music). Also, shocking, outrageous, atypical? I can think of at least two performers who did it before Lady Gaga and not too long ago: Kelis and Christina Aguilera.
All in all, we’re in the haute couture era of music (every rapper has a designer clothing line – think P. Diddy). And that’s not either a bad thing, or something out of the ordinary. Just as with every art form, the direction is toward synergy and syncretism.
Posted on June 12th, 2010 by MrWiseguy
Filed under: Music
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