Lady Gaga vs Shakira

[Travis]

Just curious, which do you prefer?



OR

[JazmenFlowers]

GAGALUPE of course! I LOVE Lady Gaga. she's the most exciting thing to happen to pop music and music videos in a long-ass time. Bad Romance is an amazingly catchy song and it's so unique. Gaga's way of working in Gothic elements, darker undertones into a catchy pop song with a great hook is genious.

[TrueFaith77]

I think Lady Gaga is the WORST thing to happen to pop music in a long time (and that's saying a lot). She removes meaning from everything. She just operates on arbitrary outrage and excitation. She appropriates performance art -- you know: that pretentious NY East Village trend that went out in the 80s and that Madonna (God help us) already perfected.

OK. So some of her songs got hooks. But what does she do with them?

ETA: For me the definitive Lady Gaga moment is in the Joseph Kahn-directed Paparazzi video: she's so corrupt and evil that she eats poison -- and lives.

ETA: A friend of mine, the playwright Ben Kessler, recently wrote this about Lady Gaga's new single:

A friend balked at my use of the word "dirges" to describe Lady Gaga's music. A semi-defender of Gaga, he stated that her songs are too lively to deserve that epithet. I think this song proves us both right. Lady Gaga makes pop dirges that aspire to liveliness, i.e. dirges in denial.

The perspective of "Bad Romance" blends no-way-out, airless pathology with the vast remove of someone who has never had a romance, much less loved. Here, pretension, naivete and detachment combine to form a four-minute miniature of contemporary nihilism. Lady Gaga's grotesque guises & tunes provide a veritable runway show displaying the latest wares of a hyperactive, unmoored capitalist culture.

The Fame Monster, indeed.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by TrueFaith77

I think Lady Gaga is the WORST thing to happen to pop music in a long time (and that's saying a lot). She removes meaning from everything. She just operates on arbitrary outrage and excitation. She appropriates performance art -- you know: that pretentious NY East Village trend that went out in the 80s and that Madonna (God help us) already perfected.

OK. So some of her songs got hooks. But what does she do with them?

ETA: For me the definitive Lady Gaga moment is in the Joseph Kahn-directed Paparazzi video: she's so corrupt and evil that she eats poison -- and lives.

ETA: A friend of mine, the playwright Ben Kessler, recently wrote this about Lady Gaga's new single:

make sure you cast your vote to even the score right now ;-)

[TrueFaith77]

Oh, I'm not voting. Shakira does nothing for me.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by TrueFaith77

Oh, I'm not voting. Shakira does nothing for me.

Well, she doesn't compell you enough to dig up an article, so vote for her for that reason if nothing else :-). Do you really want Gaga to win? ;-)

[Enchanted_Stevi]

I like Lady Gaga more the Shakira

[Ghost_Tracker]

Lady GaGa would win hands down by the fifth round; but I'm a little concerned that all that mud would ruin one of her fancy costumes.

Oh wait. . . . we may be talking about something different. . . .

. . . .

[Travis]

Shakira won

[skcin]

Originally Posted by JazmenFlowers

why would you call her disgusting? I mean, that's a little extreme, isn't it?

Come on, Jaz! I used to call Britney a f*cking pig, remember?

Originally Posted by trackaghost

Oh I know that, it was just you mentioned MTV Unplugged and I remembered watching Shakira's episode. Shakira can play the guitar, so she can definitely do the acoustic thing if it all boils down to that. But I agree that Lady GaGa is all spectacle, I find nothing unique about her actual music. I do find Lady GaGa fascinating from an image point of view and I think the way she's marketed herself is brilliant but musically I would take Shakira any day. I mean when Whenever, Wherever first came out it really did sound like nothing else on the radio, love it or hate it.
Btw, I love Nellie McKay. Her new Doris Day album is fantastic.

I have given Gaga's music a try recently & while it's catchy I don't think it's brilliant. Of course I rarely (if ever) feel that dance pop music is brilliant. Just not my thing.

Originally Posted by trackaghost

I see the appeal of Lady GaGa too, for sure, it's just less about the music and more about how completely insane she seems. She's a good singer though, I will give her that. But she's only really been around for five minutes, it will be interesting to see how she develops as an artist, if she's around for that long.

ITA, Sharon. it's like she suddenly popped up out of nowhere & she's huge. The negative thing about her freakiness is that most people (myself included) wrote her off immediately because of it. Well, I take that back - I wrote her off because I assumed she was run-of-the-mill fluffy dance pop crap. I assumed she was overcompensating for lack of talent and/or inability to sing. I assumed she wasn't writing her own songs.

Shame on me, because it's obvious she is talented and CAN sing. Very well, actually. I don't have to like her, but I get her. Now I'm just torn between thinking she's the next Bowie, Madonna or Britney. I've ruled out Britney I think. I saw her Barbara Walters interview & I'm actually most reminded of Marilyn Manson.

[JazmenFlowers]

Originally Posted by skcin

Come on, Jaz! I used to call Britney a f*cking pig, remember?

yeah, but that's different. I mean...it's Britney. she's a f*cking pig.

I think GaGa is amazing. she really works on every aspect of her music and image. her style of lyrics also speak to me. her music is fun, but I get something out of her songs at the same time. she's also visually interesting and she can rival Stevie with her one-liners!

[daniellaaarisen]

Originally Posted by JazmenFlowers

yeah, but that's different. I mean...it's Britney. she's a f*cking pig.

I think GaGa is amazing. she really works on every aspect of her music and image. her style of lyrics also speak to me. her music is fun, but I get something out of her songs at the same time. she's also visually interesting and she can rival Stevie with her one-liners!

Completely agreed.

I'm a huge music snob and kinda ashamed of it-- I'm the type of person who will subconsciously judge you by the music you listen to. I have over 15,000 songs on my computer. Music is just my thing. So when I told my friends that I was obsessing over GaGa, they were really confused.... especially since I used to RIP HER when "Just Dance" first came out. I simply didn't understand her appeal.

Then The Fame Monster was released and somewhere, I heard "Speechless" and "Monster." These are both incredible songs. I then went out and bought the double disk with both The Fame and The Fame Monster and honestly, they are two of the very few CDs that never leave my car, in the company of a few Fleetwood Mac records and Bon Iver alone.

Her real name is Stefani Germanotta. She was accepted to Juilliard's pre-college program at 11 years old but chose a more traditional education instead, enrolling in a private Catholic school. She’s known piano by ear since she was 4 years old, wrote her first ballad at 13, and gained early admissions to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts at 17, but later withdrew to fulfill her music career. She's talented, guys. I agree that her music doesn't always show her musical capability, but you gotta realize that its there..... and live, its unavoidable. Plus, I bet 95% of you haven't heard her newest album, The Fame Monster. It is almost a concept album in the sense that she intentionally saved her darker songs for this record, keeping them off of The Fame. So lyrically, there's just a lot more substance on The Fame Monster... you can even see it in "Bad Romance" with all of her Alfred Hitchcock references.




I seriously adore her.

[JazmenFlowers]

I'll admit that I never listen to The Fame, aside from Poker Face, Paper Gangsta, LoveGame and Eh Eh. but The Fame Monster? every single song is amazing, IMO.