Respectability is the dullest thing to happen to Lady Gaga. The most inevitable too. The downloading age she led and the streaming reality in which she jumped aboard required accelerated pop cycles, though, and while it took a dozen years for Madonna to star in a film adaptation of an Eva Peron musical, Gaga was singing with Tony Bennett in half that time. To my ears she rarely tweaked her era’s dance pop tropes like Madonna did, but I fault my ears. Besides, if Madonna had gotten an Oscar nomination for Desperately Seeking Susan or Dick Tracy, she might’ve been singing with Celine Dion by 1994 too.
Still, millions of young women and gay men heard (and saw) something of Madonna and Bowie’s comfort with garishness and image manipulation in “Pokerface” and “Bad Romance,” and she called back to them by singing in the stentorian tone of a drag queen stomping her heels. Which makes “Shallow” inevitable and gross.
The Hague
Meh
Shallow
Telephone (featuring Beyoncé)
Judas
Million Reasons
Perfect Illusion
Sound, Solid Entertainment
Bad Romance
Pokerface
The Edge of Glory
LoveGame
Do What U Want (featuring R. Kelly)
Applause
Good to Great
Alejandro
Just Dance (featuring Colby O’Donis)
You & I
Marry the Night
Paparazzi
Humanizing The Vacuum 
I liked her til The Fame Monster, meaning I love “Telephone”, even before I knew its video.
“I left my heart on the dancefloor” it’s one I can relate to, however no one I know had used it before (how come?). I think it’s one of the high profile duos that actually worked.
Paparazzi is my favourite. Alejandro I like, mainly because it ibecame a meme for me and my best friends, whom are call for:Our names are Fernando, Alejandro and Roberto, respectively:-
The thing is, Gaga is eager to please. Too much.. It’s eaten her musical personality. When she didn’t care and was garish, she had a blueprint of her own. She managed to mix Eurodisco, pop, and EDM and somehow sounded like no one else. Then she met Tony Bennet, Julie Andrews, whatever. She went country with Joanne. She’s all over the place nowadays. She rests on her pipes. Good for her.
Madonna was keener on the niche musically she occupied and worked on every change of direction with subtetly by comparison. Only left to Gaga is making a Broadway musical. Which is what I really think she really, really wants. Ready to perform in Vegas or go after the Oscar? So many options…
She doesn’t seem to get “chamaleonic” is a term that you can’t inherit by chaging outfits every five seconds. She understands Bowie and Madonna on a superficial level. She became everyone’s “favorite” impersonator. So many options…
She’s really eager to prove her command of different genres and her chops as a singer, but neither has that much to do with her best music. Image-driven glam-disco was the only niche where I think she’s at all interesting.
Image-driven glam-disco was the only niche where I think she’s at all interesting.
Sure!!
One more thing: I think “Telephone” is great for one subtle aspect that escapes to everyone: Its arrangement is classic trashy Gaga, but the song has a deep-rooted R&B ryhtm, which suits Beyonce very well. It may sound “conservative” compared to the rest of FAME MONSTER because of this. But don’t forget this was supposed to be a song for Britney. Compare it to “Enough is Enough” which I think is more fair. Nobody wanted that atrocious, cynic sell-out. It was sub-par Donna Summer, nevermind Babs posing as frenzy disco diva (ugly). It served neither of them. “Telephone” is clinically calibrated to suit them both. And it does.