# Lady Gaga's new album: Born this way **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233 "2011-05-26T01:29:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/1 "2011-05-26T01:29:27Z")
Someone’s gotta start the thread. May as well be me. 😛 It’s a new sound for her, a LOT more rock, some country (???) and less dance, and of course, the sax. I’m not sure if I like it though. My favourite so thus far might be Judas and Electric Chapel, although I’m not sure if the latter will stand up to repeat listenings. Sheisse is… interesting. You and I already lost its shine for me. For the love of H-I-M, someone get her a drummer. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/2 "2011-05-26T08:34:40Z")
Does the rest of it sound like a Madonna album like the title track does? ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/3 "2011-05-26T08:41:48Z")
Pretty much no, at least not to my ears. Actually, most of the album is available on [youtube](http://www.youtube.com/user/ladygagaofficial), surprisingly! Worth a listen to make up your mind. ---
**Author:** ![Blueberry\_Buckle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@Blueberry\_Buckle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blueberry_Buckle)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/4 "2011-05-26T18:02:27Z")
In case you decide to purchase the album, Amazon has the entire album for $.99 today. Yup…under a buck! 14 songs (mp3 format) plus a digital booklet. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/5 "2011-05-26T18:11:05Z")
Gag Gag. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/6 "2011-05-26T20:52:41Z")
> [@lukeinva](#): > > Gag Gag. LOL!! That is so funny!! Did you make that up?! I have never heard that joke before! How clever! See, her name is GaGa, but you turned it into Gag Gag! Because her music makes you gag, right? And it’s a play on her name! Oh my, I cannot stop laughing. You are a real comedic genius. Man, tell us another one… no don’t! I don’t know if I can stand it. Gag Gag. LOL!! Man! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/7 "2011-05-26T21:51:12Z")
Hair was the first song of hers that I actually liked. It’s still overproduced and overly Auto-Tuned, but it’s much better. Yeah, I’m the type that cares more about sound quality than lyrics. Good lyrics are just frosting. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/8 "2011-05-26T22:28:59Z")
I liked the song she performed on the American Idol finale show, _On the Edge of Glory_, though it does get a bit repetitive. It has a very 80’s sound to it, including the sax solo. The sound of the song and her vocals in it especially remind me a bit of _Total Eclipse of the Heart_. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/9 "2011-05-26T22:36:34Z")
[Here’s her AI performance.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI3y_UkyEpg) ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/10 "2011-05-26T22:49:23Z")
Like most things Gaga (and I say this as a huge fan), this album took a few listens for me to really dig. My favorite songs are Judas, Government Hooker, Scheiße, and Bloody Mary-- I can listen to those four on repeat all day long. The rest of the album is good enough, but those are definitely the stand outs for me. I’m still dying over here at the Lady Gag Gag thing though! That really was witty, clever, and fresh. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/11 "2011-05-26T22:57:11Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Hair was the first song of hers that I actually liked. It’s still overproduced and overly Auto-Tuned, but it’s much better. To quote [_capitalnewyork.com_](http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2011/05/2170210/lady-gaga-flunks-out-college-american-pop-vestals%22): > [@](#): > > The decent timidity—and, now, unfortunate irrelevancy—of the Gaga moment is cemented on “Hair,” a sugary confection that goes on for too long (past five minutes) in a Cyndi Lauper idiom that would seem to be a natural fit. I want to “die living as free as my hair,” it explains. This eventually becomes, _I’m as free as my hair / I’m as free as my hair / I am my hair / I am my hair_, nearly ad infinitum. It’s really a very elegant metaphysical conceit, if one dissects it. Raccoon stripes, red highlights, bangs: these all have a very specific bearing on the generic female- and youth-empowerment Gaga theorizes. > > But, unfortunately, the emancipatory potential of hair is already a settled issue and one that’s been settled with the reckless pop abandon even bone implants can’t substitute for. It’s one thing to be beaten to the punch by Britney Spears, who, in that famous February 2007 fit of rage, shaved off the blonde locks forever damaged by the spotlight heat and exploitative weaves of high showbiz. > > It’s quite another to be preemptively shown up by Willow Smith. P.S. _Whip My Hair_ may be my favorite song ever. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/12 "2011-05-26T23:07:16Z")
I am glad to hear that CapitalNewYork has ruled that female singers are no longer allowed to use hair related similes anymore. Somebody better shout this from the rooftops so no one makes the same mistake Gaga did. What a horrible faux pas!☹ ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/13 "2011-05-27T00:25:01Z")
I have given it a couple of listens and I like it. More pop-rock than pop dance. I like Hair, the one with the German name and The Queen the best so far. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/14 "2011-05-27T00:37:28Z")
Well, hell, for 99 cents I’ll take a chance on it, even though Lady Gaga is not on my personal musical radar. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/15 "2011-05-27T01:22:38Z")
Yeah, so would I, except that Amazon doesn’t sell overseas. _angry face_ ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gagas-new-album-born-this-way/583233/16 "2011-05-27T07:21:27Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > To quote [_capitalnewyork.com_](http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2011/05/2170210/lady-gaga-flunks-out-college-american-pop-vestals%22): > > P.S. _Whip My Hair_ may be my favorite song ever. Hence my comment about lyrics. Other than making sure I could understand them if I’d wanted to, I didn’t even pay attention to them. It’s never been the lyrics that have bugged me about Gaga’s songs, but the sound. Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate lyrics in other types of music, but I need the emotion to make me care. This is why I lament the direction she has taken, as she has stripped that out of her sound to be a pop star. That means I’m going to evaluate you on sound alone. Keep putting out music that sounds good, and maybe I can get back to evaluating the lyrics.