'It's a storming collection of high-concept pop brilliance,' says one critic of Mother Monster's brand-new album.
By James Dinh
Lady Gaga
Photo: Dave J. Hogan/ Getty Images
Little Monsters, the wait is over! After almost a year since Lady Gaga first dished out details about the project, her Born This Way album has finally arrived.
With endorsement deals from Starbucks, Google and Zynga's "FarmVille," Gaga and her team have crafted an over-the-top marketing plan to make sure everyone under the sun knows that the LP has hit stores. As one of the year's most anticipated releases, Born This Way is expected to debut with high sales ranging from 450,000 to 750,000 copies, according to Billboard estimates.
Much like her costumes, performances and everything else that is Lady Gaga, critics have noted (and mostly praised) the immensity of Born This Way, while name-dropping Madonna every other review. For a deeper look at what the press says Mother Monster has to offer on the new album, read on.
Lyrical Content/Themes
"All over Born This Way, she takes on the big topics dear to her heart: sex, religion, muscle cars, her hair. She sings in French, German, Spanish and whatever language wants to claim 'punk-tious.' She seduces men, women, deities and dead presidents. ('Put your hands on me/ John F. Kennedy' — hey, it rhymes.) And in 'Heavy Metal Lover,' Gaga purrs the immortal pickup line 'I want your whiskey mouth/ All over my blond south.' " — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone
Production
"Enthrallingly, though, the album never lets up, as her producers chuck entire studios at her fulsome vocals. Many songs here are crafted from radically different tunes all stitched together for an attention-deficit generation: A song may start with an intro from one genre, segue into a verse from another, switchback into a surprise pre-chorus, follow that with a fist-pump major-chord chorus, before inserting a hard-edged clubby middle eight." — Kitty Empire, The Guardian
Choruses
"Choruses seem to be the problem with all of the album's singles so far. And what's a pop song without a good hook? The speed metal-meets-'Bad Romance' knock-off 'Judas' is lyrically more interesting than 'Born This Way,' but its Aqua-esque chorus is too sweet and poppy for a torch song dedicated to one of the Bible's greatest villains. The electro-rock ballad — and accidental third single — 'The Edge of Glory' isn't retro so much as retrograde, starting off with some crafty Art of Noise synth tones before morphing into what sounds like the theme song to an early-'90s sitcom, or an inspirational sports flick, as sung by Bonnie Tyler." — Sal Cinquemani, Slant Magazine
Influences
"The album has abundant echoes of the 1980s: not just Madonna, Lady Gaga's obvious predecessor in many things, but also the heft and piano pounding of '80s heartland rock. Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band plays saxophone on two songs, and for the rafter-raising power ballad 'You and I,' Lady Gaga turned to Mutt Lange, who produced thickly layered tracks for Def Leppard in the 1980s. (Mr. Lange, in turn, brought in Brian May, the guitarist in Queen, the band whose song 'Radio Ga Ga' gave her a name.)" — Jon Pareles, The New York Times
The Last Note
"This is not quite the revolution, and certainly not the greatest album ever made. It's a storming collection of high-concept pop brilliance designed to soundtrack every preposterously tremendous Gaga moment for the next 18 months. If there's a gripe to be had, it's regarding the length: At an hour long, Born This Way initially feels more like an assault than an event, and it could easily lose a couple of tracks. However, if she is planning on releasing nine singles from it, then nobody can come away feeling ripped off." — Ian Wade, BBC Music
Have you listened to Lady Gaga's new album? Share your reviews in the comments below!
Don't miss MTV News' hour-long exclusive interview, "Lady Gaga: Inside the Outside," airing Thursday, May 26, at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.
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