|
Style: Electronic-dance pop/rock; compare to Madonna, Britney Spears, and Katy Perry
Top tracks: "Born This Way," "Americano," "You and I"
Describing her second studio recording as "bad kids going to church," pop music's new boundary pusher fills her latest outlandish occasion with brash-yet-sophisticated sonic perspectives, interweaving thoughtful spiritual quandaries ("Jesus is my virtue / And Judas is the demon I cling to") with self-gratifying free-for-alls ("I'm gonna' marry the dark, make love to the stars / I'm a soldier to my own emptiness"). Whether purporting self-actualization ("I'm beautiful in my way / 'Cause God makes no mistakes" from "Born This Way"), fussing over immigration ("Americano"), confessing humanity's sin nature ("Judas"), or professing love ("You and I," in a surprising Mutt Lange co-write and total Shania allusion), the avant-garde music queen takes pride in melding head-pounding dance-rock programs with loud-mouth—and oft-politically charged—lyricism. Though formidably creative pop, Gaga is mostly relatable to less discerning demographics preferring dance-drenched psychological rhetoric to artistic, subtle suggestion.
Copyright © 2011 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Annual & Monthly subscriptions available.
- Print & Digital Issues of CT magazine
- Complete access to every article on ChristianityToday.com
- Unlimited access to 65+ years of CT’s online archives
- Member-only special issues
- Learn more
Read These Next
- TrendingAmerican Christians Should Stand with Israel under AttackWhile we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
- From the MagazineI Hated ‘Church People.’ But I Knew I Needed Them.As I attended my second funeral in three weeks, two Christians showed me a kindness I couldn’t explain.
- Editor's PickA Theologian’s Vision of ‘Peasant’ Politics Is Surprisingly Lordly in ScopeEphraim Radner’s “narrow” concern for protecting the mundane goods of earthly life isn’t so narrow after all.