Culture
Review

Born This Way

Christianity Today May 24, 2011

Style: Electronic-dance pop/rock; compare to Madonna, Britney Spears, and Katy Perry

Born This Way

Born This Way

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP

May 23, 2011

Born This Way

Born This Way

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP

May 23, 2011

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.

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