At first I thought every one was being “punked.”
But it does seem like Lady GaGa–aka Stephanie Germanotta–has ripped off Madonna’s hit song, “Vogue,” for her own new single, “Born this Way.” The melody, the spoken word part, the whole thing comes from the Material Girl’s 20 year old dance hit.
How very bizarre. But Lady GaGa’s prior hits and her act in general have always harkened back to Madonna’s halcyon era. Her current cover of Vogue magazine, I guess, is supposed to be some signal of all this but what does it mean? Is this a tribute to Madonna or a send up of her?
And why do it at all? Germanotta has had one hit album that she’s milked for some time. I probably sound very old school when I say this not how long term careers are made. If she is trying to follow Madonna’s career path, Germanotta should know that Madonna’s trajectory brought originality, not just shock, to with all her original moves.
Madonna’s “Vogue”– I want to take this too seriously–also was genius in a way because it distilled a moment in pop culture, bringing the “Vogue” dance crazy from clubs to the mainstream. “Born this Way” does nothing. There are no new ideas here.
Pop music doesn’t have to be refried and packaged. Just go on line and listen to Jennifer Hudson’s gorgeous new R&B single, called”Where You At,” written by R Kelly. In three minutes it not introduces a great catch phrase, but also delivers Hudson’s amazing, unfettered vocal in original setting. It’s A plus, while this is a D, with notations about possible plagiarism.
PS I was surprised about “Born this Way” that I had to compare it from ITunes to make sure it was real.
