Article first published as Music Review: Lady Gaga - Born This Way on Blogcritics.
Have you ever felt like you entered another dimension, era, or the twilight zone? Born This Way are three words put together that portray a sense of acceptance, especially when combined with the personal pronoun ‘I’ (and "was").
Lady Gaga's Born This Way was released on May 23, 2011, making it the next major follow-up to her award-winning debut album, The Fame. The new album opens the doors to a different, but at the same time, a sensitive and still wild Gaga.
Born This Way achieved amazing record sales according to Bilboard.biz, Born This Way got to number one on the Bilboard 200 chart. It sold an outstanding 1,108,000 copies in its first week of release.
You know that old saying, “What happens behind closed doors stays behind closed doors?” Well, this album exposes the "Poker Face" singer like you’ve never seen her before. Her opening track "Marry The Night" cleverly demonstrates Gaga’s self-commitment. She conveys herself to be a warrior, a soldier, and a fighter, ready to go against the world.
Born This Way is a representation of Gaga’s religious persona. The “Bad Romance” hit-maker, known to her family, and friends as Stefani, was born and raised as a Catholic, according to her biography, Lady Gaga: The Queen Of Pop, written by Emily Herbert.
Songs like "Born This Way," "Judas," and "Hair" bring her religious characteristics forward. "Born This Way" is one of the strongest, and most outspoken tracks on the entire album. It metaphorically paints a picture on a blank canvas, specifically addressing Gaga’s relationship with her family.
The first verse of “Born This Way” is enough to validate the strength of Gaga’s relationship with God, and her dynasty. It suggests that in her time of need, she turns to God, and her loved ones for guidance.
She sings, "It doesn't matter if you love him, God or capital H.I.M Satan. Just put your paws up, 'cause you were born this way baby. My Mama told me when I was young, we are all born superstars.."
The mother and daughter relationship comes forward in the last paragraph of the first verse: "There is nothing wrong with loving who you are. She said, 'cause he made you perfect babe. So hold your head up girl, and you'll go far. Listen to me when I say."
It’s during the chorus, when Gaga shows her full commitment, trust, and love towards God. She says, "I'm beautiful in my way, 'cause God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way. Don't hide yourself in regret, just love yourself and you're set. I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way." It’s clear, with these few words, Gaga unites with herself, as well as others (the fans). She accepts the way God has brought her into this world.
“Hair” is another track on the album that represents the two most important relationships in Lady Gaga's life, family and religion. It allows her to present herself as a serious character who sometimes cries out for help. She sings,
"Whenever I dressed cool, my parents put up a fight/And If I'm a hotshot, Mom will cut hair at night/In the morning, I'm sure of my identity/I scream out 'Mom and Dad, why can't I be who I wanna be?'"
It is during the chorus once again, where she brings forward her need for freedom. In this case, she turns to God for guidance once more. She says, "I've had enough, this is my prayer/That I’ll die living just as free as my hair."
Here, hair is metaphorically used to identify a sense of freedom. People can style their hair in many different ways. It has the freedom to be whatever style it wants to be, in which case, Gaga could possibly be suggesting at times, she feels trapped within her own fame.
"Ich schleiban austa be clair, es kumpent madre monstere. Aus-be aus-can-be flaugen, Begun be uske but-bair. Ich schleiban austa be clair, es kumpent madre monstere. Aus-be aus-can-be flaugen, fräulein uske-be clair."
No, before you say anything, I’m not crazy. The Gaga just went multi-lingual on us with "Scheibe." Or did she? In an interview with VOX TV, and Bild.de Gaga confirms the lyrics in this song are fake. Credit goes to yLadyGagaBeforeM for providing us with the evidence on Youtube.
Skip ahead to one minute and 18 seconds of the video below, and once you reach one minute and 40 seconds, you’ll finally see it’s a load of Gaga!
Skip ahead to one minute and 18 seconds of the video below, and once you reach one minute and 40 seconds, you’ll finally see it’s a load of Gaga!
"Scheibe means to me, bullsh*t or sh*t, and I wrote a song that is fake German, so sh*t German. It's meant to be gibberish, it's all about how, for me as a woman, anything getting in the way of my strength, just sounds like nothing!"
You heard it here folks! Lady Gaga experimenting with language. We might even have our very own Gaga dictionary soon!
"Judas," a track with a Catholicism reference, Lady Gaga expresses herself with a representation of Judas, a disloyal messenger of Jesus Christ. It is one of the most sensitive, and potentially controversial songs of the entire album. We all know how the subject of religion can be a sensitive matter. However, when Gaga says,
"I'll wash his feet with my hair if he needs/Forgive him when his tongue lies through his brain."
Then, she goes on to say,
"Even after three times he betrays me, I’ll bring him down, bring him down, down/A king with no crown, king with no crown."
What is she trying to say here? Wash his feet with her hair? Could it mean forgiving him, and freeing him from his sins with her hair? Hair, metaphorically used for freedom as I mentioned earlier.
Then, as we go further on into the song she says, "I couldn't love a man so purely. Even prophets forgave his crooked way/I've learned love is like a brick you can, build a house, or sink a dead body."
Is she saying,
"I can't love a man without something going wrong"? "Even when I do forgive, the trust still breaks down. You can’t do anything, but try to rebuild it again."
To be honest, I don't know, but if that is the case, then it presents the struggles she may have faced in her past relationships.
Gaga’s reminders of being a fighter, and an independent woman, suggest how mature, but at the same time crazy, and wild she still is. If that’s what you’ve been waiting for, then believe me you got it. It could very well send you to the "Edge Of Glory!"
