So these last three Lady Gaga tracks...

 
To say Project: Born This Way has gathered steam ahead of the album's release on May 23rd is a huge understatement. Before the album has even been released, we've already heard four songs from Lady Gaga's third album in two and a half years. So moving past our thoughts on the title track, how do we rate Born This Way so far?

Judas

Ladies and gentlemen, it doesn't really get much better than this (apart from Bad Romance, obv). If ever there was a track to answer back to concerns about the album's lead single sounding a little too similar to the output of the previous generation's iconic pop star par excellance, this is it. Gaga delivers one of her most compelling vocals on the verses, before piling into a chorus which, to our mind, creates an amazing triptych with Bad Romance and Poker Face.

It's the video, however, that's the most gratifying part of the Judas campaign. Compared to the ludicrous bombast of the Born This Way video (a song which cried out for a down-to-earth feel-good disco style video) Judas actually sees Gaga having some bloody fun again in a video. At first we were surprised there wasn't a whole lot more sacrilege on offer (lest we forget, Alejandro had Gaga dressed as a nun being set upon by a gaggle of semi-naked men). But then, we were just relieved that the temptation to drape the whole thing in 50 minutes of religious symbolism didn't take over, and the drive to deliver a fun promo video that complimented a great, interesting track won the day.

The Edge Of Glory

To move from the frenetic energy of Born This Way and Judas to the comparatively sedate The Edge of Glory was, in our opinion, an absolute masterstroke. A touching dance-oriented track with a soft rock vocal immediately, Edge of Glory is the perfect reminder that when she chooses to, Gaga can strip away the aesthetics and deliver a reflective and poignant pop song which resonates just as deeply as her more attention-grabbing up-tempo repertoire. To put it another way "It isn't hell if everybody knows my name tonight" is probably one of our favourite Gaga lyrics to date.

Initially, we were a little concerned that the track put us immediately in mind of Cher's Song For The Lonely. But then we stopped and thought "you know what, we can't think of a more fitting thing for Gaga to do on her third album than to reference the members of the pop aristocracy who have paved the way for her. Well done everyone." 

Hair

And this is the point we have to get a bit cynical *puts on critical face*. In one sense, we can completely see how Hair kind of wraps up some of the themes (both lyrically and musically) being expressed on the three tracks that have preceded it. And believe us, no-one appreciates an artistically contigious set of single releases as much as we do. The only problem is, Hair doesn't quite work as well as the other three tracks does it? There's something about the understated backing track, and the somewhat crammed-in-there vocals which screams "album track". 

In itself, that's no bad thing. Let's face it, no-one is expecting Born This Way to yield 14 singles, do they (although how fucking amazing would that be)? It just wouldn't be the final taste we left in "the market's" mouth before we chucked the album out there. But we suppose there's a reason why we're not heading up the marketing team at Interscope Records (although how fucking amazing would that be?)

The Verdict

It's probably safe to say that Gaga can expect her bank balance to rise by £10 at the very least on May 23rd. Have one on us, why don't you?

Baby I Was Born This Way (Express Yourself)

The debut of the new Lady Gaga single Born This Way marks the culmination of one of the most hyped releases in recent memory. There's no video up yet (understandably, it's only just premiered on US Radio) but you can listen to it here, for the time being.

But enough of all that. What's it actually like?

First of all, take this:



Then add a bit of this:



And that's pretty much Born This Way.

Is it a good song? Yes. The lyrics in particular are unbelievably catchy and we can just imagine ourselves repeating "I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way" for about 80% of the rest of the day. The only problem we have is that at the moment, Born This Way doesn't have quite the initial impact that it does if it wasn't so reminiscent of what had gone before. Obviously a little bit of incessent radio play will soon sort that out, but for now it feels like "Gaga does Madonna" instead of "Gaga does a third album".

The good news is that Gaga has impeccabe taste in what she chooses to pay homage to. Born This Way is in every way as catchy and joyful as its source material. And there's something quite refreshing, amidst all of this impossible hype, to hear a record that's purely disco, rather than an 8 minute long operatic masterclass in which Gaga performs an aria all in the name of equal rights. Gaga has oriented Born This Way firmly to the dancefloor and does a fantastic job of it. This is a catchy, addictive record which will have people falling over themselves to dance to it (possibly literally).

When the initial excitement and "spot the similarities" competition dies down, we're confident that Born This Way will sit comfortably alongside Alejandro, Dance in the Dark and Paparazzi in the Gaga canon. It certainly whets the apppetite for when the album Born This Way makes its way out into the world.

Art[work] attack

Exhibit A

Here we have the proposed cover art for Born This Way, aka the upcoming Lady Gaga Album, due to be released on May 23rd 2011 with the single of the same name due to be released on February 13th 20100:

As a bit of a side note we ought to mention that at the Monster's Ball concert last month, we heard Gaga perform You and I which is a track from the album. It managed to be both amazing and not unlike what would happen if Bon Jovi discovered their country side. We were going to write about it but then we fell ill and the moment sort of passed. It's quality and commitment like that which we like to think you've come to expect of The Pop Web over the years.

Exhibit B

This is the cover art just tweeted by Britney Spears for her new single Hold It Against Me. It's due to receive it's premiere in the US any time over the next couple of days.

A demo of Hold It Against Me leaked earlier today. If you want to hear what the song sounds like when it's not sung by Britney (with thanks to MuuMuse), then you can find it here.

Obviously we await with baited breath the actual version, but what we will say is that this better have about 50% more heavy breathing throughout and probably warrants a video which is considerably more Toxic than Gimme More.

If these caveats are borne in mind, it's safe to say that you can go ahead and cancel any plans you might have had to listen to any other pop music until around mid-March.

"Not Myself Tonight" is NOT "Dirrty"

Christina Aguilera has unveiled her new single, called "Not Myself Tonight" which you can listen to here (perhaps at some point the record company will deign to permit video embedding and, you know, diffuse the PROMOTIONAL video across the fragmented media consumed by its contemporary target audience...)

A few preliminary observations:

Firstly, Xtina could do with tipping her hat to Timbaland for inspiring the beats which underpin the song. Observant listeners will note they're almost exactly the same as in SexyBack.

Secondly, it doesn't have the immediacy (or the daring attitude) of something like Dirrty. It takes a few listens but there is undoubtedly some great stuff here (especially the "Tonight I'm not the same girl" shouty refrain). It has to be said, though, that if this is the start of a campaign which seeks to reinvent Christina, it doesn't quite do the job given that it seems to borrow production tricks which worked two years ago but which have become a little de rigeur now. On the other hand, it's a song which has just inspired a pop music blog do use the term de rigeur so perhaps, at least on this level, it's done something right.

Thirdly, this is a perfectly competent release to kick off the Bionic album campaign. But, if we were in Christina's camp, we would be just a little bit wary about hearing the word "competent" ascribed to this comeback single. The female solo pop market is currently about as crowded than it was back in the good old early 00s Christina/Britney wars. Britney's a good few months away from putting anything out which at least avoids those anachronistic comparisons to be wheeled out but now Christina is going up against the likes of Lady Gaga and, we absolutely regret to add, Katie Perry. Obviously the former provides more of an interesting creative foil, but nonetheless, the market for Christina Aguilera's brand of pop is there, but it's fairly fragmented.

Don't get us wrong, "Not Myself Tonight" can be fairly sure of a top ten placing come release day, but having put the Britney war behind her, Christina now finds herself competing with some pretty formidable new kids on the block. When seen against the backdrop of "Telephone", for example, "Not Myself Tonight" really can't afford to be looking dated and merely "competent". Not if it wants to cement Christina as one of the female pop stars occupying the throne which Lady Gaga and Katie Perry are pretending to.

On the other hand, if her team have learned from her past success, and the current success of Lady Gaga, then they'll know that a cracking video could help paper over some of these cracks... We wait in hope.

Things which really shouldn't come as a surprise

The new Lady Gaga (feat. Beyonce) video is amazing.




It also makes literally zero sense. But if you're worried about that, then it's besides the point. The crucial issue is this:

THERE ARE A PAIR OF SUNGLASSES MADE OUT OF CIGARETTES!

Phenomenal.