"Born" right

"Express Yourself!" "Express Yourself!" is mostly what I saw as I rode to the airport Friday morning. I'd missed the boat, so to speak, neglecting to download Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" when it hit the world at 6 am, so for a few hours, I had to form an idea of the awaited track based on my Twitter timeline. I had expected a sleek, proto-pop-house anthem (the comparisons to "Vogue" that were present in smaller numbers only reinforced this). When I finally was able to download it, instead of processed horns and the plastic beats of Steven Bray and/or Shep Pettibone, what Gaga was serving to my ears was hi-NRG realness.

While there is some melodic intersection with "Express Yourself" (see Madonna's "What you need is a big strong hand to lift you to your higher ground" versus Gaga's "So hold your head up, darling you'll go far, listen to me when I say..." and/or "So if you want it right now..." versus "I'm beautiful in my way..."), the sound of the song has a much more tenuous connection to the (former?) Queen of Pop: the galloping arpeggiation, the swift tempo, grinding guitarishness of the track is most reminiscent of
"Born To Be Alive," the biggest hit of Patrick Hernandez, whom Madonna dated and danced back-up for. If "Express Yourself" is a fancy car that goes moderately fast, "Born This Way" is a parade of sounds zooming by.

What a perfect setting for gay pride! The production by Gaga, Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow seems to bespeak an understanding of gay culture way beyond the ham-fisted lyrics. I talked to MTV News regarding the conflation of activism and commerce (and previously wrote about the trend of gay-pandering by pop stars for the Voice), so I have little left to say as far as what Gaga's doing with that (although no matter what, I think we can all agree that tailoring explicitly gay anthems on such a mainstream level is something new and foreign to pop, and more importantly, gay culture, and its effects remain to be seen). The lyrics are kind of dumb and simplistic, yes (since when is being on the right track a birthright?), and they do contain some off-color terminology for the sake of meter and rhyme. (However, I wish all the energy devoted to arguing about words like "chola" said by someone clearly invested in the concept of harmony would instead be placed on fighting actual bigots or charity work. Splitting hairs with those clearly on the right side is a gigantic waste of time for everybody.)

But underneath all that is a fairly sophisticated knowledge of gay music -- in echoing "Born To Be Alive," "Born This Way" falls in line with the music "Alive" helped birth -- the hyper-electronic, hi-NRG sounds that disco morphed into after the '80s (the kind of stuff that was played at the insane NYC gay club the Saint back in the day). My favorite thing about "Born This Way" is how dorky it sounds -- it's just so bold in its exuberance. This works so well because if you examine overt expressions of gay pride -- parades, rainbows, drag queens -- the thing about them is that they aren't cool. They're amazing and special and so, so important, but their flamboyance is direct at odds with the notion of cool. Within pop culture, there's a current notion that being gay is cool, and it's so ridiculous. It's not. It's just how some people are. "Born This Way" seems to get that entirely.

Comments

[Wendell]

Thank you!!! Finally another voice of reason. This is a wonderfully written response to so many people who are hating for the sake of hating.

[Mark]

Brilliant Rich! Thank you so much for this -- you articulated what I could only sense up until now and had began to doubt . . . it's hypersincerity makes it easy to criticize. But it is solid, consistent, and gorgeous, and still sincere.

[nahtans]

but rather boring.... for a supposed anthem!!

[Schadenfraulein]

I have to disagree with you when you argue that the racist words "chola" and "Orient" should be ignored because Lady Gaga needed words to fit in the song. It sounds like a weak excuse to me. She's not a bigot of any sort, but there's no actual reason to use these words in the first place. It sounds like laziness if she has to resort to words with such connotations in a song about acceptance. It's also ironic.

My take on the song is completely different; I found the song to be simple and forgettable, even dated. What struck me as odd is that Gaga wrote the song telling every one that it's a gay anthem. Isn't that up to the gay community to decide what their anthem is or will be?

I'm not trying to convince anyone not to like this song, since taste is very subjective and people ought to enjoy the music they like. I just wanted to point out a couple issues I had with your review.

[WWB]

Taken in the context you illustrated, 'Born This Way' does work well in it's exuberance and decidedly uncool vibe. It's sincere and goofy and endearing.

But in a general sense, it's a big let down. As the first single from an eagerly awaited follow up to a worldwide pop titan album, it's surprisingly lackluster. The first 15 or so seconds set you up for a song that never really delivers and pales to Gaga's previous singles...as well as many of her album tracks.

So while I appreciate the sentiment and may have loved this as an album track, in today's 'MASSIVE. FIRST. SINGLE.' climate, it's a dud. Maybe that's not a fair mentality...but given the amount of hype this song has received the last 6 months (like, unprecedented as far as I can remember) and Gaga's own declarations, I'd say it was perfectly reasonable to expect something more than a generic early 90s hi-NRG track (not even attempting a 'neo hi-NRG', which would've been interesting).

Yes, this song has its 'haters' who are going to diss it no matter what... but overall, the song is receiving a backlash purely on it's own merits.

[chantal]

Schadenfraulein,

I dunno who you think you're speaking for on behalf of the racism in chola. I live in East LA and gangster girls embrace that word with pride.

[Julia]

Freakin' hate this song. It sounds just totally empty, or like a funhouse mirror version of a pop anthem.

[Golden J]

Thank you WWB for the articulate, well-thought-out response to Rich's equally articulate and well-thought-out defense of Gaga's song. I guess you're both right, but I take WWB's side in this.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's an decent song and I'll definitely sing and dance along to it at the club, but hearing it isn't going to make my night or anything.

I'd like to hear more people's thoughts about Gaga's perception as an "innovator." It seems to me that her insane fashion choices have caused people to think her music is somehow insane, left-field, or ridiculously forward-thinking. It's not. It's very, very good pop music with a europop bent. And I'm totally fine with that!

[JH]

I think the "Born to Be Alive"/ disco/ The Saint comparison is a bit of a stretch.

[Norma]

Chantal - I live in East LA, too...and I think "cholas" take offense if people who aren't from the 'hood call them that. At least that's what my chola friends tell me.

However, in regards to the song, I think she was just trying to rhyme words. I personally don't care for the song. I was a fan of Gaga's in the beginning and now she just kinda gets on my nerves a little. Here's hoping for a redeeming moment in my little heart of stone.

[Miss Lisa]

It's missing something. Heart and soul I think it's called.

[marni]

I think the "cholas" and "orient" line are offensive...imagine if she had used homophobic slurs.

[Matt]

No way, totally contrived song, a song that "just needs to make a rhyme" can't be that great can it? (it shows).

And someone hit the nail on the head--how dare any artist say "this is your anthem you group of people you!"

[Michael]

my boyfriend made some good points as we discussed it. we're so used to anthems being these coded songs that just happened to fall in place as such due to serendipity. this was written with the idea of anthem in mind and a lot of people don't like that. But since when has any mainstream artist who reaches far more households than the random indie gay artist, actually written a song, uncoded, with literal GLBT-etc support so clearly defined? as a community, all we do is tear people down, both those against us and for us. For once we have someone who actually does more than just take our money - least we forget, she actually goes and speaks out at gay events and protests. when's the last time Katy Perry, Britney Spears, or even Madonna, ever did that? (I'd say Bedtime Stores era for Madge, back when she did all the AIDS fundraisers). Is what she's doing really all that terrible, when she's doing more than just singing about the community, but actually backing up her words with some actions?

On the other hand, I for one think the song is far more reminiscent of When Love Takes Over than any Madonna song...

[john]

it's campy.

[AntBee]

Not only did Carl Bean write and sing a song called, "Born This Way," on Motown Records, back in the 70s, it actually is a better song altogether. It, too, was also a call to arms, so to speak, for gay people. I've never been a Lady Gaga fan, and I still remain unimpressed.

[ger]

When my Chinese boyfriend first heard the song a huge smile broke out all over his face when GaGa sang the word Orient. He looked at me and said "That's me!".

[EZ Mac]

What what what? Just because some girls in East L.A. call themselves "cholas" doesn't mean some white girl gets to call them that! Hello! A slur holds different power in the mouth of the oppressed than in the mouth of the oppressor. Sorry white people: you don't get to "reclaim" slurs seeing as they aren't yours to reclaim.

And the "my Chinese boyfriend says it's okay so it must not be racist" excuse is tired and gross.

[kate welsh]

This song really lacks heart and soul and essence?