Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster Artwork

The artwork for Lady Gaga's new album "The Fame Monster" is interesting (and disturbing) to say the least. The cover art I've grown to love, it's bold and self-assured without being annoying - in short, it's hypnotizing. However, not all of the artwork is of such a high quality - there are some real clunky junkers out there, like this one:



Not her most flattering picture to say the least. I'm sure she wasn't going for pretty here (on purpose), but still, there should be a limit - she kind of looks like that woman from The Ring. I mean, Lady Gaga isn't as unattractive as many people says she is, she just has a habit of giving people cannon fodder like this what with the streak make up, clueless expression, and wiry broom-like dustbin hairdo (Lady Gaga: The Broom Monster?). It just isn't a good look. And by the way, what is with the right side of her hair all static and up in the air like that? Either it's getting blown by a fan or someone needs to comb that shit down - unless the ghost of her sanity is in the room, then someone should have fucking fixed it. And as for this one:



What the fuck is that supposed to be? Nice consistency with the smeared makeup, but what is she wearing, what is that on her head, and why did she suddenly revert black to blond hair? Either she is very clever and I'm missing something, or her next album should be entitled: The Fume Monster because she is sort of giving off the impression that she is probably sucking the back end of a carburetor (or as she is liable to call it: "carburetor stick"). Call me crazy but I just don't find the pantyhose monster all that scary. (Moving on.)



See, I just give up now. Are those crows in her hair? For a good while I was sitting here mulling this over pic thinking if it was just another crazy-ass 'do of hers, but no, it's some crows. What does it symbolize you ask? Probably something to do with the film The Crows (she seems to love her Hitchcock - "give me your psycho, your vertigo stick" comes to mind), but even so, it's still pretty random. I'm not a makeup biologist or anything but even I can tell her eyelashes are fucked the hell up. But at the very least you have to be grateful that they didn't choose to use lurid-orange horror movie letters for text.

I think we should all thank Lady Gaga for having the balls (unintentional joke) to do something like this. Though before I end this I just have to ask: are those crows featured on the new album? I mean do they sing on it - if I'm not mistaken they do a little cameo on "Bad Romance" ("Caw-Caw-ah-ah-ah"). Someone please let me know if they did. I am a really big fan of crows (and Lady Cawcaw).

Now, let's recap: what did we all learn today? The answer is of course:

Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster (review)

I was a bit surprised by how fast Lady Gaga came out with her follow up album The Fame Monster (from a marketing standpoint releasing a new album just as she has hit her stride is incredibly smart, but still - too soon?). I was hoping she would just take a little break, recharge her batteries (wink wink) and then release something akin to her first album, which spawned several hit singles and could even make a grown man break down in tears and scream "POKERFACE!!!" What we got here is less pop gems and something very short and safe, but oddly enough, not really as bad as one would expect for something with such a small production window.

The first song/single off the album is "Bad Romance" which went off to be one of her most popular songs ever. It's a great song but I kind of felt like she was just being way too inane and self indulgent throwing out lyrics like "Gaga, ooh la la." It's just weird and self absorbed even though it's *probably* meant to be funny. But what was that whole line about a vertigo stick? Lady Gaga has mentioned having an affinity for old horror/sci-fi movies before so I guess the lyrics "give me your psycho, your vertigo stick" are just references to Alfred Hitchcock. Fair enough. But I can't help but feel she is trying to cash in on the ever popular line "disco stick" from her previous album The Fame. However, I really like the little bloops throughout the song - they sound a lot like the sound Mr. Game & Watch makes when he walks around in Super Smash Bros. Don't believe me? Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmSh_rWgfjc

I doubt that sound is made by an instrument... but I could be wrong. It's interesting to say the least.

Other songs worth mentioning are "Alejandro" and "So Happy I Could Die" (my personal favorite, but the lyrics are kind of explicit). I find it kind of funny that Lady Gaga is at her best when she doesn't say anything - just says things like "eh-eh, eh-eh/ye-ha, ye-ha." That's not really an insult but moreso a testament to her ability to craft catchy choruses that burn their way into your bobbing head. But back to those songs: Alejandro seems to be some sort of love letter to a guy who I assume exists. You'd be hard-pressed to find a catchier out right now... every time I read the song title I start to hear the lyrics in my head: "alejandro, alejandro/ale ale jandro, ale ale jandro."

The song will sink into your cranial cherry pie and beat the fucking lyrics into it. It's that catchy.

So Happy I could Die is probably the most *touching* song on the album - not only in an emotional sense but a risque one as well. For example: she constantly mentions touching herself and not being able to get enough (/groan). Even so, it's just as catchy as Alejandro so don't expect to walk away from this album without gibbering these lyrics to yourself like a lunatic (which may or may not be a good thing, so you decide - then again, you couldn't be any crazier than her right? The only outfit she hasn't worn yet is a dress made out of Twizzlers).

The Fame Monster is a highly infectious, albeit shallow and short package that doesn't really live up to her previous album The Fame. A lot of people will argue that this album is just a quick cash-in but I disagree: it's a great "this is me, take it or leave it" statement. It's probably not what a lot of her old fans are expecting and she just keeps getting weirder and more experimental, but at least now people can't really say she has no depth. I'm sure a lot of people want to nail gun her face to death at this point, but you can do a lot worse than Lady Gaga and her innate weirdness (genius?). I will take an unpredictable freakazoid like her over a predictable normal person any day. This whole album - including the artwork - is just fucking creepy, over-the-top and insane... and yet it works.

Final Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars

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