The new Lady Gaga video is out. One word: wow.
As with many of her other videos, Gaga is pushing buttons here: ones relating to homosexuality, murder, and even rumors of her own androgyny. Directed and co-written by the award-winning Jonas Akerlund, the video -more of a mini-film -makes clear cultural references across the worlds of film, music, art, and dance. I caught nods to Thelma and Louise, Pulp Fiction, the work of Russ Meyer, Madonna (particularly during her Sex phase), Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring (with the bright, cartoon-like coloring and innate sense of playfulness), – even the choreography of Twyla Tharp (with the sharp jerky movements and upper body swings), to say nothing of the influence Akerlund’s past work has on the vid. How many “mainstream” pop artists inject so much thought -and creative approach -into their work? And how many (successfuly) incorporate Beyonce into the mix?
Kudos, Gaga. Keep pushing those buttons. The world -especially the pop world -needs it more than ever.
Ethan Stanislawski
It's pretty amazing how the mainstream, major label pop music world has gotten more explicitly political at the same time the indie music circles have turned away from that.
In re: the Virgin phone, I don't think I've seen a better use of product placement for adding to the artistic value of a video.
Catherine
Agreed -I could see Andy smiling at that one. :}
life-on-queen
The product placement is quite glaring and I'm torn at the way it works in the video. It's either a blatant sell-out or a blatant staredown at people who pretend entertainment isn't a business. It's probably the most provocative part of the video in my opinion. The rest… eh, QT's done it all before.