Despite being well received by her fans, Lady GaGa‘s ‘Born This Way’ has been unable to shake off a number of criticisms aimed its way since its 2011 release.
Labelled ‘boring’ by Chris Richards of The Washington Post and ‘unsubtle’ by the LA Times’ Randall Roberts, this week saw the star defend the LP against NME Magazine, who branded it ‘pretentious’.
Full story below…
In their list of ‘10 Most Pretentious Albums Ever’, the publication placed ‘Born’ at #1, explaining:
For a while Gaga was the most exciting pop star on the planet. Then on ‘Born This Way’ she seemed to believe in her own hype, convinced that she had a message to share. Cue an album of unwieldy ‘anthems’ that couldn’t mask the fact the fun had left the building.
Most Pretentious Moment: The German sung ‘ScheiBe’. Did electroclash die for this?
To which GaGa replied:
Oh the irony of winning “Most Pretentious Album Ever” from none other than NME. *eyeroll* I might laugh forever + then return to narcissism.
Here’s the thing:
Though NME’s went a touch too far with their remarks, we do co-sign their stance on the LP’s ‘fun factor’- or lack of it.
Because, for an album that was supposed to be upbeat and liberating, some of the tracks were weighed down by overbearing lyrics that left nothing to the imagination, a far cry from the ‘Alejandro‘s and ‘Paparazzi‘s of the world.
On a production tip it’s sound was ace, but here’s to hoping GaGa learns how to express herself in far more subtle ways with album #4.
So what do you think?
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OHHHH , Sometimes you listen to an album, you have a certain thought about it and think that you may be the only one thinking that and listening to fans review you just accept that your opinion just doesn’t matter. Well I must say i like some songs on gaga’s album but I thought the same as mne. Oh Oh, I always feel better when someone bold enough and with more power puts it in writing.
btw why would gaga reply though. It’s just mne and her album sales are good.
@KIMBERLY
Girl mark this day down cuz for the first time imma have to agree with you. she did start to believe her own hype and alot of these other magazine and reviewers did not but kiss her ass calling the album “bold and “perfect. she was great before she started milking the gay market. the album was quite forgettable if you ask me.
wasn’t that suppose to be the album of the decade? well unfortunately Adele snatch that title.”album of the decade, 21 almost 20 million WW. Gaga I still love you but i remember the shade interview you did early last year, well if you shade then you should accept shade, but afterall I still love some of your songs. LOVE
I loved me some gaga during the FAME era and Fame monster. But she did lose me with born this way. I didn’t buy it.
I do like gaga as an artist tho. Hopefully she gets back on track with her next album. In the meantime ill be listening to the Fame.
Lmao@ her album being number one for that tho. Oh well, at least if u have to be the most pretentious she still got that number one spot.
I SOMEHWHAT AGREE ON WHAT NME IS SAYING…
HOWEVER “Scheiße” IS ONE OF THE BEST SONGS ON THE ALBUM!!!!
I WILL SAY SHE WENT OVERBOARD WITH THE ELECTROPOP AND THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH URBAN INVOLVED IN IT. I THINK SHE SHOULD DO MORE RECORDS LIKE “FAME MONSTER” SEEING HOW THAT IS HER BEST WORK TO DATE! THAT ALBUM IS CLASSIC AND VERY MUCH TIMELESS!
SHE NEEDS TO HAVE ALOT MORE DIVERSE SOUND IN THIS NEXT ALBUM AND IT NEEDS TO APPEEL TO ALL RACES NOT JUST GAY DANCERS…… FAME MONSTER SHOWED THAT!
IT WOULD BE GREAT IF HER NEXT ALBUM FELL ALONG THE LINES OF:
1. Dance in the Dark
2. Scheiße
3. So Happy I Could Die
4. Teeth
5. Eh Eh (Theres Nothing Else I Can Say)
6. Judas
9. Alejandro
10. Papparizzi
11. Speechless
12.Monster
13. Bloody Marry
14. Bad Romance
15. Born This Way
That sounds like a good album to me!
CO-SIGN!!! There were a few good tracks on BTW, but it was very pretentious because she was trying to appease a certain demographic, while forgetting about everyone else… Hell, I think she forgot about herself in the project! Here’s hoping her next album slays. She’s definitely a talent to be reckoned with.
Yes! is pretentious like everything Gaga does, what is the problem, Artists like Prince, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Marilyn Manson and “The Blonde Ambition” Madonna has all been pretentious with their work, she is on the right road b******, “Born This Way” is her most successful and best album today, “The Fame Monster” has an Iconic songs but the rest is —– like “Alejandro”, Teeth” and “Telephone” sorry but Beyonce with Gaga is just not (Don’t fits together), best are “Dance in the Dark”, “So Happy I Could Die”, “Speechless” and “Bad Romance”, Every Artist that respect himself has to be pretentious.
WHO THE F*** IS NME MAGAZINE?
AND WHO BUYS IT OR PAYS ATTENTION?
BORN THIS WAY WAS A GOOD ALBUM, SURE IT HAD SOME FILLERS BUT EVEN THE FILLERS WERE ENJOYABLE. I JUST WISH SHE WOULD HAVE RELEASED DIFFERENT SINGLES.
I actually thought that BTW was one of the worst albums in 2011. I definitely agree with NME. If ever an album came across as pretentious it would be this one. I listen to a lot of different artists and Gaga’s album just takes the cake. I think she just thought that her hype would make people accept anything. I actually thought that was the case for her as well. It was cool to like Gaga and everything she did was “art” for 2 years. It just goes to show that this album really did suck, because she had the world in the palm of her hands. I’m glad she’s forced to earn some respect now like most successful and credible artists had to.
http://www.thepagewithroyalkev.com
NME just dont like gaga.a madonna friend is probably behind it
anyway,BTW is a great album.her best
Everybody’s busy about which or which is albume of the decade. Head’s up: the decade still has 8 years to go on. Come back down to earth.
With better videos, much better album cover and Scheisse, Heavy Metal Lover or Bloody Mary as singles, this era would be much better. I still love her very much, yes, b**** is pretentious, b**** is talented AND b**** has so much to offer! She is here to stay and i can’t wait to see what is coming next!
*Please Gaga, stop directing ur own videos, leave it to professionals, do what u do best: dance, sing, play piano, write and produce MUSIC!
Well, NME is right, BTW was supposed to be some kind of game changing album but in the end it was nothing but hype.
@MIAO, “With better videos, much better album cover and Scheisse, Heavy Metal Lover or Bloody Mary as singles, this era would be much better.”
_________________________________________________________
THIS!!!!
“Heavy Metal Lover” is my favorite Gaga song ever! In my opinion, it destroys everything on The Fame and The Fame Monster. Though I love me some “So Happy I Could Die” and “Dance in the Dark.”
add “Government Hooker” to the mix and you have the 4 best songs on the album that she chose NOT to release. I will never understand this decision.
@onyx
Agree totally with you! Born This Way is the best we´ve seen from Gaga. And how can this guy who writes for TGJ always say she needs to do more Alejandro´s or Telephone´s??? Among all Gaga songs those two? That clearly discredits his opinion. I mean, Bad Romance anybody? Agree with your whole post (if it wasn´t cos you like Rihanna a lot i think I would be in love with you 🙂 )
@TGJStaff
So now an album has to be fun to be good??? Adele´s “21” is fun for you? Cos I´m sure you think it is an amazing album (and I agree) but not what I would call fun
…point menin the direction of what they said that was wrong. Seriously. Save for being #1 on the list, which is a bit much, they really hit the nail on the head.
Gaga got her fanbase, she got her ‘monsters! paws up!’, she started believing she could make no mistakes…and then she released this album. You can really almost hear the arrogance in the actual album.
There are some good songs on it but the ones she chose to promote, release as singles, make those ridiculously overworked videos for…no one should have to worship you to enjoy your music. It should be able to touch and impress new listeners. Instead there was 80’s rehash everywhere, everything had to be a power anthem. Bad Romance, Alejandro, Judas…great BIG songs but somehow Gaga got lost trying to make every song complicated and just as big as them.
Better luck on the future album, she just needs balance.
@JohnVidal (RIPWhitney-true great)
I like Rihanna coz the girl seems to be a nice person and this site hates her, not that i am his crazy fan, you can be in love with me, i’m in love with you.
It’s not pretentious, it’s simply not aimed to stupid people 🙂
Why was it “supposed” to be “fun”??
Can’t pop music also be meaningful, and not just “fun” and “bubbly”?
I think her tracks “Born this Way” and “Edge of Glory”, and the acoustic performance of “Hair”, are major career achievements. Such passionate songs, with empowering and uplifting messages.
Who gives a sh** if it’s “fun”… it’s much more than fun, those songs were Powerful.
.@MRDIVABITCH
February 24, 2012 at 5:20 pm
It’s not pretentious, it’s simply not aimed to stupid people
———–
LMAO!! I co-sign this comment.
I remember I turned to be a MADONNA fan with the AMERICAN LIFE album which tanked on the charts and get massive critcism. But I think that album is one of the best records ever, lyrically and musically.
The same happened with Gaga, I turned out to be her fan when she had no media hype and flopping (=awesome quality) songs. I loved her previous albums, but I became a fan by the whole Born This Way record. I think it’s her best work yet – lyrically and musically. But it is a strong artistic anthemistic party record, and not a radio friendly record. That’s why it tanked. But the lyrics are amazing. I only missed the “Paper Gangsta” kinda feeling songs from the 1st album.
But Born This Way is a masterpiece.
I think Adele deserved 2 out of 3 Grammy Awards against Gaga, but Born This Way deserved to be the album of the year, instead of 21, which is a great album, but BTW is much better.
ASS
February 24, 2012 at 6:40 pm
.@MRDIVABITCH
February 24, 2012 at 5:20 pm
It’s not pretentious, it’s simply not aimed to stupid people
———–
LMAO!! I co-sign this comment.
———-
I co-sign this too.
Pretentious is the perfect word to describe the album in a nutshell. Nice to know not everyone in the free world is blinded by this chick’s exploitative tactics!
The album was terrible. period. NME got it spot on.
MRDIVABITCH
February 24, 2012 at 5:20 pm
It’s not pretentious, it’s simply not aimed to stupid people
______________________________________________
Caught you! That is why you really Hate Christina…
It sucked, plan and simple. And its her most under performing album to date
@Miao
February 24, 2012 at 3:10 pm
With better videos, much better album cover and Scheisse, Heavy Metal Lover or Bloody Mary as singles, this era would be much better. I still love her very much, yes, b**** is pretentious, b**** is talented AND b**** has so much to offer! She is here to stay and i can’t wait to see what is coming next!
*Please Gaga, stop directing ur own videos, leave it to professionals, do what u do best: dance, sing, play piano, write and produce MUSIC
@ OXYXYes! is pretentious like everything Gaga does, what is the problem, Artists like Prince, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Marilyn Manson and “The Blonde Ambition” Madonna has all been pretentious with their work, she is on the right road b******, “Born This Way” is her most successful and best album today, “The Fame Monster” has an Iconic songs but the rest is —– like “Alejandro”, Teeth” and “Telephone” sorry but Beyonce with Gaga is just not (Don’t fits together), best are “Dance in the Dark”, “So Happy I Could Die”, “Speechless” and “Bad Romance”, Every Artist that respect himself has to be pretentious.
_Totallyyyyyyyyyyy agree! “American Life” By Made is very underrated and it’s still my favorite album from her like “Rated R” for Rih, IDGADF about commercial success!!:-)
*** Oooooops*** To Onyx! sorry for your name don’t know what happened lol!!
GAAGLOOO!
*Please Gaga, stop directing ur own videos, leave it to professionals, do what u do best: sing, play piano, write and produce MUSIC
——-
THIS!
because of that, the Era has been all over the place.
esp. since Edge of Glory MV.
also… stop hyping all of your future project.
note: promoting is okay, but NO “This is the album of the decade” crap.
Who cares what NME think? Pot calling the kettle black there with them saying Born This Way is pretentious methinks. Born This Way is Gaga’s best and most cohesive album to date, it just works somehow despite all the different genres she mashes together on there. For me, if she never goes back to some of the generic pop from the original The Fame album, I will be happy. NME love to sneer at anything that is hugely popular, funny thing is when they rated the album originally they gave it 7 or 8 out of ten, jumping on the bash Gaga bandwagon does them no favours. Does anyone still actually read NME anyway? Exactly, so another bunch of people trying to use Gaga to get publicity.
ASS
February 24, 2012 at 6:40 pm
.@MRDIVABITCH
February 24, 2012 at 5:20 pm
It’s not pretentious, it’s simply not aimed to stupid people
———–
LMAO!! I co-sign this comment.
———-
I co-sign this too.
———-
Me too! I co-sign 🙂
so they hate on BTW because ” it lacked” the fun factor ?!
the stupidity ?! WTF ?!
make space for me gaga , me and you gonna laugh at those attention seekers for life !!
for simple-minded b****** , BTW is a concept album , not meant to be fun cuz the topic is serious !! not funny !!
but still ” fashion of his love” , “amen fashion” and maybe ” you & i ” were fun to me , don’t know what version the writer bought of BTW , but BTW had fun moments !! just like when Rated R had one of most rihanna’s enjoyable tracks ” rude boy” !! it was fun an all , but it didn’t fit in the whole theme of the album ” just like RTW in 4 ” !!!!!!!
this magazine is stupid as hell. 😡
@Saetana and Pop Royalty. The NME article was pretentious in itself (I loved how they spelled Scheisse wrong), and what is even more childish of NME was they wrote TWO more articles about this–one article with Gaga’s tweet response, and yet ANOTHER one with the LMs responses to make fun of Gaga’s whole fan base. I mean, that’s very childish and NOT journalism or valid musical criticism. I mean, it’s okay to critique as long as you can back up your arguments, which NME clearly has not done. Shame on NME.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BCWbErOLhU
Lady Gaga Vs Katy Perry Vs Adele Vs Jennifer Lopez – Purely Statistical Battle!!!!