Rated Born This Way - it's here

It’s potentially the most anticipated album of the decade; Born This Way is finally here. With tonnes of euro-pop charm, bloody weird electro production and some startlingly fantastic moments this has potential to be one of the most unique pop albums since Madonna’s “ground breaking” Ray of Light. 

Lady Gaga erupted into pop consciousness with ‘Just Dance’ in 2008 and then the record breaking/setting ‘Poker Face’, both of which have become contemporary pop anthems. Her initial collection of songs, The Fame, sold over 20 million copies throughout the world. Its sound was quite pop standard, laced with some rnb to keep it brimming with attitude. This commercial, rather chart safe sound soon dissolved however, into the euro-pop styling of the immense ‘Bad Romance’, lifted from the 1.5 album The Fame Monster. With this evolution in Gaga’s sound it became clear that there was something quite special coming next. It's here.

 Born This Way opens with ‘Marry the Night’, homage to Gaga’s nights cruising the New York City underground club scene and how it served as escapism from the sorrows of life. With a soaring electro chorus she beautifully blasts, “I’m gonna marry the night, leave nothin’ on these streets to explode”.

Next up is the single that divided fans, ‘Born This Way’, which is one of the album highlights (but by no means reflective of the album’s sound as a whole). “No matter gay-straight-or bi, lesbian-transgender life, I’m on the right track baby I was born to survive”, has become the key line from the pro-gay anthem. It’s not all about being gay though, this is a song with a dynamic message of equality and self-love, cleverly written and catchy as fuck (I get to swear, Gaga would approve).
Things get dark, dirty and very Berlin discothèque with the hugely anticipated ‘Government Hooker’. Kicking off in semi-operatic fashion the song decends into a decadent array of synthy growls and electric twitching, as Gaga speaks, “Put your hands on me, John F. Kennedy, I’ll make you squeal baby, as long as you pay me”. I’m not quite sure if there’s any intellectual, political message in here, but who cares when it sounds this cool?

‘Judas’ rips in as GH fades out. Smart, original and relentless, this dance floor filler has a thudding base, teamed with Gaga’s “Judas, Ju-da-a-a-a”, making it a piece of pop perfection. It sounds quite hard until you hit the chorus, which has to be the most surprisingly camp chorus on the album (bar ‘Hair’). It’s all fantastic fun though, especially when you see the music video.

A surprising track is ‘Americano’, which is one of my favourites from Born This Way. It’s hard not to find it humorous, but this is a belting song, featuring some of Gaga’s most effective vocals to date. A tale of love lost to a criminal lifestyle (I think?), this is like J.LO’s ‘Aint it Funny’ on crack.

Keeping with the well-known Gaga message of self acceptance, she moves away from her “tremendous dick” to her ‘Hair’. “I’ve had enough, this is my prayer, that I’ll die living just as free as my hair”, she booms with stunning vocals. Potentially off putting to many due to its subject matter, this is a tremendous pop song, laced with the pounding electro beats that serve as the foundation for the album. It sends me back to Brat Pack and I guarantee you won’t feel 80s nostalgia listening to this song, even if you were only three years old!

“I don’t speak German, but I can if you like…” says Gaga in a faux German accent in the bizarre opening to the 3.45 minutes of crazy that is ‘Scheiße’. Even more techno than GH, this is a completely ridiculous song but utterly wonderful in its conception. It got played at that Mugler show and rightly so. It’s the haute couture song of the album.

Unfortunately, there has to be a song that just doesn’t hit the G spot. It’s not that ‘Bloody Mary’ doesn’t fit with the sound of the album, it just doesn’t excite like the filthy synths of the previous tracks. It lacks the hooks that make Gaga songs so special and feels like a tired moment in production. A similar disappointment is ‘Heavy Metal Lover’, which lacks point and punch. It plays like a backing track for a tour video skit, not like an album track.

Things get rock’n’roll with ‘Bad Kids’ and ‘Highway Unicorn’. The former starts with riffs, melting down to a light, electro-pop chorus. The latter is an electro-rock 80s nostalgia piece that would fit perfectly over a gay biker gang movie and after a few listens becomes one of the most fun songs on the album.

‘Electric Chapel’ is better than BM and HML, but is another lacklustre track that seems rather feeble in the wake of the fantastic pop songs that have preceded its arrival.

Thankfully, Gaga yanks it back to perfection with the two closers, ‘You & I’ and ‘Edge of Glory’. The former is a rock’n’roll ballad, the only ballad on the album in fact. It shows off Gaga’s brilliant vocal capabilities and her knack for knocking out a great song. The promo-single ‘Edge of Glory’ is an immense euro-pop ride that titillates the senses with a gargantuan chorus backed by the roaring synth that meanders through the cracks of the album. It’s good to see such a strong song at the end of an album, too often do artists close with a deflating song, whereas you’ll be repeating non-stop once this bursts into audio.

It seemed silly not to dissect the album, especially considering how big a deal it actually is on the pop scene. This is an epic album, filled with fantastically oddball moments and some tremendous ones too. Three tracks let it down slightly, but there’s always the skip button. Now, what’s the Judas dance routine again?

4/5