Going Gaga Over Lady Gaga

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, more popularly known as Lady Gaga took the music scene by storm in 2008 with her hit singles “Poker Face” and “Just Dance” from the album “The Fame” which peaked at number 2 in Billboard’s Hot 200. Her unique hair fashion, extreme choice for outfits and outrageous music videos was an instant hit among Generation Y and the Gaga Fever cuts across other generations that precede the so called Net Generation. I belong to the Generation X and I must admit I loved Lady Gaga’s songs way before my kids could appreciate them.


Sunday Night at the MTV Video Music Awards held in Los Angeles, Lady Gaga added another milestone in her crowded list of monumental achievements. Her song “Bad Romance” earned her the highest achievement of the night for Video of the Year and took home the “astronaut statue”. In just a little span of time, Lady Gaga earned the right to join the elite class of Madonna, Peter Gabriel, REM, Eminem, Green Day, Aerosmith and Beyonce. These artists | groups are at the top spot of the few performers who have won at least (10) MTV Video Music Award. Lady Gaga has a total of eleven (11) awards already at the MTV VMA, eight (8) of which came just in one night during the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.


“I want your love and I want your revenge, you and me could write a bad romance..” It’s funny to note that Gaga’s “Bad Romance” has been her ticket to greater fame. The song won seven (7) of eight award categories including the Best Pop Video, Best Female Video, Best Dance Video, Best Choreography, Best Direction Best Editing and Video of the Year Award. The other song, “Telephone” collaboration with Beyonce’ got the Best Collaboration. Millions of people around the world who loved Bad Romance and the people at the MTV VMA selection, screening and judging committee must have related to the song that much. This probably is the first time for an ironic composition (song) about love to get the highest honors in one of the prestigious music awards of the world.


Others may disagree and insist that lyrics has nothing to do with the awards and the criteria, but just as the notes give life to the words, lyrics is the soul of any music masterpiece. Most often than not, lyrics dictates the destiny of a song. It doesn’t have to be complicated and it can be too simple, the vital component in writing lyrics is that somebody has got to “relate” and “see himself” inside the lyrics (story) of the song. It has to be a communal experience, it has to be real and it has to be written from the heart. From this perspective and from the message of the song itself, I can safely assume that there are too many broken hearts in the world right now, and an equal number of those are willing to take the risk of a bad romance.


Sometime in May of this year, Beethoven del Valle Bunagan, also known as “Bitoy”, “Toybits” and more famous as Michael V., created a spoof of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance video with his very own “Bathroom Dance”. The video was an instant YouTube hit among Bubble Gang fanatics but this was extremely way below the original song in terms of internet hits. Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance had thus far been viewed by over 200 Million people at YouTube while Bitoy’s rendition had only about 200 thousand. The reason? Aside from the fact that originals are always almost better, Bitoy’s message was a trash. Nothing compared to Gaga’s notes.


Lady Gaga continues to make beautiful noise at the airwaves. Her latest song “Alejandro” enjoys massive airplays at local music stations and has been a consistent feature in the weekend chart countdown. Upcoming songs like “Monster”, “Speechless” and “Dance in the Dark” have great potentials to be house hold favorites too. My daughters Angel and Maria Theressa (and their mother) adored Lady Gaga pretty much. I just wish I won’t see the day when they greet me at the doorstep late in the evening (from work) and see the two young ladies in Lady Gaga-like outfits.