The Sprout

Review: Born This Way

Posted by Sambow from Cardiff - Published on 10/06/2011 at 16:26
7 comments » - Tagged as Music

Tweet

After her first major selling album, The Fame, Lady Gaga has returned to us with another spectacular album; Born This Way.

Now, as a little monster myself my review of this album may be quite biased in favour of Momma Monster - but a Gaga fan or not, this album really shows another side to her talent that everyone can appreciate. The songs featured in this album are daring, eccentric and controversial but live up to Mother Monster’s expectations - the beats, lyrics and overall presentation of the songs are somewhere, in my opinion, near perfection.

Born This Way
I’ll take some of these songs individually - most of you have probably already heard the first single from the album which is Born This Way and love it or hate it this song pretty much epitomises the self-loving, self-assertive theme of the album; acceptance of yourself. Lady Gaga’s message here is so inspiring to young people of our generation as the need to ‘fit in’ can sometimes swallow teenagers and make them change themselves to meet others expectations.

Gaga has already made herself famous for her out-there fashion sense and daring music videos so this theme shouldn’t be unexpected from her, but for her fans it’s a great comfort to have your idol tell you it's okay to be yourself which sort of makes this song special. For this reason the album is already fantastic. The song itself is catchy and just plain wonderful, definitely one of my favourites. The lyrics, as always written by Gaga, echo the main theme of the album and as such are inspiring and up-beat, you can go crazy when signing along with this one as the lyrics just tell you to carry on doing what you're doing "Don’t hide yourself in regret, just love yourself and your set”.

Judas
Moving on - the second single! Judas, again this song just makes me want to get up and dance. This one is not so much about loving yourself but more about poisonous boyfriends (Yeah, it’s kind of a jump but work with it). Lady Gaga commented in an interview saying that she was not trying to make a biblical or religious statement with this song; this and the single Born This Way were meant to be more of a pop-art piece. The album itself is more controversial than her previous but the main Gaga’s main aim was to write good music and to please her fans- which she certainly has achieved with this single. Again, this is one of my favourites from the album - it’s incredibly catchy and it’s got a good beat.

Scheiße
Gaga goes German - to put it simply, I love this one. Easily one of my favourites (You can see a trend here; I’ll save myself the trouble now and just say that I love the whole album. Each song is individual and adds its own element to the album). If it wasn’t for the ridiculously catchy chorus I’m sure the inconspicuous German swearing and Gaga’s German accent would have been enough to win me over. I really love this one - a stand-up for yourself number that has a rock/pop-like punch.

Bad Kids
This song should have been released as a single, I’m pretty sure it’s got a rhythm everyone will love. The main message of this song is to rejoice in being rebellious. It’s more pop-like compared to the other songs on the album and reflects more of The Fame’s songs but is nonetheless beautifully executed and has Gaga’s revolutionary touch. It’s censored, hard-core, defiant and bad, another great addition to the album.

Marry the Night and The Edge of Glory
These songs are like fuel for us monsters. You could be in a dark room with no one around and still want go crazy dancing to them, out of respect to yourself. Marry the Night has got more of an electric feel to it but both songs have got the same impact - you can’t keep still while listening to them!

You and I
You and I reminds me of a previous Gaga song: Speechless. It’s slower, more vocally based but it’s really powerful. Gaga wasn’t writing to impress her fans here, she wrote it because she wanted to write a fabulous song. And Gaga, you did.

At the Monster Ball Tour Gaga commented saying: "I wrote this song, out of the deepest most pure, happiest place in my heart. And I don't want nothing from you; I don't want you to buy it; I don't want you to pay me anything to listen to it; I'm not even gonna put it on iTunes. I wrote this song because I wanted to write a great record. And I wanted you to hear it, just because I love you, and I know that all you care about is music and freedom."

There are more songs on the album but I’ve thought to highlight these for those who are still debating whether or not to listen to it. I love the whole album, because Gaga has made each song unique and has really given her fans some spectacular songs.

Born This Way is liberating. Gaga has really explored many more aspects of her personality and talent and has lived up to her fans expectations. The album features not only rock anthems, electric and dance beats expected for a party where you can release yourself with other, but tracks that you can sing along to and dance to on your own - as a tribute to yourself.

Paws up!

Tweet

7 Comments – Post a comment

AddictedToDrPepper!

Commented 11 months ago - 10th June 2011 - 19:30pm

Nice review Sam! We got to catch up sometime!

Love your favorite little Dr Pepper addict.

RoLouG

Commented 11 months ago - 10th June 2011 - 21:51pm

Don't be drag, just be a queen
Whether you're broke or evergreen
You're black, white, beige, chola descent
You're Lebanese, you're orient

Iconic lyrics! Great review it is truly a great album

Stormer007

Commented 11 months ago - 11th June 2011 - 00:10am

Thank you for this =) I don't think I could have summed up my love for this album in words, so I'm glad you have!
Paws up. x

tomplow

Commented 11 months ago - 13th June 2011 - 11:38am

This is a great album and i love this article. You've really captured the ideas and concepts of the songs!
Good work!

A Boy

Commented 11 months ago - 14th June 2011 - 16:38pm

Very, very good review. (a biased little monster also!) i think she's grabbed pop music and done something rather nasty to it, thus creating this masterpiece of an album! but you should have added Bloody Mary in the individual reviews, that song gives me shivers!