i guess my point is that, if you take away the gimmick - because her visuals, whether good or not, are beside the point of music would she be as popular? there are plenty of wonderful musicians in the world. i like her music nonetheless, it's frivolous.
They make a fantastic team. RedOne says that he moved to Sweden (at age 19) because of its reputation for great pop music, especially from ABBA, and he wanted to learn the tricks of the trade. That was no surprise to me, because I can hear ABBA influences in a lot of his synthesizer work, as well as in the frequent European cultural references, in lyrics and accents and ethnic sound textures (they did a lot of that in tracks that were not released as singles in the US). ABBA is the third best selling recording act of all time, internationally. Only Elvis and the Beatles have sold more music worldwide. Every musician is influenced by the work of many others. If you want to be a purist about it, probably the biggest share of the credit for Gaga's overall sound should go to ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, who have never been well known in the USA. The sound that they pioneered, built from many intricate layers of diverse electronic sounds, still dominates the world of dance music even though it has been around since at least 1972. Initially, they explored this multitracking technique in the studio to cover their own lack of keyboard virtuosity. Each individual track was relatively easy to play. The hard part was arranging the music, knowing how all the keyboard parts would fit together and sound great as a finished product. I'm temporarily obsessed with the song Edge of Glory. Surely it will be one of her biggest hits. Last night in an interview on MTV, she said that Springsteen's Thunder Road was the first pop/rock song she ever attempted to play on the piano, so now I get the significance of having Clarence from the E Street Band to close out Edge of Glory (and the CD) with that long, sultry solo. What a dream come true for a young musician! There's not a bad sounding track on the new CD. I can only find fault with some of the lyrics, for dealing with subjects that are a bit juvenile for my taste.
It's simply magic. At times, the roles of performer and audience seem to reverse. She loves her fans so much, and the crowd becomes enchanted with her love for them. For a moment, we are the ones who are entertaining her and giving her a special moment to remember, and we get off on being able to do that for her. I haven't seen that happen but a few times in my life, and I've been going to concerts for a long time. It's a regular thing at a Monsters Ball. If you go, dress up in something freaky. Do some fake tattoos and put some purple food coloring in your hair. These concerts remind me of the days when all the girls dressed slutty to go see Shania Twain, and everybody dressed in black to see Heart. I've seen a lot of Gaga interviews where she was somewhat guarded, projecting her standard image, but she let go of all that in an interview that aired this week on MTV ("Inside the Outside"). It's a must-see for Gaga fans. She was extremely open, honest, and emotional about her cruel mistreatment at the hands of high school bullies. And for those who know a lot about music, she goes into more detail than usual about her musical training and early experiences as a performer. Next, I want to see RedOne, her producer, get interviewed. I kept hearing ABBA influences all through Gaga's music, and wondered why she never mentioned ABBA as a musical influence. Then I found out that RedOne has been an ABBA fanatic all his life, moving to Sweden at age 19 to immerse himself in that world-class musical culture. Now I understand. ABBA is the third best selling recording act of all time worldwide, but only had modest success in the US. If RedOne is able to better adapt their sound to American preferences, which he seems to be doing now, there seems no upper limit to Gaga's success. They may be the best musical team of the 21st century.
