Lady Gaga
The Fame Monster
Release Date: Nov 23, 2009
Genre(s): Rock, Dance, Pop
Record label: Interscope
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Album Review: The Fame Monster by Lady Gaga
Very Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
What was life like before Lady Gaga? It's hard to fathom. With her strong 2008 debut, The Fame, paparazzi-ready antics and refusal to wear anything other than underpants, she's become indispensable - too ludicrous to ignore and talented enough to embrace. [rssbreak] Now, a little over a year later, she's back with eight new songs about personal monsters.
Based on rating 7.8/10
Remember that "Simpsons" Treehouse of Horror where the Krusty the Clown doll was trying to murder Homer? Turned out the problem was the doll had a switch on its back set to "evil" and with a flick of the wrist, it could be reset to "good." It feels like sometime late last summer, someone flicked a similar switch on Lady Gaga. For about a year, she was nothing but a lot of talk and a badge-- only without the badge. She filled her résumé and interviews with style icon namedrops-- Andy Warhol and his notions on celebrity, the denizens of New York's downtown arts scene, and avant couture designers like Thierry Mugler-- but her singles betrayed none of the artistry that she insisted was part of her package.
Based on rating 6/10
Back in May of this year, Kanye West made (as per usual) a somewhat outrageous claim: that Lady Gaga was our present-day Madonna. The fact that Kanye would make such a boast didn’t really come as that much of a surprise to anyone though. He had already announced a co-headlining tour with her (which has since been canceled), posted every single video and guest-appearance she made on his blog, and even sampled her vocals from an acoustic rendition of “Poker Face” to great effect on the Kid Cudi single “Make Her Say”.
Based on rating 6/10
Lady Gaga's appearance on Saturday Night Live last year was notable not only for her game-changing piano improvisation during her second performance, which showcased her stunning voice and piano skills, but also for the passing of the pop torch to her from Madonna during a skit. Gaga's hotness is hard to argue with these days, as her best songs from her debut The Fame, "Just Dance," "Poker Face," and "Paparazzi," seem to get better on repeat spins. Her combination of Eurotrash hooks, performance-art outlandishness, intelligence, and natural-born talent lift her much higher than your average Britney Spears or American Idol flunky.
'The Fame Monster'
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