Music: Alejandro by Lady Gaga

I swear I will start posting something other than music videos, this just allows me to be lazy. I promise I won't be lazy anymore, just real life work has taken up my time.

So we have the latest "music video", though really the label should be more like art film, from Lady GaGa. And its getting mixed responses, I think everyone agrees its a great video but is it GaGa Great? The last video she did, Telephone, was basically an over the top film that borrowed several influences from 70's exploitation films and everyone seems to have loved it. Alejandro borrows several elements from Madonna and people seem to be less than enthused. The video doesn't have an obvious storyline and its cold, Gothic, wintry setting doesn't fit the sunny, europop sound of the song.

We basically have a stupid controversy about whether this means GaGa is over, yea cause the video has only been out tow days and has over 8 million views cause she is over. The song itself, which most people didn't think was one of the strongest on the album, is a top ten hit and probably push up to top five due to the video. Its incredibly stupid to talk about, media needs a new storyline about her so why not push this idea of her faltering.

Anyway, so back to the video itself. I love it, I've watched it dozens of times because something about it just works for me. The imagery is stunning: militarism, catholicism, homo-eroticism, 30's Germany, 90's Herb Ritts, its quite a package. I like the choreography of the video better than some of her past videos. Yes, it has some very 90's Madonna moments. The one part that really stands out to me is the catwalk/vogue scene that happens at about 5:30 of the video. I really think its awesome with Gaga and soliders doing some rather incredible model stepping.

I think it might actually speak more to the influence of Klein than Madonna, that Madonna had a lot less to do with the look of Vogue, Express Yourself, etc. Klein was the dominant influence and she just went a long. Klein definitely repeats his themes with Gaga, though they definitely edgier and darker in Alejandro.

The video's message, or one of them, is that gay relationships are strong, honorable and powerful like that of a military unit. Thats refreshing to see, since we are often portrayed as weak or effeminate.

I am just more sorry that this video might be remembered as a Madonna knock off when its actually something much more.