Canada.com – Lady Gaga
The Fame
Interscope
Four stars
Lady Gaga’s first single, Just Dance, has been burning up the charts and getting enough radio play to be fairly declared the song of the summer. With a poppy club-friendly sound – complete with whirling synths, easy-clap beat, and Lady Gaga’s brash, but articulated voice – its dance directive is almost impossible to deny.
The rest of the 22-year-old’s debut album is equally fun – and equally obnoxious. Its accessible enough to appeal to early-teen girls wanting to exert musical independence from their parents, but also seems to have enough club cred to be spun by DJs behind velvet ropes everywhere (particularly songs like Poker Face and Lovegame).
As the album’s title suggests, Lady Gaga – real name Stefani Germanotta – sings about such weighty subjects as the paparazzi, partying, and being “beautiful and dirty rich.” Of course, she hasn’t reached the level of fame or wealth of someone like Britney Spears – to whom she could be loosely compared – but if she continues making fresh, infectious pop she could well be on her way. The album has clear nods to disco, the big bold pop of the ’80s, as well as the club sounds of the ’90s, but succeeds in not sounding too much like anything else out there. Make no mistake, this is not high-minded nor complex material. It is unapologetic, brash club pop for our times.
– Amy O’Brian
ChartAttack.com – During a recent performance on the hot-tranny-mess of a show, So You Think You Can Dance, Lady Gaga declared “pop music will never be low-brow” while wearing electronic sunglasses. She’s certainly putting that statement to the test with her debut. If you’ve ever seen this New York City art school brat perform, you know something is up. There’s a definite air of Euro-trash dance music to her sound (which sometimes gets as poppy as the never-quite-forgotten Whigfield), and even more to her look. With big blonde wigs and a futuristic waitress/pole dancer get-up, Lady Gaga demands attention.
The Fame sounds like a Swedish dance record-via-New York and even the Lady’s lyrics often sound like foreign translations (would anyone with proper language skills actually sing about jumping on someone’s disco stick like she does in “Love Games”?) As laughably bad as this album can be, it’s also undeniable pure pop gold because you’re left humming and dancing for days if it’s been played anywhere near you.
– Phil Villeneuve