Lady Gaga Is Not The Messiah - I wasn’t calling you an idiot, I was referring to the “monsters” yuck. And yes, I used to LOATHE Britney Spears, I used to think she was the kiss of death of music, and for a while it seemed that way, but after she went crazy and went away for a while, and her music wasn’t so overexposed as it used to be, I saw her for what she trully is, a pop genius. Distance always gives clarity and perspective, and pop music like all genres has standards of quality, technique, structure, whatever, and Britney excells in EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. She’s a genius dancer, she’s a star, her voice is the quintessential pop voice, she might not sing like Christina Aguilera, but she has something Xtina will never have and that is an imitable voice, a voice that has a trademark. Just like Madonna’s Minnie Mouse on Helium voice, or Liza Minnelli’s vibrato or Michael Jackson’s high pitches, she has that, she has that quality, and she is a performing genius, there is an honesty to it all, and that’s what true iconography is all about. True iconography is real, it connects to people and it happens INSTANTLY, over night. True iconography, a true icon, is not someone like Lady Gaga who coldly manufactured herself and over two years consistently rammed her contrived bullshit down people’s throats and brainwashed them into believing she was the cat’s meow, that’s not genius, that’s vile marketing. Icons happen, they are not self made or by anyone else, and Britney is that, Madonna is that, MJ and the other icons before them are that too.

and this is not her church.

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Only gods are worshipped unconditionally. People have to earn their love.

And Lady Gaga is only human - without question both deservedly famous and polarising, talented and fallible.

She attracts more fawning fanboyism than any artist with only two albums deserves, and just as much uninformed criticism from those who underestimate her.

So welcome to the middle - where we want the best from her... but good or bad, we'll take everything for what it is.

I'm 20, straight and Australian; part-time metalhead/pop fan, full-time music obsessive. I'm writing about every Madonna single here: The comparisons aren't entirely valid, but no one is more important than Madonna in understanding what Lady Gaga could be.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, my personal Tumblr and Last.fm, or harass me via email at richaod AT gmail DOT com.

Tue Oct 12

the-dark-night-of-the-soul asked: I wasn’t calling you an idiot, I was referring to the “monsters” yuck. And yes, I used to LOATHE Britney Spears, I used to think she was the kiss of death of music, and for a while it seemed that way, but after she went crazy and went away for a while, and her music wasn't so overexposed as it used to be, I saw her for what she trully is, a pop genius. Distance always gives clarity and perspective, and pop music like all genres has standards of quality, technique, structure, whatever, and Britney excells in EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. She's a genius dancer, she's a star, her voice is the quintessential pop voice, she might not sing like Christina Aguilera, but she has something Xtina will never have and that is an imitable voice, a voice that has a trademark. Just like Madonna's Minnie Mouse on Helium voice, or Liza Minnelli's vibrato or Michael Jackson's high pitches, she has that, she has that quality, and she is a performing genius, there is an honesty to it all, and that's what true iconography is all about. True iconography is real, it connects to people and it happens INSTANTLY, over night. True iconography, a true icon, is not someone like Lady Gaga who coldly manufactured herself and over two years consistently rammed her contrived bullshit down people's throats and brainwashed them into believing she was the cat's meow, that's not genius, that's vile marketing. Icons happen, they are not self made or by anyone else, and Britney is that, Madonna is that, MJ and the other icons before them are that too.

This is a pretty fair response, though I don’t entirely agree about Britney - I think she had the fortune of being in the right place at the right time, surrounded by the right people. And that’s true of any icon, but much more so for her.

“Icon” is a dangerous word to throw around - it applies to Britney because she represents her era, but it applies to Madonna because she did that and had something to say. And yes, it’s very much in the present, but you only ever realise it when looking back.

With Lady Gaga, the roar might be louder than the music, but that downplays the fact that her music (IMO, since the Fame Monster) is excellent. If your issue with the “monsters” is that they’re already putting her on a pedestal, you yourself shouldn’t be expecting that much from someone who’s only been around for two years.