Lady Gaga
[Got this from Kate Durbin:]
“Lady Gaga is, quite literally, a spectacle of American pop music and fame culture. Since August 2008, which witnessed the release of her debut album The Fame, her presence has flooded both American and world culture-scapes. While her music has certainly garnered great chunks of pop culture’s fleeting and finicky attention, it is her persona that has secured the most lasting fascination and discussion. Lady Gaga is much more than the singer of catchy pop songs such as “Just Dance” and “Poker Face”: she is a performance artist that never sets aside her performance. And her project? – To deconstruct the very pop culture that creates and worships her, and to explore and make problematic the hackneyed image of the pop icon while flourishing in the clichéd role itself.” –M, Only Words to Play With
Fame Factory: Critical Writings and Art about Lady Gaga is a new technological breed of journal that intends to take seriously the brazenly unserious shock pop phenomenon and fame monster known as Lady Gaga.
Submit:
Critical Work (any format; any length) and Art (Creative Writings, Visual Art, Music, etc.), or any combination thereof, that intelligently interacts with the pop cultural manifestation that is Lady Gaga.
We are also interested in critical writings on the web that already exist, so please call these to our attention if you come across them.
Those who follow Gaga know that she moves as the speed of pop, which is far faster than the speed of critique; therefore, we have chosen the blogger format for now to allow us to keep pace with Gaga. We encourage pieces that are immediate (for example, critical responses to her newest performances, interviews, and music videos), though we are also eager for your more thought-over works as well. If your work is accepted, expect it to be published quickly--likely within a day or two of acceptance. You should also expect to interact with others in the comment boxes of the blog; permitting the peanut-crunching crowd of monsters to further the conversation's evolution.
Our goal is to eventually create a book of the best works on this site, both in technological and physical form, possibly in collaboration with the Haus of Gaga.
Send all submissions to gagajournal@gmail.com
“Lady Gaga is, quite literally, a spectacle of American pop music and fame culture. Since August 2008, which witnessed the release of her debut album The Fame, her presence has flooded both American and world culture-scapes. While her music has certainly garnered great chunks of pop culture’s fleeting and finicky attention, it is her persona that has secured the most lasting fascination and discussion. Lady Gaga is much more than the singer of catchy pop songs such as “Just Dance” and “Poker Face”: she is a performance artist that never sets aside her performance. And her project? – To deconstruct the very pop culture that creates and worships her, and to explore and make problematic the hackneyed image of the pop icon while flourishing in the clichéd role itself.” –M, Only Words to Play With
Fame Factory: Critical Writings and Art about Lady Gaga is a new technological breed of journal that intends to take seriously the brazenly unserious shock pop phenomenon and fame monster known as Lady Gaga.
Submit:
Critical Work (any format; any length) and Art (Creative Writings, Visual Art, Music, etc.), or any combination thereof, that intelligently interacts with the pop cultural manifestation that is Lady Gaga.
We are also interested in critical writings on the web that already exist, so please call these to our attention if you come across them.
Those who follow Gaga know that she moves as the speed of pop, which is far faster than the speed of critique; therefore, we have chosen the blogger format for now to allow us to keep pace with Gaga. We encourage pieces that are immediate (for example, critical responses to her newest performances, interviews, and music videos), though we are also eager for your more thought-over works as well. If your work is accepted, expect it to be published quickly--likely within a day or two of acceptance. You should also expect to interact with others in the comment boxes of the blog; permitting the peanut-crunching crowd of monsters to further the conversation's evolution.
Our goal is to eventually create a book of the best works on this site, both in technological and physical form, possibly in collaboration with the Haus of Gaga.
Send all submissions to gagajournal@gmail.com
posted by Johannes at 3:44 PM
10 Comments:
Thanks, J.
Really?
I mean ... really?
Link to journal:
www.gagajournal.blogspot.com
Max,
Idon't understand your response. You'll have to articulate your confusion better.
JOhannes
I guess I just don't understand the breathlessness with which Lady Gaga's supposed cultural impact is detailed.
Where is Lady Gaga taking us that we haven't gone before? The postmodern pop culture introspective shtick is a little, uh, retro-necro, is it not?
Or are we simply doomed to live out the hybrid necrophiliac re-renderings of pop movements past, ad infinitum, like how GAP brings back corduroys every 10 years?
(Of course, this is all, I'm sure, "part of what makes Lady Gaga interesting," which, of course, is also what makes her completely off-the-rack and uninteresting at the same time.)
But mostly, why does Europe get Roisin Murphy who, let's all just admit, Lady Gaga is a low-rent rip-off of (with a tired-out side of David Bowie and Elton John, and a Madonna cherry on top), and we're stuck with this trash?
Alright, excuse me, I'm going to go watch "Jawbreaker" now.
Max,
I think this web site may answer your question a whole lot better than I can. I've only watched a couple of her videos and what interests me about them is her fantastic pageantry, her spazzy movements, and her overall use of disgust and revulsion mixed with seduction, hysteria mixed with sexuality. At times it seems to refer back to Madonna but it shows just how romance-novel Madonna is/was; one of the two videos I've seen of hers is the latest (?) where she's in this jail sexual fantasy and at one point she starts dancing in a bikini which refers to Madonna's "Open Your Heart To Me" but it's so much better. Also it's the moment where she seems to be the least made-up (aka "most natural") but it's all a twisted reference. And I love what the video does to Beyonce - it plays with her hotness in lots of interesting ways - spazzy, homicidal etc. The video makes reference to Kill Bill, but it's really a more visually fascinating movie than Tarantino's. It also seems to reference Natural Born Killers and Thelma and Louise, and - like my play Widow Party - Kennedy's and MLK's widows in an interesting way (as a kind of sign of jouissance). Well I can't remember all but it was a good watching. But like I said, I'm not an expert.
Johannes
And yes, very "necro".
j
Max,
This is the sort of work we are looking for (the recent Aase Berg/Gaga article on this blog is another good example, among many I have come across on the net that I thought it would be interesting to see all in one prime location):
http://onlywordstoplaywith.blogspot.com/2010/03/lady-gagas-telephone-observations-and.html
By the way, Gaga twittered that blog entry within a day of it's posting, turning all her fans to an entry that begins by talking about Foucalt. A pop star turning her fans onto Foucalt seems "new"--or at least worth talking about in a critical community. Not that I expect this would impress or convince you. Your first comment was so dismissive and rude I'm surprised Johannes even responded
Kate
P.S.
Gaga's incorporation of all things retro, is intentional, obviously.
Another great article, which I'm sure you will find many reasons to hate if that's your agenda:
http://onlywordstoplaywith.blogspot.com/2010/02/yes-this-is-really-happening-snotty.html
Kate,
Good links.
Johannes
Lady Gaga reminds me of Prince.
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