JUST WRITE!
Going gaga for Gaga
By Tracey Coveart/The Scugog Standard

It’s good to eat crow every once in a while. It keeps you honest.
_The truth is, I tried to hate Lady Gaga. I tried to hate her catchy pop songs on the radio; her sexually suggestive videos on YouTube; her outrageous couture on every magazine cover. Her Born This Way Foundation was a publicity stunt, I told myself, just like her meat dress, which has since been chemically preserved and enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
_It worked for a while. I dismissed her as a frivolous modern-day Madonna, trying to shock her way into the annals of music history. Of course, Madonna herself was just emulating the blues ladies of the ’30s, who sang provocative songs like ‘Need a Little Sugar in my Bowl’ (Bessie Smith, 1931) to get around the censors. Madonna took their implied sexuality one step further, singing ‘Like a Virgin,’ wearing lingerie on stage and thrusting her pelvis at the audience.
_Every generation needs it’s Bessie Smith. But while I would have liked Bessie, I have always despised Madonna. She neither shocked me with outrageousness nor impressed me with talent. Did you happen to catch her acceptance speech for ‘Best Song’ at the Golden Globes? Elton John and Lady Gaga lost out to this egomaniac, who harbours not a scrap of humility, humanity or humour. Me. Me. Me. I. I. I. As Sir Elton’s husband David Furnish said after the show, “Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in its narcissism.” Suffice it to say I won’t be watching the half-time show on Superbowl Sunday.
_So there I was, a Gaga hater, when along came Santa and left ‘The Fame’ in Stephie’s stocking. And you know what that means. Endless repetition, whether you like it or not. Imagine my horror when I found myself singing along!
_Then came the January issue of Vanity Fair with Gaga in that stunning red Versace hat and dress on the cover. Curse you Annie Leibovitz and your jaw-dropping celebrity photography. And curse you, too, Lisa Robinson, for your disarming at-home-with-Gaga tell-all interview.
_I went from intrigued to captivated and there we were, at Wal-Mart in Port Perry, picking up - not just Lady Gaga’s sophomore release ‘Born this Way’ (which sold more than 1.1 million copies in its first week) - but the DVD package that includes the HBO special: Monster Ball, Live from Madison Square Gardens.
_When Tony Bennett says you’re one of the greatest talents he’s ever seen (Gaga recorded ‘The Lady is a Tramp’ with Bennett for his ‘Duets II’ album) you know you’ve got the goods. And I am forced to admit it. There is something to this Gaga phenomenon. Heck, last year the 25-year-old beat out Oprah Winfrey on Forbes’ list of the 100 Most Powerful Women.
_Make no mistake. Lady Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in Manhattan’s Upper West Side and reportedly worth more than $100 million, is no Madonna Louise Ciccone. This pop princess has pipes - a beautiful, soulful voice - and a heart that bleeds, in part from shared experience. She was bullied as a young girl and even paid her (foreshortened) dues, living in squalor while she took drugs, wrote songs and did the late-night club circuit grind before landing a recording contract in 2007. (“I want to be the biggest pop star in the world,” she told producer Vincent Herbert, who signed her to his own label at Interscope Records. “I want to sell 10 million albums.” So far, she’s sold 23 million.)
_Are her lyrics profound? Hardly. Is Gaga derivative? Of course. I hear influences as diverse as The Beatles, Liza Minnelli and Amy Winehouse. But Madonna, 53, accuses Lady Gaga of being a copycat. Get over yourself, Madge. Did you invent sunglasses, stiletto heals and braziers? And as for those chord progressions you’d like to call your own, they’ve been around a lot longer than you have.
_Lady Gaga is not a true original, but who is?
_We just finished watching the HBO special, and I’m feeling a little gaga over Gaga. Unlike Madonna, she’s selling sexuality - not just sex. I’ve never seen a star so religious about equality. On and off stage, she is all embracing; all empowering. Sure, she loves herself. But that’s her message. It’s gotta start with you. Black, white; rich, poor; straight; lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. “Love yourself.”
_And that’s one thing Madonna does do well.