Bebe 17,093 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 I feel like The Fame album is Gaga's most misunderstood work. The album uses motifs relating to Fame to explore a number of subjects and uses these "shallow" themes to create songs with depth and clever insights. Whenever I watch some video essay on The Fame or read some article, they discuss the album as if it's such a shallow piece of work. Whenever Money Honey is mentioned, for example, it's discussed as if it's embracing materialism when it's about the exact opposite. Money Honey is about how, despite the material things her lover owns, their love is what makes them rich. She sings the entire song about how she enjoys all the fancy, expensive gifts her lover gives her but that her knees get weak when he gives her kisses. The expensive stuff is nice, but what she finds really valuable is his kisses, when she is his lover, when he touches her and even when he tears her to pieces. It's the human connection and passion that is "money" to her. In the final bridge she even sings: "You know I appreciate the finer things But it's not what makes me happiest, baby (I can do without it, babe) Your tender loving's more than I can handle Never burn out this candle, baby, baby" She uses this metaphor again in Eh Eh singing: "I met somebody cute and funny Got each other and that's money" I also think about the title track and how clever it is in how it subverts and explores the contradictions of Fame and her perspective of Fame. "Photograph my mind, and whatever else you'd like to shoot, you decide" is such a clever line that works both as this sexy wink towards taking part in some nude, exploitative photoshoot but is also contradictory in the way she is singing about wanting a photographer to capture her mind and her perspective while also wanting to give control to somebody else. The lyrics remind me of photoshoots like these: These photoshoots are both "high brow" and yet are embracing the "trashy" elements of Fame and pop culture. She wants to exploit her sexuality in an interesting way. These photos capture her unique perspective, art, style and image while being provocative and otherwise "shallow". "I can't help myself, I'm addicted to a life of material, it's some kind of joke - I'm obsessively opposed to the typical!" Is both a contradiction, in how it actually is typical in a shallow fame obsessed society to obsessed with material things, yet true in the way that Gaga's obsession with fashion and technology (especially at that time) was not typical and was about self expression rather than status. Throughout the song she decries how shallow Fame is, leaving her wanting more, while at the same time constructing meaning in the materialism and narcissism of Fame culture. Beautiful, Dirty, Rich Gaga describes as: "On the Lower East side, there was a lot of rich kids who did drugs and said that they were poor artists, so it’s also a knock at that. […] But ultimately what I want people to take from it is “Bang-bang.” No matter who you are and where you come from, you can feel beautiful and dirty rich." It's a track that explores how, in her own life she is partying all the time in extravagant fashion and living life as if she is rich and famous, just on a low budget. They don't have any money, but if she is dressing in the fashion she likes with her hair how she likes and is partying and having a good time. At the core of it, how is her life that different, to the celebrity life tabloids sold on someone like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears in that era? The album has her comparing the butterfly's in your stomach when you develop a crush on somebody to being starstruck, compares chasing somebody's love and being obsessive over them with the paparazzi, and uses "Money" and "Fame" as metaphors for love multiple times. Throughout this album she deconstructs celebrity/fame culture and all that seems shallow and trashy (pop music, fame, money, materialism, narcissism, obsession, sex, nudity, status) and then reconstructs them into something with meaning. A different kind of "Fame" that anybody can embody and obtain. That was the genius of Gaga's debut album. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stupid Oreo 14,249 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Nope it’s ARTPOP Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas 26,776 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 4 minutes ago, Stupid Oreo said: Nope it’s ARTPOP What's misunderstood about ARTPOP? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rio 5,088 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Nah, that's ARTPOP tbh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rio 5,088 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 On 3/10/2021 at 2:35 PM, Lucas said: What's misunderstood about ARTPOP? No one really got it. Even many of her fans. Anyone can see it's her misunderstood album. Personally, it's her best album imo, but it's easily her most misunderstood. The Fame is easy to comprehend. A feel-good high-calibre pop album with themes centering around fame and sex; a cohesive body of work she utilised to get herself to the top, so she could eventually release experimental work like ARTPOP. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C1trus 4,341 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Gaga's far from the shallow since day one ι'м ρυℓℓιηg үσυя sтяιηgs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzkill 5,152 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Are you sure? The album sold like 15kk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuffsAhoy 7,433 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 I don't think an album that continues to chart on Billboard nearly 12 years after it's release can be called misunderstood. If we really want to have this conversation, we can talk about ARTPOP; even though it's truly one of the worst albums of the 2010's. You remind me that it's such a wonderful thing to love. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NFRatwell 23,290 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 The replies are mistaking misunderstood with underrated Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo 7,811 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 I wouldn't say misunderstood but I think it's been belittled by fans as if it was some generic sht album when it's one of her best and the numbers prove it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainingOnMe 7,280 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 7 minutes ago, Ricardo said: I wouldn't say misunderstood but I think it's been belittled by fans as if it was some generic sht album when it's one of her best and the numbers prove it This! The audacity for new stans to trash The Fame and then call ARTPOP her best album Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chromatic puzea 10,321 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 the fame walked so XS by rina could run hard to even fathom which parts you should believe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vyniildisk 12,689 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Gaga's body during that era was INSANE, woow, perfection! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babel 41,431 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 I think Gaga as an artist is completely misunderstood. People still don’t get that her whole public persona is a performance on its own, and every album is another thesis surrounding the performative act of “Lady Gaga”. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bebe 17,093 Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 25 minutes ago, buzzkill said: Are you sure? The album sold like 15kk What has commercial success got to do with understanding? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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