Unpopular Opinion: The Fame

[zevthepaparazzo 1,254]

Paper Gangsta drags on a bit

The drums in Just Dance pmo but I’m kinda used to it now

I Like It Rough is peak

Starstruck is underrated

I neither passionately love nor hate lovegame

Retro Dance Freak is that bitch and doesn’t care what you think

Summerboy sonically feels a bit out of place on the record

Disco Heaven is amazing

Boys Boys Boys is kinda meh

The production in the chorus of Money Honey could be better

I can hardly hear the glam rock influence outside Brown Eyes, Summerboy, Again Again, and maybe the title track

Edited 20 hours ago by zevthepaparazzo

[NUTELLA 16,142]

@Blackout19 is going to be pissed lol

1) There are no bad songs on The Fame. But unlike the singles, I could go my entire life without ever listening to any of the album tracks again

2) I love Poker Face. HOWEVER... those 50 seconds near the end (when she repeats one line over & over) feel more like 500 seconds. There were times when I would change the radio station in the car because it seemed to go on for so long 😬

3) The bridge of Just Dance RUINS the groove, but the other 3/4ths of the song are better than all of Poker Face. 
I bottom for no one… but I would bottom for Just Dance’s main synth. God hummed that simple melody into RedOne’s ear like a life-changing lullaby.

Because of it, Just Dance will always be a top 4 LG track for me (along with BR, HML & BM)

[NUTELLA 16,142]

4) Someone might get their panties in a bunch, but... she does NOT actually say “f*ck her face” at any point in the Poker Face recording. That rumor began floating around early on & she leaned into it, claiming it was the “real” lyric to begin with in order to drum up more attention & controversy around the song. 

It worked, I guess. She’s always loved being extra & talking out of her ass- especially back then. But imo this was a tacky move that added literally nothing to the song. The opposite, in fact. Just a random gimmick that cheapened the track for no reason.

Citing interviews/live performances/lyric websites won’t change my mind, it will only prove that you buy into one of her dumbest, schlockiest stunts lol. 

Because she may have changed the lyric *after the fact* (once she embraced the idea of further scandalizing her own song) & she may even occasionally perform it that way to this day… but the album booklet itself contains the real lyric she originally wrote/intended/recorded. 

Everything after that is just Stefani on her bullshit 

[gagzus 16,621]

My most unpopular opinion I guess; there was ABSOLUTELY nothing about her that was like Madonna (besides blonde hir and Italian) when she debuted and she was 100% more Bowie and Queen. And for some reason she became MORE like Madonna after the media started saying she was like her which I never got. Thank god she stopped trying or being like Madonna once BTW er was over and leaned more into her old male rocker influences. 

despite what people say she was THE most normal and raw during this era. And fame did change her perspective on things. 
it’s sad to find out she was supposedly “faking it” this whole time. (Which I believe she wasn’t and she just says that now to make herself feel better and deny that fame and money changed her)

I also personally loved her use of live auto tune (and there was a LOT despite what people try to say) during this era because it actually added to the aesthetic of the album. 
 

It’s her only album where at the time, literally every song could’ve been a single.

the album proves that she doesn’t need to faff around or take years to record the music (she infamously made the whole album minus the pre-fame songs in like what? A month or so?) and it actually turns out better.

 

Edited 21 hours ago by gagzus

[The Fame 4,226]

Panty Party should have been on the album. I'd replace Paper Gangsta with it, personally. Same with Heiress. Should have been on the album. 


I Like it Rough is an underrated GEM like holy **** that song is so good and everyone sleeps on it. 

[RochesterJoannster 3,635]

Even if Chromatica is my least favorite Gaga album (and the one I’m most comfortable talking smack about). 

The Fame is definitely the least good of an actual album. The singles are really the only strong songs. It is the only album with whole sections of skippable songs. Not even because they are terrible, just boring and interchangeable.

But I’ll always love it for being The album to get this whole crazy love of mine started! I remember buying it on iTunes in 2009 and even then I didn’t play it like I’ve played her other albums over the years, but I was obsessed with Poker Face and Paparazzi especially. 
 

With the exception of Paparazzi, most of the videos are among her least good, even compared to a couple of Joanne’s videos. 

Edited 21 hours ago by RochesterJoannster

[27monster27 14,633]

This album (aside from Paparazzi) feels genuinely underrated in the fanbase. Everyone in the GP will talk about it over and over again, but in the fanbase it feels like people want to pay this album dust. It gets so ignored compared to other works of hers I feel (again, besides Paparazzi lol).

[Anderson123 40,050]

Again Again should not have been removed from the standard version. 

I could live without listening to Summerboy ever again. 

Thank God they didn’t push Boys as a single and focused on Paparazzi and then Bad Romance. 

It truly deserves the success it had. One of the best debut albums of all time. All 4 singles were amazing + Eh Eh and Beautiful Dirty Rich were also great promos. 

I’m glad Gaga did not get stuck here and it wasn’t her creative peak. Many new artists have this massive debut and then the rest of their discography is usually average. She was just getting started. 




 

[Ladle Ghoulash 32,829]

Great album, but I think TFM -> BTW is where she found her sound and, as a consequence, TF will always feel slightly less significant to me as a consequence.

Summerboy + Disco Heaven are top tier and absolutely underrated.

Paper Gangsta and Starstruck are fun, probably two of my least favorites on the record.

Poker Face and Paparazzi are the two best singles, followed by JD, then LG.

Edited 20 hours ago by Ladle Ghoulash

[faysalaaa 5,113]

Starstruck is her worst song ever

[Ladle Ghoulash 32,829]

7 minutes ago, faysalaaa said:

Starstruck is her worst song ever

It’s definitely close to the bottom, but hard for Starstruck to be worse than Sour Candy or The Cure

[faysalaaa 5,113]

3 minutes ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

It’s definitely close to the bottom, but hard for Starstruck to be worse than Sour Candy or The Cure

Just the fact that she has a song with someone like Flo Rida makes it her worst song lol

But I agree I do hate the other two songs u mentioned

[AVeryGagaHolyDick 27,949]

One of her best albums.

Eh Eh, Money Honey and Starstruck are absolutely great and all clearly closer to her best songs than her worst.

We should celebrate its release on October 28, not on August 19. 

The era had her best vocals, as well as many of her best looks AND best performances.

90% of the interviews were absolute disasters. She was so bad…

Brown Eyes is a great song but I’ll never understand why she chose it over Let Love Down or even Wonderful.

The only songs that sound a bit outdated are Just Dance and Boys Boys Boys, mostly because of the drums. The rest of the songs sounds totally fresh.

Edited 18 hours ago by AVeryGagaHolyDick

[gagzus 16,621]

2 hours ago, 27monster27 said:

This album (aside from Paparazzi) feels genuinely underrated in the fanbase. Everyone in the GP will talk about it over and over again, but in the fanbase it feels like people want to pay this album dust. It gets so ignored compared to other works of hers I feel (again, besides Paparazzi lol).

Let’s not also forget it’s technically her most successful album even without the sales from The Fame Monster. It’s diamond certified and is STILL in the top 5 selling dance/electronic albums on Billboard 18 years later which is CRAZY. 
 

I’m sure I read that Gaga has the highest amount of dance/electronic albums on the chart in terms of sales and longevity. At the 2025 year end chart Mayhem was #1 for the D/E albums and The Fame was like #3 and BTW was like 4 or 5. 
 

[Anderson123 40,050]

This would’ve been a fun track with a few tweaks: