The Fame Monster

[imogen2133 457]

1 hour ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

I’ve probably said this before, but I think the conceptual element of the bulk of Gaga’s work is in the aesthetic, theatrical, and cinematic staging of her music and not necessarily in the music itself. Take Bad Romance: on its face, the song is basically about a toxic/obsessive relationship, but the way Gaga stages it in the MV and the live performances, it becomes about her toxic relationship with fame and with her own persona. At her best, Gaga writes great pop music that she then stages into a broader theatrical/conceptual narratives, but I don’t really think most of her albums are as conceptually dense as the eras that surround them (and I think that’s a good thing, tbh).

I would say this is mostly true she does bring her albums themes and ideas to life through her visuals and she can twist the meaning with them as well (like the Paparazzi video and the Telephone video) also I think her visuals really enhance her work, also the "cinematic staging" element is very strong throughout her work as well, I think she is at her best when she is telling a story and I think that over the top story driven theatrical element was largely absent from both Joanne and Chromatica as well since they were more introspective and literal. The part I mainly disagree with is the idea that her songs don't carry their own thematically rich and deep meanings without the theatrical visuals I mean sure there are songs that are more simplistic like I Like It Rough, Summerboy, Garden Of Eden, G.U.Y, Poker Face or Boys Boys Boys but there are plenty that stand on their own in terms of meaning and are thematically rich without accompanying visuals as well. 

[imogen2133 457]

3 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

That basically ties perfectly into what I said, tho lol. Especially if you understand the lights as being either spotlights or the light of the paparazzi, which is the time when she would be using her persona as a shield, as opposed to when she’s alone (ie not performing for the public) would be when she feels freest.

I guess so I think it is a song that can have multiple interpretations but honestly I think a song that explores the idea a bit better or more clearly is SHICD, I see that (especially the verses) as a song about Gaga "touching/fixing herself up" as a way to cope with depression and inner struggles, there is an image that comes to mind of Gaga as the lavender blond sitting in front of a Vanity crying as a broken starlet who tries to fix her mascara, roll her hair and try to fix herself, I have read other interpretations of it being about drugs (not just alcohol) being used and her "touching herself" as in injecting heroin or her touching herself (sexually) as a form of self obsession but I think the strongest reading lyrically is the one about her in front of the mirror crying, so the verses to me are about fear of self obsession (like using makeup, wigs and her persona to cope) and the chorus is fear of alcohol like she said. I mean Gaga loved that "mascara running because of crying" lyric and concept I mean she used it in Yay Ha, Future Love and a few other songs back then.

 

Also I am curious how you would interpret songs like Monster, Teeth, Alejandro, Telephone, Judas and Speechless as being about her persona and about her own fame since you seem to interpret at least most of her songs as being about that subject and how her famous persona affects her personally or it being used as a shield to hide behind or to not show her "true self".

Edited 7 hours ago by imogen2133

[River 126,216]

It's pretty simple.

The album title is Monster 

But because it was merged with TF in the re-issue of the deluxe, they called it The Fame Monster, but then decided to release it as a standalone album as well, so they kept the full name anyway because it was too iconic than just Monster.

 

[27monster27 15,709]

4 hours ago, JohnPokerface said:

ngl after I found out that Telephone was originally meant for Britney and her album I stopped looking at TFM as this very thought out and conceptual album about Gaga’s fears that surfaced after she became famous. There are songs on it that are about that but ultimately, I think TFM was recorded and put out too fast for the concept of the dark side of fame it to be fully realized.

Actually this isn't (entirely) true. Telephone was originally written by Lady Gaga for The Fame, but Larry Rudolph heard it and demanded that it be given to Britney instead. It was recorded by her and everything, but she had Phonography on the album at the time, so it got cut to avoid having two songs about phones on the album. Lady Gaga then tried to put it on The Fame again, but it was too late. A year later, Britneys management tried to cut a duet version for The Singles Collection, but Lady Gaga stopped this so she could put it on The Fame Monster.

[Alxjcgn 2,155]

4 hours ago, Lucas said:

Unless mistaken, she said that The Fame Monster was about the new fears she experienced during The Fame ball tour, and that it was the dark side of fame. I always thought the album was linked to The Fame in that way

I know she spoke about the album being about her fear of various "monsters" she has encountered in life, but can't recall a direct linkage to the Fame. I think she ultimately created a concept of the fame monster for the monster ball that linked the two projects

[Lucas 30,728]

1 hour ago, Alxjcgn said:

I know she spoke about the album being about her fear of various "monsters" she has encountered in life, but can't recall a direct linkage to the Fame. I think she ultimately created a concept of the fame monster for the monster ball that linked the two projects

Gaga said, "I wrote about everything I didn't write on 'The Fame.' While traveling the world for two years, I've encountered several monsters, each represented by a different song on the new record: my 'Fear of Sex Monster,' my 'Fear of Alcohol Monster,' my 'Fear of Love Monster,' my 'Fear of Death Monster,' my 'Fear of Loneliness Monster,' etc."

https://eqmusicblog.com/lady-gaga-talks-about-the-fame-monster/

It's linked to fears she experienced during her first years on the road being famous so the songs are about the dark side of fame, idk why you guys don't see how it's not linked to The Fame? One is about the fancy side of fame and the other is about the dark side of it 

[JustJames 1,085]

4 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

I’ve probably said this before, but I think the conceptual element of the bulk of Gaga’s work is in the aesthetic, theatrical, and cinematic staging of her music and not necessarily in the music itself. Take Bad Romance: on its face, the song is basically about a toxic/obsessive relationship, but the way Gaga stages it in the MV and the live performances, it becomes about her toxic relationship with fame and with her own persona. At her best, Gaga writes great pop music that she then stages into a broader theatrical/conceptual narratives, but I don’t really think most of her albums are as conceptually dense as the eras that surround them (and I think that’s a good thing, tbh).

Right, and rather than being celebrated, this (her ability to transform the recorded studio versions of her albums into “more”) oftentimes gets nitpicked by fans for being “inconsistent” and “not cohesive.” 

It’s all so silly. There’s nothing conceptual or cohesive about 99% of pop music albums; the entire point of pop music is to appeal to a mainstream audience. Sticking to one sound and one theme across 8-15 tracks is a way to guarantee you alienate most of that audience. The fact she’s been able to deliver so many quality pop albums and elevate them into something more is what makes her such a special musician/artist.

[imogen2133 457]

7 minutes ago, JustJames said:

Right, and rather than being celebrated, this (her ability to transform the recorded studio versions of her albums into “more”) oftentimes gets nitpicked by fans for being “inconsistent” and “not cohesive.” 

It’s all so silly. There’s nothing conceptual or cohesive about 99% of pop music albums; the entire point of pop music is to appeal to a mainstream audience. Sticking to one sound and one theme across 8-15 tracks is a way to guarantee you alienate most of that audience. The fact she’s been able to deliver so many quality pop albums and elevate them into something more is what makes her such a special musician/artist.

What I think Gaga is great at is taking subjects that are usually sang about in pop music like romance, sex, love and breakups and add more to those themes or explore them in interesting ways, it is easy to make a "I love you we should be together forever" type of song but Gaga always adds something unique or metaphorical like with Paparazzi on the surface it seems like a song about Gaga loving a guy like the Paparazzi loves celebrities' but the underlayer or double meaning is a love song to the cameras and commenting on the double sided nature of the relationship between the cameras and the celebrity. Also yes her being able to expand on the meanings through the visuals or live performances should be celebrated not picked on and I personally haven't seen any instances of fans doing that but they really should not. 

[Anderson123 42,316]

I think she just had the songs ready and realized they could fit the theme she came up with without actually writing the music about it. Some songs do feel more about fame like Dance In The Dark but it's not exactly a CONCEPT album that she made from scratch with that idea, just that it probably evolved into that possibility and I like that she gave it that meaning with the visuals, photoshoot, the interviews, etc.