Initial thoughts on "Born This Way"

Much like the news of Britney's latest single, unless you've been living under a rock or you're stuck in Egypt, you know that Lady Gaga's new single was unleashed today.

To start off, let's clear the air once and for all:

Yes, "Born This Way" sounds suspiciously like Madonna's "Express Yourself". Yes, people, we noticed it too. Of course, sounding similar to a song like "Express Yourself" is in no way going to bring any harm, not by any means. "Express Yourself" is a fantastic pop anthem (and further proves just how awful Madonna has become in recent years, but we digress...) and "Born This Way", consequently, employs a similar 'anthemic' feel.

Is it the 'anthem of the generation', as Gaga promised us in previous weeks? Well, that's entirely subjective, but one thing is for sure - it's no "Bad Romance". That's perhaps a bit of an unfair expectation to hang over Gaga's glittered head, and perhaps that's a disappointment that very few Gaga fans will be able to overcome. It doesn't mean that the entire "Born This Way" single campaign and the forthcoming Born This Way album campaign is doomed simply because we haven't heard (yet) anything with a tinny, stuttering-synth RedOne sound. Obviously the real judgment will arrive once the album is heard in full.

Back to the topic at hand - is "Born This Way" any good? We certainly need some more time to let it sink in, but one thing we can say is that we weren't aiming desperately for the "skip" button right when we first heard it. It's got big-room house beats, a bit of an updated disco vibe, and it definitely is catchy. The lyrics, we have to admit, are a bit of a weak spot. We appreciate as much as the most die-hard Gaga fan the very public stance she has taken to gay rights and sexual equality. It is our personal opinion that she could have delivered a self-empowerment anthem in less obvious words. A lyric like "A different lover is not a sin/Believe capital H-I-M (Hey, Hey, Hey)" just sounds forced and pandering from someone whose best song includes a lyric like "I want your Psycho, your Vertigo schtick".

We have never regarded Gaga as an innovator (God knows, just read entries from this blog's starting days to see how much we loathed her in the beginning) but she's always done pop in a smart, entertaining way, and while we find nothing wrong with a metaphor-less anthem to big gay loving, we can't help but wish that she would have gone about it in a slightly more creative way.

And that leads us back to the previously-mentioned statement "one thing's for sure- it's no 'Bad Romance'". That's a battle we must fight with ourselves if we're to ever fully accept any further Gaga songs. That goes for all Gaga listeners.