Lady Gaga–Born This Way

Billboard: #1
UK: #3
Released: 11th February 2011

My Economics teacher once told me in school, Under-promise, Over-deliver. It’s a strategy that can be effective in that it’d make you exceed expectations, though it has dangers in creating a conflict of expectancies (if the other party expects more…). I’ve used the strategy a lot, actually. Admittedly, it is in this light that I was rather critical of Hit the Lights (review) because I had rather high expectations for Jay Sean especially after an album delay. That said, Hit the Lights has grown a bit on me; it serves its purpose well, even if I may not like the shift that seems to be going on in his work. Artists do develop over time, after all.

This brings me to today’s song. Lady GaGa’s Born This Way had received a LOT of pre-promotion and this would have raised expectations by quite a bit. Considering her previous body of work, I enjoyed some of them quite well (Just Dance, Poker Face and Eh Eh), found some okay though they weren’t my thing (Bad Romance and Paparazzi) and found some just bad (LoveGame and Alejandro). It’s normal for most artists to have songs which I thoroughly enjoy (Just Dance, for one) as well as songs I cannot stand (Alejandro); exceptions I can think off off-hand might be… Ne-Yo perhaps (I find consistently passable, if not good) and probably some of the artists whom I may only know 1 song.

The beat of this song, for me, is comparable to that of Hot (Inna) in that I find it incredibly annoying, perhaps even headache-inducing. And at least Hot was enjoyable – I can see it as a dance song, and it’s a good DDR song (funny 16th rhythms make things nice); I’m not enjoying Born This Way’s beat. She seems to be drawing on the likes of David Guetta (hit or miss; enjoyable: Memories, bad: Sexy B—h), Eurovision, – or even worse, a group of electro-trance-like Dance Dance Revolution songs.

Singing is fine, well sounds like some autotuning was used but… that’s not a deal at all nowadays anyway – oh dear, it seems I’m giving credit for skillful singing, and accepting autotuned stuff as acceptable! Her vocal tones are fine. I’m not so keen on GaGa as a rapper though, that said. I’m aware that similarities have been drawn between the melody of this song and Madonna’s Express Yourself; I’m not very familiar with the latter song so I guess it isn’t so much of an issue for me. Those of an older generation will probably catch it though.

Anyway, when the beat is wrong, I find a dance-based song like this one is derailed. Nevertheless, let’s get down to the message, shall we?

Sheesh. This one looks messy.

It doesn’t matter if you love him, or capital H I M
Just put your paws up ’cause you were born this way, baby

Let’s address the second line first, it’s a lot simpler I think. What’s with comparing the person you’re addressing to a 4-footed animal? “Paws” is terrible diction. Okay, I know it can have the meaning of a human hand, and that’s clearly what she intended to go for, but I seem to find it as a rather insulting word. Why not just “hands”? She may be going for a message like embracing one’s inner animal, perhaps, but still the comparison turns me off.

Okay. Back to the first line. It may not be very clear here, but I think as established clearly in the later part of the lyrics, it’s not an issue of him and HIM, but it’s an issue of him and Him – which is the normal way Christians refer to God if they are using an objective pronoun. This does not look like a good premise to start a song with.

My mama told me when I was young, we are all born superstars
She rolled my hair and put my lipstick on in the glass of her boudoir
“There’s nothing wrong with loving who you are”, she said,
“Cause he/He (??) made you perfect, babe”

Well, this looks like a Firework-esque message, pretty much what I would expect for a song with a title of Born This Way. In this context I find it quite clear that she’s going for the second He (that is, God) – if you were young it’s not likely that it’d be a male person. At this stage I don’t think there’s anything wrong yet. It looks fine, and even viewed within my lens of scepticism (towards the song, that is) seems acceptable.

So hold your head up girl and you’ll go far, listen to me when I say
I’m beautiful in my way cause God makes no mistakes
I’m on the right track baby, I was born this way

The second line is okay (going by the logic that God made man in His image), but logically it seems this is where the song begins to break down. Is she advocating predestination (by claiming she’s on the right track)? Even worse, is she claiming foreknowledge (to the point where she can predict you’ll go far)?

I got a bit ahead of myself there. Line 3 however still has a gaping hole in it’s logic. True, we can agree that God makes no mistakes – however, what about you? So how does being made in the right way mean that you’re on the right track? I believe God gives us free will because He wants us to have it (the decision to follow Him must be one made by the individual), and it is in this free will combined with man’s inherently sinful nature that the potential for error is introduced.

Don’t hide yourself in regret, just love yourself and you’re set
I’m on the right track baby, I was born this way

Seems like an oversimplification of things to me. I don’t have too many comments for this.

Ooh there ain’t no other way, baby I was born this way
Baby I was born this way, ooh there ain’t no other way
Baby I was born- I’m on the right track baby, I was born this way

Repetition.

Don’t be a drag – Just be a queen (x3)

She’s begun making references to transgender behaviours here (drag queen, combining the words there; but she seemed to be addressing a female persona in verse 1. some disconnect?)

Give yourself prudence and love your friends
Subway kid, rejoice your truth

No issues with this, though perhaps I am failing to grasp the subliminal messages she might be trying to send?

In the religion of the insecure I must be myself, respect my youth

Hmm. I’m lost…

A different lover is not a sin, believe capital H-I-M (Hey hey hey)
I love my life I love this record and Mi amore vole fe yah (Love needs faith)

To begin with it would be good if you provide evidence. The reference capital H-I-M seems to be implying that you are referring to the Judeo-Christian God, and while I’m aware there is much controversy on the issue, I’d stay away from it as my conscience tells me so (though I won’t prejudice against those that choose as such). To believe in something is one thing, but to ascribe words to God? With regards to my conscience, I’m being reminded of the possible social conditioning that Mark Twain writes about in Huck Finn but even if so, the degree of controversy indicates that it’s probably not extremely clear-cut so isn’t taking such a risk unnecessarily dangerous?

The second line is okay; I’d agree with the idea that true love needs faith. However, one problem is that the word love is actually quite a general term… It’s a rather confusing one.

[Chorus]

Rap:
Don’t be a drag, just be a queen whether you’re broke or evergreen
You’re Black, White, Beige, Chola descent, you’re Lebanese, you’re Orient
Whether life’s disabilities left you outcast, bullied, or teased
Rejoice and love yourself today cause baby you were born this way
No matter Gay, Straight, or Bi, Lesbian, Transgendered life
I’m on the right track baby, I was born to survive
No matter Black, White or Beige, Chola or Orient made
I’m on the right track baby, I was born to be brave

I’m… just going to leave this alone. The first half is reasonable, yes, and the second half actually isn’t anything wrong if I just extract this passage from the context… But considered in context it doesn’t rub me the right way.

Is the song bad? A little, perhaps. Is the song terrible? No. However, by promoting so much the bar has been set high. Too high, probably. Lyrically it leaves quite a few holes and questions but I shouldn’t be surprised; that’s normal and typical of many songs today.

But of this week’s chart debuts, I’d take Hit the Lights any day, unfortunately.

OVERALL SCORE = 3.0 / 10
Born This Way isn’t terrible but seems terribly underwhelming in the light of the hype that was developed around it. I find the beat rather annoying and the lyrics do have some holes in them; I personally think GaGa has done much better.