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Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga: A Tale of Two Pot Smokers

By Judy Berman on

Twenty-Year-Old American Woman Smokes Marijuana in Amsterdam. It doesn’t exactly sound like front-page news, but boy is the media going nuts over the fact that Miley Cyrus puffed on a joint during her performance at Sunday’s MTV Europe Music Awards. Here are some of the actual headlines: “What a Dope! Miley Cyrus Puffs Marijuana Onstage at MTV EMAs in Amsterdam”; “Miley Cyrus shocks yet again as she lets it all hang out and smokes ‘joint’ on stage at MTV Europe Music Awards”; “Pothead Miley Cyrus Lights Up Marijuana Joint Onstage.”  … Read More

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Music

‘ARTPOP’: Lady Gaga Reaches the Limits of Control Freak

By Judy Berman on

Do you remember what pop stars were like before Lady Gaga? It seems like a stupid question to ask just five years into her career, but her aesthetic and attitude spread so quickly upon her rise to fame that it’s easy to forget how different she was from most of her predecessors at the turn of the millennium. A meta-pop star whose career has been marked by carefully orchestrated spectacle, she ended an era when women in music were widely characterized as out of control. But in the past few years — and especially with the release of ARTPOP — Lady Gaga’s meticulous image policing has begun to get in the way of her music. … Read More

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Music

The Best Instagrams From Lady Gaga’s ArtRave

By Tom Hawking on

No, we weren’t at Lady Gaga’s ArtRave thing last night, and neither were you. But hey, lots of smartphone-wielding little monsters were! Thanks to the wonders of the Internet (and, specifically, Instagram), you too can have the vicarious experience of watching Gaga perform songs from her new album, a record built around a radical fusion of art and popular culture that absolutely no one has ever done before, in a Brooklyn warehouse full of Jeff Koons sculptures. She lives for the applause, don’t you know? Anyway, click through and check out some pictures. … Read More

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Music

The 10 Albums You Need to Hear in November

By Tom Hawking on

It’s getting toward the end of the year, which in the music industry means two things: big commercial releases and a precipitous drop-off in quality as the “festive” season draws closer. It’s not all bad, though. In amongst the stocking stuffers and superfluous best-ofs, there are still some quality releases, and as we do at the start of every month, we’ve pored over the release schedules to pick out ten of the… Read More

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Music

Lady Gaga Reveals ‘Artpop’ Tracklist, Premieres “Aura”

By Sarah Fonder on

Lady Gaga has released the tracklist to her hotly anticipated album Artpop, and the resulting titles aren’t incredibly surprising:

01.… Read More

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Music

Lady Gaga Is Better Off Without Jeff Koons

By Tom Hawking on

“One second I’m a Koons/ Then suddenly the Koons is me.” So it shall be written, and so it shall be done — because, as you probably read yesterday, Jeff Koons has designed the cover for Lady Gaga’s new album ARTPOP. Plenty of people yesterday quoted the above lyric, which comes from the album’s lead single “Applause,” but it’s interesting to stop and think about why Gaga’s ongoing attempts at insinuating herself into the art world have led her to the door of the man famous for shooting underwhelming porn with his wife and making huge sculptures of metallic balloon dogs. … Read More

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Music

Best of Flavorwire: All Things Lady Gaga

By Sarah Fonder on

This week has been particularly heavy on Lady Gaga news and commentary, but Flavorwire has had its eye on the pop provocateur since she first broke out. We have pages upon pages about Lady Gaga stretching back to 2008, that thoroughly cover our reactions to the divisive star, ranging from excitement to confusion to fatigue, and more. So we thought it’d be interesting to dig through our archive of posts for our best commentary on the singer. Check them out and see why she’s held our attention for so long. … Read More

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Music

It Doesn’t Matter That Lady Gaga’s “Applause” Is Derivative; It Matters That It’s Awful

By Tom Hawking on

Does it matter if Lady Gaga’s derivative? This debate has been going on ever since La Gaga first arrived on the scene, complete with an image carefully constructed from the detritus of performance art and queer culture, and the promotional budget to sell gazillions of records. It’s started up again after the release of the video for new single “Applause,” which, as with all of Gaga’s work, lifted imagery and aesthetics from a variety of sources. This morning saw the arrival of the “So what if Gaga is derivative?!” pieces, like this one in Slate. I submit that they’re answering the wrong question. … Read More

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Music

Who’s Lady Gaga Ripping Off This Time? A Catalog of “Applause” Video Influences

By Tom Hawking on

This morning saw the premiere of the official video for “Applause,” the first single off Lady Gaga’s upcoming album ARTPOP. The video follows the art/pop theme, alluding to high art and pop culture alike. Gaga’s never been shy about, ahem, borrowing from other artists, of course, and this video is packed with pieces of imagery that are either clever references or blatant rip-offs, depending on your point of view. Click through to check out whose work Gaga’s been “inspired” by this time around, and let us know if you can spot any more. … Read More

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