When I first heard "Just Dance" on the radio, I promptly turned it off. The song sounded to me like another bland pop confection complete with an overly sweet singer using a super-annoying voice modulator.
I figured that whoever this "Lady Gaga" was, she was undoubtedly headed for a future like many one-hit wonder queens before her: Stacey Q, Nenah Cherry and Natalie Ambruglia, to name a few. But the more my gay male friends would say things, "Oh, she's sooo brilliant!" the more I began to wonder if there was some frequency she was communicating at that I simply couldn't hear.
It wasn't until I first saw one of her music videos that something stirred in me. I remember watching and thinking, "Wow. This girl is awkward, clunky and not afraid to look a bit silly." She also wasn't exactly what you would call an obvious beauty – which, let's face it, has become the standard in the music world, even if it's totally constructed beauty .
I began to understand the power of the Gaga.
And then, the American Music Awards happened. I remember watching her performance and thinking to myself, "Damn girl, you've got an alien on your face!". It was the strangest, ugliest, nonsensiest thing I'd seen at an awards ceremony since Prince went assless chaps on us. I had to admit -- her garish attire and ability to embrace "ugly" totally won me over.
Like an abstract painter who knows they have to understand the fundamentals first, Lady Gaga didn't come in with the crazy, she started out as little Miss Stefani Germanotta. I recently came across this video from before she went Gaga. There is no question this woman has talent and creativity to spare. If this is how she has evolved over the past few years, I must admit I can't wait to see where this brazen femme goes next.
