Review Summary: Lady Gaga makes a good choice in not attempting to pair this great album with her previous subpar debut.
Surprise! Lady Gaga has made a good decision. While re-releasing her debut album with 8 bonus tracks could seem as a ploy for more money, it turns out that her choice to release The Fame Monster as a standalone record was a good idea, as it isn’t brought down by the inconsistency of The Fame. While The Fame wasn’t terrible, its Monster counterpart contains a selection of songs that should have made it onto her debut. Like many of the other artists to re-release albums, The Fame Monster is undoubtedly one of the most successful ones. Love her or hate her, the songs are still as catchy as the few select singles off her debut. If you were annoyed with “Lovegame”, “Just Dance” or “Paparazzi” don’t turn cheek too fast because the songs you will find on this album are better crafted and slightly more original.
As many of you reading this have already heard “Bad Romance” I will keep it short and sweet. It’s in the top pier of singles for Lady Gaga as it’s much better than “Paparazzi” and “Just Dance.” Most pop music is generic because let’s face it, there is just so much of it. There is almost a new pop artist born every day as there is a crappy metalcore band for the masses. Although some of Lady Gaga’s material is lackluster, the rest of it can actually stand on its own. “Alejandro” is a boring, fairly repetitive song but still better than most of the material off The Fame. “Monster” is another song that doesn’t really stick out other than the lyrics which insinuate that some boy has eaten Lady’s heart right out along with her brain. I guess this is her way of explaining to the world that she really is becoming a monster.
Then “Speechless” starts. Oh boy if you hadn’t heard these songs in order you probably would have no idea that this is Gaga. It’s slow, missing the normal electro-pop beats and actually has feeling to it. A ballad of some sorts “Speechless” is the one song that shows that Gaga can change and that not all her material is boring and unoriginal. The beginning of “Dance In The Dark” sounds eerily familiar, but I cannot put my tongue on what it sounds like. Not really the best song on the album but it still provides some fun here and there. The second hopefully single “Telephone” gets my vote for pop song of the year. Gaga’s duet with Beyonce is brilliant. It’s not just the music it’s the lyrics and spitfire singing by Beyonce that really makes the song. The synth in the background along with the dial tone really brings it all together.
“So Happy I Could Die” sounds all too familiar to give too much good credit to Gaga. It’s got repetitive beats along with a formula that doesn’t stray from the path enough to be original. The album closer, “Teeth” is the best song off the album in my opinion. First off, listen to the song and take out the lyrics. If you listen to the music it sounds like this song could have been a direct rip from any of the many Aladdin movies. If you don’t think so, then you’ve obviously never seen those movies. While most of the song is rather similar it is still one of the best and most fun songs she has ever created. It shows that bad girl side of her and still manages to make for a fun song to bob your head to. While it’s still Lady Gaga, the same person that spawned countless plays on MySpace, she still is able to create something that is semi-fresh and fun as hell to listen to. The Fame Monster is packed with hard hitting synths, heavy dance tracks, and plenty of good times to last you until she puts another great record on the shelves.
Listen: Bad Romance, Speechless, Telephone and Teeth.
