Well, I may have been a *tad* hasty in selecting my favourite albums of the moment. GaGa's Fame Monster leaked in its entirety last night, and my suspicions were confirmed: it's fucking amazing.
10 Bad Romance ☭ MY LORD. There is nothing that can be said about this that hasn't already been said. I think I prefer this to Poker Face (the chord progression in the chorus is far better IMO), and it's definitely one of my favourite songs of the year (and it must be noted that I'm nowhere near deciding my favourite of what has been a spectacular year). The video is almost certainly one of the best of the decade in my honest opinion.
10 Alejandro ☭ GAHHH. I adore the Ace of Base-esque synths peppered throughout, along with the underlying ethnic undertones, mixed into what would without these elements just be GaGa-by-numbers. I can't actually get the chorus out of my head.
9.5 Monster ☭ I LOVE IT. It's like Just Dance evolved post-GaGa's triumph, and the lyrics are totally killer. The middle eight is spectacular stuff (with a nice little recognition of the small debt that Monster owes to her debut hit!), but it does seem a little bit like Monster is just an amalgamation of all of GaGa's biggest hits to date...although given that these are some of the best songs of the year, is that even a real criticism?
10 Speechless ☭ OK, let's move past the Again, Again comparisons - whilst retaining the bluesy, cabaret edge of that song, Speechless is far, far more anthemic and really comes off more as a reformation of AA in response to her experiences throughout the year. An archetypal example of how TFM is a nod towards and an evolution of the album it was originally supposed to be packaged with.
09 Dance In The Dark ☭ Think Disco Heaven but with a far stronger chorus, and MUCH better production. Whilst I do love this song, I can't help but be put off by the fact that the chorus is *slightly* too high for GaGa (you can hear her straining her vocals just a little bit, and I can't help but feel this would be very patchy performed live). I LIVE for the Vogue rip-off at the end though. Seriously, can we get this album on in a club or something soon?
10 Telephone ☭ DID SOMEBODY JUST SAY BILLBOARD #1 SMASH? I love the subtle harp in the background of the verses which segues into the clubtastic bridge-chorus, even if the chorus is a bit tackayyy. Plus, I totally love it when Beyonce summons her inner ANGRY BLACK GURL for her verse (see under 'Ring The Alarm, Diva; amazingness of'). GaGa is totally spoilt for choice with choosing the second single, and I might actually have to scream if she goes with Dance In The Dark.
EDIT: According to gagadaily.com, this IS the second single! SENSE PREVAILS.
8.5 So Happy I Could Die ☭ This one comes off as a more club-suitable version of 'Eh, Eh', and I wasn't too hot on that one either. However, I DO quite love this one, although it is definitely the 'weak' point of the album (although with an album as fantastic as this there really isn't such a thing...or if there is, it really doesn't matter). The culmination chorus could really have used some improvement, but other than that the production and verses are still amazing.
10 Teeth ☭ OH MY FUCKING GOD. Beautiful Dirty Rich was one of my favourites on The Fame, and that is about the closest I can compare this to. So, as an evolution of that...THIS IS FUCKING FANTASTIC. 'Show me ya teeth' is really competing with 'DON'T CALL MY NAME, ALEJANDRO' for the lyric that just REFUSES to leave you alone, and as a constant chant with spoken-word relations to her lover/s interwoven throughout there's no avoiding it. It's like Beautiful Dirty Rich melded with some brass, got rid of the synths and become a Brechtian sexual anthem. AMAZING.
AVERAGE: 9.625
Overall, I would say that it is very very obvious that this is a sequel to The Fame - I would probably refer to this as The Fame v1.5, as it clearly takes into account her experiences and musical evolution over the past twelve months, and all of the tracks clearly have strong influences from some of the tracks on that album (some to the point of near self-plagiarism!). All in all I would say this is definitely one of the albums of the year, and I'm very very excited to see where she'll go with her third album!
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