It's a boy? It's a girl? It's a Gaga!

After 5 hours of anticipating incubation in what looked like an oversized alien egg, Lady Gaga hatched on stage at “The Grammys” to perform her new hit single “Born this Way.”  The song was quickly named the LGBTQ community anthem with lyrics, “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.”  Wanting to make political and social statements about accepting everyone for who they are and the way they were born, it was a no brainer that she would perform the song at the award show.

Gaga had been carried down the red carpet the night of by scantily clad men with six packs and refused to come out of her shell for interviews.  One of the designated carriers stated, “Lady Gaga is in creative embryonic stage and won’t be born until this evening.” Little Monsters didn’t have to wait long seeing as though she was the second performance of the night.  The egg appeared on stage glowing, and Gaga emerged, or was in context of the song, birthed, horned shoulders and all.

Gaga’s performance and choice of clothing, or lack there of considering she is hardly ever seen wearing pants, was a hot topic, and after all the hype, she left her monsters underwhelmed.  She’s all about “rebirth” and accepting the skin you were born in at this stage in her career, and yes, the costumes are supposed to represent Egyptian fertility gods, but wearing a flesh-toned sheet as a skirt to represent skin isn’t going to cut it when you’re considered a fashion god in today’s world.

The high ponytail, referred to as the “Madonna pony,” on her head wasn’t a smart move either.  The comparison of “Born this Way” post-release to Madonna’s “Vogue” has already been thrown out countless times.  When confronted about ripping Madonna off with out giving her due credit, Gaga replied, “How do you like this then, I’ve made a song that sounds like some of her big hits (but also like its own song) because obviously I know who Madonna is, it’s not as if I am somehow expecting you all to imagine that I have never heard of this ‘Madonna’ singer, it’s bloody Madonna after all isn’t it?”  This makes one ponder whether or not these similarities were done for the hell of it, knowing very well what she was doing and the criticism it would bring.

Though the costumes were a bit of a bore, it made the focus on the song and performance more prevalent. Choreographer Laurieann Gibson’s choreography matched the upbeat spirit of the song.  However, mid-song, Gaga whipped out an organ that did not match this upbeatness and did nothing more than bring back memories of sitting at a Cubs game during the seventh-inning-stretch.  It was awkward and ill-fitting with the song; pop or gospel, Lady, not both. 

It’s obvious that Gaga’s vocal ability is at its peak; she didn’t falter once, which is rare these days in live performance, just ask Christina Aguilera, but as impressive as her pipes were, all of the built up hype surrounding the performance before and during the red carpet left Little Monsters and most viewers confused. There was no real, wow factor, unless the abnormally large egg strikes your fancy. It made one ask whether to stick by Gaga and declare the performance artistic genius or stick with the internal gut reaction and pray that it will only get better.

This new spirit and love for music that Gaga is currently all about is uplifting and for lack of a better word, happy even if the “Grammy” performance didn’t live up to most expectations.  If her “birth” is truly representational of the new Gaga, it’s a toss up as to what the new album expected in May will consist of; maybe the next time around, Gaga will live up to her obscure expectations.