Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance

Partially because “Baby One More Time” is now 21 years old.

I didn’t realize how much Gaga had lost her touch melodically until I revisited The Fame Monster a few weeks ago. It’s almost sad how much better her early music is than Chromatica.

I don't think there will be much argument here. This is Gaga's peak, and the rest of her career has been trying to regain that uniqueness including in "Shallow", where she depended on the same Ra-Ra-Ra hook.

Wrong. Booty Wave is the best pop somg of the last 20 years.

It’s a great pop song. Another one for consideration: Single Ladies by Beyoncé.

It’s a perfect song. And a great video.

Eh, it's fine. It's better than 90% of the shlock out there, I agree. But the 'best' pop song? I doubt that.

It’s shit like all of fugga’s music and her face!

I love Lady GaGa as a person, but her music's always just - meh - nothing that special.

snore

While Bad Romance is great I think LoveGame has a better hook. And I get a cheap thrill from the words disco stick.

This doesn't reflect well on the state of pop songwriting...

Single Ladies is horrible

Came out in 2001, and sold much better than Bad Romance, and its a better dance pop song than anything Gaga EVER created.

I prefer "Poker Face", "Paparazzi" and "Do What U Want" (although the last one is tainted by R Kelly).

R13 yeah but we can thank Cathy Dennis for that one.

Her first two albums were her most interesting and best. The Fame was more innovative, with some confounding sounds and lyrics, and Fame Monster was a little more slickly produced but still really creative. I agree that Bad Romance (especially the video’s styling) was an apex.

I do wonder what happened. She went from being a pop trifle to a Very Serious Social Justice Warrior, and honestly “Born This Way” is not a very good song. I like “Bad Kid” OK, but she does fail for me when she tries to mesh dance music and serious messaging. I think that’s part of what brings down Chromatica. I read a couple of reviews that say Chromatica is her best and most cohesive album, but there’s nothing on it that stands out as memorable to me. It’s good pop music all the way through, but it feels paint by numbers.

“My name isn’t Alice, but I keep lookin’ for Wonderland” is...OK? Who cares?

“When I was young, I prayed for lightning...I found myself without a prayer/I lost my breath but no one cared” is self-aggrandizing Madonna dreck.

Wrong direction lyrically, Gaga. Shut your Playboy mouth and break out your disco stick.

I like Gaga, but she was propped up by RedOne and Fernando Garibay early on.

Left on her own, we get those hookless piano bar songs that don’t translate into great pop, even when retooled with a dance beat.

Agree. RedOne and Rob Fusari made great music with her, and an unbridled Nicola Formichetti visually styled her to become a pop culture idol.

Apart from them, she has proved she has tenacity and real performative talent, but her songs have lost their magic and when she goes for shock and awe with her visual style these days, she comes across more like a rent-a-Gaga than a creative visionary.

I'd vote Sia's Chandelier or Adele's Hello over this mess.

Katy Perry's Dark Horse, too.

Rihanna's Umbrella, Diamonds...

All better than this.

This new song “Plastic Doll” sounds like it was written for Katy Perry. From the opening instrumentation to the way that Gaga performs the vocals, it sounds like Katy Perry. Why would Gaga reduce herself to paint-by-numbers pop?

I do like this track a lot. It has a mid-90s dance-pop percussion, and the lyrics, trite as they are, make sense to me with the “sweet” K-pop vocals juxtaposed against Gaga’s comparatively “sour” voice.

"We Are Young" by Fun. is a better song.

The more I listen to Chromatica the more I like it. I love Sine from above and 911.

R23 I like Sine from Above except that the misspelling of “sign” suggests there’s going to be some kind of mathematical analogy and there is none. “I heard a sine” is a stupid line. And Elton John’s role feels gratuitous.

R19 “Chandelier” is a great call and an absolutely magnificent song. It has, what, three distinct hooks? Brilliant vocal, too.

Bad Romance is great but I wouldn't put it in my top 10 songs of the century. I'd argue Alejandro is her finest moment.

Chandelier, Can't Get You Out Of My Head, Call The Shots and Crazy In Love would probably be in my top 10, along with this:

It really is. It's a genius-level piece of pop music. Wildly inventive lyrically, thematically, and aesthetically (the video)

And Single Ladies is horrible

I prefer Paparazzi because of the video with Alexander Skarsgård

I cringe when I hear the whoa oh oh, oh oh oh part of Single Ladies. Awful song all around.

Mine is Crazy In Love ❤️

Genius??? I see Stef found her way here.

R33 I’m loving the way disco has found its way back to pop music. Doja Cat (who is fabulous), Dua Lipa and Carly Rae Jepsen are all using it to great effect.

Love Bad Romance. Among other great pop hits of the last twenty years is Chris Brown - With You. Just magnetic.

Starships is up there as well

Still sounds fresh 13 years later. Come back to us Riri!