This week Lady Gaga released her eagerly awaited second album ‘Born This Way’. After her fans, or as Gaga calls them her “little monsters”, lapped up the eponymous lead single and ‘Judas’ anticipation for this record has been high. Working with a variety of producers, the singer has produced an ambitious and suitably bombastic album. Since exploding onto the scene with her 2008 single ‘Just Dance’, Gaga has revitalised the world of pop with her outlandish outfits, ambitious stage shows and controversial videos.
After ‘Born This Way’ became the fastest selling single in iTunes history, the album is sure to find its way at the top of albums charts across the globe. The album already caused Amazon’s servers to virtually meltdown, after fans flocked to take advantage of a promotional 99 cent download offer. For those who missed the one-day deal, we’re giving you the chance to get your hands on the album – for free! We have five copies of ‘Born This Way (Special Edition)’ to give away, to be in with a chance to win simply answer the question below: Read more…
Credit where credit’s due, no artist can play the media game quite like Lady Gaga. Her every outfit, tweet and public appearance is met with a level of scrutiny usually reserved for world leaders – and with 10 million Twitter followers and 34 million Facebook fans she could be argued to have more influence than many heads of state.
With her second album about to drop, the Gaga hype machine is going into overdrive. Her lead single, ‘Born This Way’, was covered by the kids at ‘Glee’; she’s released an (unsurprisingly) controversial video for second single ‘Judas’; and she dressed up as a gothic Lizard at a star studded private performance in London earlier this week. So far, so Gaga. For her latest stunt the New York born songstress emerged from a coffin seemingly pregnant and draped in shiny fetish gear. (See above for the full performance) No matter that Alice Cooper was doing similar shtick twenty years ago, it’s continued to push the Gaga press machine into overdrive.
As the biggest pop star in the world a number one record will probably not be enough. Gaga will be looking to give Adele competition as this year’s biggest selling artist. No mean feat considering Adele’s ‘21’ has now shifted 1.5 million copies in the USA and 2.4 million in the UK. With Gaga’s current singles not yet capturing the public’s imagination in the way ‘Let’s Dance’ and ‘Pokerface’ did, the success of her next album remains to be seen. The only thing to be certain of is that Lady Gaga will continue to grab the headlines.
This week Lady Gaga broke another milestone, by becoming the first person to reach 9 million followers on Twitter. The ‘Born This Way’ singer has now overtaken pop sensation Justin Bieber, who follows with 8.4 million. Gaga now also commands a larger online following than Barrack Obama and Britney Spears.
Today also marks the singers 25th birthday, to celebrate she Tweeted a picture of a birthday message scribbled on a table with the message, “Drawing on table at restaurant. If I had to give it all back, but got to keep my fans, that’d be ok.”
The singer is currently taking her live show ‘The Monster Ball’ across the US and this week received a visit from Rock and Roll legend Alice Cooper.
Never one to disappoint, the epitome of a pop star, Lady Gaga, returns to our charts with her latest single. The attention grabbing diva recently chose an Egg shaped carriage as her mode of transport as she invaded the Grammys. An exceptional way to start the night, however Ms. Gaga almost cracked under pressure as she gave a speech after receiving one of her awards. The stunt was talked about across the globe creating a huge buzz for her single ‘Born This Way’ which topped the Billboard 100 and was crowned Billboard’s 1000th single. Gaga also broke a record of sales with opening week digital sales topping 448,000 downloads.
The Madonna influenced track set a record in radio play after dominating the US airwaves, an incredible achievement from the provocative artist. The song starts off with a brief spoken word prologue about love, quickly followed by a mash of messy, infectious, synths. A club friendly drum pattern and typical chord progression combine to produce a fiery hit. Additional drones and electric stabs feature in the background while Gaga exclaims she was “born this way”.
The release of ‘Born This Way’ has boiled a debate from Madonna fans claiming Lady Gaga has pirated the track ‘Express Yourself’, while the tracks do carry a very similar sound and rhythm, Gaga has made a statement lately proclaiming her love for Madonna; which should keep things sweet between the fans.
The penultimate track in our 2010 countdown is ‘Telephone’ a great pop song which reached epic proportions of fame due to its well crafted audio sensibilities and by having one of the most widely anticipated videos of the year. It’s also notable for bringing together two of the biggest female stars on the planet; Lady Gaga and Beyoncé
At a huge 9 and a half minutes, the video for ‘Telephone’ didn’t disappoint and has currently racked up a staggering 97 million YouTube hits to date. The video, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, featured Lady Gaga showing off an even more streamlined physique than seen previously, leaving nothing to the imagination while she dallies around in cigarette adorned sunglasses, prison tape bikini outfits and indulging in lesbian prison kisses; the sort of outlandish behavior we’ve come to expect from the eccentric star. Beyoncé however showed a more daring side to her repertoire as she played the part of Gaga’s bailer and partner in crime as the two embark on a killing spree in a traditional American diner.
The song itself lyrically appears to be an ode to a lover who persistently calls while the protagonist in question is trying to party at a club, it has been said the song is more an observation of Gaga’s life in the limelight. Beyoncé adds a harder edge to the song with her sing-song style hard rapping however both songstresses come out shining in this collaboration.
Continuing her seemingly unstoppable run of success, Lady Gaga has announced a new string of US dates for her forthcoming ‘The Monster Ball Tour’. The European leg of the tour sold out in minutes and it’s likely that the US will follow suit. Considering the singers penchant for elaborate stage shows and costume changes, it’s likely this will be one of the stand out gigs of the year. The singer was recently quoted as saying the tour will be, “more of a musical and less of a concert”; revealing that the show will revolve around a plot of Gaga and her cohorts getting lost on route to The Monster Ball.
The announcement of the tour follows the release of the long awaited video for ‘Telephone’, Lady Gaga’s second collaboration with Beyoncé. The epic nine minute short recalls the work of Quentin Tarantino and a time when artists such as Michael Jackson explored new realms with the format. The video has racked up a jaw dropping 19 million views and can be seen here. Be warned, the explicit storyline isn’t safe for work viewing!
Below is a clip of director Jonas Åkerland discussing the ideas behind the video.
For the full list of Lady Gaga tour dates click the link below. Read more…
‘Video Phone’ pits together two of the most successful female singers of 2009, Beyoncé & Lady Gaga. Taken from the former’s album ‘I Am Sasha Fierce’, the release of the single ties in with re-issues of both artists’ albums. With an intro that is reminiscent of a classic Bond theme, the track gives way to a killer beat and a stuck-in-your head, hypnotic vocal from Beyoncé. Lady Gaga lends the track her inimitable style to the video where the pair engage in a scantily clad synchronised ‘dance off’ whilst brandishing Buck Rodgers style ray guns – which makes quite odd but still amazing stuff viewing.
This week we’re introducing a new chart to the Shazam Blog; The Shazam New Release Chart USA. This counts down the most tagged pre-release and recently released tracks on the Shazam service (across mobile platforms in the USA). Keeping you up to date with all of the freshest new music, The Shazam New Release Chart will help you discover the freshest new music weeks before it tops the Billboard charts.
Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ takes the top spot this week in the Shazam New Release Tag Chart. Other releases to look out for in the coming weeks include Rihanna’s ‘Russian Roulette’ and Timbaland’s ‘Morning After Dark’; both of which pre-empt the release of huge albums for the R&B stars.
