Applause: Gaga for gaga? Or one hand clapping?

Lady Gaga doesn't want bloggers to review her new music. Apparently we're not qualified to comment on her genius, which is a task best left to her "true fans". You know, the rabid basket cases who would push another human under a truck for suggesting Born This Way was somewhat patchy. Those people.

Anyway, I don't take no orders from no pop stars, so lets have a listen to Gaga's new single, Applause, then weigh up its pros and cons.

PROS
:: At a brisk 3'33" Applause is nowhere near as scrappy or indulgent as anything off her last album.
:: Gaga doing silly "woooh, holy ghost" voice.
:: Catchy. Like bird flu catchy.
:: And it's a grower, to boot.
:: Hilarious art/vagina pun in verse two.
:: Crowd noise - guaranteed by The KLF to make any track 110% more exciting.
:: Um, I suppose the whole "I live for the applause" thing might be tongue-in-cheek?

CONS
:: I hate to say it - but if Born This Way = Express Yourself, then Applause = Girl Gone Wild.
:: Lyrics equate nostalgia with reading (?!)
:: "Art's in pop culture in me". Gaga is suffocating on her own self-mythology here.
:: What's with all the "art + pop" thing anyway? Great pop IS art, don't you know?
:: There have already been a dozen better pop songs this year. (Yes, I can name them. No, I'm not going to).

On balance, it's a good - if not great, pop single. The best Gaga has released in a while, in fact. And she's putting it up on iTunes tonight, gawd bless her.

Tweet