Bowl Cuts, War/Love, and Religion

Hello world! I am back and what a glorious day to be back. (The day the Alejandro music video premiered!)


My dear friend was worried that Gaga had gotten to a point where she could create complete mush and people would still smother it with love and obsession. After Telephone, I too was fearful of this being the case. (I love Tarantino and Los Angeles, but Telephone just seemed cheap.) I DO believe that either I have regained faith or Gaga completely has me under her spell.

The music video for Alejandro is 8+ minutes long and there was not a single moment of boredom. The inexplicable strange darkness of Steven Klein infused with elements of NSFW, army-dancing, bowl cuts (who knew there were so many bowl cut variations!), and obscure sexuality. YESSSSS, just my cup of tea.


I love it when pop culture can make me think. (This isn’t another LOST plug, though it could be…) The video made me think of:

• The subtlety of sexiness. Nazis, a person who looks like an albino gerbil, men with bowl cuts and black spanx, nude lingerie, AK47 boobies, and nuns being raped are not the usual recipe for selling sex. Yet, this video somehow achieves just that.
• Gender roles. Gaga seems to have a moment of defiance against the physical (and maybe emotional) authority men have over women during the scene that the bowl cut guards are in heels in the beds. (She’s TOTs metaphorically wearing the pants in that scene.) But, she is ultimately overcome by their prowess in the end. (Nun being raped scene.)
• Non-immaculate religion. As the church inadvertently facilitated the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet, the church has a way of being dragged into these lives of the hedonistic and not-so-innocent. I also think the video hits upon how war and religion in history have gone hand-in-hand over history.
• The importance of the theatrical/innovative. Sure, as an artist you have to become an alter ego to promote yourself, but let’s see… Ke$ha = trashy, drunk white girl, Katy Perry = seemingly innocent but naughty girl, MIA = terrorist, Lindsay Lohan = daddy issues, etc. etc. No one is willing to reinvent themselves each time to perform an art. I appreciate the fact that Gaga is still a mystery whose innovation excites me about her next project each time all while maintaining relevance in pop culture. (Is this how Madonna was back in the day?) Even the transition from the intro to the actual song is genius. This whole time, I thought Alejandro was a latino-inspired tropical song. Who would have ever thought that this melancholy, Russian-sounding tune would transition so well into Alejandro? Tell me, who else in pop can do this! The tragedy of the storyline.... the symbolisms... oh, I can go on forever...

For those of you who stuck around til the end!


Lady Gaga - Alejandro (Rampus Latin Remix)