‘Applause’ is the lead single from Lady Gaga’s third album/performance-art event ‘Artpop’. True to form, it’s a mad-house meta manifesto to fame, celebrity and fan worship. Jittery, staccato synth chords, hand claps, multi-track vocal harmonies and crescendoing drum beats produced by DJ White Shadow are married to Gaga’s typically arch, dead-serious, faux-Brit line delivery – a skill she and Madonna seem to have a joint patent on. The all-important accompanying video is a potpourri of German Expressionist weirdness, S&M iconography, gender-bending grotesquery, and the usual monkeylike dance moves. (Is the black latex-glove bra on sale yet? Sheer stylist genius, that!)
The crucial question is whether Gaga’s adoring Little Monsters will ever tire of her warped, cold, hermetic world? Even the craziest freak-show can eventually get old. . . To her credit, Lady Gaga possesses a uniquely refreshing, irony-tinged honesty about her need for the love and devotion that fame brings. Let’s entertain her for a while longer and see what else happens.
Release Date: Out Now
Get Lady Gaga – Applause on iTunes here
Watch Lady Gaga – Applause (Official) below:
