Gaga may be overrated. It's debatable. She is definitely over-hated. —at least online. The man on the street is usually indifferent.
'Without all the spectacle, there would be no Gaga,' you say. This is overlooking the fact that Stefani Germanotta tried to hack it as an indie piano chick. Didn't get anywhere. Needed a hook.
'Adele has shown that with an amazing output and bluesy voice, you can net a career and still be yourself.' I think Gaga was at a disadvantage here, because her 'real' personality is nothing much — an Italian princess from the Old Country, championing progressive causes, a little uneasy with her affluence (nobody respects old money). Whereas everybody can identify with Adele. So right away, you can see why she needs "Gaga" as a framing device. This is all immaterial, anyway; it brought to our attention an extraordinary vocalist, didn't it?
Her genre variety can be discomforting to people — including myself — or anybody who remembers Madonna's nadir in the Nineties. But it ought to be cheered. Like, say, Beyonce, she is capable of any style. Unlike Beyonce, though, she's not locked into any given category.
Now that Adele's being showered with Grammys, the Tumblr feud should cool down soon (I hope). Certainly, there's no point in comparing these two artists anymore. My own suspicion is that the vigilant haters (I'm not speaking of the GLBT crowd, who have their own bone to pick) view her as emblematic of the vapid, popular blonde at school, totally eclipsing the bespectacled gothling in the corner, scribbling poetry.
It's time we stopped citing Gaga's strengths as disadvantages.
And yet, somehow, life goes on.
Gaga may be overrated. It's debatable. She is definitely over-hated. —at least online. The man on the street is usually indifferent.
'Without all the spectacle, there would be no Gaga,' you say. This is overlooking the fact that Stefani Germanotta tried to hack it as an indie piano chick. Didn't get anywhere. Needed a hook.
'Adele has shown that with an amazing output and bluesy voice, you can net a career and still be yourself.' I think Gaga was at a disadvantage here, because her 'real' personality is nothing much — an Italian princess from the Old Country, championing progressive causes, a little uneasy with her affluence (nobody respects old money). Whereas everybody can identify with Adele. So right away, you can see why she needs "Gaga" as a framing device. This is all immaterial, anyway; it brought to our attention an extraordinary vocalist, didn't it?
Her genre variety can be discomforting to people — including myself — or anybody who remembers Madonna's nadir in the Nineties. But it ought to be cheered. Like, say, Beyonce, she is capable of any style. Unlike Beyonce, though, she's not locked into any given category.
Now that Adele's being showered with Grammys, the Tumblr feud should cool down soon (I hope). Certainly, there's no point in comparing these two artists anymore. My own suspicion is that the vigilant haters (I'm not speaking of the GLBT crowd, who have their own bone to pick) view her as emblematic of the vapid, popular blonde at school, totally eclipsing the bespectacled gothling in the corner, scribbling poetry.
It's time we stopped citing Gaga's strengths as disadvantages.