“Don’t ask, don’t tell”
doesn’t pass muster in the army Lady Gaga assembled for her “Alejandro”
video.
Her new video, which debuted online yesterday afternoon, is an orgy of German military imagery featuring a platoon of buff, shirtless soldiers goose-stepping and grinding against the nearly-nude Gaga. No need to ask, you can tell: as far as sex and art, fashion and ripping off Madonna’s “Express Yourself” video, anything goes in Gaga land.
The only thing prohibited is fun.
Gaga’s last video, “Telephone” with Beyonce, pimped the star’s
whacked-out vision: prison girl fights, bikinis constructed from Fourth
of July bunting, a pair of sunglasses made from burning cigarettes. It
was a mess, with plot twists and violence Quentin Tarantino would find
silly and cartoonish. But it had a sense of humor
Not “Alejandro.” Directed by Madonna-collaborator and fashion photographer Steven Klein, it presents a dark, somber and sad Lady Gaga; when she’s not sandwiched between writhing, rippled torsos, she’s brooding. The plot is hard to decipher, but it’s clearly not a story that ends happily ever after.
It opens with the ominous (and ridiculous) goose-stepping and closes with Gaga on a bed outfitted in a latex nun’s habit. In between, there’s a frozen heart on a black satin pillow, a coffin being carried through the snow, and “Cabaret” gloom shadowing the whole thing. Oh, and there’s a bra with machine gun barrels protruding from each breast that’s clearly an homage to, or besting of, Madge’s infamous conical cups. Is Gaga reaching her serious phase? What can that even mean coming from Miss Disco Stick?
The song itself is the worst part of the video; “Alejandro” is the first Gaga smash that seemed played out halfway through the first listen. But the clip still does its job. It will get a nation of little monsters psyched for Gaga’s massive summer spectacle, which includes sold-out nights at the TD Garden July 1 and 2.
Know this: If Gaga’s this visceral through a million pixels, in the uncovered flesh and with her biggest budget yet, she’s going to blow minds.
Her new video, which debuted online yesterday afternoon, is an orgy of German military imagery featuring a platoon of buff, shirtless soldiers goose-stepping and grinding against the nearly-nude Gaga. No need to ask, you can tell: as far as sex and art, fashion and ripping off Madonna’s “Express Yourself” video, anything goes in Gaga land.
The only thing prohibited is fun.
Not “Alejandro.” Directed by Madonna-collaborator and fashion photographer Steven Klein, it presents a dark, somber and sad Lady Gaga; when she’s not sandwiched between writhing, rippled torsos, she’s brooding. The plot is hard to decipher, but it’s clearly not a story that ends happily ever after.
It opens with the ominous (and ridiculous) goose-stepping and closes with Gaga on a bed outfitted in a latex nun’s habit. In between, there’s a frozen heart on a black satin pillow, a coffin being carried through the snow, and “Cabaret” gloom shadowing the whole thing. Oh, and there’s a bra with machine gun barrels protruding from each breast that’s clearly an homage to, or besting of, Madge’s infamous conical cups. Is Gaga reaching her serious phase? What can that even mean coming from Miss Disco Stick?
The song itself is the worst part of the video; “Alejandro” is the first Gaga smash that seemed played out halfway through the first listen. But the clip still does its job. It will get a nation of little monsters psyched for Gaga’s massive summer spectacle, which includes sold-out nights at the TD Garden July 1 and 2.
Know this: If Gaga’s this visceral through a million pixels, in the uncovered flesh and with her biggest budget yet, she’s going to blow minds.