Lady Gaga "The Fame"

The mysterious artist known as Lady Gaga has been getting a lot of internet buzz lately because of her sleek style and hit single "Just Dance." She's also been getting a lot of attention because of Christina Aguilera's supposed "stealing" of her look. I am very, very hesitant to jump on the Gaga train, and I still haven't, but my brother got me and iTunes gift card for my birthday so I decided to buy the album.

Just some background, Lady Gaga is a native New Yorker who came up through NYC's music scene as a singer/songwriter who performed in underground clubs. She teamed up with Akon (seriously) to produce some tracks for him while doing her own thing on the side. Eventually people started noticing what a great singer she was and her solo career was born.

Basically I'm torn. After giving her debut album—The Fame—several spins I go back and forth between love and hate. Some of tracks great, like "Just Dance", "Poker Face" and my personal favorite "Summerboy", which sounds more like a Gwen Stefani summer anthem then the other electrocentric Gaga tracks. It doesn't fit in on the album at all, but it's great! Some of the dancier songs are really fun to wiggle around to, but the slow to mid-tempo ones should be avoided at all costs.

The problem that I do have is that Lady Gaga's image seems a little convoluted. Lots of talk of money, fame, riches, sex etc, but I don't know if I necessarily believe it all. Lady Gaga's persona is supposed to be this like futuristic dance diva from outerspace, but I feel like I can see the overly-confident New Yorker peeking out from under those blond bangs.

Track list for The Fame: