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| Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga for their duet album, Cheek to Cheek. Courtesy of billboard.com. |
On the stages of modern pop music, the descriptors ‘grand’, ‘outlandish’, and ‘guise’ serve as the glittered trail leading you straight to Lady Gaga’s stiletto-clad feet. With red carpet ruses fit for the Mad Hatter, Lady Gaga nestled a niche of her own in the music scene.
Since her collaborative album with jazz icon, Tony Bennett, however, Lady Gaga’s niche as a musician has been under fire. Since her ‘Just Dance’ debut six years ago, her music and wardrobe selections alike have been befitting of the pop image. Like a categorical sorting process by the public, Lady Gaga has been primed as unpredictable in many ways, but not in terms of which genre she her songs belong to.
In the album, “Cheek to Cheek” with Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga’s achievements and accolades as a performer attached to a jazz album are not living up to the entertainer’s prior successes as a pop star according to album reviews. In the LA Times, one reviewer shook a show tune finger at Lady Gaga’s ensembles in classic songs, like “Anything Goes” offering that, “she sometimes blasts away at these songs rather than relaxing into them.”
In the schema, or category, that the public has outlined Lady Gaga in, there is no room for the artist to move laterally into the theatrical and show-tune stems of her past. After all, before she was glitz and Gaga, she was Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. Rooted in the melodic ballads of theatre, Germanotta is the antithesis of Gaga and her audience has taken note of it.
Despite “Cheek to Cheek” topping the Billboard 200 chart, there is a detachment between the duo and their audience, as Lady Gaga is disputed for her worthiness in singing alongside a jazz legend. Because of her steadfast denotation as a Queen of Pop by the masses, there is a royal order for what queens mustn’t do. And evading her pop image by topping the charts in an alternate genre is not cohesive with the permissions, nor the capabilities that the public is accustomed to allowing Lady Gaga to have.
While the LA Times includes reviews that acknowledge the raspy tone of Lady Gaga’s that, quite literally, jives with Bennett’s voice so well, more than just her Little Monster fan base is left wondering where the electronic flare of Gaga’s character fits alongside this theatric persona. Transported outside of the Art Pop world of Gaga’s past, the multi-faceted schema of Lady Gaga has yet to enter into full bravado with listeners. For now, definitive silhouettes and abilities are preferred of our artists, but perhaps there will be room in the future for jazz on Gaga’s outlandish stage.
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This is a really great use of schemas show in the real world music industry. I honestly did not think this was an out of the ordinary thing for Lady Gaga to do, just because she tends to do whatever she wants without caring what people think. I was a lot more shocked when I found out her fiance was the Chicago Fire television star Taylor Kinney (which may be because I find him super attractive). I found this more out of the ordinary because it is somebody she has a deep relationship with, not just some music she is playing with a legendary jazz musician. Very interesting post!
ReplyDeleteAshley, thank you for sharing what you've found to be surprising about Gaga's public presence! Even with her interpersonal interactions, such as with her Chicago Fire boyfriend, the American public is rendered with confusion because Gaga is deemed to "zany", or "different" from her all-American man friend. The discussion stands still around the actions and interactions that our conditioned minds allow us to have for certain people because of the way that we define them. Cheers!
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