Review Revue: Critics React To Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” Video

Robbie Daw | March 1, 2011 10:35 am

Lady Gaga gave birth to her “Born This Way” music video yesterday with a flash of choreography, an array of wigs, some nasty-looking goo and one giant machine gun. We assessed that the dark sci-fi clip stood in contrast to the upbeat, pop-filled tone of the song itself. We also pointed out the barrage of references to Madonna’s past work. So what exactly did the rest of the Internet have to say about Gaga’s latest video, you ask? Read on!

* Adam Lambert appeared to be in awe when he tweeted, “Wow new Gaga video is wild and weird! I love the super 60’s psychedelic intro. Like Barbarella meets Alien.”

* PopEater couldn’t help gushing that the video “is every bit as creative and visually arresting as anything the pop star has ever unleashed on her adoring fans.”

* Entertainment Weekly‘s Music Mix pondered, “…the song itself felt like a major comedown from the mythic, Hitchcockian prelude. That intro proved she’s now the great trickster of American popular culture, passing off irony as sincerity and dogma as truth. In this literal-minded, post-irony Message Board era, no wonder people don’t ‘get’ her. But if we ‘got’ everything she’s trying to do, wouldn’t that rob it of all the fun?”

* The Fader was more interested in The Lady’s fashion: “We know this is technically a music video, but we care more about how Gaga looks than how she sounds … Hope the wigmaster on set was paid handsomely, that pink ponytail is a beaut plus Gaga’s blonde shag looks good.”

* UK mag the Gay Times raved, “With its hot topless boys, the best dance routine since Single Ladies and a healthy dose of 80s sci-fi thrown in for good measure, it has to be said there’s something in it for every gay. Suffice to say, we loved it.”

* Pink Is The New Blog‘s Trent noted, “To be honest, nothing about this video seems surprising or necessarily inventive … it strikes me as just another Lady Gaga video. In fact, this video in particular struck me as very Marilyn Manson-esque.”

* As mentioned above, we noted several Material Girl references yesterday—and it seems Billboard was on the same wavelength: “…similarities to classic Madonna videos, most specifically ‘Vogue’ and ‘Borderline,’ can be found within the ‘Born This Way’ clip. These Madonna references join a growing list of comparisons being made between the pop icon and Gaga’s ‘Born This Way,’ which many claim sounds much like Madonna’s ‘Express Yourself’.”

* Pop Trash Addicts, while not particularly fond of the song, was won over by the music video: “The seven-and-a-half-minute extravaganza doesn’t scale the same dizzying heights as ‘Paparazzi’ or ‘Telephone’ but I finally get the Klingon-tastic face implants and low rent sex shop clothing… The not-particularly-subtle vaginal imagery also amuses me. It’s a rather lazy metaphor for creation but I’m a sucker for an old fashioned shock tactic and the visuals remind of 80s Cronenberg.”

* Meanwhile, PopJustice summed it all up in one sentence: “Some good bits, some bad bits, could do with some dogs in it.”

Let us know what you think of the Gaga’s “Born This Way” video below!