Lady Gaga’s ‘The Fame Monster’ Turns 5: Stan & Deliver

Name: Robbie Daw | Location: NYC, USA | Twitter: @chartrigger

3. Monster

“Don’t call me Gaga.” “I’ve never seen one like that before.” “Don’t look at me like that.” “You amaze me.”

These seemingly throw-away (pick-up?) lines begin dark, urgent dance cut “Monster,” a song that manages to perfectly capture both the euphoric thrill of a one-night stand with a bad boy — perhaps too bad — and the inevitable cloud of danger looming over the situation. Gaga always seemed torn here, lyrically, as she cautiously asks her “girlfriend if she’s seen you ’round before,” but, really, girl — we all knew from the first listen that you were gonna end up in the sack with the guy harboring “those evil eyes.”

Sex is arguably heightened when coupled with the fear of the unknown, and Gaga goes to town here graphically detailing the seedy glamour (“we French-kissed on a subway train”) and the loss of control (“he tore my clothes right off, he ate my heart and then he ate my brain”) after giving into her persistent Monster’s charms. Of course, she’s probably singing in metaphors, and really talking about making oneself vulnerable in a relationship when there’s been heartache before. But isn’t it more fun to imagine some devastatingly-handsome cannibal-vampire on the prowl for his next victim, luring unsuspecting pop stars into his bedroom for a night of bumping, grinding and rampant horror?

A large part The Fame Monster‘s brilliance is the fact that the non-singles play like classic pop anthems themselves when stacked up against showy singles “Bad Romance,” “Telephone” and “Alejandro.” No exception to that, “Monster” ranks high up among Gaga’s output from the whole Fame era, if not her entire catalog in general.