Judas at Easter

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Permalink Reply by Kelli Hale on April 21, 2011 at 3:43am

Hmm... I think it could have been marketed slightly differently to avoid super conflict, although that will probably drive sales up so... I think it was a good business decision. That's basically what Gaga is known for. Her ability to market herself and her music well. Really this publicity stunt can't be called more than that. And honestly, most people up in arms about the song probably never listened to any of her music anyway so it's not like she's losing sales or anything.

 

and TECHNICALLY without Judas' betrayal Christianity wouldn't exist so... I mean in some weird twisted way perhaps she's celebrating that? Or it kind of actually sounds like she's struggling with trying to balance her career with her proclaimed faith? It could also be about her drug usage... there are a billion different ways the whole thing can be taken into context. 

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Permalink Reply by Tim King on April 21, 2011 at 5:06am

I think she's just trying to distract everyone from the fact that she likely hosed Weird Al and is trying to pin it on her manager.

But in all seriousness, Gaga just loves to stir the shit pot.  She just happens to also not be very inventive when doing it.  I'm not one of those people who thinks she's so wild and innovative (besides her clothing, which I would first call "ridiculous" before innovative), so I think it's very within her M.O. to strike up this incredibly easy-to-stoke controversy without having any greater purpose behind it, given her tiresomely "outrageous", "take me as I am" persona.

That's not to say I would take away from any human rights work she has done for the LGBTQetc community and otherwise, but when it comes to things like this, I'm a cynic.  When an recording star lists "fashion" as a musical influence, I'm inclined to think publicity stunt first and wait for someone to prove to me that it was making a legitimate statement.

Pushing buttons like this just annoys me in the first place anyway.  I'm not offended by its meaning, I'm offended at its banality.  At this day and age, pressing peoples' buttons by taking a veiled swipe at religion or something like that is just like pushing the start button on an Xbox controller: you know exactly what's going to happen before you even do it.  Any marketing machine like Gaga is far too concerned with the bottom line to be legitimately provocative, when people like her should be truly pushing the envelope in an effort to expand cultural understanding and growth.  In my opinion, she's not doing enough with her power.

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