Lady Gaga Music Review Analysis
By: Cam Hall
Jon Pareles' article entitled Lavish Worlds, and the Headwear to Match, which serves as a personal music review of Lady Gaga, is a great informational tool to readers who know little about Lady Gaga's music career, as well as her biggest fans. This article provides basic information about Lady Gaga's image, inspiration, song lyrics, performances, and other important information that is about her music career. In the article, Jon Pareles makes a number of certain choices that relate to the genre of a music review and help to enhance the article as a whole. One significant choice that Pareles makes is to give readers an insight into how Lady Gaga presents herself in public and at big events, like her own Monster Ball Tour and an awards ceremony. He provides an example of the way she appeares during a live performance, "She first appeared behind a computerized grid, with a lighted costume that made her more a collection of white dots than a body: a figure in an electronic universe, . . ." (Pareles http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). This choice relates to the genre of a music review, because many music artists and producers today are concerned with image over great musical talent and composition, and image is something people comment on a lot today when they discuss current music acts. Another significant choice that Pareles makes is that he compares Lady Gaga to other music artists from the past while explaining how she stnads out from these other artists. Pareles makes this choice in the following sentence, "While showpeople like David Bowie and Madonna established this career path, Lady Gaga is strutting along it with larger-than-life style and musical gifts" (http;//www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). This choice relates to the genre of a music review, because most writers that are assigned to write articles on certain music artists often look at older music artists to see if they can trace any lines of inspiration that the artist that they are writing about got from these artists, and how he or she is bringing his or her act one step further than those that inspire him or her from generations before. John Pareles carefully considers the audience he is trying to attract when writing this article and makes certain choices that reflect an understanding to viewers as to who the targeted readers are and why these people are reading.
The ways in which Jon Pareles carefully considers the audience the audience that he is aiming for are evident throughout the article. One way that Jon Parels carefully considers the audience that he is aiming for is clear based on his decision to include a wide array of information on how Lady Gaga is a standout music talent that presents herself in certain ways, unlike other current music artists. He gives insight into Lady Gaga's outrageous performances and costumes, which is able to easily intrigue readers to find out more about Lady Gaga. Pareles comments on several pieces of headwear that Lady Gaga has worn in the past in the article, "Onstage and in photos on video screens, she wore Egyptian-deity golden armor, antlers, a shiny red chauffeur's hat, a spiked black hood and an exoskeletonlike helmet, . . ." (http;//www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Another way that Pareles carefully considers the audinece that he is aiming for is evident based on his decision to provide specific information about the composition of Lady Gaga's songs. This kind of information allows certain readers to consider listening to her music, if they have not done so, in the past. Jon Pareles provides decent information about Lady Gaga's songs in the article, "Lady Gaga's songs are solid, most often pumped up by hefty Eurodisco beats . Between snappy choruses - "Just dance" or "Caught in a bad romance" - her verses sometimes revel in desire, sometimes question it" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Jon Pareles carefully considers the audience that he is aiming for in the article in other ways, as well.
Jon Pareles makes certain choices that reflect an understanding as to who the targeted readers are and why these specific people are reading. One choice that Jon Pareles makes that reflects an understanding of as to who certain readers are is his decision to include a statement by Lady Gaga herself about the way she feels about her fans and how she goes out of her way to please them. This choice made by Pareles gives viewers the idea that he is targeting loyal fans of Lady Gaga as a part of his wide audience that he aims to reach out to. The loyal fans of Lady Gaga would be reading this article, because they could be looking for interesting facts on their idol that they might not know about and be curious as to how music reviewers would judge her, as well. The statement made by Lady Gaga is the following, ""When they ask me why I spent all my money on my show, I tell them, because my fans are sexy," she said" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Another choice that Jon Pareles makes that reflects an understanding of as to who certain readers are is his decision to provide information on what her stage persona is like and how it changes from one to another during her shows. This choice made by Pareles gives viewers the idea that he is targeting people who are curious as to what different sides exist to Lady Gaga. These kinds of people would want to read this article, because they would want to know exactly what her goals are, besides being far-out in the music industry, and if she is a kind, benevolent person, or a stuck-up, conceited person, or a little bit of both, and other things, as well. John Pareles provides information on Lady Gaga's stage persona during a show in the following statement, "Her stage persona veered from kindly - urging fellow misfits to follow their dreams, announcing that proceeds from her Jan. 24 show would be donated to Haiti relief - to bellicose, at one point taking a gun off her piano and aiming it at the audience, . . ." (http:www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Jon Pareles makes other choices that reflect and understanding as to who the targeted readers are and why these specific people are reading, as well. John Pareles article Lavish Worlds, and the Headwear to Match, is a great informational tool for anybody wanting to learn more about Lady Gaga and her music career.
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