Poker Face
Have you ever heard of Lady Gaga? She is a famous singer and songwriter. Lady Gaga, one of the music artists who have made some remarkable contributions to pop-rock music and in fashion trends, has been involved with music since she was four. When she was a child, she felt that she didn’t “fit in” and she was often considered too eccentric or too provocative.
She began her career when she performed in a show together with other musicians in 2006. At that time she wasn’t too flashy or trendy but she was already very good at composing songs. Her first album song was The Fame, released in 2008 and her two first singles were Poker Face and Just Dance.
The first song I want to talk about is Poker Face. It is about a person that has a double face, a person who may give an impression of one thing while being another. In any case, the song talks about a female who has a male partner and wants to cheat on him with a female lover.
This particular fragment:
"I wanna hold 'em like they do in Texas Plays, fold 'em, let 'em hit me, raise it Baby stay with me (I love it), Love Game intuition, play the cards with Spades to start and after he's been hooked I'll play the one that's on his heart,"
wasn’t clear to me until I looked up the lyrics and a friend of mine told me what the phrase really referred to. Then it became clear to me when I looked it up in wordreference.com and people in the forum explained that the meaning is “I want to hold women like they do in games of Texas hold’ em” meaning that “she” wants to make moves with the cards like the ones on the cards in her relationships with women.
How can an icon like Lady Gaga say that? Well, apparently, she agrees with infidelity and she probably thinks that it is “ok” to choose a fantasy over a real relationship. Also, her song makes the listener think that she or he has to hide real thoughts or emotions in order to achieve a selfish act and get what the person wants without regret or remorse.
Even though the song and its rhythm are contagious, it seems to me that supporting an immoral message is not a positive thing to do. I wonder about and question the morality message that Gaga is making and its prejudice. Is Gaga not aware of the millions of kids, including teenagers,that are hearing over and over how to act, feel and react to something as important as a partner?
An important figure like Lady Gaga should promote different kinds of values and these should be promoted with high moral messages and with a high degree of integrity. Of course, we all know there is such a thing as freedom of choice. People often find themselves choosing what to do and how to behave. However this doesn’t mean that people should be motivated to lie or to behave in a selfish way with others.
As humans we make a lot of mistakes and sometimes we have time to reflect on them or benefit from the experiences, but why would someone want to be in such an uncomfortable situation? Not only does the person have to deal with the decisions involved in such situations - who to love or to focus on - but also what the best way to act or to do something is. It is unclear how the Poker Face song could make a relationship any better or stronger. More than intriguing, it is irritating to be unable to make a decision between two persons who are in “stake”.
The other song of Gaga that has caused controversy is the song called “Judas” from her new album called Born This Way. This song is about a lot of different issues. The first one is the battle between good and bad. The second one talks about the battle of a complicated romance. And the last one points out some religious beliefs that Gaga may approve of.
First, the songs talks about how Gaga is in love with a liar, in this case Judas, who in the Christian religion was the apostle who betrayed Jesus. Gaga explicitly tells in her song that even though she wants to be with Jesus, she yearns to be with Judas. In the second part of her song, she claims to be a woman in love, a woman that is a holy fool, without repentance, even though she loves a man who leads a crooked life and embraces evil demons. In the last part, she points out that she was torn away from Judas, and that she suffers from the pain of being separated from him. In her video performance, she is burning without him. In the final part, she suddenly transforms into Mary Magdalene and she is stoned to death. Is she trying to suggest that Jesus didn’t forgive her because of the man she loved?
In both songs, Gaga seems to be trying to make people fulfill their darkest desire and supporting the fact that seeking redemption is over-rated, meaning that being conscious of our own actions is not important or not worth being concerned about.
Although Gaga always makes a big deal about rhymes and music innovation, it would be better if, instead of complaining about why life can be so hard and ironic, she would focus more on trying to affirm that not all things in our daily lives are twisted or not really credible.
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