Response to: Miranda Simpson "The Gaga Gospel"

Miranda,

Just to start, your blog entry was interesting to read and provided me with further insight into the mind of Lady Gaga that I much appreciated. It was a great read!

Now onto my comments on “Judas”...

Although our professor did mention that we would be watching "Judas" in class (if I'm not mistaken), after reading your blog I had a sudden urge to make my comments on the song right away. I grew up in a very Roman Catholic environment; Strong Italian Catholic values, church every Sunday, Catholic elementary school, Catholic all-girl high school...the works. Although I have grown away from my religious institutional attachments, the values and the symbolic messages still strongly resonates with me. My past and my current values are probably all reasons why I am deeply offended by the lyrics of “Judas” and Lady Gaga's constant need strike a cord with the Catholic community. I understand that there is probably some deeper meaning to her lyrics, some internal struggle between good and bad perhaps, but why must she always use Catholic references in her music? I feel it goes further then her devout Catholic upbringing and more to do with global attention. As a Catholic herself, she knows how strongly the Catholic community feels about their values and they will retaliate when they are offended. Sometimes, Lady Gaga just takes religious references too far, and I think its a strategy to make her music controversial and more interesting for people. And lets face it, it's working. People all around the world cannot wait until they get their next taste of Gaga- whether it be a new album, a new music video, an outfit choice, or even a 10 minute talk-show interview. The world knows that when Lady Gaga is involved, it is going to be exciting and controversial.

Personally, I feel that Lady Gaga has found her niche- offending the Catholic religion. Whether her music has deeper meaning, the first time people hear a song they do not automatically seek the deeper meaning of the lyrics, but instead they listen to the the literal sense of the words. Lady Gaga has learned to play the game- offend people with the lyrics but inspire people with their meaning.

PS I am not even a hard core Catholic and it is interesting to note how offended I got by it. Just imagine the opinions of the strong Catholic community...