Apparently 20 year-old brunette Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta tried to launch her career back in 2006 as a singer-songwriter in the mold of Tori Amos, Alanis Morrisette or Meredith Brooks. I dug these up on Youtube the other night, and wow--you might not feel the same way, but I think these are sweet tunes. That voice just sells it, without any quirkiness. If you like her "Speechless" from the Fame Monster set, you might enjoy these, too.

hard to believe that, at one point, this annoying bitch was even worse.

these songs are shit. however, if you were to place dance beats on them, they'll sell millions. that's the key difference: her songs sell because you can dance to them. take anything off The Fame, remove the dance beats and you're left with these tracks.

What annoys me about this is that a mere four years ago she was branding herself as a singer song writer type. And then she makes a dramatic shift to Lady Gaga complete with slutty outfits and whatnot. To me, its just another sign of someone desperate to 'make it' without giving a thought to their craft.

Someone try and convince me David Jones' mid sixties output is more interesting than Ziggy Stardust.

Exactly what I expected, to be honest.


Is slutty really the best word to describe what she's doing? And if you don't think she's well aware that she's a pop construct and that she's put a remarkable amount of thought into her craft, you're crazy.

You are absolutely right. I shouldn't say that she hasn't put a lot of thought into her craft. Because its obvious that she has. I just think that she doesn't have conviction regarding her art. She rather 'make it' then stay true to who she is.

But, I realize that's the case for most popular 'artists.'

I dunno, I don't know anything about this person. Maybe she grew up dancing to Madonna and Aaliyah songs but couldn't reconcile those with her piano lessons. Maybe she's having the most fun she's had in her life and exploring new depths of her personality. Maybe the Tori Amos thing was just a pose to impress some ex-boyfriend. People are rarely so static.

Why are you quoting artist. I mean, I understand what you are trying to do, but you realize it looks foolish right?

She changed her image, that does not make her inauthentic. Basically Mitch OTM w/r/t Bowie

seems like she always wanted to be a pop star, but you can't really do that w/o producers &/or label backing, whereas you can always write songs on a guitar & post them to youtube. i dunno, gaga looks pretty in her element these days.

I think she is straddling the line between pop tunes and performance art. Look at the crazy shit she did for the VMAs and the Grammys. Look at "Bad Romance"...there's a subtext going on in there, especially in the final shot.

Thing is though, there is only so far this can go. I think she'll have to do a Bowie-style overhaul (again) to continue recording. And she will lose the little-girl fans along the way.