Born This Way, Sunny

Oh, hello! I didn't see you there, I was just watching Joker: Folie à Deux. At nearly 2.5 hours, I'm going to need to take a little halfway break. I didn't realize this was... a musical? Joaquin is singing, which doesn't make a lot of sense, but Gaga is singing too and is musical director, which, does... make sense that is...

Gaga really was a sensation in that mid-naughts. God-ga, in a period when electronic dance pop was trending, Ga was driving the tip of the spear. Back then, singles could still get huge and stay huge for weeks, and between The Fame and The Fame Monster, culture was awash with Gaga. As she got more popular I noticed her singing her name more.

Born This Way, both single and album, felt like a delivery from someone on top with an audience waiting with bated breath. The inclusion, self-acceptance message was front and center and the music doubled down on that plus all her favorite sub-genres: american disco and european, uh, europop, all turned to 11. I remember thinking that way back when, and have been reaffirmed this week, with mega singles "Born This Way," "Edge of Glory," "Marry the Night," and "Judas" cutting the way.

I listened to Fame and Monster enough to know them all the way through, but I never listened to Born This Way until this week. It is Gaga turned up all the way through, but and also suffers from filler bordering on self-plagiarism in the middle. Why the Spanish then German turns with "Americano" and "Scheiße"? Doesn't "Hair" sound a lot like "Edge of Glory," and isn't "my hair is free = my soul is free" a little less hitting than earlier tracks? Doesn't "Bloody Mary" have a lot of "Paparazzi" in it? I also recognize Gaga's a good enough songwriter that even the filler is competent enough, if not the material that's getting stuck in my brain.

"Bad Kids" is a bit different sounding, if again, a bit dumb. "Judas" is probably my favorite track all these years later. Sure, "loving the 'villain' = my soul is free" is again, maybe a little lacking theme-wise, but that chorus still rips.

Speaking of loving the villain, I started the movie again. Gaga is a pretty good actor, though they don't give her much to work with script-wise. Phoenix too. But why, why do they keep singing? Back in 2011, I didn't expect Gaga to make a hard turn into the movies, or music-movies perhaps, between A Star Is Born and now this. I suppose it makes a lot of sense though. Still, why is joker 2 a music-movie? Is it because Gaga is here, or did the genius auteur Todd Phillips want a music-movie ex-ante and found Gaga later?

Alright, I finished the movie. What the hell was that? I think about classic animation and miss the days of Mark Hamill joker making actual jokes and wrestling with Batman. Across two hours, I haven't the faintest idea what they were going for artistically, thematically, or elsewise with this movie. At least Born This Way has that much figured out. Gaga, fire your agent!