BTW

After hearing Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and reading about the subsequent brouhaha (brou-gaga?) about how the song is so “Express Yourself,” I said, “The only way for this song to be beloved is to have a kick-ass video.

Well, here’s the video.



I’m sure bytes and bytes will be consumed by Gaga’s Monsters dissecting the music video, listing down all video references to Madonna, Michael Jackson and, uhm, Alien? Metropolis? If the song owes a lot to “Express Yourself,” then the music video has the same DNA as “Vogue.” Baby, it was shot this way.

The opening set-up is pretentious, but for me what keeps it from tipping into seriously unwatchable territory is the fact that Lady Gaga herself doesn’t take it too seriously. It is a funny, campy video, exquisitely shot. It also provides bekis and bekimonsters everywhere a dance routine to copy and perform during summer outings.

So the important question: does it kick ass? In terms of arresting visuals, Gaga’s best is still “Bad Romance;” meanwhile, “Telephone” out-chutzpa’d all her other videos. Pitted against those, “BTW” just an okay slap to the buttocks.