By Abdiel Lopez
lopezabd@grinnell.edu
I became a Little Monster when I first watched the iconic MTV VMA performance of “Paparazzi.” I was only 12 back then, but the theatrical performance left me shaken and gaga for Gaga. Since then, Gaga released the anthem for my coming out story (“Born This Way”), a song about the many men we love but are toxic for us (“Judas”) and two records that unfortunately divided the fandom: “ARTPOP” and “Cheek to Cheek.” Despite breaking musical chart records across the world and proving her vocals to her haters with her last two albums, “ARTPOP” was her lowest point of her pop musical career, and “Cheek to Cheek” was largely ignored by her millennial fans. Lady Gaga soon faded into the background and made the transition from the musical studio to the small screen with her award-winning performance of The Countess on “American Horror Story: Hotel.”
Fast forward to a year later to Aug. 17, 2016 when Gaga awoke all the dormant Little Monsters — old and new — with the news that she, the Queen of Pop, would release her first single off her fifth studio album, “Perfect Illusion”, in September. I immediately logged on to gagadaily.com to confirm my source, but as soon as I saw the forum, it was inundated with Little Monsters around the world ready for the coming of our Savior’s newest single, album and possibly world tour.
Somehow the days seemed to go by more slowly as I waited for September to come. Rumor had it that “Perfect Illusion” was slated to come out on Sept. 2, but the date came and went, and I was still left with listening to “The Fame Monster” on repeat. Six days later, I logged on to my Twitter account during a meeting with the Student Organization of Latinxs, and my entire timeline was full of gifs of people crying, fainting and dying. I knew my Queen had done it once again. After the meeting, I sped down the main stairs of the Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center, sat down at the Grill, bought the song and jammed in the middle of the Grill to the powerful voice of Lady Gaga.
In my eight years as a Little Monster, I have lived through enough heartbreak and cut enough friends out of my circle to think that the lyrics of “Perfect Illusion” were written to fit my life perfectly. Gaga heartbreakingly sings: “My guessing game is strong / Way too real to be wrong / Caught up in your show / Yeah, at least now I know / It wasn’t love, it wasn’t love / It was a perfect illusion.” With guitars playing beautifully in the background and with a sonically-orgasmic key change towards the two-minute mark of the song, Gaga manages to critique society’s obsession with constructed perfection as illustrated through our various social media appearance(s).
Whether you are, were or never were a Little Monster, Gaga’s latest evolution as a singer-songwriter will have your feet aching to hit the dance floor and to #danceyourtruth.
Gaga announced the release of her new album, “Joanne,” on Sept. 15. It will be available on Oct. 21, 2016.
