changes

ever want something so bad just to have it ripped away from you and not know if it was worth trying to get it back again? in a lot of ways on my road to author-infamy, i have thought naively i was the only one, but here in pop sheen is reassurance that not only can one start all over again, but one can do it with such a force that all possibilities seem endless. with her 5th single from born this way, gaga cements herself as the most gifted of the club goddesses, directing the day in which she was dropped from def jam, broke down with a box of cheerios, dyed her hair in a damp bathtub, and danced the scheisse away to interscope. of course the technical rules are broken, of course there's humor in the sadness, but underneath it all lies a humane work of heartbreaking illusion, serving as a cinematic wrap-up of all the videos that came before it, a sort of explanation for all the extravagance and philosophical beauty lady gaga has become emblematic for. only we know it's not quite over yet. with its bedazzled denim, manic ballerinas, and fragile distortion of the past, "marry the night," a dance song about the darkness of our fears, is only the beginning of what i perceive to be an era of more honesty, more truth, and most of anything, more passion.