The Evolution of Lady Gaga's Music Videos

The more I think about it, the more I realized that we were all tricked by Lady Gaga. And not that I have an issue with it, but it's important to realize that, through her music videos, we were lured into a false sense of security, of familiarity, and before we realized it was too late, that this wonderfully weird and different artist had crept into the top charts along with rappers and Taylor Swift. That is a good thing- pop music would be a whole lot more boring without her. Since her latest video- "Alejandro"- is due to come out tomorrow, I thought it would be interesting to take a retrospective look back on her other music videos and her evolving creativity >>



1. JUST DANCE

"Just Dance" was Gaga's first single and her first music video. It was the song she used to jump into popular music stations, with huge success. And, as songs go, it was pretty standard pop fare- songs about parties and clubbing are usually always popular. The video as well was pretty standard, although there were parts in it in which the viewer might be thinking, "Who is this Lady Gaga person, and what is her secret?"

2. BEAUTIFUL DIRTY RICH

"Beautiful Dirty Rich" was one of the two Gaga videos that snuck under the radar because they didn't feature one of her singles that rocked the iTunes chart. I won't go into too much detail since it wasn't that important, but aesthetically it is a pretty video and with the expection of the Cloverfield-like filming in the dark, it wasn't particularly unique.

3. POKER FACE

Who doesn't love "Poker Face"? The pool, the mask, the Great Danes- this is one of Gaga's best videos to date. It had just enough of the normal (her relaxing by the pool being served by scantily clad men) and the weird (the crawling out of the pool, the dogs, the outfits, etc etc.) to balance out to make a successful, truly Gaga video.

4. EH, EH NOTHING ELSE I CAN SAY

This the second Gaga video that was not accompanied by a single, and it suffers for it. The song is not bad, it's just not as catchy as, say, "Poker Face" or "Paparazzi." The video itself doesn't have the same creative and extensive production that her other videos would have.

5. LOVE GAME

"Love Game" is a complex video for me. Gaga's videos, when they deviate from the norm, can either be incredibly artful or downright weird. Unfortunately, "Love Game," to me, is the latter. The video has very good dancing and choreography, but it suffers in creativity. Apparently, this video was banned on some international MTV channels and had to be edited to be shown in the United States.

6. PAPARAZZI

And this is where things start to get interesting. Clocking in at just over seven minutes, it is the second-longest Gaga video to date ("Alejandro" is rumored to just beat it at seven and a half minutes). What is interesting about the next few videos would the storylines that followed them. While there are weird things going on in this video (the cripple dance stands out in my mind), this video is interesting, and to me that's the most important thing. PLUS, True Blood's Alexander Skarsgård stars as Gaga's murderous boyfriend (although, I guess everyone's kind of murderous in this video).

7. BAD ROMANCE

To me, this is Gaga's best video to date. I loved it more than "Telephone." I'll garner a guess I'll still think it's my favorite even after "Alejandro" premieres tomorrow. I feel like this was a first video that REALLY caught everyone's attention and allowed her to create all of the promotion she did for "Telephone" and "Alejandro." And while "Paparazzi" may have started the storyline video spree, "Bad Romance" does it modernly and beautifully: the scene with the floating diamonds? GORGEOUS. It doesn't hurt that the song is one of Gaga's best, either. Let's be honest: this is a music video masterpiece.

8. TELEPHONE feat. BEYONCE

After the amazing piece of art that was "Bad Romance," I had no choice but to be a little disappointed by "Telephone." In my opinion, the first part of this video, the jail sequence, weakens the rest of the video. After 'Honey B' nee Beyonce posts her bail, the video gets a lot stronger. This was also a continuation from the "Paparazzi" video, which further enforces the storytelling aspect of her later videos. It's not a bad video by any means, and in some ways is more fun than "Bad Romance." But, of course, the song is less serious as well. This is a good video for this song.

9. ALEJANDRO (TEASER)

What will it be? Clocking in at seven and a half minutes, will it be too long or too short? What will Gaga wear? Will her hair by in that awful bob the whole time? Will the entire thing be in black and white or not (I hope not)? We'll have to wait until tomorrow, June 7th, to find out the answers....

One thing's for certain: the music video will never be the same again.