Popstar 101

The big buzz over Lady Gaga's new video for Alejandro has finally began to subside but, with it clocking over 17 million views on Youtube currently, debate is sure to continue on whether the promo clip is a work of art, or just hard work.

Following the success of the Telephone video, I had a new-found respect for all things Gaga. Telephone, which I posted my thoughts on at the time, was a hit because it didn't take itself too seriously, whilst at the same time taking its role as a music video very seriously indeed. The feature was ironically iconic, and served as the perfect platform for Stefani Germanotta to display the art(ist) she had created. Even the exaggerated nine and a half minutes running time did not matter, as it simply affirmed the fact that this video was a proper pop event by a proper popstar, not a run-of-the-mill club scene like carbon videos a, b and c (or should that be J, L, S? The only thing that club is alive with is the sound of far too much autotune).

Furthermore, the decision to get Steven Klein on-board should have been a masterful move. Klein is, much like Lady Gaga, a brilliant manipulator of exhibition, and working hand-in-hand they should have produced something worty of a follow-up to the Telephone clip.

For all the desire to create something that is original, unexpected, striking, and multi-layered, Lady Gaga forgot to consult the Popstar 101 Handbook (if it doesn't exist, then it should do). And rule number one: entertain. A criteria so key and essential in this line of work that to forget it is nothing short of blasphemous. You see, I admire how the video's been shot. The art direction is certainly very good. And the choreography is arguably the best we've seen from Gaga. But from watching the video I was pretty, well... bored. And it comes as a suprise, because up until this point 'boring' was never a word that could be directed at the woman.

From watching, you get the distinct impression that there is supposedly some sort of plot beneath all the moody frames, but after numerous viewings all I am able to grasp at is a collection of random images that provide no kind of cohesive narrative and no semblance of a unified message. I would never be one to say that the visuals should explicitly match-up with the lyrics of a song, and to my mind it is always a plus for a piece of cinematography to allow multiple readings, but if the impression a viewer is left with is one of mild bemusement - that awkward burrow of the brow, coupled with a raised eyebrow - then I can't help but feel Lady Gaga has fallen short of the mark in delivering this time around. It takes over eight minutes to say very little at all.

The execution of the video is as cold and stark as the warehouse in which the performance takes place. Klein's direction just comes across as a repeat of the work he has previously done with Madonna, particularly the photoshoot that was used for her 2004 Re-Invention Tour. The imagery is less of a re-invention and more of a re-hash.

Klein has attempted to justify the scenes of religion, saying: "The religious symbolism is not meant to denote anything negative, but represents the character's battle between the dark forces of this world and the spiritual salvation of the Soul."

He continues: "Thus, at the end of the film, she chooses to be a nun, and the reason her mouth and eyes disappear is because she is withdrawing her senses from the world of evil and going inwards towards prayer and contemplation."

How well this convoluted explanation directly tackles some of the issues in the clip is difficult to say. Are the dark forces in this world the throng of naked man prancing around her? Or perhaps it's the pudding-bowl haircut that she finds herself with? But just how far Gaga et Klein can defend the religious symbolism is questionable when the video includes her dressed in a nun's attire emblazoned with an upside-down cross that points to her crotch.

For the video for Telephone, I applauded the length of it. The high production values, and the fact that it was like a short feature film, meant that it injected a new lease of life into what was becoming a sterile medium. Lady Gaga has up until this point ensured that the music video is still an important component of the 'pop package', something that record labels have been pushing to one side in more recent years, as it is unlikely the return on them actually warrants the costs spent. The opposite is true here. With no sense of direction, Alejandro does not make for compulsive viewing. Rather, it is a chore to sit through, certainly in contrast with her previous offerings.

The best thing that Gaga can possibly learn from this is that producing a perfectly complete three-and-a-half minute pop video can actually be a work of art too, and that she would not be sacrificing her artistry in doing so. Sometimes Gaga, less is more.