Guilty Pleasures: Kanye West on SNL

First off, I'll have you know that I do not like rap. Not. One. Bit. Secondly, I must say that I cannot stand Kanye West's arrogance. Not. One. Bit. It bugs me so much that I usually refuse to even look at him, much less listen to any of his music. So the fact that I actually enjoyed watching his performance last Saturday night, on SNL, has me completely baffled.

Particularly his second act of the evening, 'Runaway', had that "something" special about it. I'd almost dare to describe it as "beautifully artistic, with an edge". And whether the lyrics are heartfelt, or not, the song does convey a certain amount of humility (which is quite a foreign concept to Mr. West). I guess that's why it grabbed my attention and didn't let go. I mean, as he sings he basically admits to having been a jerk, an a**hole, a douche bag, etc. which is, after all, pretty satisfying.

But all pettiness aside, I enjoyed the spectacle of it. I liked the song; it was pretty great, even with the rap. The ballerinas were awesome. It all looked beautiful flooded in that bright white light. And dare I admit it... I actually thought Kanye was fricking fantastic!

Take a look for yourself, and enjoy the show!

Now, I'm even MORE Gaga over the Lady!

Man, there's just SOMETHING about Miss Gaga that gets me excited! But not at all in that way... She's such a dynamic performer, and really different than most. If you've read some of my past posts about her, you know that my first impression was not a good one! In fact, you could say that I didn't think of her as being much of a "lady" at all. Nor did I really think she was very talented. But I've been hooked ever since those impressive live SNL performances she did! I saw the light, my friends. And it's very bright! I gotta say, "Gaga's got the goods!"

And she just keeps bringin' it. Within the last few days, she released a new music video for the first single, 'Bad Romance', off of her forthcoming (mostly) NEW album, 'The Fame Monster'. It's actually Gaga's first album, 'The Fame', along with 8 brand NEW songs! I guess the NEW part is the 'Monster' part. Here's the track listing of those 8 songs:

1. Bad Romance
2. Alejandro
3. Monster
4. So Happy I Could Die
5. Speechless
6. Dance in The Dark
7. Telephone
8. Teeth

The album's release date is November 23rd, and if 'Bad Romance' is a good indication of how the 7 other NEW songs are, we're in for a real treat! In the meantime, please enjoy Lady Gaga's NEW video for 'Bad Romance', below...

Needless to say, I'm crazy over this video! It's soooo odd in just the right ways. I love most everything about it. My favorite part, though, is the burning bed, especially when Miss Gaga is standing in front of it! That is outrageously sexy symbolism, kids! Go ask your parents to explain it to you. I'm busy.

Gaga 4 Eva! Long Live The Lady!
Thank U 4 playing. C U next time...

Saturday Night Gaga!

The time has come, my friends. After watching Lady Gaga's two live performances on SNL this last Saturday night, I have to admit that she's much more than just a fashion freak or a flash-in-the-pan pop singer with a big bag o' tricks. This Lady can actually sing quite well! And without any Auto-Tune enhancement! I was expecting her to just lip-sync everything, so you can imagine what an impression Gaga made on me. She also plays the piano, nicely! All of this along with bizarre costumes and fascinatingly odd dance choreography makes for a real unique talent in my book.

Lady's first performance on the show was of her hit song, 'Paparazzi'. I thought it was fantastic! She looked great, sounded great, and the way Gaga moves when she dances is just so... different. In a good way! When it was over I still wanted more, and anxiously awaited her second performance later on in the show.






"Oh, yeah, Lady Caca? Where do you think you'd
be if I, Madonna, hadn't paved the way before
you? Just give me that sad wig of yours and stop
pretending to be a female!"




Another fun, pleasant surprise of the evening was Madonna's cameo appearance alongside Lady G in the Deep House Dish skit. It was a little on the goofy side, but it's always kinda neat to see a couple of divas in a cat fight, right? Even if it was all just pretend...

And for the record, I thought that Madonna looked pretty damn good! I've been reading some not-so-nice comments in certain places, and I just wanted to throw in my two cents. For what it's worth.






Gaga's gyroscope left me all agog!
She actually wore this contraption through the entire second
performance, a medley of about 3 or 4 different songs.




When Lady appeared on stage for her second act, she was wearing the strangest, sci-fi movie prop-type-looking-thing! The closest reference point I can think of is a gyroscope. And as she moved around, so did the separate rings, moving this way and that. The thing had to take some major coordination, and lots of practice! Then, she sat down at the piano with the thing still on, and proceeded to play while she sang! Again, no lip-syncing or Auto Tuning.

When the show was over, I had the feeling that Miss Gaga was only just getting started. For a Lady who once seemed like nothing more than a cheap thrill or a guilty pleasure had now shown her true abilities to a much wider audience, and I believe because of that she will soon become an even bigger star! Keep an eye on her, folks. There's no telling how far this Lady will go...



~All photos via Google Images~