silverchild said:

I don't get the Lady Gaga thang personally.

I think that the funny thing about all of these pro-Janelle Monae posts is that out of her and Lady Gaga, Lady Gaga is, actually, the one that has the most music education in her background as far as I am aware of. Especially since Janelle’s strong point is her performances. It’s very obvious from the way her whole act is composed that she’s has her roots in the dramatic arts. Lady Gaga’s strong point, otoh, is her music. Her songs translate better acoustically and her voice is a whole lot stronger even if it’s not a powerhouse.

In general, Lady Gaga has much stronger material and songs. Even if a lot of your tastes are too outdated to fully enjoy the new direction pop music has taken and I can’t stand her single ‘Born This Way’ there’s no denying that how exceptionally talented Lady Gaga is when it comes to her songwriting. Janelle, imho, lacks that. She’s trying so hard to create ‘art’ & something ‘deep’ rather than just enjoyable music that 95% of the Archandroid comes off as pretentious garbage and far from enjoyable. I think she needs to go back and study her influences a little bit harder, because she’s doing a lot of them a huge injustice.

I do think she’s talented and with the right people around her she can do some pretty amazing things. Yet, I think her first step would be separate herself from anything with P.Diddy’s name on it though. Actually, I don’t know if this would help her, but I think that if she can pull out a great cover of an awesome song and really make it hers, like so many have done before her, then she can really garner more of the public’s attention. Of course, something like that can backfire as well. =x

[Edited 3/10/11 7:58am]

Unholyalliance said:

I think that the funny thing about all of these pro-Janelle Monae posts is that out of her and Lady Gaga, Lady Gaga is, actually, the one that has the most music education in her background as far as I am aware of.

Well, Prince can't read music and so is Aretha who still plans to take music theory courses, so your point is exactly,,,,what?

I think whether your or our tastes was outdated or not shouldn't be relevant in this discussion, simply because music triggers people differently. Don't let your false sense of superiority fool you, my friend.

What may resonate with people, you might consider pretentious and vice versa, and thats cool, but the point is there's not really a manual for these things. I personally find it extremely weird this whole comparison came about in the first place because they(Janelle & GaGa) are nowhere alike.

Harlepolis said:

DirtyChris said:

(Janelle) is weird

And not just for the sake of, either

And that to me is the key. Janelle strikes me as one through whom inspiration and creativity flows -- and she just goes wherever it takes her. Gaga, while I defend her very real talent, impresses me as one who conforms to nonconformity, which, frankly, isn't markedly creative at all in my mind.

Definitely. Lady Gaga's music sounds too much like Madonna rewind back to the mid 80s/early 90s. Nothing that separates her from that sound, not to mention her performances of having 20 dancers on stage with her takes away from just focusing on her own talent. I can't really compare Janelle's music to anyone else's really but Outkast, because of her association with them in the past, you can definitely hear some influence from them. Also, her performance (dancing when she sings "Tightrope") and her band setup reminds me a bit of James Brown. I can't pinpoint her in one category of music, which is why I find her music more creative than Gaga's. She doesn't seem to be afraid of taking risks with her music or performanc, and that's a good thing.

I do have to give Gaga credit though, for not being afraid of the risks she takes with her appearances in public at times. I mean arriving at the Grammys in an "egg" was hilarious, yet kind of silly at the same time. Just my 2 cents.

[Edited 3/10/11 8:41am]

Harlepolis said:

Unholyalliance said:

I think that the funny thing about all of these pro-Janelle Monae posts is that out of her and Lady Gaga, Lady Gaga is, actually, the one that has the most music education in her background as far as I am aware of.

Well, Prince can't read music and so is Aretha who still plans to take music theory courses, so your point is exactly,,,,what?

I think whether your or our tastes was outdated or not shouldn't be relevant in this discussion, simply because music triggers people differently. Don't let your false sense of superiority fool you, my friend.

What may resonate with people, you might consider pretentious and vice versa, and thats cool, but the point is there's not really a manual for these things. I personally find it extremely weird this whole comparison came about in the first place because they(Janelle & GaGa) are nowhere alike.

Thank you so much Harlepolis for making the best statement so far about the relevance of this thread. The only two things I find similar about Janelle and GaGa is eccentricity and gimmickry, and even those two aspects are different when talking about how they present themselves, their styles and music. I think Janelle is going to have a harder time breaking into different audiences because her music is more sophisticated and deep. GaGa has established herself in the way she has by being a dance-pop phenomenon that lives for theatrics and the hype. I'm not talking away the creative process between the two, but I hear and see two different entites when I think about them. I just think that Janelle Monae is easily the more ambitious and forward-thinking to me. What she lacks in the mainstream/commercial department, she makes up with her vocal ability and the concepts that she pulls together to create a package that is cohesive and unified. I don't get that with GaGa, as she's doing what these other dance pop divas are doing or have done in the past, but at the same time, she's just pulling it off in an outlandish way with her image and appearance. It simply has nothing to do with the music she delivers (or I could be wrong about this, but everyone still talks more about how many albums/singles she's sold, her fashion, appearance, etc., instead of her music.)

I mean this whole thing with Janelle and GaGa is nothing new. Now this would have been more interesting if we could have a debate about Janelle and Andre 3000...

[Edited 3/10/11 8:51am]

two different artists and styles IMO

Harlepolis said:

Well, Prince can't read music and so is Aretha who still plans to take music theory courses, so your point is exactly,,,,what?

The point was that most of the pro-Janelle camp feel as if Lady Gaga's music is mostly based on image, when I think it's, actually, the other way around. Janelle songs are really, really lacking. Yet, people who cite her as amazing always mention that her image & energy first. True that someone can argue that most people will cite Lady Gaga's image first, but when her songs blew up before anyone really even knew who she was even if her image has kept her at the top. Also, The Fame Monster is a great EP and her acoustic work is good. I'm not saying she's the best by a longshot, because I think her lyrics are ridiculous tbqh and many have cite her piano work to be elementary, at best.

Harlepolis said:

I think whether your or our tastes was outdated or not shouldn't be relevant in this discussion, simply because music triggers people differently. Don't let your false sense of superiority fool you, my friend.

I think how music, and art, triggers people depends on who you are as a person and what values you have as an individual. If you are someone who happens to like rock music or even heavy metal...there is a good chance that rap will apeal to you in some respect. If you like a lot of electro there is a great chance that a lot of dance music of the 80s, more specifically freestyle, will be a holy mecca to you and you might even really dig disco. There are exceptions though, but generally this is how it goes. This goes for all types of art.

Also, I don't think I gave off any kind of superioty in my last post. I think if your tastes cater to a certain type of older music I think that Janelle Monae may be able to appeal to you, but Lady Gaga? Not so much and vice versa.

Harlepolis said:

What may resonate with people, you might consider pretentious and vice versa, and thats cool, but the point is there's not really a manual for these things. I personally find it extremely weird this whole comparison came about in the first place because they(Janelle & GaGa) are nowhere alike.

I understand this, but it generally understood that while whether art is 'good' or 'bad' is subjective, the definition of the word pretentious is not. Pretentious art resonates positively with a lot of people, even with me at times. This doesn't make it good or bad in the least, it just is what it is. Example, a lot of Radiohead's work is pretentious and so is a great chunk of their fanbase. This doesn't mean that the work is objectively bad because that would be a subjective opinion.

As for the comparisons, you Lady Gaga and Janelle Monae have NOTHING in common except for that they create modern pop music. Though sometimes I think that some Janelle fans like to compare the both of them because it makes them feel special/superior that they are not feeding into the supposed corporate machine...imho. Which comes off as being pretentious.

Can you tell me what constitutes as "pretentious" though? You say its generally understood, well apparently I missed the meeting

The whole thing seems like an oxymoron to me. If people deeply identify with a certain type of music, doesn't the idea of "pretentiousness" cease to exist? Since pretentiousness lacks sincerity, how do people resonate with it?

I have always loved Janelle based on her forward perspective and presentation. And she is cute as hell. This is probably the first time that I have ever answered an apples and oranges question like this, but the opportunity to raise my hand in tribute to Janelle Monae will not go unattended.

Today was really the first time that I have seen her displaying superior vocal talent. The earlier times when I had heard her sing, the songs were much faster arrangements and she was showing Bobby Brown what some legs look like in 2010. Sweet, but hard to sing while dancing! Thank you for the youtube post.