I’d like to start right away by saying I AM NOT A LITTLE MONSTER. Point, blank, period. You will never find me in fish net tights, a belly spilling out of a crop top. A failed attempt to dye my hair blue. Only so it turns out an unholy green you’d see lots of at six flags. Sitting behind a lap top tirelessly trying to cancel whoever is currently in the hot seat. Her fans are the worst. They don’t even get her. They couldn’t tell you the first thing about our beloved, Stephanie Joanne Angeline Germanotta. They see pink wigs and rebellious platforms and project whatever their damage is. I however am a loyal, true and blue Lady Gaga fan. A true admirer. A Connoisseur if you will. I know everything there is to know about Gaga. I’ve been studying her for the better part of a decade. I even did an enormous college presentation on Gaga and her philosophies on fame. My relationship with Gaga Is one even I can’t quite explain. It’s almost as though she’s a family member. Sometimes I don’t know If I want to be her, or be in her? It gets confusing. We briefly met once. Another conversation for another time. It was several years ago and I’m still glowing.
I don’t know how else to say this other than saying, “Chromatica” needs to be a video game. Maybe it already is and I’m late? Is Xbox still a thing? I don’t even know? I don’t even play video games. I can’t help but get sucked into the aesthetics of this other planet Gaga has created. To the point where I may actually think it’s an existing world? Possibly she has been there? Possibly she’s there now? The heavy metal armor and chains, the robotic weaponized platforms, the prosthetic makeup, the gore, the battle between armies of right and wrong. Although it’s more evolved than that. There is no right or wrong. Just conflict. I see myself in this moment soaring through the neon hot pink sky of Chromatica in a space mobile with a holographic paint finish. Whipping my head back and fourth to “Replay.”
The timing is all so peculiar. I was in India when Covid was born. I was consciously removed from reality. I was in the middle of the jungle paying absolutely no attention to my phone. After being briefly contained in Frankfurt, I started to comprehend the gravity of what was going on. What I had been missing. Being the hypochondriac I am, I was for certain I was infected and that the world was ending. I went into a spiral of panic attacks much like everyone else. Once I made it home safely I turned on the big screen and had to see Gaga’s first music video she’d dropped from her new album, “Stupid Love.” This video takes place in “Chromatica.” I understood it right away. It all made sense. I was all in. Gaga created a planet of safety. A new world. It was confirmed that she is indeed an alien. An extraterrestrial being of some magnitude. I don’t fully understand what the conflict is yet? The mission? What part we take in “Chromatica”, but it goes far beyond my comprehension, yet it’s simple. It’s right in front of our faces.
I went to Enigma in Las Vegas days after it opened. It’s all tying together now and making more sense. At the time, the experience did to me what Gaga always manages to do to me. My first impression was impressed, but I felt as though some things weren’t quite there. For instance, the costumes and wigs were very amateur, glow in the dark rave kid. You know... vaping from a brick sized light up lime green cinder block. The kids who’s parents drop them off at the mall. Lots of neon green and yellows and pinks I found boring. The rave influence needs to be really subtle, and specific to work for me. Her wigs were very Anime, Japanese video game kink Hooker. There was even this large screen that took you through this portal. It was this Japanesey video game girl with white long hair down to her feet and point cut bangs. It had Gaga’s voice. I think it represented her higher self or something? I didn’t fully see the experience for what it is until now. “Chromatica” was being created right before my eyes. I see so much of “Chromatica” in the entire Vegas residency. It was designed to take you off of planet earth to learn a larger lesson. All of the neons and ravey finishes have a much higher purpose to me now and I get it. That’s what I love about Gaga. It takes me a minute to get on her level and understand what she’s saying through each new era. I love that I don’t get it right away.
“Chromatica” in my opinion, has a similar kind of power and reach “Born This Way” had and continues to have. It’s infinite in its ability to transform and keep you engaged and wanting more. Powerful things that have made Gaga so highly intelligent and respected came from “Born This Way.” The “Born This Way Foundation” that not only continues to grow and change young people’s lives, it also was what started the conversation of healing between Cynthia (Gaga’s mom) and Gaga. Gaga started the Foundation with her mother, and it’s been a way for Cynthia to understand the volume of the mental illness Gaga has suffered from her entire life. I see so many parallels between “Born This Way” and “Chromatica”. The celebration. The way each album is designed to be a dance album from start to finish, with a very dimensional, specific story telling nature for those who bother to listen closely and keep their eyes wide open. So many major, progressive changes occurred from “Born This Way.” The bar was set sky high. I can only imagine what will transpire from “Chromatica.” All I know is it’s 2020. We can all agree that the world has never felt more unsafe. We are in trouble. We need “Chromatica.”
-Zachary Crane
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