Judas

So, Lady Gag's new album "Born This Way" was officially released today. I've heard some of the songs on the radio as they've been released (Born This Way which has already be parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic in Perform This Way, Edge of Glory), but one that I had not heard as much was Judas.

Amazon was running a deal today, so I got the album and has already begun slowly working my way through it. Taking a hint from the name, I began to listen closely to the lyrics of the song, expecting a religious theme, seeing as Judas betrayed Jesus at Gethsemane. what i found was incredibly interesting. The lyrics are filled with references to the story of Jesus and his disciples during Holy Week. This was more than I was ever able to get listening to it once or twice on the radio while driving to work (which is probably a good thing as I should probably focus on the road while driving).

The link above is for the music video. The video itself essentially depicts Jesus and his disciples as a motorcycle gang with Gaga as Mary Magdalene. each disciple has his name on the back of his jacket, and "Jesus" has a crown of thorns on his head. Gaga, in addition to all of her crazy costumes that are the norm in her videos (and in pretty much all of her public appearances) has one outfit that is a red bandanna and a blue headscarf/shawl. Jesus is always trying to break up fights and use peace to keep everyone together. Judas is your typical "bad boy:" drinking, starting fights, and staring lustily at women.

While I think we have all come to expect really crazy things from Lady Gaga, I don't know if people were prepared for this particular video. Considering the amount of religious tension that can be seen everywhere on a day to day basis, I wondered how people would be reacting to the song and the video. On Youtube, the video has over 75,000 dislikes to its 235,000 likes. The comments are filled with arguments over whether or not people like Gaga (and a fair amount of curse words are thrown around as people try to defend their positions). My favorite comment is as follows:

"Why is everyone so against this song? She's basically saying that even though she tries to be good, everyone is tempted by the bad at certain times.Using Judas and Jesus' names were just a metaphor for the good and the bad. What's so wrong about that???"

I think this perfectly describes what she's getting at in the song. I don't think it's any kind of religious crack or commentary. Judas and Jesus happen to be one of the most well known pairs of good versus bad (I know it's more complex than that, but stay with me here). I have yet to meet someone who was not at least slightly tempted by something bad or forbidden; that is what Judas represents. Jesus is the symbol for the right path, the path of what is healthy and smart and good. However, that being said, it is very difficult to stick to the straight and narrow at any point in time; that's where choice comes in.  It's up to us to choose the good over the very tempting thing that might not be good for us: the bad boy, drugs, sex, food, etc. In the end, I think it is a clever, expressive way to describe a very prevalent issue. I personally like this song. I like Lady Gaga as an artist and for her bold self-expression. I mean, come on. What other artist could pull off a dress made of raw meat?

"I'm just a Holy fool/ Oh baby he's so cruel but/ I'm still in love with Judas baby."