GAGA UNDER FLAK

Looks like Lady Gaga may well have fallen flat on her face,and no,not because of her 12-inch heels. The pop singer’s latest album,Born This Way,has released to mostly bad-to-mixed reviews,with many questioning the singer’s appropriation of the role of Patron Saint of the Homosexual Community. It started with Zack Rosen,editor of TheNewGay.net,asking,“I do not understand how she transitioned into a shortcut for all things gay. She doesn’t represent my life…Contemporary gay culture has become too entwined with this one woman that I can barely breath.” The patronising tone of her track Born This Way didn’t help either and,Thomas Conner,music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times,wrote,“As a gay man myself,I can tell you I’m beyond weary of this hanger-on insisting she’s my unelected cultural ambassador,particularly when her knowledge of gay culture — even the idea that there’s much left to be co-opted — seems so remarkably shallow.” It is a rather regrettable turn of events,given that Gaga has used much of the resources at her disposal to advance the interests of the gay community. Her album’s critical reception comes as an anti-climax to the massive hype generated around its release — even the barcode for the digital downloads was released with too much fanfare. Here’s predicting the next newspaper story on Miss Gaga: her explanation why she was born this way.