"Paparazzi" (CD single) (by Lady Gaga, Pop)

PAPARAZZI is the latest single off of Lady Gaga's smash dance album, The Fame. With her recent wins at the MTV Video Music Awards and meteoric rise to the top, the song's lyrics are particularly poignant -- comparing a girl's desire to make a guy her boyfriend to the paparazzi's drive to gain access to a superstar. For a Gaga song, the lyrics themselves are fairly tame, with no overt mentions of sex, drugs, or other adult content. However, the eight-minute video is another matter entirely: after her boyfriend secretly sets her up to be photographed by hidden paparazzi, the two engage in a violent fight that ends with him throwing her over a balcony. Gaga survives, recovers, and eventually poisons him to death. Peppered throughout the song are gruesome images of women in various states of death. 

Though the extended video of this song is exceptional by video standards, the music itself lacks the pizzazz of earlier Gaga singles. The beat is catchy enough, but Gaga delivers most of the lyrics in high notes that aren’t ideally suited for her solid-if-not-outstanding voice. The end result sounds like a strange cross between a ballad and a club track, fulfilling neither role all that well.