One of the problems with looking at Lady Gaga as a music writer or cultural critic is that there’s usually too much stuff going on. This is decidedly a “me” problem and not a “Gaga” problem. I was trying to get a handle on it, and it occurred to me that Gaga’s work and ethos are aptly described by the word “bricolage”, a sort of French deconstructionist term that decocts the process of creation down to borrowing from the mythological structures propping up the edifice of culture and then reconfiguring them in new ways. Gaga — though perhaps lacking coherent moral vision — is a definite bricoleur.

I was really done with Lady Gaga. After writing tons of stuff about her, and reading even more stuff, I thought her intellectual/moral posturing were just not for me. I’ve entirely reversed on this position. And I don’t think it’s for, like, thoughtful reasons, although that’s mostly what I wrote about. (Cf, calling her a “bricoleur”.) But it’s because — and I credit some very brief conversation with Perpetua for this — it’s because her music is fucking awesome, and Born This Way is the most rock ‘n’ roll album of the year. The music always comes first, and thoughts sometimes follow.