Lady Gaga - Judas (single) + Born This Way (2CD album)

Hello fellow monsters! Mama Monster, also known as the LEGENDARY pop icon, Lady Gaga, has finally released the long awaited album - Born This Way! And yes~ She also released a single with the same title and people who are unfamiliar with music (like my youngest brother and some other guilty ones out there) thought that the album was released long ago~ Funny!!

Anyway, I finally collected my pre-order copy of this album at HMV Somerset yesterday evening after having dinner at Choa Chu Kang. Couldn't wait for the weekends to collect them because I want to get them quick! Okay~ Partially because I won't really have much time to take the photos of the album and single so I just want to clear my "To-Do list" quick.

By the way, Kaka went back to Indonesia for a short break before coming back again to continue to stay with us. This means that the house will basically be very quiet and probably very messy since Vera doesn't know how to operate the washing machine. SHAME ON HER!



Back to the topic at hand. This album was released last Monday - May 23, 2011 and it's Lady Gaga's second studio album since "The Fame". I wouldn't consider "The Fame Monster" as an album because it only has 7 tracks - that's more of an EP, no? The pre-order version at HMV comes with a copy of Judas; the single following the hit "Born This Way". Other stores have other premiums - for instance, Laser Flair (is this the correct spelling?) is giving out exclusive posters along with a purchase of the album. YES! I do my homework~


Let's take a look at the controversial single first, shall we? Juda~Juda-ah-ah~~

In case you're wondering how come this photo looks slightly tilted, it's not. When Gaga herself designed this cover (Yes~ She did it herself~), she either made the word Judas tilted or she missed out the fact that it's tilted. Oh well~ Not the best looking cover because of the color choices - in my opinion - but who cares?! It's a great song!

Just some trivia. According to what I read on the internet (forgot where though~), she apparently used her camera phone to capture the texture of the single's cover and used the IMPACT font for "Judas". I guess she took less than 15 minutes to create this single's cover but oh well...

The back of the single - the CD itself. When I first saw the single, I was like "WHAT?! One track only?!" I think this is the only single in my entire CD collection that has only one single track! What happened to the remixes? Oh well~ Since it's a free gift, I shouldn't complain too much but I think that HMV should have given this single to the customers when they first purchased it.

What's the point of giving us a single track when this track is featured in the album already? For a CD collector like myself, I'll definitely appreciate the physical copy of the single but others will be like "What the..." At least if they had given us the single earlier, we can enjoy the song first, no?

Back to the CD. Does the "Lady Gaga" font look familiar? That's the font used on the "Born This Way" single! I was slightly disappointed that this font was not used again for the album but oh well~ I think the CD looks better than the cover... Just sayin'~

A CD with a single track - what a waste of memory on the CD~ If only they gave us the single with the "Born This Way" remix, I would be so much happier!

This is what you see when you open the casing up. Well, the album promotional stuff inside obviously hints that this single is meant to be a free gift. Plus, if you see carefully, you can see the words "For Promotional Use Only. Not for Sale". At least I get something limited, no? :D Only people who pre-ordered the album from HMV will get this single - no where else!

Close up on the words on the sleeve. Love Judas! Fantastic song!!





Now - Born This Way (2CD version)

"OH MY $%&*%$!" is probably what you will shout when you wake up in the middle of the night and see this scary face looking back at you with bloody red lipstick and almost emotionless eyes. This is by far the SCARIEST album I have in my possession and honestly, I don't really dig it a lot. Well, you should see the regular CD version because that's even worse.

Sometimes, I have no idea what Gaga is thinking - especially when it comes to her album arts. She take fabulous photos in VOGUE and other magazines but she somehow just cannot score on her own album arts. There are nice ones like "Born This Way - single" but there are also very bad ones like "Judas" and this album. But this 2CD version is still considered better looking as compared to the CD only version. You'll see...

This is the back of the album and yes, that motorcycle-gaga is featured on her CD-only album art. Don't be hatin' on me but I have to say that that's the worst album art I've seen in my entire life! It's digitally imposed cheaply and you should have seen the cheap, embossed fonts on that version - cannot make it! Not to mention it's also very scary...

To me, there's a fine line between being different and being uninspired. I can't say that the album art isn't inspired (maybe the motorcycle is inspiring) but the cheap embossed font cannot be forgiven. 

Dear Mother Monster, please hire me as your art director 

so I can make your album art look better. 

Sincerely, baby monster 

who is afraid of his own mom's photos...

Still love Gaga though. :)

"So scary!! I think I need some hypnotherapy~" - Britney Spears - Scary

Enough of the criticism of the album cover. This is what you see when you open up the scary box. The Singapore/Malaysia press greets you with this card that tells you that by submitting a photo of your receipt to the distributor, you may stand a chance to be invited to the album party~ Coolness! Sent my receipt already~

And when you remove the invitation, you see a SO MUCH BETTER LOOKING GAGA! Come on! Why isn't this on the cover instead? The colors are inviting and the photo begs for a second look because of the textures and lightings. A motorcycle vs this abstract beauty? I'll definitely pick this!!

Let's look at the lyric booklet first, shall we? More photos of Gaga and most of them are like better than the cover. Okay~ I really have to stop bashing the cover but you'll know where I'm getting at, no?

This is how her lyrics are arranged - almost like a newsletter style if you asked me. The words are not really arranged properly and reading it is a little challenging but that beats not having the lyrics at all. In fact, I think the lyrics of Lady Gaga must be published because they are such marvelous pieces of art! The meanings are deep and the writing is beautiful~

Another photo of the queen printed inside this booklet. I wonder what those things wrapping her are... Looks like goo mixed in thread and caramel and peanut butter. Really disgusting looking but it's really intriguing. But I definitely don't want to be covered in those things...

Those artificial cheek bone implants make her look so unhealthy-thin! Think she is going towards the direction where she wants people to know that she is weird but then, she is embracing herself because she's "born this way". Really loud statement! By the way, am I the only one who feels that Gaga's eyes are 90% blank? Or is she doing it in purpose? 

Here's the simple looking CD with 17 ass-kicking tracks inside! I have to say that though this album is really questioning the notion of what is aesthetically pleasing, it definitely did not question what is audibly enjoyable. This album, packed with strong singles and songs, is really worth the money especially when you get the 2CD version. It's quite hard to describe how good this album is because I haven't really fully listened to it yet but so far, it's impressive. Look at the reviews out on the internet~ I do mainly packaging, not really the music :P

Oh yes~ Noticed that I did not mention that this is the deluxe version even though legally, it is? That's because Lady Gaga did not like the words "Deluxe" or "Special" or something along that line and therefore, it's not specify on the cover too! You learnt something new, yes? :D

Close up on the invitation. I hope I win something this time... :D That would be cool~

Anyway, that's all I have for Lady Gaga's "Judas" and "Born This Way (2CD)". Go get the album and support this monstrously woman! Even though her covers are by far the most aesthetically unattractive ones in recent music history (personally at least), her songs are definitely worth it! :D

You go, Mother Monster! But don't be scaring me the next time you release an album!