Sexy Song of the Week: Lady Gaga

Posted by Jessica Jean on November 8, 2009 
Filed Under Sexy Song of the Week

When I was trying to choose the first Sexy Song I wanted to post on, I was totally lost. There are so many sexy songs out there that I rarely have time to feel anything less than sexy when listening to current music. In the club – sexy music, out shopping – sexy music, eating dinner – sexy music, mixed-tapes– way too much sexy music.  So where to start, what to choose… originally I was planning on Prince, but decided something a bit more current might go over better. Thus, Lady Gaga was my choice, actually by suggestion of a student, (thanks Shelby!)

And who was I to contest the sexiness of the song with lyrics like this:

Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick

There is something blatantly sexual here, but it’s almost disguised as cute.

Why?

Is the word-play just an exercise in creativity? Or is it because we don’t want to hear a woman be too graphic? Other than Little Kim and occasionally Christina Aguilera, bless them, you don’t hear too many female vocalists really getting into the dirty details. (Or at least I don’t – so if they exist let me know.) The female vocalists I hear tend to stick to sexual innuendos, word play, and barely-there get-ups to get their message across.  Granted there are males who do this too, bless them, but I tend to hear more men being more direct. (Anthropologically speaking this may have to do with what type of music I am listening to at what times of the day and in what city the radio station is broadcast, etc.) But for the sake of conversation, let’s cut the radio analysis and move on to discussion.

So listen to the radio, reflect, and write; I’d love to get some opinions on this.

Why is it that men get the go ahead to say things so bluntly? Do female vocalists have the same opportunity and simply dismiss it in favor of more timid titillation?

Do you prefer one type of sexy song over the other? (Options being: a word-by-word play of the situation or word-play hinting towards the situation.)

Comments

6 Responses to “Sexy Song of the Week: Lady Gaga”

  1. Jose Martinez on November 8th, 2009 4:34 pm

    Personally I prefer word-play hinting towards the situation. Not because I feel there’s a need for cencorship, but because it shows more cleveress and creativeness on the lyricist’s part as well as being more likely to make me laugh. I think there is no question that female vocalists for the most part do not have the same opportunity as male vocalists do. EVe though I prefer wordplay over straight-to-the-point lyrics, women should be able to have the same dirty, blunt lyrics that male vocalists do.

    (BTW, I’,m glad you finally decided to do this session again. I looked on the syllabus for last semester and was wondering why we weren’t doing this.)

  2. Melissa Berman on November 10th, 2009 4:01 pm

    I think this is the perfect song for sexy song of the week, since it is current in popular music.

    I think males stick with the stereotypes they are given and are able to play on that through their music, especcialy with black male rappers. They are able to play up their masculinity, which allows them to be more sexually agressive in their music, and possibly in real life. Males are wrongfully but typically thought to have more sexual thoughts and feelings, and actually do have more and varied sexual partners. I think this allows them to be more open and, at times, explicit.

    On the other hand, women need to or feel the need to come off more cutesy or flirty as opposed to sexual or possibly slutty. There is a HUGE double standard in society allowing men to have varied and multiple sexual partners and looked up to, while women in similar circumstances are looked down upon. Even up and coming popstars like Lady Gaga feel the pressure to conform to stereotypes and double standards in society.

  3. E'lon on November 12th, 2009 2:47 am

    I think that it’s wise for artist to use inuindos with songs like “candy shop” by 50 cent etc because these cover ups make it easier to sing along to, making it more catchy and marketable

  4. Irene Capistrano on November 15th, 2009 4:15 pm

    You should look up Lily Allen’s song, Not Fair. It’s pretty blunt.

  5. Adrian Marquez on November 21st, 2009 6:39 pm

    I think it’s interesting that some of the lyrics suggest that what Lady Gaga is proposing is nothing more or less than a “love game.” Her actions throughout the video, however, go against traditional views of love, such as fidelity in the course of love with another.

    Also, I would agree with Jose and Melissa that there is both a double standard present in the music industry, and that word-play is the style I would prefer. Men that articulate what they want sexually from a woman receive praise, but on the other hand, women, as in many other expressions of their sexuality, are encouraged to suppress explicit expression of their sexuality and opt for a more subtle way of doing so. This all can be traced back to gender roles in society, of course. Culture has long held that a woman’s sexuality is to be controlled in its expression, but has also long accepted the free expression of a man’s sexuality.

    And word-play is an admirable thing from either man or woman. It requires effort to find anything comparable to sexual expression, and that manages to capture its significance, its beauty, and its effect on the human experience.

  6. Eric Malinasky on December 20th, 2009 1:20 am

    This song brings up the confusion people have sometimes wondering if they just want a physical relationship or an actual emotional attachment. One may want something more while the other just wants to have sex. Sometimes, the emotional attachment naturally develops from the physical relationship even if you do not want it to happen.

    I think this is something many people can relate to especially in college. In many cases, women think its something more than sex when that is all the guy wants. Also, people come in to college wanting to have fun with no emotional attachments. Sometimes it is uncontrollable and it develops regardless of their intentions.