Perform This Way

[amzo39]

[weird_el]

A new conspiracy theory.

Perhaps Al and Gaga were in cahoots all along. Al knows a little controversy helps his sales. He also knows people WANTED him to do a Gaga parody since it was mentioned in Billboard last year, and he's since been asked endlessly about it. Gaga LIVES for media attention. This brought her some. Everybody wins especially the charity

[Killingsworth]

I just heard this for the first time. Glad Al actually gets to release his album when he wanted with no delays and I'm glad this will be the lead single because it's very well done and could lead to a W&N like media circus when the video is released. It's nice to see Al attempt another meta type song. I'm also glad to hear Gaga herself did approve of the song. Now, I have no reason to hold a grudge against her. This is all such GREAT NEWS!!!

[Teh Dingo]

I begrudgingly admit I have newfound respect for her after today.

Beyond that, I'm not saying anything...I've learned my lesson

[crazygurl14]

So with what Al says the a 8 weeks it needs to release an album it should be out sometime around June 13th or 20th!

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Helen lays out a pretty strong case for being cynical about this and thinking Lady Gaga actually changed her mind once the negative publicity hit today. I choose, however, to take Gaga at her word. I found myself thinking the entire day as this was going on, why would Lady Gaga of all acts not "get" the whole Weird Al thing? She strikes me as a very bright woman with a keen sense of post-modernism and self-parody.

She actually strikes me as very bright, too, when it comes to creating and maintaining her image. Which is why I still find it hard to believe she'd even tolerate a manager who just leaves her out of the loop like that. Maybe she was just upset because Al pre-emptively stole her next six costume ideas.

[avesjohn]

This has been a hectic past few hours for me, as I saw the news and link to the blog on Al's site, sighed in disappointment at the news of a further-delayed album while laughing at the parody (when not silently cursing at the slow-ass Internet in my dorm) and contemplating its alleged replacement, before seeing the other news of its approval (and wondering, having not seen Al's second blog post yet, if it was real or not) and continuing to laugh at the parody (while enjoying the speedy Internet in a wi-fi hotspot...in my dorm) and sighing at the loss of its alleged replacement and making a run-on sentence to sum it all up.

All told, I'm glad we'll finally be getting the album, I love PTW, can't wait for the video, and expect the virus that is the 'net to help give the Weird One another hit.

[Big Spoon]

Wow, just got back to my dorm and caught up on 11 or so pages of news. So much has happened! Really happy to hear that this song WILL be on the album and that Gaga does have a sense of humor about herself. Also really pumped to see the video.

[Killingsworth]

Hey, a parody of a hit by a female pop singer in a slightly altered key...this sounds like it would fit comfortably on EW or LAS...or even OTDE.

[Whatinthe27]

I'm still feeling a bit cynical about this. I'm seeing a scenario where: Gaga actually did hear the parody and actually did not like it and actually did turn it down. If she really does "love Weird Al," she could have said "yes" after reading the lyrics, because anybody who loves Weird Al already knows how respectfully Al treats the music and the production values generally. Then the whole internet, basically, rose up in revolt against her and she realized how uncool she would look to be failing to take a joke, dissing a much-more-beloved-than-she-realized icon of popular culture and depriving HRC of some income. So she decides to backpedal and her manager agrees to take the fall. Would she really employ a manager who's idiot enough to make a decision like that without getting her input? Can we really believe that touring is such a hectic occupation that it doesn't allow her 5 minutes to listen to a song? When Al was able to WRITE it while touring pretty hectically himself? No, sorry, doesn't pass the sniff test. The most I'm really willing to allow her is the ability to realize quickly that she made a bad decision and move just as quickly to un-decide it.

Yes. Coolio employed a manager that was stupid enough to do the exact same thing.

Coolio wasn't exactly the same exact thing, it was the complete opposite. Manager approved, and Coolio said they never asked him how he felt.

In Al's blog, it sounded to me like he was talking to her people, and quote "Lady Gaga says no". Unless she talks in the third person, it was her people he had the discussion with. He even says so. Personally I see a world where management screens calls and letters and don't convey the message directly to the artists unless they deem it important enough, and yes, i can see a world where management doesn't deem Al wanting to do a parody important enough to stop and tell Gaga about it directly. Although it's more likely they just wanted to make the decision for her, just as Coolio's management, and Blunt's management, and the Kink's management....way back in the 80's with Lola/Yoda. That's why Yoda doesn't appear on an album until Dare To Be Stupid. The way I remember hearing it, Al happened to meet Ray Davies in person and asked him why he didn't approve of Yoda, and Ray told him he never heard about Al asking for permission it, he thought it was great idea, so Al re-recorded it for the album. (the demo version had been on Dr D for years.)