Constructing Voice
Lady Gaga grew up developing a unique voice within her music ever since she was a young child, which is reflected through her contemporary releases. In this section, I will argue that Lady Gaga utilizes three separate aspects of her voice to brand herself: interjections, a speaking voice, and glitch. These vocal elements, which often rely on camp, transform Gaga into a consumer product that could be sold to many audiences.
This section is greatly inspired by the work of popular music scholar Stan Hawkins, who wrote an essay titled “I’ll Bring You Down, Down, Down” that argues that Lady Gaga’s campy and theatrical attitude originates within her vocal style. Without her voice, Lady Gaga would not be considered a camp artist. In this tab, I am extending Hawkins’ argument to say that this campy voice is used as a marketing ploy to gain even more attention from consumers.
INTERJECTIONS
In her songs, Lady Gaga relies heavily upon the usage of vocal interjections, defined as “abrupt remarks, made especially as an aside or interruption.” In many of her songs, such as representative ones shared in this tab, the artist tends to use many exclamations, such as “oh”’s, “ah”’s, and “ooh”’s. These interjections appear so frequently throughout Lady Gaga’s music that they seem to have become a signature part of her vocal style. Additionally, their sporadic, random nature makes her voice reflect her camp persona, considering they make her songs feel over-the-top, exaggerated, and humorous. As a result, these (often campy) interjections included in Lady Gaga’s songs allow the artist to brand herself, transforming her into a consumer product that has a great level of recognition.
SPEAKING
Lady Gaga utilizes a speaking voice in many of her songs in addition to interjections. The speaking voice often appears in the middle of her singing voice, which makes the speaking voice similarly feel sporadic and random. Additionally, the speaking voice makes the artist’s songs feel like a direct address to her audience, inviting them into the world of Lady Gaga. Perhaps, she ‘breaks the fourth wall,’ in which Gaga theatrically addresses the audience in the middle of her performance. This randomness, exaggeration, and breaking of the fourth wall makes Lady Gaga’s voice further mirror the camp style through conveying the notion of life-as-theater. Thus, Lady Gaga’s use of a campy speaking voice allows her to build brand recognizability, which makes the artist feel more like a consumer product.
GLITCH
In this project, I will be defining vocal glitch as an intentional malfunction within the voice through production interference with cut-and-paste, inspired by the musicology book called Digital Signatures. Musicians produce their vocals with glitch to make their voice sound distorted, perhaps to reflect certain messages. Lady Gaga frequently utilizes glitch within her vocal production through continually distorting her voice in many of her songs. This glitch has become an important part of Gaga’s musical aesthetic, which makes it therefore a part of her brand image. Plus, similar to the interjections and speaking voice, the vocal glitching’s randomness and contrast with her singing voice gives her songs a campy feel. Further, aligning with Susan Sontag’s argument, glitch lends itself to creating a certain level of artifice, making Lady Gaga feel inhuman and robotic through breaking up her voice. Thus, glitch is the last element in my argument that adds brand recognition to Lady Gaga’s music that transforms the artist and her music into a consumer product.
Click on the below songs to hear sonic case studies of my argument, along with my own interpretation.
"Alice," Chromatica (2020)
“Alice,” released in 2020 on her album Chromatica, feels representative of all three vocal elements that Lady Gaga uses to create some brand recognizability. A song that came out later in her career, it comes as no surprise that Lady Gaga has an established brand in this song and utilizes each of the three elements quite frequently. Contextually, this song focuses on Lady Gaga’s comparison of her life to that of Alice from Alice in Wonderland, in which Gaga wants to “keep looking for Wonderland.”
INTERJECTION:
Over a thumping four-on-the-floor beat, Lady Gaga sings “ah-ah-ah-oh,” giving “Alice” a dancefloor-like atmosphere. These initial interjections introduce and complement the beat of the song, allowing listeners to feel the beat while not getting distracted by actual lyrical words. The “ah”’s also provide the song with a sort of hypnotic feel that mirrors Lady Gaga’s desire to transport into the mesmerizing world of “wonderland.” In this case, the “ah” interjection not only represents the thematic story told in “Alice,” but its noticeability and prevalence in the beginning and end of the song also makes the song stand out as a unique part of Gaga’s brand.
SPEAKING:
In the bridge of the song, Lady Gaga begins speaking in a robotic voice to the beat of the music. She exclaims, “sick and tired of waking up / screaming at the top of my lungs / thinking I might have just left myself behind.” First, this spoken section of “Alice” makes Lady Gaga’s struggles feel more personal: her direct address to listeners invites them into how she feels like she is losing herself. Next, the randomness of the section and its juxtaposition with the sung verses and choruses highlights the style of camp, adding a sense of theatricality and irony through Gaga’s breaking of the fourth wall and odd robotic speaking voice. This makes the song uniquely stand out to help Lady Gaga build a certain campy and eccentric brand image that could then be sold to consumers.
GLITCH:
In “Alice,” vocal glitch happens concurrently with her speaking voice. During the same bridge section, Lady Gaga’s robotic voice acts as a glitch, where her voice begins to malfunction. This breakdown of sorts feels particularly noticeable after she sings “thinking I might have just left myself behind,” in which Lady Gaga’s voice begins softly skipping in an echo after she sings “behind.” This robotic glitch may occur because Lady Gaga sings about her mundane and tiring life, which perhaps feels machinelike to her. Additionally, the robotic nature of her voice illustrates the theatricality and artificiality of the camp style. This campy vocal style allows for more artist recognizability and therefore becomes an important marketing tactic.
"Born This Way," Born This Way (2011)
“Born This Way,” released on her 2011 album Born This Way, is another song that highlights Lady Gaga’s three common vocal elements. As a song that debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, “Born This Way” is one of the most memorable songs of Lady Gaga’s discography. Perhaps, the massive success of this song hints that Lady Gaga’s three vocal elements have worked in creating an established, recognizable, campy, and successful brand image that could be sold to many audiences.
INTERJECTION:
The main two vocal interjections used in the song include “ooo” and “hey.” While interjections may not act as the primary vocal technique used in the song, they add a certain layer of flamboyance and intrigue to a song about embracing individuality and diversity of identity. The vocally layered “hey” repeated at the end of the song also complements the chapel-like instrumentation of the song, making the song feel communal and gospel. Overall, though, the inclusion of these interjections in the song prove that they have become a vital part of Lady Gaga’s brand within her music.
SPEAKING:
“Born This Way” is a prime example of her reliance on a speaking voice in many of her songs. The beginning of the song starts out with her speaking voice, where she proclaims that “it doesn’t matter if you love him or capital H-I-M.” Throughout the song, she also persuades audiences with her speaking voice to “don’t be a drag, just be a queen” and claims that everyone has the “same DNA.” This speaking voice creates a sense of intimacy between her and her listeners, considering she breaks the fourth wall through directly addressing her fans. With the messaging of inclusivity and self-love in the songs, her speaking voice additionally creates a sense of closeness and intimacy between her and her fans. And with the theatrical breaking of the fourth wall, her speaking voice establishes a campier, and inclusive, brand image that could then be sold to many listeners as a result.
VOCAL GLITCH:
Similar to the speaking voice exemplified throughout the song, Lady Gaga also utilizes vocal glitch throughout the song. At one moment in the song, Gaga encourages listeners to “don’t be a drag, just be a queen,” with a glitch occurring right after the phrase with the repetition of the “don’t be, don’t be, don’t be.” This glitch has become a signature part of Lady Gaga’s vocal style. Additionally, with the juxtaposition between her real singing voice and a robotic voice, Gaga showcases the ironic and theatrical aspects of the camp style, making her glitch an important factor in building her campy brand image.
"G.U.Y.," ARTPOP (2013)
“G.U.Y.” was released in 2013 off of Lady Gaga’s fourth studio album, ARTPOP. Despite being critically panned upon the time of release, ARTPOP seems to be the most representative of Gaga’s creation of a brand image. She effectively incorporates all three elements of my argument into most, if not all, songs on ARTPOP, and “G.U.Y.” comes as no exception.
INTERJECTION:
One of the most noticeable interjections found in “G.U.Y.” is in the beginning, when Lady Gaga chromatically sings “ah” in a robotic voice (found starting around the 0:11 mark). Here, Gaga seems to use the “ah” vocal interjection as an instrument in order to complement the electronic and dance-like feel of the song. This usage of the voice as an instrument highlights a sense of irony, aestheticism, and theatricality, which leads to the categorization of the interjection as camp. Further interjections are used throughout the song, including “oh, yeah” during the first verse. Thus, the usage of the interjections in “G.U.Y.” support the argument that Lady Gaga uses her vocal style to brand herself as a campy artist.
SPEAKING:
Similar to many of her songs, like “Born This Way,” Lady Gaga starts “G.U.Y” with a speaking voice that sets a sensual and sultry tone for the rest of the song. She later speaks in the song during the pre-chorus, where she sings, “touch me, touch me, don’t be sweet.” Her sultry speaking voice not only adds to the lyrical messaging of the song that she wants to be involved in a sexual relationship with a man, but it also adds some playfulness.
GLITCH:
Lastly, glitch can be found in “G.U.Y.” at certain moments throughout the song, and it is particularly noticeable leading up to the last chorus in the background electronic vocals (3:00). As shown from the other songs, this vocal glitch is a significant part of Lady Gaga’s style, and it is also particularly noticeable in electronic albums of hers, such as ARTPOP. The vocal glitch makes Gaga sound like an exaggerated robot, which makes the song lean into the ironic, humorous, theatrical, and aesthetic aspects of being camp. “G.U.Y.” is yet another example of how Gaga utilizes campy vocal glitch to sell her music to a broader audience.