Lady Gaga v. Janelle Monae

In a followup to lady gaga fanstuff, we have to ask, on the spectrum from noise to order, where do the Lady Gaga vs. Janelle Monae (all posts) similarities fall? Does Monae think gaga is an android for sale? or is it the otherwayaround? If somebody’s saying something about someone, whose saying what about whom? Or does everyone just use the same music video production company nowdays, or, are all music video production companies owned by the same parent company even if they are competing brands?

exhibit A: the big black and white dogs in lady gaga’s poker face video, also in Janelle Monae’s “Many Moons”….

exhibit B: the android auction in lady gaga’s bad romance, the main backdrop to Monae’s “Many Moons”…

Lady Gaga Poker Face (written and released 2008)

Janelle Monae, Many Moons (recorded 2005, released 2008)

Lady Gaga Bad Romance written and released 2009)

Either way, Janelle Monae clearly has a little more to say about things, like history, education, power relations, technology, whereas Gaga currently seems to mostly be talking in that weird meta-way famous people or famemavens have of talking about fame as if its a stand-in for every other perspective. They both rock, although Janelle Monae is clearly a true talent. And interestingly, Janelle seems to be going the corporate route a little, via this Kia sponsored initiative. [visit] Compared to the Gaga’s dependence on her image/story of ‘selling out to fame’ trope, the ‘selling out to straight corporate’ might be a more contemporary, realistic, interesting, and nuanced narrative. Isnt that the point of Androids? Win for Cindi Mayweather!