Right away, the opening track evokes the image of a claw-in-the-air Gaga bopping around the stage on her next tour. It's apparent that she is having just as much fun as she had with "The Fame" and "The Fame Monster," especially on a track that features the unlikely combination of motorcycles and unicorns, "Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)."
The title track "Born This Way," which was the first single released off of the album, garnered much criticism for sounding like Madonna's "Express Yourself," but Gaga pays homage to her idols more than she copies them. Take, for example, "You and I," a piano-rock ballad that could be the most honest Gaga song to date. The song not only features elements from "We Will Rock You" by Queen she takes her name from the band's song "Radio Ga Ga" but also features Queen's lead guitarist, Brian May. "The Edge of Glory" sounds like a Bruce Springsteen song, which it is, sort of the track features Clarence Clemons of Springsteen's E Street Band on saxophone.
"Born This Way" features messages of personal acceptance, overcoming hardships and following one's dreams, but these themes do not come across as hackneyed or cheap. With each of Gaga's reverberating chants one can almost feel the blood, sweat and tears that she put into the making of the album.
Yet "Born This Way" still features the expected elements that Gaga loves most: theatricality, sex, rock n' roll dudes and whiskey. She even manages to combine the four in just one lyric, "I want your whiskey mouth/All over my blonde south" in the song "Heavy Metal Lover."
The way Gaga addresses faith, on the other hand, proves to be a confusing aspect of "Born This Way." She has said repeatedly in public interviews that her religion is her music and her "Little Monsters," yet she sings about holiness so extensively, one might assume she is part of the Trinity. "Judas" is not the only track riddled with Catholic schoolgirl angst "Electric Chapel," "Black Jesus + Amen Fashion" and "Bloody Mary" will send you right back to memories of pleated-skirts and Bible studies.
Gaga continues to do whatever she wants, including speaking foreign languages and writing a song about prostitutes' influence on political decisions. "Americano" features enough Latino and Italian flavors to make you feel like you are sitting in a sweaty, flamenco-infused pasta parlor while a taboo lesbian romance, the song's theme, occurs right in front of you. On the delightfully incomprehensible feminist anthem "Scheie," Gaga claims she "can't speak German but I can if you like," and then does just that. If "Government Hooker" was to be sung by anyone but Gaga, lyrics such as "Put your hands on me/John F. Kennedy/I'll make you squeal baby/As long as you pay me" would make the album unsellable, yet even this track will keep you blissfully tapping your foot.
One of the album's gems is in "The Queen," which seems to sum up perfectly the role Lady Gaga now plays as the Mother Monster to her Little Monster fans. She sings "I can be the queen that's inside of me/This is my chance to release/And be brave for you."
"The Queen" and "Black Jesus + Amen Fashion" are only available on the special edition version of the album.
While on their own the current "Born This Way" singles each feel awkward and preachy, the surplus of Gaga's wackiness, amped-up bass and synthesizers on each surrounding track make "Born This Way" a full-bodied triumph and a peek into Gaga's true mindset.
