Before reading, I strongly recommend
listening to the song attached to the bottom of this post. Partly to understand
what I’m talking about, but mostly because it’s purely worth a listen!
After a week of intensive
listening to Born This Way – an album
which Worldwide, needs of course no introduction – I have to be honest; Heavy
Metal Lover was probably the only song which didn’t completely grab me from the
get-go.
The modest track 11, sandwiched
between the magical Highway Unicorn (Road to Love) and that dark, progressive
riff of Electric Chapel, categorised itself in my mind as merely a transitional
track with a satisfying beat, absent of the strength the rest of the tracks on
the album undoubtedly command. I felt each and every song on Born This Way held its own interesting,
multi-layered character, so one night; I made the decision to single the song
out and give it the attention it deserved – wondering if it could redeem itself
as another Born This Way standout
number.
To my surprise, not only did it
achieve this title, but for me, surpassed every other message, lyric, and
character Gaga has ever written. Sonically, the hook I’d hardly appreciated when
listening to Born This Way as a whole,
fast became my favourite on the album. It’s impossible for me now to not listen
with my iPod (Lucky) on top volume, nodding my head to the rhythm and feeling
my arms prickle with goosebumps when the chorus is in full swing, or the
robotic bridge is cutting through the synths – like a woman desperate to sing,
trapped in an existence of fame and machinery. It never fails to exhilarate me.
But, the precious connection I
now feel to the song began due to something deeper. It all started around
half-way through my first “real” listen. There, amidst the sledgehammer beat
pinned with that dance pop hook, I heard the lyric “I could be your girl, but
would you love me if I ruled the world?”
For reasons unknown at the time,
those lyrics struck a chord. I was startled – these words didn’t echo the same
strength and empowerment as the early verses did, our Mother Monster wasn’t
singing about “red wine, cheap perfume, and a filthy pout” and an atmosphere of
the dirty rock n’ roll underground. The rebellious confidence from “let’s make
hell in the streets, drink beer, and get into trouble” had disappeared. Where
had this question come from? It was… vulnerable. Honest. Almost as though… she was
questioning the very purity of love in a relationship. Her relationship.
Would her man make the ultimate sacrifice to
be with her?
Broken down, this what I feel she’s
asking. And this is why I felt such a personal connection to not only the song,
but the Lady herself. Would he give up all his masculine tendencies to be the
best, the strongest, and the most successful, for her? Would he sacrifice the very thing which defines him as a true man
– his ego – to become a martyr for their
love?
Suddenly, Heavy Metal Lover took
on an entirely new meaning. Through those lyrics, the true reason behind the
track burst into life – just like the smallest and most subtle splash of paint
can throw a picture from abstract into clarity. Subtlety is actually what makes
Heavy Metal Lover so strong. On the surface, the song appears to be a simple
dedication to a man – it gives us a dash of atmosphere, the feel of leather,
and leaves the bitter taste of whiskey in the back of our throats. But when the
words are picked apart, it becomes not a dedication, but a confusion of love
and commitment.
As I’ve mentioned, strangely, it
struck a chord. Mother Monster had managed to put an emotion into words and
music which had been subconsciously playing on my own mind. And in that
beautiful second, I felt connected to her on a level I didn’t quite expect –
our insecurities. It was the moment which completely confirmed my level of
being a “Little Monster” for the first time. Respect I’d always had, along with
love and loyalty to her art, but a single song hadn’t touched me in a way which
made me see her as… well, as like me.
In the world of Heavy Metal
Lover, we both have wonderfully macho men who we love more than anything, with
a taste for booze and heavy metal, and a tendency to break our hearts with
every move. Sometimes we’re afraid of asking this question of complete and utter dedication, but through our
insecurities still do, because at the end of the day, we know the truth. And
that’s why we love to spend our weekends drinking beer and getting into
trouble.
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