The year was 2009, and Lady Gaga had just burst on the scene. At the time, radio was awash with R&B, and stars like Britney Spears and Rihanna were dominating the radio. Katy Perry was making waves with her debut album, but nothing could compare to the cultural juggernaut that was Lady Gaga. Just Dance was a sleeper hit, and at the time many thought it would be a fluke, but Gaga followed it up with Poker Face, a genre-defining hit with a clever bisexuality metaphor.
While Poker Face showed that Gaga was going to be more than a one hit wonder, Paparazzi, and the music video and performances that went along with it proved that Gaga would be an enduring force in pop culture. No one at the time, at least in the mainstream was executing high concept music videos to this degree. Paparazzi set the stage for a new age of pop culture, where visuals mattered, fashion mattered and an avant garde sensibility was a must for any new pop star.
The film, and that's what this is, Gaga routinely defies the label of music video, and turns her video treatments into films, worlds with their own aesthetic and world building totally unique. Paparazzi turned out to be oddly prophetic as Gaga would wind up in a wheelchair in 2012, when a hip injury ended up being a major obstacle. Prophetic, poetic and a killer visual that is able to be endlessly analyzed.
