Music Videos
A Whole New Level of Weird: Gaga and Beyonce Rock in the “Telephone Video”
The world has been eagerly awaiting to see the video for Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce’s “Telephone”—which Gaga dubbed her “masterpiece.” The nine-and-a-half minute mini-film directed by Jonas Akerlund debuted on E! last night at 11:30 P.M., although reports say that the video leaked on the Internet prior to its television release.
There’s a reason that it was aired so late in the evening—it’s too vulgar for us to even post. But we gotta give Gaga props. The video is pretty entertaining—calling it gutsy would be an understatement. It’s a combination of all the dirty doings of Gaga—flashing, homosexuality, and homicide—all with help from Beyonce in the Kill Bill reminiscent video mixed with some intense choreography and hard-to-miss product placements.
Enter a handcuffed Gaga sporting a fierce prison ensemble. She is then stripped down, and we are given a censored view of Gaga’s privates, with commentary from prison guards in response to the rumors of Gaga being a hermaphrodite—perhaps the most humorous part of the video.
A chained Gaga rocking some smoking cigarette glasses on the prison roof has a nice make out sesh with a fellow female inmate before a fight breaks out between two other convicts. Just as Beyonce rings in for Gaga, we get a shot of another character, who appears to be a brunette version of Gaga. Some barely dressed prisoners join Gaga in some jailhouse rock before Beyonce finally shows up to bail out her partner in crime.
Beyonce scolds Gaga: “You’ve been a bad girl, a very, very bad, bad girl, Gaga.”
The two don’t waste anytime plotting their next crime. Gaga says, “Once you kill the cow, you gotta make a burger.”
The divas hit up a diner where they meet an unknown gentleman, played by Tyrese Gibson, who appears to have done Beyonce wrong in the past. We see a Gaga in the kitchen where she whips up a poison concoction, all while dressed in a questionable blue head garb. After poisoning Beyonce’s nemesis, the rest of the restaurant guests also meet their fate, and Beyonce and Gaga break it down in some patriotic gear in the restaurant.
The flee vehicle is the most interesting part of the video: The P-Wagon. The video also features a cameo from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Jai Rodriguez, playing a news reporter warning the public about the bandits on the loose.
Gaga promises B that they will go far, far away and never come back as the interlock hands. We conclude that the story is: To be continued.
So how many MTV Music Video Awards do we think this creation will win? It’s hard to say because it’s in a category far beyond what we would even call a music video.
Although the only thing that seems out of place in the video—as much as anything could be out of place—is perhaps Beyonce’s role. She just doesn’t possess the weirdness to pull off such a stunt. But Gaga and Beyonce are self-professed friends and enjoy the chick power of working together. So to some degree, the collaboration works since the point of the video possesses a feministic syntax.
All-in-all the video receives four out of four stars for effort, humor, boldness, and its powerful commentary on society. It takes Lady Gaga to a whole new level of weird. But it’s okay, she can pull it off. She’s Lady Gaga.
Katherine Epstein for Citadel Digital © 2010
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