There’s just too much going on. The show is all-consuming. It’s pop music, for goodness sake. If you wanted to be something beyond that, you should explore other media. Nine minutes is excessive, especially for something that really still just felt slapped together. The production quality was high, but the story – if you could piece one together from all that – was/is pointless. Okay, dumb.

Beyonce is so out of her element in this and that felt obvious.

Gaga looks like she’s going to crack under all this very soon. And that will not be a surprise.

Instead of focusing on one theme or inside joke or point to convey, she’s just drowned this frothy song’s video in ridiculous costumes, pointless girl-on-girl action, excessive product placement (is selling out high art? My thought: if you can’t afford to pay for your 9 minute video on your own, you don’t get street cred by having Wonder Bread or Plenty of Fish pay for it), and gratuitous violence that doesn’t seem to reveal anything more than a desire to be ‘raw’ or ‘gritty.’

I’ve missed the point and I don’t care to retrace my steps to try to find it. Bad Romance is still better in my book. The thing about art is that you can want it to mean all kinds of things but as soon as you give it to others, their interpretation wins out. So beating people over the head with what you’re trying to do won’t work forever. Look at Marilyn Manson.