As the third video installment from the Fame Monster album, “Alejandro” has found success on the air waves and now via video thanks to the direction of famed fashion photographer Steven Klein. Almost nine minutes long, the video, clad with stiletto gyrating monks, a machine gun bra and a latex Gaga nun is nothing less than cutting edge and shocking – but what else would you expect?
Being about as far away from the previous mini-saga video hit “Telephone” as Armani Privé is from Betsy Johnson, “Alejandro” is truly an entity all of its own. Stepping back from the product placements and saturated colors of videos past, “Alejandro” is entrenched in 1920’s Weimar Germany references (which you may have noticed if you’ve seen “Cabaret”) with bed scenes that would make Hugh Hefner blush. This video is not a mere installment of pulpy pop culture but an artful, provocative entanglement of political and religious charge. As Director Steven Klein admitted in a Rolling Stone interview, “Alejandro” is the mere process to express Lady Gaga’s desire to reveal her heart and bear her soul.”
Director and fashion photographer Steven Klein can not go without credit; disregarding the usual rules, Klein has created a dark, sexually ambiguous masterpiece. Through the video’s fashion, Klein, the anti-fashion fashion photographer known for his work with Madonna, has lived up to his legend with s&m whips galore and an ability to transform traditional images like a nun’s habit into risque blasphemies. With all of this imagery, the realization of glamour was not lost in this video, however it became upheld to a darker, yet, greater standard. Through the Nazi uniforms, homoerotic officers, and Gaga’s assault weapon bra “Alejandro” is decadently transgressive, and oh-so Gaga.
Let’s see what surfaces for Gaga’s next video from the new album!
-Jaimie Sanita
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