As an artist, I hate the idea of someone spreading my work around the world before it’s ready to be seen by the masses.  And I totally feel for Lady Gaga for having her latest music video, Paparazzi, leaked out onto the internet earlier than she had hoped.

In the end, though, maybe it isn’t such a bad thing.  Thousands of people are twittering about the video and from what I can tell, they all seem to love it.

I feel like I came to the Lady Gaga scene a little bit later than some of my friends who were seeing her in clubs in Washington DC and New York City years ago, but it wasn’t long after I heard her music, especially her live, a cappella performances, that I realized she was the real deal.

We’ve seen so many new artists come out of the woodwork with little skill beyond one particular dance move they do over and over again, some sexy look they have or whatever magic audio engineers are able to pull off with the amazing abilities provided by the autotune.

Lady Gaga is a classically trained singer, dancer and pianist.  I know Chase will give me shit for a week for liking her.  The name alone, “Lady Gaga”, is pretty silly and her fashion sense is, to put it kindly, extreme.  But it all comes together into this beautiful package.

Gaga breaches the established gender and sexual lines; she is what many, and I can’t believe I’m going to type this, gay guys need right now.

Madonna is getting old; seriously, she is starting to, ghasp, look her age.  Plus, what kind of beacon of inspiration can she be?  Leaving her husband for another man who is also married while in the midst of adopting another foreign baby?  Madonna, your acts in the 1980s, 1990s were cute, rebellious and fun.  But now you’ve got a family to think of. Come on Madge, go back to who you were just three years ago. Ok? Thanks.

Brittany is, while not nearly as crazy as she was in the last few years, definitely not a singer or performer.  Her music is catchy and great to dance to and sometimes even has substance but please, lord help us all, do not let her go out and sing and dance live.  Holy shit.

Is that all we’ve got?  Nah, we’ve got Beyonce but she’s getting too big for her Cartier.  Pink? Nah, she’s cool but doesn’t pump out the dance hits or diva ballads like she used to.  She’s our political girl for sure.  Christina? Sing? Yes. Dance? Yes. Beauty? Yes. Style… Well… It’s definitely better than it was in the early 2000s!

So really, who do the gay guys in the world have?

Lady Gaga.  She’s new, fresh, clean, fun, has style galore, sings like most pop singers after they are autotuned (herself without the need for autotuning), can dance and… well you get the picture.

All that being said… I can’t believe how much I like her music, her style and her… je ne sais que

Here’s her latest music video, yeah that leaked one.  It’s one of the biggest singles off her debut album.

[flv:Lady_Gaga-Paparazzi.flv 500 378]

The video every bit as fantastic as I had heard around the internet.  It’s like an old Michael Jackson music video mixed with a little Gwen Stefani and a whole lot of high fashion.  Pop music gold.

I don’t feel nearly so bad about posting this video, the audio is off by a second or two which makes it a totally different experience as when it will be officially launched.  It’s good enough as is that I’ll be buying it from iTunes the moment it is put into the iTunes Music Store.  Also, at least it is given a nice home here right?  Centered, a nice intro image… (see how I’m trying to convince myself of something?!)

Cheers, g’night all!