Lady Gaga's official Web site has been teasing a new music video for a few days now, but it has finally arrived. The clip, for the new single "Bad Romance," is vintage Gaga, featuring striking colors, bizarre costumes, stunning effects, muscular dancing and a little bit of ultra-violence. The clip is the first of two hotly-anticipated clips that Gaga will be premiering as tie-ins to her upcoming album The Fame Monster, an expanded version of her 2008 debut that includes eight brand-new tracks. (The other upcoming video is the Beyoncé-assisted "Telephone," which will appear on the expanded edition of Beyoncé's double album I Am ... Sasha Fierce.)
The video for "Bad Romance" seems to take place aboard a space station (perhaps the same one that Michael and Janet Jackson are on in "Scream") and has a vague narrative: Gaga is captured and brought to a man wearing a golden mandible, theoretically for sex. In the end, the tables are turned and Gaga once again ends the life of a suitor (in that sense, it makes "Bad Romance" a sort of spiritual sequel to "Paparazzi," which saw Gaga poison video boyfriend Alexander Skarsgard).
The key shot is one of the most striking in music videos in a long time. Clad in lingerie and a bearskin overcoat with a huge train, Gaga approaches her mandible-clad suitor and sets the bed on fire. She stands over the blaze half-triumphant, half-tragic. (The aftermath shot is even more impressive and sort of gory.) After winning Best New Artist at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga has created an early front-runner for next year's Video of the Year.
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