Maybe if Lady Gaga were actually in glory instead of only on the edge of it we might have gotten more in her video for “The Edge of Glory.”
Instead, the music clip, which premiered tonight on “So You Think You Can Dance,” is the most basic, stripped-down clip of her career. It is Gaga dancing with herself with a low-key cameo by saxophonist Clarence Clemons from Bruce Springsteen”s E Street Band. The tune is the third single from “Born This Way,” which after two weeks at No. 1on the Billboard 200 slipped to No. 2 this week. The single is in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Though the song”s sound is steeped in the ’80s, the video features the timeless elements of a New City City stoop, fire escape and slick streets. (Guess what video from the actual ’80s also included stoops, fire escapes, and a slick street in its opening moment…answer at the end). LG peers out her window, before venturing onto the street. With only one costume change (actually, she just takes off a jacket), the focus is front and center on Lady Gaga as she delivers a few Michael Jackson-type moves before strutting up and down the street and uses the fire escape for her own personal jungle gym/dance floor. She accomplishes all this in an outfit that almost manages to be more revealing than the seatbelt Cher wore in the “If I Could Turn Back Time” video.
Occasionally, the camera cuts back to Clemons sitting on the stoop and, staying seated, we see him play a little bit (a very little bit) of his solo, but for the majority of it, he”s off camera. Same with his second sax swing, although there is a very cute, quick shot of the two of them on the stoop with Lady Gaga leaning up again Clemons.
As you know, Clemons had a stroke on Sunday. While we”re all rooting for his recovery, this will likely be the last time we see him on video for quite some time.
Maybe she didn”t have time for something more elaborate or maybe Lady Gaga decided it was time to just do a simple video for a straight-forward song after going crazy on her previous clips, but we like the simplicity. Not every statement has to be some over-the-top extravaganza. Plus, this is a different song for her so it demands a different style video.
Early fan reaction is definitely trending toward the thumbs down, including “Boring…what happened to the cool videos.” “first Gaga video I really don”t like,” and “after all that refreshing [on Vevo], I can”t believe all I got was this.” That last one should be a t-shirt. We need something to replace “My [fill in the blank] went to [fill in the blank] and all I got was this crappy t-shirt.
What do you think of the video for “The Edge of Glory?”
(Answer: Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”)