The sexy and slightly sacrilegious new video from mother monster will not doubt set purists rankling, but look beyond her casting as Mary Magdalene, the biker outfits and torrid love triangle and “Judas” isn’t peddling cheap controversy.
She’s moving in a new direction from her bluffin’ muffin,’ Poker Face days: Gaga’s going philosophical. And in her own words, “The cultural baptism cannot be stopped.”
(More on TIME.com: See pictures of Lady Gaga)
Take a look at the lyrics:
In the most Biblical sense,
I am beyond repentance
Fame hooker, prostitute wench, vomits her mind
But in the cultural sense
I just speak in future tense
Judas kiss me if offensed,
Or wear ear condom next time
I couldn’t love a man so purely
Even darkness forgave his crooked way
I’ve learned love is like a brick, you can
Build a house or sink a dead body.
Now NewsFeed may be taking a few liberties, but considering her penchant for uncensored speech, trend setting and cultural virility (yes, we meant to use that word), looks like Gaga’s talking about herself here, and perhaps taking a deeper look into her role in this world using allusions she and quite a few others in this world know so well.
As New York Magazine says, “Judas” is the “perfect excuse” to delve into the mind of Gaga and see how the world’s most infamous Catholic schoolgirl “appropriates, inverts, and reworks Biblical allusions and images.” Check out their line-by-line biblical analysis and interpretation.
And of course, the video’s been greeted by some with the ho-hum seen it before attitude (yes, we know Madonna did it too). But tell us this: What other music video shows a public stoning?
(More on TIME.com: Watch Lady Gaga talk about her biggest influence)