Before I heard this song, I was all set to write (or not write and apologize for not writing) a pseudo-intellectual piece explaining how I think Lady GaGa tries too hard to politicize her image and how she actually helps promote somewhat harmful stereotypes by virtue of her existence. I was also expecting “Born This Way”, the first single from GaGa’s upcoming sophomore album, to be some big, super-event weird record. After hearing the song, I’m left with a warm fuzzy and the thought that GaGa couldn’t write a non-catchy song if her life depended on it. Is “Born This Way” a big socio-political statement? I don’t care. It is a definite earworm, though-a solid slice of dance-pop that’s likely to rule the airwaves for the entire spring. It definitely has an “I Will Survive”/”I Am What I Am” vibe to it, but it’s not overbearing-although I’m sure GaGa’s image doctors will take care of that once the visuals for the song are released. I think I’ve gotten to the point where I like GaGa a lot, as long as I don’t have to deal with her public image and occasionally idiotic pronouncements…kinda like Kanye, but times 10.

For now, though, we have another great song by one of the great pop artists of recent times. Kudos.