14 DAY TRIAL // The Little Monsters need wait no more: the highly anticipated video for Lady Gaga’s latest single from the “Born This Way” album, “Judas,” is finally out. You can check it out at the end of the article.
The video, as we also noted on a separate occasion, caused a stir with the media and, most importantly, with religious leaders, even before it was completed, long before the official release.
Hours before the time to introduce it to the world, the video leaked online, prompting a harsh reaction on Gaga’s behalf, who took to her Twitter to tell the person responsible to “stop leaking my mother[expletive]-ing videos!.”
The release then went ahead as scheduled: and debate on the message and imagery of the video hasn’t dropped a bit in intensity ever since.
To sum it up in a few words: Lady Gaga is Mary Magdalene. Jesus is the leader of a clan of bikers, a rock star on his own. Judas (Norman Reedus of “The Boondock Saints”) is, of course, his disciple, and Mary’s lover: she is understandably torn between the two, but seems to prefer the latter.
Aside from the religious imagery and symbols scattered throughout the video, “Judas” also stands out for being an amazing production: this is clearly not the kind of video any pop star can afford to make.
The costumes, the makeup, the dancing and the cinematography of it all are absolutely top-notch. Precisely because of that, it’s a shame that Gaga tried so hard to be controversial that she ended up ruining it, her critics are saying.
Nevertheless, co-director Laurieann Gibson (Gaga is also co-director on “Judas”) says that stirring up a controversy was never the aim behind the video: rather, this was to get people talking and to prompt them to give their own interpretation of it.
“I think the concept stuck with this one because, ultimately, there was a place where we wanted to leave the interpretation up to each individual and not take away [Gaga’s] power as a performer, as a dancer, as a star,” Gibson tells MTV News.
“And to leave the moments for you to interpret and be inspired by the fact that everyone has a Judas in their life and that there is a place of deliverance. For me, I interpret differently than her, and for someone else, they’ll interpret it differently,” she adds.
Check it out below – and make sure to sound off in the comments section on what you make of it.