Joanna Newsom Calls Madonna “A Dumbass” And Lady Gaga “Arty Spice”
By Travis Woods
Pitchfork reports that indie folkster Joanna Newsom came out swinging in a recent interview with The Guardian, lambasting two female musicians whose dedication to image, in her opinion, completely supersedes their ability to actually make listenable music. Or, as she puts it, Lady Gaga’s music is all “glowsticks” and “Madonna’s a dumb-ass”:
“I’m mystified by the laziness of people looking at how she presents herself, and somehow assuming that implies there’s a high level of intelligence in the songwriting. Her approach to image is really interesting, but you listen to the music, and you just hear glow sticks. Smart outlets for musical journalism give her all this credit, like she’s the new Madonna… Although I’m coming from a perspective of also thinking Madonna is not great at all. I’m like, fair enough: she is the new Madonna, but Madonna’s a dumb-ass!”
Despite the hilarity (and accuracy) of Newsom’s bile, she sent a quick e-mail to The Guardian to elaborate on some of her comments:
“I may have contradicted myself. My problem isn’t actually with Lady Gaga. But there’s not much in her music to distinguish it from other glossy, formulaic pop. She just happens to wear slightly weirder outfits than Britney Spears. But they’re not that weird– they’re mostly just skimpy. She’s fully marketing her body/sexuality; she’s just doing it while wearing, like, a ‘fierce’ telephone hair-hat. Her sexuality has no scuzziness, no frank raunchiness, in the way that, say, Peaches, or even Grace Jones, have– she’s Arty Spice! And, meanwhile, she seems to take herself so oddly seriously, the way she talks about her music in the third person, like she’s Brecht or something. She just makes me miss Cyndi Lauper.”
In other news—Joanna, will you marry me?
Newsom did, however, backtrack on her Madonna-bashing:
“I shouldn’t have called Madonna a dumb-ass. Her music and she have just gotten so boring to me, this last decade. I think maybe she doesn’t hold her money very gracefully, the way some people can’t hold their drink. But one thing she is surely not is dumb.”
What do you think of Newsome’s comments?
Monday, May 10, 2010 6:20PM
Joanna Newson seriously? You can't get more artsy-fartsy! Whether it's true or not being some plain-jane folk hipster isn't particularly original either. Talk about pretentious.
Monday, May 10, 2010 7:29PM
I can't believe Newsome and Goldrapp don't have better things to do than to slag off those more commercially successful than themselves… It makes them look and sound like complete… uh, dumb-asses. (Newsome's word! not mine!)
Monday, May 10, 2010 7:57PM
this bitch got some nervous! Joanna Newsom is going nowhere putting down Madonna and Lady GAGA down because they are selves creations not but not by the record company. Joanna thanks for your comments but you are a talentless and the most annoying i ever heard of and because of dumb blonde ass bitch. i won't listen to dumbass music! go to hell.
Monday, May 10, 2010 8:02PM
None Of them are Original. You all need to get your head out of you ass, pathetic culture we live in.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010 1:09PM
Madonna is simply amazing, and lady gaga is really good as well, not as good as madonna, but really good, i think Joanna Newsom is jelous as she has had no sucsess
Wednesday, May 12, 2010 10:37AM
[...] = 'su.pr'; tweetmeme_service_api = 'a4de697cabd0e9ed8131c60179ba5d72' More Continuing the snarky but thoroughly entertaining trend of today’s more artily-inclined musicians and performers beating up on their Top 40 [...]
Wednesday, May 12, 2010 9:07PM
I don't understand why this Joanna person and MIA expect Gaga's music to be "different". Not everyone CHANGES pop music! i mean, if they're honest, how often does that even HAPPEN? Gaga is popular, because she is TALENTED and exciting and crazy! That is all one needs! Madonna didn't change pop either, she just had GREAT TUNES(and great imaging and marketing management). That is ALL I CARE ABOUT, AND WHY SHE IS A LONGSTANDING ICON IN AMERICA!!
Monday, May 17, 2010 6:20PM
This is GaGa's moment, deal with it !!!!!!!!!!
Monday, June 14, 2010 10:21PM
It's interesting that she would comment about the quality of someones music, considering that her voice sounds like a cat in a blender.
Good at the harp though.
Thursday, June 24, 2010 6:41AM
i dont think "commercially successful" is what newsom or goldrapp was going for…so it's quite unfair to compare joanna newsom to lady gaga in that way….just saying.
Saturday, October 2, 2010 12:32AM
and who the heck is Joanna Newsom? Never heard of her…so why would I care about her opinion of Madonna and Lady Gaga?
Saturday, December 17, 2011 12:54PM
Well you cared enough to comment.