“I’m a religious and spiritual person who’s obsessed with religious art… I’m obsessed with it,” said Lady Gaga in a recent interview with E! News. She was speaking of her “Judas” video, but she could be talking about her entire album, Born This Way (out today!). In almost every track on the powerful entertainer’s new album, the pop star either hints to or overtly states her messages of love, faith and devotion through religious imagery and metaphors. Hey, what do you expect from someone who spent 13 years in Catholic school? Jump below as we go track-by-track to dig out all of Gaga’s religious (as well as political) references on Born This Way.
Artists have merged religion and pop music before — Madonna’s crucifix-donning get-up and the entirity of her “Like A Prayer” video is probably the most obvious example that comes to mind — but we can’t think of an artist who released an entire collection of music with so many references and allusions to their faith without creating a Christian pop album. In fact, did Gaga release a Christian album? She preaches the power of prayer, devotion to a higher being and lack of judgment throughout these 17 tracks. And that alone is kind of extraordinary when most pop albums today (includingGaga’s debut The Fame) appear to be mostly concerned with going out to clubs.
