"Hungry from an anorexic heart, I'd like to tell you how I feel but I was never very smart…" Uh oh, the first song, being played live on tour, off her third album, Artpop, is a not so hot ode to the late Princess Of Wales, "Princess DIE". A weird straightforward telling of the last moments of Diana's life.
Di's story seems to stymie storytellers and Lady Gaga is all 6s, 7s and 9s on this unpleasant ditty. Not unlike the recent "Ronan" by Taylor Swift, though with less reason, it is a requiem. And unlike Taylor's song, Gaga sees herself all too clearly in the image of Di: she obsesses over the details of money and celebrityhood and hints around the edges of the woman's terrible fate.
In a sense, it is a child of "Candle In The Wind" but with the sentiment distilled, Gaga appears to be using the Princess as a metephaor for dying of love? Something like that. Maybe, since Gaga is also chased by fame, it is closer to seeing herself in Di. The kickier, "I will be a Princess Di and die with you"… and without a great melody. Gaga's problem appears to be an inability to write great songs any more. This one is really not tha terrible but it wouldn't make a name for her if she wasn't already a star now would it?
Grade: B-