It’s hard to believe that just a year ago nobody had heard of Lady Gaga. Now, she’s a proper pop star – a genuine household name on both sides of the Atlantic, with a fair degree of cultural traction. And she has achieved this with a blend of hooky tunes and outrageous outfits, a mix that Madonna once offered. 
 
 It’s all old-fashioned, really. That sci-fi clobber of hers, and her interviews where she talks up the Warholian nature of her project, flatter to deceive: this music is nowhere near as mould-breaking as she would have you believe. It’s a sound that Britney Spears purveyed on her last two albums, but for young fans of this sort of electro-ish RnB who probably consider Spears too old and can no longer identify with a harried mum of two, Gaga is providing a fresh alternative, and this has allowed her to sell four million copies of her debut album, The Fame. 
 
 And now those four million are being treated to a sequel, of sorts – The Fame Monster is available as a bonus disc on The Fame’s re-release, and its content can be downloaded separately. Among the eight new tracks are the new RedOne-produced single Bad Romance, which features cheesy rave synths, the now typically Gaga stomping beat and a controversy-lite lyric (“I want your ugly, I want your disease”). Melodically, it recalls Black Celebration-era Depeche Mode and keeps up Gaga’s habit of referencing herself in her songs. Admittedly, Warhol would have loved it. 
 
 Elsewhere there is the superstar duet with Beyoncé, Telephone, produced by Rodney Jerkins (less stellar than it sounds); So Happy I Could Die, which is brazenly Auto-Tuned Europop that telegraphs Gaga’s Sapphic tendencies (“I love that lavender blonde... I touch myself and it’s all right); Alejandro, which moves at an Ace of Base pace; the generic machine RnB of Dance in the Dark; and Speechless, which is a bit like Pink in ballsy rock-ballad mode. 
 
 It’s hardly original, and nor is it exactly a triumph of DIY feminist invention – look at the number of people listed on the CD credits, many of them men. But she’s bringing eccentric couture to the masses and is certainly fun to have around – The Fame Monster is also available as a collector’s edition containing, among many other essentials, a lock of her hair and a paper doll collection. Now that’s Gaga. ||||| Lady Gaga has traveled by egg, donned skirt steak and taken part in a TV blood orgy. But her biggest transformation occurs in the new film “A Star Is Born.” In it, she becomes an Oscar-worthy actress. 
 
 Taking on the classic part of a talented unknown who rises to music superstardom — the iconic role that Janet Gaynor, Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand played before her — Gaga proves her acting chops by trading in flash for humanity. 
 
 You won’t believe she’s the same person who once sang the lyric “I wanna take a ride on your disco stick.” And you will be downright shocked that this electrifying film is the third remake of “A Star Is Born.” 
 
 The previous rehash of the 1937 original was the chintzy, critically loathed 1976 version starring a soupy Streisand. Garland and Gaynor’s earlier turns are classic, but oversized by today’s standards. 
 
 Gaga, however, shows brilliant restraint. And for Mother Monster, subtlety is a huge achievement. 
 
 She plays Ally, a waitress at a high-end restaurant who hates her job and is frustrated with her stagnant life. Ally’s passion is singing, which she gets to do at a local drag bar at night. 
 
 During one fortuitous set, famous rocker Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) stumbles in drunk. On the hunt for another bottle, he ends up transfixed by Ally’s rendition of “La Vie En Rose” and the pair stay up all night, flirting. 
 
 Jackson flies her out to his concert the next day and she unexpectedly croons an original song with him onstage. The moment becomes a viral YouTube sensation and a whirlwind romance begins, propelled by a true love of their art, but scarred by easy access to booze and hard drugs. Ally is caught in a bad romance as Jackson succumbs to addiction. 
 
 The stripped-down, makeup-free Gaga has chemistry with the equally unrecognizable Cooper. The actor is perfectly charming, and tortured, as Jackson — the affable sort of musician who could always use a shower. Jackson struggles as Ally ascends, and the disintegration of their once-innocent relationship is devastating to watch. Bring the tissues. 
 
 Cooper’s voice is strong, too, and you believe that a few million people might actually buy this guy’s CD. He and Gaga sing many original numbers written for the film. They range from soothing barstool ballads to clubby pop tunes, but are united by their genuine feel. They don’t sound like movie music. 
 
 “A Star Is Born” also marks Cooper’s first movie as director. Virgin filmmakers tend to either overdo it with weird techniques or go textbook basic. But Cooper delivers his gutsy style with the confidence of a veteran, juxtaposing high-octane, quick-cut concerts with long, pale shots of the couple’s home life. 
 
 Most thrilling are the stage sequences. Cooper often films Ally’s thousands of screaming fans from her point of view — putting us in her lucky shoes for a minute. 
 
 It’s that feeling of exhilaration that makes “A Star Is Born” the best film of the year so far.
– Lady Gaga isn’t your typical pop star, and The Fame Monster isn’t your typical reissue. Critics agree that the deluxe version of 2008's The Fame may not be highly original, but it is a lot of fun: “She’s bringing eccentric couture to the masses and is certainly fun to have around—The Fame Monster is also available as a collector’s edition containing, among many other essentials, a lock of her hair and a paper doll collection,” writes Paul Lester for the BBC. “Now that’s Gaga.” “In her music videos and live shows over the past year, Gaga has worked hard to demonstrate her creative ambition and stylistic range, and that project continues on The Fame Monster, which includes the turbocharged Euro-soul of lead single ‘Bad Romance,’ the bubbly, ABBA-style pop of ‘Alejandro’ and ‘Speechless,’ and a sweeping glam-rock number seemingly modeled after David Bowie's ‘Ziggy Stardust’ phase,” writes Mikael Wood in the Los Angeles Times. “Half the disc is Madonna knock-offs, but that's part of the concept—fame monsters needn't concern themselves with originality,” writes Jon Dolan in Rolling Stone.