LADY GAGA

Born This Way

[Interscope]

Maybe she should have saved “Just Dance” for this one: Lady Gaga’s new album is a high-energy collection of booming club beats and crazed synthesizers on 14 new songs stuffed full of pop hooks. Gaga (Stefani Germanotta to her mom) has a message this time, too: Be yourself. She hits the theme on the Madonna-esque title track, asserts herself with her ’do on “Hair” (featuring Clarence Clemons on saxophone) and does a little self-esteem building on “Bad Kids.” Gaga is always in control, and she rarely lets off the accelerator. It’s a busy, relentless album, though she changes the pace with a burst of flamenco flavor on “Americano” and, if you spring for the deluxe edition, a country-style version of the title track with wailing harmonica and dirty electric slide guitar. She skirts taboos on “Judas” and the autobiographical “Black Jesus + Amen Fashion,” but they’re really just well-placed struts to help hold aloft the increasingly more elaborate legend of Lady Gaga. –Eric R. Danton