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I transcribed Lady Gaga's national anthem performance, because someone had to.
The more I listen to it the more I really FEEL it as a response to the zeitgeist. It kind of all rushes towards "the flag! was! still! there!" We've lost a lot as a country, but Trump and his Stupid Coup haven't taken us down even after everything. We're still there.
And the riffing doesn't really start until AFTER that! Before that it's just the rhythms that are unpredictable and nontraditional. Clearly super intentional, though-- Gaga is PRECISE about her cutoffs in a way that I find deeply satisfying. Listen to those consonants again.
Definitely some Whitney Houston influence, as is proper, and yet it doesn't read as "this white girl is trying to copy Whitney Houston" to me. @MarissaSkud said it really well earlier: Whitney's is gospel, Gaga's is Broadway.
So... this is my most popular tweet. Here's where I post my SoundCloud, right? (Spoiler: it's mostly just a collection of my sad song cycles but they're pretty good if that's your thing) https://soundcloud.com/patricia-wallinga
