“[Mary Magdalene is] still in love with Judas, baby”: Nicola Formichetti's Gothic and Lady Gaga’s Weimar Hooker

By Roland Betancourt“Government Hooker”: An Introduction to “Judas”Fragment A:I’m just a Holy Fool, oh baby he’s so cruel, but I’m still in love with Judas, Baby. Fragment B:[...] When he comes to me, I am ready/ I’ll wash his feet with my hair if he needs/ Forgive him when his tongue lies through his brain/ Even after three times, he betrays me/ I’ll bring him down, a king with no crown [...]The fragments above come down to us as the only extant...

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Agents Of Pop: “Of What Is Past, Or Passing, Or To Come”

By Laurence RossBritney’s first single, “Hold It Against Me,” off of her upcoming album Femme Fatale, initially seems to be yet another song about Britney trying to seduce yet another insipid guy. “If I said I want your body now, would you hold it against me?” The lyric is so tired, so banal, that Britney is actually being sued for copyright infringement over its use (the “original” song in question produced over thirty years ago). But place those...

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