As Christians prepare to commemorate Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the cross and celebrate his resurrection, Lady Gaga fans are celebrating “Judas,” the artist’s newest song named for the man who betrayed Jesus.
The latest single off the album Born this Way, which talks about confronting one’s inner demons and hopelessly loving the wrong man, was supposed to come out five days before Easter. But leaks on the Internet forced an earlier release last Friday.
Shot earlier this month but not yet aired, the video reportedly features Lady Gaga in the role of Mary Magdalene, the celebrated disciple believed to be the first person to see Jesus after he rose from the dead. In fact, many of the song’s lyrics seem to be written from her perspective.
“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.”
In a promotional video for the song and video that aired on the Internet channel GagaVision, the artist announced: “Judas is coming. Let the cultural baptism begin.” The clip closes with the words: “If they were not who you were taught that they would be, would you still believe?”
In that same footage, Gaga confronts a protester outside one of her shows who tells her she’s headed to hell for her “pervert ways” and “homo stuff.” When Gaga counters that God is a part of her shows and she has 13 years of Catholic education, the picketer turns to bashing Catholics. Her chauffer drives away from the no-win situation.
But she can’t win over the conservative William Donohue of the Catholic League either, who calls the artist a Madonna copycat, referring to the elder star’s “Like a Prayer” video in 1989. Yes, that’s the same Madonna who reportedly might be ditching the mystical Judaism of Kabbalah for conservative Catholic Opus Dei — another topic for another day.
— Manya Brachear – Chicago Tribune (MCT)