Rah)² + (Ah)³ + Ro(Ma + Ro + Ma²) + (Ga)² + Ooh(La)² = Bad Romance

My Dearest Amanda Palmer,

I was the first to stand up for you and your antics and your love of the spotlight. I have dedicated a tattoo to the Dresden Dolls, one to your song Astronaut, and even slipped a bit of an AFP eyebrow onto my last tattoo (a rave-toned swallow) just to commemorate my love to you.

But I think you've stepped a little far here with your constant criticism of Lady Gaga. Mostly regarding her new music video, Telephone. What confuses me the most is that the two of you stand so much for the same things. Yes, there was product placement in the Telephone video. Before twitter was filled with your tweets of these placements, I had only truly noticed one, the Virgin Mobile logo on her phone. I also only caught it the first time around, mainly because the colors did fit with what I'd seen so far.

This being said, after taking another look I now see the phone pops up again. The computer has a dating site on it, they ate a honey bun, she had Diet Coke cans in her hair, she was playing with a Polaroid Camera and she made the sandwiches with Miracle Whip and Wonder Bread. Did I not see those things the first time through? Well, yes, I did. I saw every one of them, but considering those are things I see constantly in life and on TV shows, I failed to have them stand out to me. They're just THINGS. Back ground objects the fill up space.

I think, sadly, that youcan't quite deal with the fact that Lady Gaga is becoming more and more famous by being so much like you, but choosing the path of Pop. She loves the spotlight, she loves dark humor, she likes making people go "what the fuck" and walking around as nude as possible. Amanda, my love, your lyrics generally have 100x's more meaning than hers. You have an amazing voice. You stand up for what you believe in and refuse to let the music industry hold you down just because you don't want to feel like your selling out.

I have the utmost respect for you for that. THAT is how you choose to pursue your career and you say endlessly that you wouldn't change the life you have and that you love how close you can be to your fans and how you couldn't function in a life where you didn't have so much control and where you couldn't be so spontaneous. It's YOUR path. YOU chose it. If you're truly happy with yourself and your career, you'd let others pursue theirs as they choose.

I personally don't care if Gaga's product placement was ironic or just for budget reasons. Hell, you know yourself that there is no money under a record label, and any money you make has to go right back into what you're working on and paying the bills. At least Gaga reuses her clothing in other videos and performances (and in her everyday wardrobe) unlike most artists that like to be "made up" on stage. She lives it.

I think (however out of place my thoughts may be) that there is a bit of resentment towards Gaga because she took a concept very similar to Who Killed Amanda Palmer (so much so that I caught it 10 seconds into the video) and made it POPULAR. Paparazzi TOPPED CHARTS. The video was beautiful. It took you years of work to put everything together. Lots of collaboration. A book, shirts, and entire album, "crime scene" photos and so much hard work and love. And she made the concept famous.

I love you Amanda. I've never been more moved by lyrics in my life than when I hear yours. Let Gaga do her thing, a keep doing your own. You both have your own place in the music world so there's no point in fighting over the same seat.

My thoughts feel scattered and I'm not sure if I even made my point,
XoXo,
S