Has Gaga peaked?

As I posted on my Twitter just a few minutes ago, I think Lady Gaga peaked awhile back, she realizes this and has since just been going for shock value to keep in the public eye.

Does anyone else agree?

I honestly have to say, I have not really liked any of her songs that have come out recently - ever since "Alejandro" it seems both her lyrical quality as well as artistic value have gone downward. Yes, I'm sure the videos for "Alejandro", "Born This Way", and now "Judas" have been done on crazy budgets, but honestly, in my opinion, they're just not that good!

Let's take a look back.

"Just Dance" - her debut single which got plenty of play on the dance stations was a fun pop tune, the video was just okay, nothing special. Then there was her big breakout hit "Pokerface" - expensive looking, not much plot, but the song was catchy and the video showcased some of her wacky fashion - it put her on the map so to speak. Then came "Lovegame", which also had catchy, fun lyrics and the video looked like a female version of Michael Jackson's "Bad" as they were singing, dancing, and running around an empty subway station or whatever. It wasn't great, but it was fun. And then there was "Paparazzi" - the song was pretty and catchy, the video played out like a story and it kept you interested and was also visually appealing. She did "Telephone" with Beyonce and while the song was just catchy, the video was a clear homage to Tarantino which was great! It too played out as a story and was just fun to watch. "Bad Romance" was another one that again, was catchy, and the video was intoxicating - I couldn't help but watch it everytime it was on and even start doing the monster dance.

But from then on... it seemed like she was all about the shock value and trying to shake up and cause controversy with the religious sect.

"Alejandro" for example has a lot of religious imagery combined with some graphic sexual content kids shouldn't see. Definitely shock value, as the song itself wasn't even that good and many even cited it sounded like an Ace of Base rip-off.

I don't recall "Born This Way" being too controversial and it's got the whole message about being who are you and being true to yourself, etc, however it wasn't very memorable and the song itself sounds like a direct rip-off of Madonna's "Express Yourself". And Madge did it better.

And now "Judas"... honestly, the song itself is just stupid and terrible and I agree with one review I read saying that it shouldn't have been released as a single as it's THAT bad. And the video... once again she's going for shock value, shaking up the religious sect and trying to cause controversy. The whole point of the song is that she's hopelessly in love with Judas (yes, the Judas from the Bible, as she makes it clear near the end of the song) and in the video the disciples are portrayed as a biker gang.

I definitely think Gaga peaked awhile back and has been on a steady decline - her songs keep getting worse and not really memorable or sounding like total rip-offs of other people's songs and it seems like to make up for it or make people forget about it she comes out with videos that have controversy and shock value fueling them.

Can we go back to the creative, artistic, feel-good catchy Gaga of 2009/early 2010? I'm really not digging the "new and improved" Gaga.