3. 'Born This Way' (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeWBS0JBNzQ Proclaimed as the album of the decade, 'Born This Way' emerged as one of the inventive and suprising records of 2011 and certainly one that changed Ms Germanotta from a pop singer into a fully-fledged superstar. The album itself is a messy, dirty mixture of rock, heavy metal, pop, opera and country influences, all of which make interesting, if not always successful songs. The album's titular lead single is a four-to-the-floor sincerity anthem about equality and promotional cuts such as 'The Edge of Glory' (a Springsteen-esque banger with an electropop backing) and 'Hair', a heavy-metal-pop tune and a half, are considerably notable. Album tracks such as mariachi-pop track 'Americano', dark opera-dance song 'Government Hooker' and feminist dance tune 'Schiesse' are solid and exciting. However, not every song is a winner with second single 'Judas' being nothing more than a converted 'Bad Romance' but not as good and album tracks such as 'Electric Chapel' and bonus tracks 'Black Jesus Amen Fashion' and 'The Queen' pleasant enough but entirely disposable in the grand scheme of things. 'Born This Way' boils down to a very solid 12-track album, but a lot of similar-sounding songs keep this lower on the list.