"Uranus! Don’t you know my ass is famous?" Astronomically cheeky wordplay like that could only be convincingly delivered by one pop star of our time, and that cosmic siren is Lady Gaga. On her new ARTPOP single, "Venus," she goes on an intergalactic-metaphor-fueled ride, commanding her lover to "take me to your planet." There's also talk of oysters, baby (they're "aphro-disy"), and of course, the Roman goddess of love herself. Much like Katy Perry's new promo single, "Walking on Air," it's a '90s-inspired powerhouse that takes cues from Black Box, Crystal Waters, C+C Music Factory, et al, but it's also far stranger and more esoteric in its reach (we'd expect nothing less from Gaga). Thematically, it fits nicely into the "Starship Trooper" dreams of late-'70s disco gods Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer. That's a lot of ideas packed into one 3:55-minute song, but Gaga pulls it off like a champ.
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