La Roux: Lady Gaga, But Better

If you want to get into the whole Lady Gaga thing but you’re just too darn intellectual, try La Roux. The British electropop duo is “the Thinking Person’s Lady Gaga,” according to Adrian Chen, because singer Eleanor Jackson has many similarities (Gaga wears inappropriate hats; Jackson’s “hair is a hat!”)—but with one important difference: The music Jackson makes with La Roux is actually good.

Whereas Gaga’s “music is widely acknowledged to be pretty awful—sort of Britney Spears meets late-Madonna,” La Roux’s music is also kinda like Madonna’s, "but cool—early—Madonna,” Chen writes for Gawker. Jackson also has the advantage when it comes to the categories of controversial-yet-interesting soundbites and the aforementioned headgear style. But Chen gives Gaga the video category—“Her videos are brilliant and you don't need us to remind you.”
(More La Roux stories.)