"Telephone" - Lady Gaga & Beyonce

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

Go Super to Listen

• superhero
• pitch
• label
• raise the bar

• controversy
• product placement
• epic
• personally

• commercial
• killing me

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Go Super to Listen

The music video for Lady Gaga and Beyonce’s song “Telephone” is nine minutes long and features insane costumes, a mass murder, a prison fight, a girl-on-girl make-out, and a whole lot of exposed skin. And those aren’t the only causes for controversy in the video. It’s also drawing criticism for how much product placement it uses. But some people are calling “Telephone” the future of music videos.

Whether you love it or hate it, Gaga and Beyonce’s epic new video is hard to ignore. Find out what Ella and Devan think about “Telephone.”

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

Log in to Listen

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Devan

Ella

Devan:  So have you seen the new epic that is the Gaga-Beyonce “Telephone” video?

Ella:  Have I? Of course. I have it on my cell phone, on my computer, like playing in my living room just for fun. I love it.

Devan:  You love it?

Ella:  Yes.

Devan:  See, I personally hate it.

Ella:  Oh, you’re killing me Devan!

Devan:  Tell me why you loved it.

Ella:  I just think it’s so creative, and you just wouldn’t ever think to combine Beyonce and Lady Gaga, ever, because I just feel like they’re so different. And then to see them in the same room and just kinda like little superheroes in the video is just like…I don’t know, I just liked it, I thought it was really creative.

Devan:  See, now my problem with the video is the insane amount of product placement.

Ella:  Oh yeah, that’s true.

Devan:  I was like keeping a tally of how many products they pitch in there. It’s like Coke and mayonnaise and computers and websites and cell phones, and everything with like all these labels all over the video, and I just…You know, everyone’s talking about how it like really raises the bar for music videos, but for me, it was just a giant commercial. I didn’t see any artistic value when you’re selling that much ad space in your video.

Ella:  That’s true. I did not think about that. That’s probably how they could afford it to be nine minutes long.

Devan:  Yeah. It was nine minutes long but for me, the artistic quality wasn’t enough. I just felt like I was watching a really weird Miracle Whip commercial.

Grammar Point

Go Super to learn "Count and Noncount Nouns" from this lesson

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3