Lady Gaga's One Day Album Sale Crashes Amazon Servers

Amazon.com launched a fairly brilliant introductory marketing campaign for its new Cloud Drive music service, but demand seems to have exceeded even Amazon's expectations. By tying a one-day sale of Lady Gaga's album Born This Way to sign-up for a Cloud Drive account, Amazon.com drew millions of people who wanted the 99-cent album download and were more than willing to sign up for Cloud Drive to get it. As a result, Amazon servers were overwhelmed and many of the requested downloads didn't occur.

Amazon quickly took to Twitter to ensure that everyone who attempted to download the album would receive it at the promised price of 99 cents. And while the bandwidth snafu is a bit embarrassing for a leading technology company like Amazon.com, it speaks to the enormous power of Lady Gaga's brand and the devotion of her fan base. And, it's also important to acknowledge the incredible bargain of downloading an entire new album from the world's most popular artist for about 10 percent of the cost of the same album on iTunes. Such a bargain is always a tremendous motivator for consumers.

In any event, Amazon seems to have succeeded in getting a slew of new accounts open with its Cloud Drive service, which was the ultimate goal for the one-day promotion. With Apple expected to unveil a similar service in the coming weeks, it was important for Amazon to at least gain a foothold before Apple's launch likely overwhelms the market.

Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake Host SNL Season Finale

Lady Gaga is perhaps the hottest musical artist in the world and Justin Timberlake has managed to achieve an almost legendary status with previous performances on SNL. Having the two of them on the same stage for the season finale speaks to the power and cultural relevance of Saturday Night Live, regardless of whether you think that the show is funny.

With Timberlake and Gaga on set together, the show was not surprisingly dominated by musical numbers, including Timberlake's opening monologue song and the two singers appearing together during the Liquorville skit. Gaga was also involved in several other sketches that didn't involve music, including the game show spoof, What's that Name?, which may have been the funniest sketch of the evening.

In addition to Timberlake and Gaga, the finale also brought Bradley Cooper and Jimmy Fallon for brief appearances on Weekend Update and The Barry Gibb Talk Show, respectively.

In the most anticipated sketch of the night, Justin Timberlake, Andy Samberg and Lady Gaga performed another follow-up to the now-classic Dick in a Box sketch. This time, it was the three singing about how it's OK in a 3-Way.

Overall, SNL delivered one of its best shows of the season for the finale. With some of its biggest stars now hitting the big screen, including Kristin Wiig and Jason Sudeikis, the winds of change are likely headed for the SNL cast once again. And while the current crop may never prove to be legendary, there is little doubt that they were consistently funny performers.

Lady Gaga Says "Judas" Video is a Celebration of Faith

Lady Gaga’s much-awaited "Judas" video will premier next week during "American Idol," and fans have been anxiously awaiting the hyped work. Ahead of the release, Lady Gaga has talked about the video in various interviews, giving a bit of a preview on what to expect. Notes Gaga, ""Well, the video, in essence, suggests that forgiveness and betrayal are hand in hand. The video puts destiny above all things and postures that the mistakes in your life are in fact not mistakes at all, they are just part of your overarching potential and your destiny."

She didn’t want to give all the details, of course, but she did note biblical references, saying, "Well, I want to allow the video to speak for itself, but I will say that the theme of the video and the way that I wanted to aesthetically portray the story was as a motorcycle Fellini movie, where the apostles are revolutionaries in a modern-day Jerusalem. And I play Mary Magdalene, leading them into the town where we meet Jesus, and I will leave the rest for you to see. But it’s meant more to celebrate faith than it is to challenge it."

Despite referencing religious icons, Gaga by no means is intending that the song is an interpretation of the Bible. Add the famous singer, who went to Catholic school as a girl, "Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that my schooling informed the songwriting on that record in particular. 'Judas' is a metaphor and an analogy about forgiveness and betrayal and things that haunt you in your life, and how I believe that it's the darkness in your life that ultimately shines and illuminates the greater light that you have upon you," she said.