I think he's pretty much on the money there - I'd say there's also a lot to say about the deliberate ambiguity of the narrative. I tend to think it's the art of a good song not to have a
direct lyrical narrative, but a polysemous one. But not in the sense of saying absolutely nothing (cf Pavement). Something like Coldplay's yellow is one of the best instances of that - in as far as it seems to say something but says nothing (or says lots of things). I'd note that I can't actually stand the song myself.
But yeah, I've been listening to the Fame monster for a year or so now, and it's one of those albums (and this only happens in really big pop albums) where there seems be more depth to it with each listen.
This is probably my favourite, given that it seems to point to about 6 styles of pop all at once. You've got doo-wop, delta blues, Bedtime Stories-era Madonna, showband jazz (etc) all going on in one song, without ever really seeming like it's incongruous or even being particularly melodically dynamic.
Something I'd point out about Speechless that your mate didn't point out - the vocal production is so unbelievably intricate. The envelope filter when she says 'slurred' is probably the most obvious example. Vocal-wise, there's this thing where it seems like they've thought long and hard about what they're doing, but only in the decay of the note. There's a bit of autotune on there, but it's used so discretely that you'd not notice unless you're listening for it. I think the last album I heard with such amazing vocal production was probably Avril's second, but that's far more glaring than Gaga's.