I am posting it now because i will not be available to do it tomorrow, so please enjoy.
11 February 2013. This is the date of the most haunting moment of Gaga’s career, other than Jewels N Drugs of course.
ARTPOP: The History
Gaga was soaring high with the release of the positively-received sales powerhouse, Born This Way. It had her third #1 song, gave us 4 top 10 hits, and hit over a million sales in its first week, making her one of three people to achieve it in this decade (Taylor Swift and Adele being the others).
Gaga’s high-intensity dance routines were an important part of her shows However, during one intense routine, it went a bit wrong. You can see the exact moment here, where Gaga’s career path changed entirely. She broke her hip during this routine and had to cancel the remainder of the hugely successful Born This Way Ball to heal, when she couldnt even walk. This obviously took its toll on Gaga herself, she fell into depression and inflamed her fibromyalgia to an insane degree. She developed an addiction to marijuana, as it was the only way she could deal with her pain (this ended up being the influence behind the track Dope). She used this extra time to continue work on her third full length studio album.
August 19, 2013. The ARTPOP era was going to begin. There was the introduction of a quite frankly gorgeous aesthetic with the Applause single cover. She even announced the development of an ARTPOP app made by the same people as Björk’s Biophilia app, which would come with a download of the album. Well, that was the plan anyways.
August 10, 2013 the lead single to ARTPOP leaked online. Lady Gaga went to twitter to express her distaste, defending Katy Perry in the process, who’s lead single Roar also leaked the same weekend. While Katy released Roar on the 10th, Gaga’s team waited until 2 days later, on the twelfth, to released Applause.
This is where things went wrong. This is pop music and pop music has a history of sexism, and feuds between two successful women is just the tip of the iceberg. Look at Cardi B v Nicki Minaj, look at Britney vs Christina, and now, two of the most powerful women in pop, releasing a track the same weekend? It does not matter how successful both songs are, one must come out on top.
That song was infamously Roar, which went to number 1. Meanwhile, Applause didn’t even get top 3, it fell behind at #4. Of course, this can partially be attributed to a Tuesday release, a notably inconvenient time to release music with such hype behind it. Either way, only one woman can come out on top, and it was Katy. Gaga perhaps infamously took this about as well as the leak. Was she actually angry? Was this an “art display” to compliment the art pop? We will never know.
ARTPOP: The Era
Something we partially glossed over that I think is incredibly interesting is that Applause was NOT the first song from ARTPOP to leak. Nay, on August 5 2013, an incomplete version of a song rumored to be called “Burqa” leaked on the internet. Interestingly, around the end of 2012 Gaga sent Zedd a message that said, “"been listening to *rq all day” and posted it on Twitter. This song, with its burqa references, was a demo version of Aura with verses that seem more “yelled” than the complete version. Here is the original link if you are interested.
Gaga and her label had never super duperty got along with many things, very often singles (Boys Boys Boys v Bad Romance, Dance In The Dark v Alejandro). It had not only been rumored that the label had been restraining Gaga’s creativity for ARTPOP, but also rumored that Gaga did not want Applause to be the lead single of ARTPOP. In fact, she wanted Aura. So it has been heavily rumored that Gaga herself released Aura as a rebellious action against the label that she frequently found herself at odds against. And this release wasn’t quiet, it broke the record of most searched song in 10 minutes with 6 million searches of Burqa/Aura.
The era was off to a shakey but salvageable start. Applause’s chart run, while it had a somewhat underwhelming peak, was relatively good. It stayed in the top 10 for fourteen weeks and stayed in the BB100 for twenty weeks, both figures being larger than Born This Way. Gaga just had to nail the second single and everything could be okay.
Lady Gaga wanted Venus to be the next single, and for good reason. This is the first song Gaga created as the lead producer. She wanted to prove herself as a producer and release this song as the next single. THe video was planned out and ready, and release was set for October 27th. Do What U Want was released on October 21st as the first promotional single for the album, and it received rave reviews from critics and fans. It surpassed expectations for a promo single sales wise, and in the infinite wisdom of Gaga and her team, the day after the release of Do What U Want (the 22nd), they announced that this would be the REAL second single and that Venus would be the promo single. The Venus music video was scrapped and one for Do What U Want needed immediate attention.
R. Kelly is a pedophile. This is true and we know this. Apparently Gaga’s team did not until they finished the music video and decided not to release it. In the end, other than an AMAs performance that I honestly consider one of Gaga’s best, Do What U Want was as much a single as Venus, and now Lady Gaga was associated with a pedophile. The delay and eventual cancellation of the music video came accompanied with a message from Gaga for her fans, which address “mismanagement” and not being allowed for all her creative juices to FLOW.
It was also around this time that Lady Gaga split with long time manager Troy Carter, who had been with her since she was dropped by Def Jam, before Just Dance ever existed.
Well? Not to be overdramatic it all seemed like a failure frankly. ARTPOP released five years ago today on November 5, 2013. In that time she actually achieved another top 10 hit with Dope at number 8, largely due to this performance. The album debuted at #1 with an underwhelming 258,000 sales, quite a drop from Born This Way’s 1 million+ sales. There were plenty of broken promises this era: the first music performance in space, the song Brooklyn Nights which was supposed to release thru the ARTPOP app that didn’t stick around, Telephone Part II, and she even claimed a music video for every song. She wanted more than she could possibly give.
But it was Gaga’s plan to salvage it. In the previously mentioned letter to fans she promised to make it up to them. She now had the control she needed to do what she want. She is willing to die for ARTPOP and she is not quitting easily. The solution? G.U.Y.: An Artpop Film
ARTPOP: The Conclusion
Gaga invests hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of her own money to make this GUY music video everything it can possibly be and then some. She is the director of this music video, which she conceptualized and would fully realize. She acquired permission to film at Hearst Castle in California, quite possibly the most extravagant setting possible. She hired the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills to star in it as sirens. She got the youtuber SkyDoesMinecraft, for better or for worse (probably the latter). She also used 300,000 gallons of water to fill the pool during California’s drought…
But, unlike most of this eras promises, this one came to fruition. The 11 minute epic featured 3 songs from the album: the title track ARTPOP, Venus, and center-stage was GUY, plus MANiCURE during the credits. The video was released and it was…. Well received? For the most part? It was extravagant and artsy and sometimes campy, but it was complete, which is more than most ARTPOP projects can say. G.U.Y., however, flopped, and peaked at #76. In comparison, a month ago Gaga had 4 ASIB soundtrack song chart above that in one week.
The era is dead. Gaga put in her all, and we will never know if it was too much or not enough, or even both. There was a lot of madness during the ARTPOP era, and not much of it good. However, what actually matters, the important part and meat of any good pop era is the music. And while this is very controversial and debatable, even on popheads, Lady Gaga released IMO not only her best album, but the best ??? album ??? ever???
INTERLUDE
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Now back to our regularly scheduled programming
ARTPOP: The Album
Something I wholeheartedly believe about ARTPOP is that, sure, you can dislike the songs, but you cannot call them filler. All the songs have such distinct and unique personalities with distinguishing characteristics that each song is clear in intent and one-of-a-kind. I will attempt to explain this and why I feel this way for each songs, and even if you hate the song (@ the 4 GUY 0s, I still remember you all), I hope you can see what I think is so special about each track.
Aura
When I listen to this song I understand why Gaga wanted this to be the lead single, for much the same reasons Perfect Illusion was in theory a not awful lead single. It introduced not only the sound for the era but also a story for the era. Gaga has “killed” her former self and style and moved on. Just the introduction seems to reference a bunch of major themes Gaga has toyed with: murder (a fitting cohort to the Telephone/Paparazzi story), rebirth, and even a western-guitar reminiscent in sound to “Americano” from her previous album.
The song is honestly somewhat saddening because Gaga is asking the listener to take a peek at the real, weird her. This song is a tribute to the theatrics and chauvinism Gaga puts on, with her inviting the listeners to see what’s really underneath that look. Is she really that weird? Is it just a phase? Hmmm.
And people kinda said “lol no ion’t wanna see this” because it was so fucking weird for Gaga. This is weird for the sake of its weirdness and the GP kinda isn’t here for something like that. A song of this structure? With such jarring electronic noises? And its the first track? Yes, and God I love it so much.
Venus
Okay first let’s talk about the transition from Aura to Venus sometimes I forget the song has changed because it’s such a strangely smooth transition. Venus, as previously mentioned up there somewhere ^ is the Gaga-produced single that never was. Venus makes sense as a single, with a plethora of hooks and beat shifts that command attention; however, I’d be lying if I said this song would be too overwhelming for radio attention, even in 2013.
Perhaps the most obvious oddity of the song is its… interesting lyrics? With such gems as
Rocket Number 9 take off to the planet Have an oyster, baby, its Aphrodi-sy Aphrodite, lady, seashell bikini, get with me Venus
And of COURSE
Uranus! Don’t you know my ass is famous!?
Going from the somewhat clumsy of her self-acceptance anthems to the full on clumsy this is stark. But it has so much personality. It is brimming with character and you CANNOT deny that.
G.U.Y.
Along with Venus I feel this song best accomplishes the goal of ARTPOP as an album: a collection of at first strange but overall unique hooks and sounds. Let’s take this song apart piece by piece: a brief honestly ICONIC introduction to let you know that this song is sexsexsexsexsex yeah! And even then you STILL aren’t ready for this POWER BOTTOM ANTHEM.
The first verse explodes into the room much like the Kool Aid man and quickly swells into the pre-chorus which is literally one of my favorite pieces of music ever? Like, I don’t know how to express how much i love this without using /r/cumtributes. The chorus is so smooth in Gaga’s singing, and the layering of spelling out G-U-Y with saying it (seriously the “jee” and “guy” on top of each other is just,,,,,,). And don’t get me started on the bridge kjenfiuerfvcreiuoodfj.
Sexxx Dreams
Okay I have left “incoherent typing about my fave song ever” phase and now I will be a bit mode. Now, after some conversation about sex songs, lets move onto a song with sexxx with 3 x’s in the title. This song could’ve been tragic but it’s pulled off so effortlessly. The speak-singing in the verses is honestly magnificent when put against the harsher electronic background.
And I really like the lyrics in this song. They sound so much like someone that knows they are about to get into something no good, but will jump right in at any second anyways. “We’re both convicted criminals of thought” sticks with me for some odd reason that I can’t quite nail down. And I love the bit of women power in the Medusa reference in the bridge “You could turn to stone Or the color of men petrified by a woman.” Of all the songs on ARTPOP, Sexxx Dreams sound the most mature. Whereas all the other songs run wild (but delightfully so) in terms of lyricism and EDM production, Sexxx Dreams remains restrained. And a bop.
Jewels N Drugs
https://68.media.tumblr.com/2b8205448925c637bef7c47a9905de56/tumblr_o5zzwuQnkN1tl1wfio1_500.gif
MANiCURE
I am going to start with this: I understand why ARTPOP is polarizing and controversial. I understand why Swine and Dope are not well received, but a lot of people dont seem to like MANiCURE and I cannot fathom why. Gaga has very rarely gone this fucking hard in a song. Gaga sounds like a rockstar here, and the chorus does not hold back. I said that Sexxx Dreams is an attempt at restraint (with respect to the rest of the album), meanwhile, MANiCURE says hell fucking no. The production, when you think it can’t go off anymore, just goes more and more and more. The bridge is fucking E T H E R E A L. Shouting “MAN CURE” is so fucking fun.
I don’t have much to say about the meaning of this song other than its so wholesome, saying “fuck men, let’s go have a girls night out and forget fucking MEN”.
Do What U Want
R. Kelly is still a pedophile. I will leave the ethics of streaming and scrobbling this song up to you guys, cause I don’t think there is a complete answer, as shown by my 90 scrobbles of this song.
This song is a gold star from ARTPOP otherwise. The production here is so fucking spot on. The, for lack of a better word, “wubs” sound so fucking good. I don’t have any words for it other than “so fucking good.” Gaga, as she started to enjoy doing around this time, flexes her vocal muscles brilliantly. The subtle growls places smartly throughout the verses create such a sultry atmosphere, accompanied by a build up to a hook that feels gargantuan but in reality is smooth.
Ignoring the fact that R Kelly is a pedophile(pe·do·phile /ˈpedəˌfīl/ noun 1. a person who is sexually attracted to children.), it is easy to see why he would fit if he was not someone who had sexual relations with children. His voice, much like the rest of this song, is smooth. I genuinely think he adds to this song. It’s a shame he illegally touches the underage youth.
Plus, the lyrics don’t come across as cringy outside the context of the era. They are smartly written, and cleverly thought out. “You can’t have my heart and you won’t use my mind but do what you want with my body” is big dick energy. THAT is the biggest dick. And it is really an important and strong point for her to make: she doesn’t care anymore what the media calls her (remember when Gaga was called fat after her superbowl performance?), because her mind is what is important, and ain’t nobody taking her brilliance.
ARTPOP
I want to get abducted and probed to this song. It sounds so distinctly * a l i e n*. In the beginning the song glides in and so elegantly fades into Gaga inquiring into the synthesis of ART and POP. This song is actually really nice after DWUW, as it retains a more minimal electronic sound, with mostly electronic beats and synths sometimes emphasized by strings. And, much like DWUW, the prechorus sounds like it could stand on its own as a chorus.
In fact, in many ways, this song sounds like a reaction or a sequel to DWUW. This is her mind and her heart. The chorus is the discovery of “yes, art and pop can come together, they can BELONG together, and they do belong together.”
One small thing I want to point out: possible the most beautiful moment on this album is her singing the artpops in the chorus. The: “artpop, artpop… artpahhaahop. It is BEAUTIFUL.
Swine
This song is shocking at first. This song layers the EDM on so heavily that it doesn’t even sound like a Lady Gaga song. The winding 20 second buildup to the drop sounds par the course for many generic rap songs and so if you leave now and hate this song, acceptable.
But this may be the most emotional song on the album, and i don’t mean sadness, and wallowing in one’s emotion. I mean rage, fury, and anger. Lady Gaga was raped at 19 when she was just starting out in the industry and this song is the outlet of the anger she felt at the hands of her assaulter. Gaga is literally calling out this dude as a pig: “You're just a pig inside a human body/Squealer, squealer, squeal out, you're so disgusting/You're just a pig inside.” This isn’t some metaphor, this is on the nose and straight up a roast.
A lot of the song is really dark when you think of the lyrics she’s singing during the production that yes sounds straight up “nasty.” “Paint her face and, paint his face and, be a swine just, for the weekend,” is somewhat horrifying in the context of this song, implying oral sex. This song is nasty through and through and is the result of her dehumanization at the result of her abuser. So she dehumanizes him back as a fucking pig. And it’s sad, but it is a cathartic release for Gaga. She said she’s still too scared to reveal his name. #FuckThatPig
Donatella After a brief stray into seriousness and maturity, let’s get back to the campiness that is a staple of ARTPOP. I’m gonna do what I did with Venus and just highlight some of the camp here:
-
I am so fab/ Check out I’m blonde, I’m skinny, I’m rich, and I’m a little bit of a bitch
-
Tailor these clothes to fit your guilt/ What’s your size?
And literally the whole second verse:
Walk down the runway, but don’t puke/ It’s okay/ You just had a salad today/ Boulangerie/ Just ask your gay friends their advice/ Before you / Get a spray tan on holiday/ In Taipei Okay then. This song is so quirky in its structure. It does what several songs on this album do and have the fun little intro (the one written above). Then, the structure goes: melodically weird verse -> somewhat normal prechorus -> melodically fucking wild and banging chorus -> melodic relief in a straight up normal banging postchorus. One of the reasons I love ARTPOP so much is Gaga’s refusal to use a single verse and single chorus in her structure, but rather sprinkle it with a bunch of shorter and unique verses and choruses. It sounds like it’s always developing into something new and keeps you hooked, and this song is a perfect example of the constantly morphing nature of this album.
Fashion!
Did anyone else listen for this song for the first time and go “aw a standard ballad” when you heard the piano and then get absolutely scalped when you heard the bass come in and Gaga telling us she’s looking good and feeling fine? I did.
Then it turned into my third favorite song on the album. It is even more camp than Donatella, but it oozes style. I love the feeling that Gaga is giving me advice in the semi-spoken verses. And another one of those moments from the albums when i get chills every time: “I ooown the world, we oooown the world!” The all the electronica drips in in the chorus and I feel like I should be on the catwalk and I feel like I do own the world.
Will.I.Am. then escorts us out of the song with some Fabulous French and the campiness of the album peaks. It will come back, no doubt, but never will anything fill more fulfilling than will.i.am. Singing french to me on ARTPOP.
Mary Jane Holland
An ode to marijuana, and a juxtaposition next to Dope, which is about the pains of a marijuana addiction. Mary Jane Holland is actually a gasp alter ego that Gaga claims comes out when she is under the influence of the marijuanas. The song, however, feels oddly at odds with itself. It both sounds like a confident feminist anthem (“Lady of the ‘Dam won’t be a slave to the blonde and the culture of the popular”) and also a tragic addiction (“Cause I love you better than my darkest sin”/ “I think that I could be fine if I could be Mary Jane Holland tonight”). I think it can be both, however. It displays a dependence, but at the same time the song feels… euphoric? Gaga also gives a quick little shout-out to psilocybin truffles. Is Gaga ADVOCATING drug use??? WhaaA?????
Dope
Oof. A disliked song, but a powerful one nonetheless. I think the weakest part of the song is that it isn’t very personal. Based solely on the lyrics themselves, Gaga’s persona doesn’t fully shine through. But this song is a drug-confessional to her fans. Imagine Long Live by Taylor, if Long Live was sparked by a depressive episode and derailment of Taylor’s whole career, and if she had a chronic disease, and was generally fucked up. Yea, that.
This reminds me of Gaga’s promise to her fans, except instead of saving the era, she promises to save herself. Which honestly makes this song so hard to listen to as a Gaga fan. People repeatedly point out Gaga’s weird diction in the song, and while i totally understand the distaste towards it, it represents her pain and it sound like she’s in the comedown from a drug. It’s not pretty, but its raw and a significant track in Gaga’s career, and it also peaked higher than Formation.
Gypsy
Gypsy is like Dope but instead of being a morbid drug-based confessional, its generally happy and cheerful and just an ode to her fans. So, imagine Long Live by Taylor. I love this song so much. I love it so so so so so so much. Being a touring popstar is hard, where you are constantly away from home and its hard to have a family or a lovelife. But Gaga promises here than she can do it and she will do it, she won’t be held down, and she will travel the fucking world for her fans and she will LOVE IT.
Honestly, this song is a better closer than Applause. Yes technically Applause always comes at the end of a performance, but Gypsy is fantastic as an ode to her fans and her travelling life, rather than Applause which is an ode to… herself. The burst of speed at the end when she lists all the places she has been, and also hilariously throws in “someday in Jakarta” where she got kicked out because she was a devil or Judas or something. It’s upbeat and happy and feels like a journey complete.
Applause
But goddamn I love Applause either way. Applause is intense and relatively clean in comparison to the rest of the album. The synths feel powerful and crazy, but they also feel well put together. Compared to the rest of the album, the structure is relatively simple and she kinda skimped out on a bridge entirely (unless you count a fade in and fade out). This song was the highest rated on ARTPOP in my rate, which is fair, but it feels the least creative.
Its camp and meta, but is it too meta? It feels too early in her career to go meta and make a song about her success and career. It bangs fucking hard and there is no forgetting that at ALL. It is a superbly put together piece that I wish had a more enticing theme. Just last era Gaga made an acceptance anthem for everyone as her lead single, and here its just a song about how she can’t live without crowd’s cheering her.
It may appear as though I’m being very critical of Applause and that’s because I am. It is one of my least favorites from ARTPOP (still a 10 tho) and if the whole album was like this song, I don’t think I’d like it. But ARTPOP is so much more than some ego-inflated meta bangerfest. It does so much, says so much, and has so many different sounds that it’s a shame some resort to claiming this album has “filler.” ARTPOP is vast and exciting and ugh i came seventeen times writing this because maybe ARTPOP isn’t the most technically impressive album of all time but goddamn if it isn’t an album brimming with character. It took balls for Gaga to go “weird” so early in her career and sadly it didn’t pay off commercially, but it did pay off in being my favorite album ever, which I’m SURE Interscope gives two shits about.
ARTPOP: Revisited
ARTPOP very ironically became a pop culture staple due to its infamy and how much it “flopped”. When people think of poorly ran eras and high-profile commercial failure (more or less), you think of ARTPOP. Under this cascade of problems and issues with the era, however, I think ARTPOP is a fantastic album tainted by its reputation (Taylor is shaking) and legacy. I implore you guys that haven’t heard it or only have heard the singles to give it a chance. It is far from perfect, but that isn’t what it is striving to be. It’s a weird messy conglomerate of EDM that is goddamn stylish and bangerific and I will accept nothing less than absolute praise of this album.
ARTPOP
Videos
Do What U Want Scrapped Video Snippets
Notable Live Performances
ARTPOP Live On The Tonight Show
Do What U Want Live AMAs ft. R.Kelly
So guys, what do you think? Has your opinion on ARTPOP changed over 5 years? Is ARTPOP a flop? What went wrong? Could the era have been massive if handled successfully, or was the idea doomed from the start? Lemme know whatchu think bbies ily.
/rantover
Submitted November 05, 2018 at 12:36AM by Therokinrolla https://ift.tt/2OmuMjH
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