Lady Gaga’s new album ARTPOP has been – without any doubt – one of the most anticipated albums this year. That is why we want to take a closer look at her latest musical effort and see if she was able to deliver a better album than her rather underwhelming Born This Way (note: this doesn’t mean the album was complete trash or commercially fully unsuccessful).
Stefani Germanotta, better known as Lady Gaga, decided to premiere seven songs at the iTunes Festival in London weeks prior the release of ARTPOP. Was this a good idea?
‘Why not?’ you would ask. Opening the iTunes Festival with a superb performance would catch enough attention to create more buzz for the album release. It did. In fact, she did blow me away with songs like “Jewels & Drugs”, “Sex Dreams” or “Swine”. In Germany she later debuted “Gypsy”, the UK experience “Venus” for the first time.
Excluding early leaks or demos, fans already knew 11 songs from the album before its actual release. Hence, most people spent time trying to find out what changes Gaga made for the album. And let’s be real here: Most people were not too happy about the alternations which is totally understandable as they have been listening to live versions and got used to them. I will go into details later.
So what’s ARTPOP? “My artpop could mean anything” Gaga sings in the title track. And it’s probably the only right answer for this question. If we take Gaga’s perspective though it’s evident what she means. Looking back to her first album The Fame one could easily say the album was made for pop radio spins and breaking through, which worked out perfectly. Born This Way however had not that much appeal to the greater public but was rather important to the songstress herself. Producer RedOne, for example, called the album “freedom album”.
So ARTPOP is the attempt to basically merge The Fame aka the pop part with Born This Way aka the art part.
The album starts with a song called “Aura” in which Gaga asks if the (cosmic) lover wants to look behind the mask she wears. Germanotta was able to create a mysterious figure with Lady Gaga and no one really knows the real girl behind the aura.
In “Venus”, produced by Gaga herself, she calls for the goddess of love and draws clearly the line to lesbian sex. The cosmic theme continues in “GUY (Girl Under You)” but this time she plays with the traditional gender roles. I am still figuring out why Gaga counts in German at the end of the song but I guess that’s what makes her mysterious and unpredictable, which leads us back to “Aura”.
“Heard your boyfriend was away this weekend, wanna meet at my place?” Gaga asks in “Sexxx Dreams”, an 80s influenced song. It’s another song about homoeroticism and one in which it is striking that she has added ad libs in the chorus and changed the last verse. Although I prefer the iTunes festival version, “Sexxx Dreams” is still a brilliant song and one of the best Lady Gaga has ever made. Too bad we probably will not get to see it as a single because of the lyrics.
I had high hopes for “Jewels N Drugs” as I am a hip hop lover and having T.I., Twista and Too $hort on a Gaga track is simply fantastic. Theoretically. At the iTunes festival it felt like a bomb was dropped and the trap elements made the song interesting. Honestly though, the song on the album is not as impressive and I often skip Gaga’s call for love.
“MANiCURE” is a fun word play (look at the stylization) and talks about her wish to get cured by a man or cured from the attraction she feels towards a certain guy. “Do What U Want” featuring R. Kelly serves as the second single and addresses not primarily an invitation to sex as “do what you want with my body” would usually refer to but to the media using her to create provocative headlines.
The most aggressive track on the album is “Swine”, a song in which Gaga shoots insults at a certain person with perverted characteristics. A very personal song dealing with a darker time Gaga experienced.
After the not so fun “Swine”, Mama Monster goes to another important theme for her: Fashion. While Jay-Z and R. Kelly honor Tom Ford , Gaga dedicates Donatella Versace an entire song. The song mainly talks about a woman who is not wholeheartedly accepted the way she is. Playful lines like “Walk down the runway but don’t puke (it’s okay) / You just had a salad today, boulangerie” upgrade the song to one of the highlights. Right after “Donatella” Gaga placed “Fashion!” and celebrates wearing any stuff and not caring about what others think.
“Mary Jane Holland” turned out to be one of the very surprises on this album. As it was not previously known, I had no expectations and was not sure who Mary Jane Holland really was. Mary Jane is a reference to marijuana and it’s no secret that Gaga has often consumed drugs. Also, Amsterdam is the place to be to smoke some pot, so Holland makes sense. It is also public that Gaga numbed the pain when she suffered a hip injury and on stage she was not Lady Gaga anymore but rather an alternative ego called Mary Jane Holland.
“Dope” is really a problem to me. Not dope as in drugs, just to be clear. “Dope”” was initially premiered as “I Wanna Be With You” on the iTunes festival but the lyrics on “Dope” are totally different and she sounds more raw singing the song. It’s the only ballad on the album and I honestly think the song doesn’t fit the album at all.
Contrary to “Dope”, “Gypsy” is a highlight and possible single choice. It deals with Gaga’s lifestyle as a pop star traveling the world. Although she has never really the time to stay in New York City where she rents an apartment, she somewhat feels home all over the world because she also meets her fans everywhere. The only problem she has with this way of life is not having her boyfriend with her all the time and doesn’t like the loneliness, but for a night it will be alright.
The last song on ARTPOP is the first single “Applause”, a homage to her fans stating that she lives for them. In comparison to the other songs on the album it is definitely not the strongest one but alright to dance to.
Summing it up, ARTPOP is a great album with interesting lyrics and great beats. It cannot reach the quality of The Fame Monster, which is in my humble opinion Lady Gaga’s strongest effort so far, mainly because a few songs like “Jewels N Drugs” had a good basic idea but could not transform into an amazing song. That means there is still potential Lady Gaga can fill out in her next album. But until this happens enjoy the work of the most controversial person in pop music and check out the official ARTPOP app which connects monsters all over the world.
