Gaga confuses people

[giskardsb 12,565]

This is no surprise, I mean, she confuses her fans often enough.  I find a common thread in many of the reviews is that reviewers really don't know what box to put her in.  It was easier when she was definitely dance pop with a tendency to meld in other genres.  At least then they were able to easily look at her though a pop lens and make their judgements that way.  However, with Joanne its much more a case of taking other genres and fusing pop into them.  Some of the songs are near "genre-less" and very hard to pin down.   I think this is where some of the claims of being "in-authentic" come in.  What happens is that reviewers feel a need to place songs into a genre, so they decide for example that a song is "country" even though it's strongly pop or has non-country elements.  So then they decide to judge based on how they would judge a song designed to be country, and basically end up calling Gaga out for not going ALL THE WAY to the genre, essentially, or questioning her motivations for leaning to genres outside her established lane.

To me however one of the most exciting aspects of being a Gaga fan is that she is so free with genre, intermingling and playing as she see's fit.  I never thought LG5 would turn into something like Joanne.  I had plenty of thoughts of what it might be, but absolutely none of those matched the final result.  And to me that makes Joanne very exciting and fresh.  Literally no other pop star would have come out with this album, and rather than being "less Gaga" because it's not heavily electronic, I personally think this is the most truly Gaga album we've gotten yet.  

Critics like artists to stay in well defined lanes however.  Gaga was a dark electronic pop queen.   So even though Joanne is closer to what she made pre-Gaga, many think she is not being authentic.  Or, since they can't pin down the album or some songs into specific genres, they can't figure out how to "grade" the results because they don't have a reference.   So they use the same old references they always do and don't allow for Gaga to be, well, Gaga.

Gaga has been saying she doesn't think in "genre", and I think  in Joanne that shows more than any other of her efforts.  her approach may not be good business or good marketing, and she may have confused people about her "brand", but she really doesn't think like that.  Gaga's brand is simple - artist.  She will do as she does do, and many people just can't deal with things that they can't easily figure out.

 

[Klonoa 2,194]

[Memento 842]

genrefluid queen

[Killa 14,407]

I think you got lost in there. I don't think that's why she confuses people, but she does. People don't get her, mostly because she's not accessible, even when she is. You always have to dig to get Gaga. There are many layers to her complex. She is a very interesting artist

Oh and more, she does many accents, different tones, she from the outside, lacks a voice of her own, a vocal identity. It's more that than the genre. It's that she seems to not have a style of her own and goes fetishing being other people and like how some artist would sing a different song etc.

[PunkTheFunk 121,505]

Not even we can keep up with her  One day she's being vomited on and the next she's singing "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" to senior citizens.

[Chic 20,830]

4 minutes ago, Chloroform said:

genrefluid queen

She identifies as Joannekin

[Lord Temptation 11,209]

She likes to play with borders and boundaries. Not necessarily push them, but just make people think about what those boundaries mean to them.

[DeanWinchester 41,390]

Im gonna stop at the first few sentences when you said "what box to put her in" because that's the problem. She should not be in a box no matter what unless that is for a performance 

[Cerny 4,095]

Some of you guys think Gaga is some kind of revolutionary genius, when she really isn't. Her image, concepts and ideas don't match her work. That's why some reviews are negative, some people expect better from her. I'm not saying that Joanne is a bad album, I personally like it, but some reviewers think it's not as good as they would expect based on her early work.  It's not that they don't get her, ha!.

Basically, her name and image is bigger than her work.

[DeanWinchester 41,390]

7 minutes ago, Cerny said:

Some of you guys think Gaga is some kind of revolutionary genius, when she really isn't. Her image, concepts and ideas don't match her work. That's why some reviews are negative, some people expect better from her. I'm not saying that Joanne is a bad album, I personally like it, but some reviewers think it's not as good as they would expect based on her early work.  It's not that they don't get her, ha!.

Basically, her name and image is bigger than her work.

But the question becomes, are they basing it in terms of lyricism, production, themes (all valid) or by genre (questionable call)? 

[Benji 20,113]

I would agree if it was the truth, because I wish it was.

We can't pretend her (solo) discography isn't anything but pop and that's what group she will be judged in, harshly. She's a little experimental in her general sound but only in the way of taking a bit of a leap of faith with a sound on a pop record, but never truly committing to do something full blown out the water. ARTPOP is a good (Well, bad) example of this where you can take a few reference and play a little bit with a song but it's still very much a pop song, just dressed a little differently, like a lot of her songs. 

Joanne is the same, she's created a pop album but used some country/rock influences on it this time instead of using some EDM or Euro-dance or glam-rock influences. This is why people expect her to smash out another Poker Face or Bad Romance and until she does, she will be labelled as a failure as long as she remains making pop music.

Now, I love Joanne and it could be my favourite Gaga album but my opinion isn't any more important to the general world than any other critic's. I don't know why we're so hooked up on what reviews an album gets, you enjoy it or you don't.

If Gaga took off the more obvious pop songs (A-YO, John Wayne, Dancing in Circles and Sinner's Prayer) it would probably be judged completely differently but then it wouldn't be a Gaga album without her staple sound. It's a tough one but we just have to accept that she will be judged as a pop girl as long as she makes pop music.

[Cerny 4,095]

Just now, A Gaga Lad said:

But the question becomes, are they basing it in terms of lyricism, production, themes (all valid) or by genre (questionable call)? 

I think they consider pretty much everything, not sure though. Every reviewer think different and focus on different aspects.

Are there reviews where they say the score is low because of certain genre?, I haven't read them all.

[Versace 7,409]

"I never thought LG5 would turn into something like Joanne.  I had plenty of thoughts of what it might be, but absolutely none of those matched the final result.  And to me that makes Joanne very exciting and fresh.  Literally no other pop star would have come out with this album, and rather than being "less Gaga" because it's not heavily electronic, I personally think this is the most truly Gaga album we've gotten yet."

For me it's the opposite, Joanne is exactly what I thought LG5 was gonna be ever since Cheek to Cheek started rolling in. I felt in the past, she tried to make her albums seem like something more or something outside the box. Basically Born This Way was nothing advanced, it's a pop album with 70's and 80's influences executed in a unique and interesting manner, thats it, not album of the decade. With ARTPOP, literally it's just a Pop album with electronic beats, her whole philosophy around it, did not show anywhere, perhaps maybe on the title track, cause everyone was thrown off by that psychedelic tune. This is why fans and critics alike get confused, she sets the bar too high for her albums and the claims are then not in the music. Basically her artistry and passion were outrunning the music itself but now that Joanne is out, you can feel that Joanne is the embodiment of that passion and artistic philosophy she's been all about. Her claims about Joanne match the music, heck this time the music speaks for itself and is even louder than her claims. So the critics have no valid reason to be confused, this is her simplest album and the easiest to swallow. An album about appreciating family, one's life and healing from the past matched with pop tunes saturated in country/rock/folk/soul vibes (Diversity *cough, cough*), it's a feel good album at its core. Are all her albums really good yes. I believe TF and TFM have pushed the envelope of pop music, BTW and ARTPOP set the bar too high for themselves but both are amazing albums none the less, Joanne will be her first effort to speak for itself, instead of Gaga having to come off as a Music and Art teacher. There's no need to innovate this time but rather educate <3

[DeanWinchester 41,390]

7 minutes ago, Cerny said:

I think they consider pretty much everything, not sure though. Every reviewer think different and focus on different aspects.

Are there reviews where they say the score is low because of certain genre?, I haven't read them all.

Some reviews drag her for not putting out dance hits basically 

I mean if they're comparing JOANNE with The Fame/Monster for the smart use of lyrics or the lack thereof, that's fine. But if they are going to judge JOANNE through the lems of EDM/synthpop then that is not fair 

[donutellha 13,819]

41 minutes ago, Chloroform said:

genrefluid queen

am triggered and offended by your statement as a bipopxual