Gaga wanted a toned down era

[ARTPOPheartstop 514]

I'm just gonna tell some of my random thoughts.

My first is that Gaga did this whole Joanne toned down era bc people get bored if you always have shock value.  

And 2nd thought is that maybe Joanne era could have lasted longer if there wasn't a pressure on her to be more Gaga, to be a real popstar, to be old Gaga ...

- sorry if I had writing mistakes bc english is not my first language -

[funkyhaus 7,697]

She had a toned down era with C2C though, I think her breakup with Taylor was hard for her and she turned to her family and Joanne was an easier album to release a personal album, instead of an album full of bops when she was hurting inside 

[pdaines 209]

I agree. People are sick of her not having shock value and radio friendly singles. Now, she's free to go back to where ARTPOP left off and angle towards 500k+ album sales next time & break some streaming records. 

[ARTPOPheartstop 514]

5 minutes ago, funkyhaus said:

She had a toned down era with C2C though, I think her breakup with Taylor was hard for her and she turned to her family and Joanne was an easier album to release a personal album, instead of an album full of bops when she was hurting inside 

Yeah, but also she and whole world  still wasn't ready for her to be shocking popstar like she was before. I think that now it's right time 

[juju 18,907]

I agree with the fact that Gaga wanted to truly strip down her image; at the beginning of ARTPOP, there was the whole "me beneath the wigs and makeup" performance art piece, at Swinefest and then during the ArtRave. But ultimately, ARTPOP was still a really lavish era. I feel like, this time around, Gaga wanted to connect more with the music of her childhood, that Americana sound, something more (on the surface, at least) organic. It was really effective and made for a great album; she's more of a rock star than just a regular pop girl, whether she's singing synthpop or metal alongside Metallica. 

[nattuggla 21,667]

Gaga wanted to create an album primarily for her family, friends and especially for herself. She had songs about her dead aunt and about her friend with cancer. These kind of serious topics are the best to wrap it up with an authentic and organic sound, hence the era was stripped down. It was not primarily made to please the GP or to gain charts success but to make people aware of her other, vulnerable side....

[Sneaky Oliver 20,081]

Yeah I agree with the "less shocking" thing but we can't ignore her breakup and the stress she was going thru... I think it may have caused the change of sound and imagery.... If Beyonce, Adele or Rihanna can have a breakup album, Gaga can do that too! She even gave us bops like Ayo and DIC in between haha 

+ I don't see Joanne as a breakup album, it's just one of the subjects!

[Monsterish 5,520]

37 minutes ago, funkyhaus said:

She had a toned down era with C2C though, I think her breakup with Taylor was hard for her and she turned to her family and Joanne was an easier album to release a personal album, instead of an album full of bops when she was hurting inside 

I didn't really notice this point of view before 

[Panchecco 17,140]

yes, she probably would have "stayed Joanne" for a bit longer if her fans supported her as much as they used to for her previous albums but I also think that Gaga, as an artist, can't physically and mentally "stay" in the same genre for a long period of time (in fact every album and every Era has it's own specific vibe and sound even though it's all mainly pop music) so maybe she actually decided to have a "toned down" moment because she needed to

she probably felt like "transforming" into her softer "more Stefani - less Gaga" self. She needed to step back a little and explore new sounds, new aesthetics and new people (she mainly worked with new people on Joanne) because she probably felt it was the right move (both spiritually and commercially) and I agree with her tbh

Joanne was so fresh and new and unexpected that it was still able to have that "shock value" that has made Gaga very popular for the last decade, it just was another type of shock: for us fans the shock of seeing her being "toned down" and less over the top and for the world the shock of seeing her raw talent and beauty without the "help" of her other self "Gaga"

I actually think that the "Joanne moment" not only helped her step back a little from the popularity and fame (that at this point had reached an almost absurd level) but it also helped prepare for ASIB, and maybe Joanne (the album) was always intended to be a sort of quick little journey around country... who knows 

 

[GagaXCupcakke 3,818]

47 minutes ago, funkyhaus said:

She had a toned down era with C2C though, I think her breakup with Taylor was hard for her and she turned to her family and Joanne was an easier album to release a personal album, instead of an album full of bops when she was hurting inside 

Was C2C toned down? Maybe musically, but she wore many extravagant outfits during the C2C era, not toned down at all compared to Joanne. 

[Zilla 13,343]

She wants to build a long, successful career and not burn out on hits. Working on longevity which can be really hard in some cases 

[FentyGa 14,340]

17 minutes ago, Lil Mxnster said:

I didn't really notice this point of view before 

[BloodyJudas 2,758]

1 hour ago, ARTPOPheartstop said:

LfI'm just gonna tell some of my random thoughts.

My first is that Gaga did this whole Joanne toned down era bc people get bored if you always have shock value.  

And 2nd thought is that maybe Joanne era could have lasted longer if there wasn't a pressure on her to be more Gaga, to be a real popstar, to be old Gaga ...

- sorry if I had writing mistakes bc english is not my first language -

Your English is very good And one doesn't have to be a native speaker to speak good English (in this instance). I know some native speakers of a particular language that speak their mother tongue worse than some educated people who had to learn the language from scratch 

And coming back to your post, I just have one thing to say- The Joanne era  would have been much better and lasted longer if she'd not released "PI" as the lead single. This could've either been "A-Yo", "DIC" or "MR". I wouldn't mind "The Cure" having been released back then. People expected her to come back with a smash , yet the chart performance of PI fell flat and left a lot to be desired. She redeeemed herself though by nailing the SB and other side projects. She has achieved what she's striven for with Joanne- she wanted to tone her style a bit in order to conquer the world once again with her undeniable charisma and stage presence. She knows what she's doing and she is back in the game. She just needs to promote her brand in streaming services to chart higher and have a wider audience and she will be more than fine 

[Alfonso 1,202]

Couldn't agree more with this 

And I still think that Joanne is a really great album, even if some sople don't like it 

[PropaGaga 2,948]

I agree. She told Billboard back in 2015 that she felt her image was threatening her career, and that she and Bobby sat down and discussed the need for a change. She was always going to strip it back at some point; Every artist from Bowie, to Prince, to Madonna, does. ARTPOP sort of hinted in this direction to this as well, as @juju mentioned. She really pushed everything to its limit (her sound and visuals) with that album. I think that's why she kept referring to it as a greatest hits and celebration of her career because that chapter was done. 2014-2016 was a much needed palette cleanser from 2008-2013.

As a side note, and this isn't directed at anyone, just general behavior I've witnessed - I don't feel like this recent switch up with "The Cure" is a reaction to the perceived underperformance of the album or how the fans felt about it. She clearly loves Joanne as much as the others, and even said while promoting "Perfect Illusion" that she wouldn't stay stripped down very long. She wanted people to listen to the music for once instead of seeing this "fashion robot" as she called it. "Million Reasons" as well as the album connecting to the public has proven that she can still be successful without distracting people with looks. I think she's just following her muse and is currently striking a good balance between Joanne and classic Gaga.