Maybe ARTPOP deserved its "underperformance"

[OBEY 57,109]

Hey guys!

After listening to The Fame, The Fame Monster, Born This Way THEN ARTPOP, it just striked me : ARTPOP is not as good as i thought it was before, and listening to Gaga's old albums made me see this...

I hear some people say that with the right promotion, ARTPOP would have 3 or 4 top 10s, even one or two number 1 songs (i agree that with the video, DWUW could have been a top 10 hit). But i feel like if the music was good enough, the album would have done better on its own. Yes, promotion is needed at the beginning, but if the songs on ARTPOP would have been better, maybe it would have catch the public's eye on its own.

I don't want to "drag" the album or Gaga, i just want to tell my opinion and you can comment on the thread if you want to to say if you agree or not ! I almost listen to ARTPOP everyday, it's an album i still enjoy.

It is a good album, superior than a lot of other current popstar album. BUT for Gaga standards, it kind of feels like a let down after she delivered with The Fame Monster and brang her career/sound to the another level with Born This Way.

1. The production/EDM

The production doesn't bother me on much of the songs, but compared to an album like The Fame Monster, the overall production sounds dated. Donatella, for example, would seem like a song that has been out in 2008. The instrumentals (except for some songs) are not as fresh as the ones from her other albums. DWUW and Applause are fresh, in my opinion. But songs like Fashion!, Donatella... not so much. Some pre-made beats also got used for the album and maybe that's why i think some of it sounds dated? Maybe it clouds my overall judgement.

As for the EDM, i think most fans agree that this is not the way they want Gaga to go. I think, more people want great but catchy pop classics ala Paparazzi/Monster and/or more stripped down stuff ala The Edge Of Glory/Speechless. It felt like Gaga was really "apart" from all the others in 2013, her music not sounding much like what was on the radio at that time, which is not a bad thing at all. The thing is, it didn't catch on, because i think most people moved on from EDM, like me. Its not as popular as it was before, except in clubs.

2. The lyrics/catchyness

Aura, Sexxx Dreams, G.U.Y., DWUW, Applause : they're all bops for me. BUT, in overall catchiness, they're missing the touch some songs had on The Fame, The Fame Monster and even on Born This Way. Where are the iconics "Gaga" in the songs? Personally, i loved these so much! Nothing makes the songs really stand out. Bad Romance has its "rah-rah/walk walk fashion baby", paparazzi had its "papa-paparazzi", judas had its "Judas! Judaas Judas! Judaas GAGA". ARTPOP misses some of those great/catchy/iconic phrases imo, except for "I live for the applause" and "Do what u want, what u want with my body", and the "imma imma a gypsy gypsy i"

We can't really relate to the songs. Born This Way had a lot of songs about self acceptance, The Fame Monsters about fears and so on. ARTPOP has some personal Gaga songs, but the only one who can relate to most of them is Gaga herself. Maybe people are fine with that, and i bop to Venus i agree, but i think i would have a deeper connection with the songs if they were more relatable.

Gaga said ARTPOP was made for radio, but really, was it? I like Swine, but do you really see US radio stations spinning that song? Sexxx Dreams, i would have love for it to be a single, but too s-xual lyrics would have made the song sound horrible on the radio. As for Aura? it's chorus is heaven, but the verses are were not really made for radio.

3. The performances

We all know Gaga had some issues with her management at that time, so maybe that's why her performances weren't as enjoyable as the ones from her previous eras. VMA Applause performance got scrapped, i think stuff happened too when she performed DWUW/Venus on X Factor, the DWUW performance on SNL wasn't her best. However, we had amazing performances ala DWUW White house style, DWUW on alan carr, Itunes Festival and so on.

But, when we watch her other era performances, there's something missing. I don't want her to have another Paparazzi VMA performance. But i mean i remember each of her performances being an event, and i feel like the performances we had were not as high as the ones she had before. And we all know she can only improve on that since she's one of her generations' greatest performer/singer. HOWEVER, i get that if she was feeling sad about the whole interscope management thing, its normal she didnt had as much passion and evergy for her performances.

I KNOW it is normal for a musician to have "less good" albums than others and it all comes down to the person who listens to it also.

Overall, i still like ARTPOP. However, maybe it did deserve its "underperformance". I think that The Fame Monster and Born This Way are superior albums, so why should ARTPOP have performed as good or even better than these two albums if it's simply not as good? 

[Serendipity 7,821]

The original ARTPOP was the best

 

The current version we have has gone through numerous changes that have flawed it

The swinefest versions>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Demos>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Some older songs that got taken off>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Raikou 1,169]

ARTPOP is my favourite album.

[Guest]

ARTPOP is her second best album after Born This Way. BTW > AP > TFM > TF 

[Serendipity 7,821]

ARTPOP is her second best album after Born This Way. BTW > AP > TFM > TF 

​I would've preferred the Swinefest versions

Aura demo>>>>>>>>>

ARTPOP had the hee-hees

Sex Dreams (no xxx) fest version>>>>>>>>>>

MC fest version>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

nearly all before the changes she did

 

And most important

I Wanna be With You>>>>>>>>>>>>Dope

[Anderson123 38,176]

Well, ever since we got the album, I was always feeling like it didn't meet my expectations, like The Fame Monster and Born This Way when they were released. I saw a lot of people praise ARTPOP on this forum and I just felt out of place because I wasn't THAT excited. I mean, the album is good, is better than many other pop albums that have been released in these last 5 years, but what you said, to Gaga's standard, it was a little "off".

I guess her management made her change so many things about the album because I was disappointed that we didn't get Temple, Brooklyn Nights, Tinnitus, Ratchet, so many other things that were promised back then, and I'm okay with it because I know for sure that Gaga wanted to have a perfect album, but maybe they didn't let her release it so they had to change a couple of things. Anyway, ARTPOP is good for what it is, I still listen to it but it's just not my favorite Gaga album, it never was, and the fact that it wasn't an album as sucessful as Taylor Swift's, I still see it the way I did when it was released, unlike SO many other people who praised this album as her best, then so many things happened and they started to hate it only because it didn't sell 5m copies in the first week.

[Fiona Apple 13,006]

Well it's a very good album but the songs don't have that BIG HIT sound that her early music had

[mariomania1234 11,368]

If any of her contemporaries released this it would have gotten lauded. The underperformance was a complete mismanagement issue IMO.

[Lassex 1,169]

Didn't read the whole text BUT I think ARTPOP sold as much as it deserved, but the hate and calling it a flop is completely unfair - Gaga put so much effort to it and had very rough times during the process.

[Azor Ahai 18,861]

it's 2014 all over again  

I feel like once a month GGD gets its ARTPOP period and people start complaining about it

No shade intended  

 

P.S. ARTPOP is de best 

[Head Empty 25,060]

It deserved to be treated with more respect - both by Gaga's team as well as by the public/her fans. 

It may not have lived up to everyone's standards in terms of sales, but who cares? It's an album, not a company. Music is meant to be enjoyed. If you enjoy it, great! If you don't, move on to something else and don't rain on Gaga's parade.

So it didn't "deserve" to underperform. But it didn't "deserve" to perform well either. Songs and creativity are not meant to be assessed for financial value. It's just music, and the only thing it deserves is to be enjoyed for what it is - a great and interesting Gaga album that was made with a lot of passion.

[Serendipity 7,821]

Well it's a very good album but the songs don't have that BIG HIT sound that her early music had

​DWUW was the smash that could've brought her Record of the Year if it was handled well

If any if her contemporaries released this it would have gotten lauded. 

​If others released it, they would've gotten 4#1s off it

[warhol killah 8,662]

The original ARTPOP concept was way better than what her label did to the current concept. I still love ARTPOP tho, but I get your points.

[AM98GJ 3,086]

No ARTPOP is amazing 

 

bad promo 

[lxdygxga 3,353]

I don't think there's anything wrong with it at all. As Mariomania1234 said, if anyone else had released it, it would have probably been a critical success - but Gaga was the one to get, figuratively. After such a huge peak, she was fair game. The mismanagement was a big problem, but the music never was.

I think it's a great album, and very personal (and relatable at times). It's not necessarily her best musically speaking (but is on par with the other three), and is my favorite Gaga album.