ARTPOP was really THAT bad?

[deeman 189]

36 minutes ago, Medoner Cortez said:

9 hours ago, Ronk said:

6 minutes ago, J U D A S said:

I have to admit, it was. I can't even listen the album except applause and DWUW. Not just the songs but the whole cencept of the album is bad. ( and this comes from #1 edm fan )

But I have high hopes for the next one. I belive in her.

 

 

Shut up and drink your tea.

[AmenTheNight 1,084]

A bunch of good yet unrelated pop songs put together don't make a good album, that's it. ARTPOP goes everywhere and in the end it goes nowhere.

I will always believe there were two themes for this album, and she/her management never managed to decide which one to chose. In the end they mashed them together, and it ended being not cohesive at all :

* A mythological album : Aura, Venus, GUY, Sexxx Dreams, Applause, Gypsy, Do What U Want, ARTPOP
* A rave/fashion party album : Jewels N Drugs, MANiCURE, Swine, Donatella, Fashion!, MJH, Dope

And then they used the whole "EDM Artpiece concept" as an excuse to tie these two together.

[Whis 2,920]

ARTPOP slays lives

[deeman 189]

28 minutes ago, AmenTheNight said:

ARTPOP goes everywhere and in the end it goes nowhere.

nowhere =  now here. ARTPOP goes everywhere? two albums? No utter nonsense they are all the same album and go together just fine. MANiCURE is after guy in the film it is so not a different theme it is practically the same song as guy.

[Tyler 109]

I don't care about sales. I never have.

ARTPOP just didn't appeal to me as an album. It felt somewhat soulless and inauthentic; like she was pandering to the demands of her fanbase. It has some great tracks (ARTPOP, Applause, Sexxx Dreams, Venus, Fashion!) but as a whole it paled in comparison to Born This Way (my favourite Gaga album) and The Fame Monster. I do think it's a much better album than The Fame, though, so I'll give it that.

I was glad when the era was over, I much preferred following her through Cheek To Cheek. You could just tell how much happier she was to be doing what she was doing; she actually enjoyed Cheek To Cheek and was getting to do what she wanted. As much as she defends the record now to save face, I'm fairly certain the direction of ARTPOP was more than slightly influenced by the management and her collaborators, which is why she ended up cutting so many ties.

I'm excited to see what she brings to the table with LG5. I feel she's in a good place and will deliver something authentic that I can engage with. 

[deeman 189]

6 minutes ago, Tyler said:

As much as she defends the record now to save face, I'm fairly certain the direction of ARTPOP was more than slightly influenced by the management and her collaborators, which is why she ended up cutting so many ties.

Don't really know. I mean surely this would have been the case with earlier albums if it was the case with ARTPOP. You can't really have it both ways. Which ties did Gaga cut due to ARTPOP?

[Alcina Dimitrescu 1,156]

19 hours ago, Lucifer said:

Sis, it's ****ing 2016.

And still no new Gaga album so let him be

 

[Tyler 109]

Just now, deeman said:

Don't really know. I mean surely this would have been the case with earlier albums if it was the case with ARTPOP. You can't really have it both ways. Which ties did Gaga cut due to ARTPOP?

I honestly wouldn't even try and give specifics, aside from the obvious loss of her manager. I never really paid much attention to the smaller details during the ARTPOP era, since I wasn't a fan of the music, performances and fashion I was seeing. So perhaps that doesn't qualify me to make such statements: I just seem to remember her talking a lot about being betrayed and people turning their backs on her. 

That was but a side-point, anyway. At the heart of it, I just didn't like ARTPOP as a record and felt the era lacked the cohesion of her previous work. The visuals were also sub-standard compared to what she's done before; it felt a little confused, since this was supposed to be her most 'high brow' album and yet everything came across as a little tacky.

[deeman 189]

1 minute ago, Tyler said:

 

That was but a side-point, anyway. At the heart of it, I just didn't like ARTPOP as a record and felt the era lacked the cohesion of her previous work. The visuals were also sub-standard compared to what she's done before; it felt a little confused, since this was supposed to be her most 'high brow' album and yet everything came across as a little tacky.

Can you give an example of the visuals you preferred so I can better understand your point?

[Born To Slay 10,996]

13 hours ago, Ronk said:

Yes, and the lack of promotion hurt it badly.  I was at Walmart on release day of ARTPOP.  It was not on the shelf and the staff in the music department never heard of the album.  Then I went to FYE where there were a few copies on the new-releases shelf, but no special display.  I hung around a long time and nobody came in looking for the album.  People did not even know ARTPOP existed.

At my Walmart, they had a big banner with ARTPOP and Marshall Mathers on it from like October to December

[Snow 1,582]

Yes it was. Horrible as was The whole era... Im a hater since day one. I deteste everything about it. -_-

[Queen 99]

There are some gems on the album but the concept as a whole is a mess. Everything seemed really clunky, uninspired and frankly dull compared to her previous efforts... not to mention her crippling insecurity about her success and public perception coming through in everything she did.           

I think we need to remember that Gaga's personal life was extremely messy when it was released and weasel management were basically forcing her to release the album half-baked. I think if she had longer to make it then it wouldn't have been such a disaster. 

[Tyler 109]

Just now, deeman said:

Can you give an example of the visuals you preferred so I can better understand your point?

She has so many varied looks, that I could compare them all day without making my point any clearer. It's all a matter of taste, anyway.

Generally speaking, I prefer darker visuals - I loved her looks through The Fame Monster and particularly Born This Way, where she infused darkness with religion and a metal edge. I felt like, even when she was beautiful, she had an instantly recognisable 'Gaga' beneath it all; she'd have the facial protrusions, or she'd have a statement hat or just something fun and quirky. 

When she dressed more classically for ARTPOP, it was just that. She felt to me like she had all of her identity scrubbed from her, a little sterile by comparison. Just traditional beautiful; which is fine, but I've never been a Gaga fan for her beauty! I'm a fan for how she challenges people and expresses a weirder side that other popstars are afraid of.

I also didn't like the 'rave' aesthetic of ARTPOP. I know what she was going for, but the album isn't particularly rave-inspired, not true rave anyway; it's like a watered down pop rave. So the visuals didn't seem to fit; and thematically they clashed horribly with her whole high brow Koons/Abramovic art ideals. Particular looks that come to mind are most of the ArtRAVE outfits, and that dreads look she wore when on stage with Zedd at SXSW.

I've enjoyed some elements of the fashion this era: it started off fantastically, I loved the Applause looks with those simple yet beautiful black gowns, partnered with the smeared rainbow facepaints. It goes back to what I said earlier about being stylish and yet still 'Gaga'. I also liked a lot of the more 'thought out' Venus looks, but quickly grew tired of the standard seashell bra and pants look. I liked the big shell umbrella, the paper dress... Essentially, anything she wore in Europe!

I didn't like the Applause video at first, but it's grown on me. It just did not live up to those epic extended videos she was producing for Born This Way; they had a real sense of theatre to them. I hated the G.U.Y. video as, like most of the era to me, it felt sterile; I liked the beginning, with the harpy, and it all went downhill from there for me.

I hope that has summed it up for you. Essentially, most of the looks and visuals for ARTPOP just did not resonate with my personal tastes in the same way as previous eras had done. 

[Lucifer 1,987]

19 minutes ago, SecretWeapon said:

And still no new Gaga album so let him be

 

Tihty, iwy + all the other covers 

[elijahfan 26,047]

Well, I love all the songs individually but the album as a whole is all over the place. I know that the concept of the album was precisely not to have a concept and be "anything", but in the end it's cruelly incoherent. Then again, I love it, but it isn't even close to compare to BTW.