Was ARTPOP Ahead or Behind Music Trends?

[Joaco95 1,631]

55 minutes ago, Seeka said:

Yes, and you want to know what tops the charts?

Trends.

Did you not think that through? While we are now in a very transient phase in music, what was happening in 2013/2014 is a different story.

uhm

not really

[Cameltoe Chariot 11,823]

I'm of the opinion that ARTPOP was severely behind Gaga's time.

When I listen back on her albums, BTW strikes me as a very daring, aggressive album... and when I say aggressive, I mean aggressive in terms of how many of its songs go against pop tradition and almost confront the casual listener. Many of the tracks weren't radio friendly.

With ARTPOP, especially with how her star power was waning at the time of release, there were simply too many songs that pushed the GP's buttons... Aura, for example. It's almost unlistenable as far as radio goes.

And keep in mind, of course, that I'm a HUGE stan and I still love ARTPOP. I just think this was the album where Gaga should've showed off her musical chops, rather than making loud, tantrum-style pop anthems. Instead the album tanked (in comparison to her other work) and she had to spend the next couple of years recovering from the damage with vanity projects such as the Tony Bennett album, the Oscar's performance, etc.

I think Gaga could've saved herself a lot of time and energy if she had just sat back after the BTW Ball disaster and crafted a solid, mature album. That was the time to make an incredible "come back", and I feel like she/her team wasted that media frenzy potential on an album of paint-by-numbers Gaga songs, instead of really honouring her abilities and wowing the public with something unexpected.

Ultimately my criticism of ARTPOP is, and always has been, that it is the most obvious Gaga record to date. It's almost a parody of what she was.

[Yanko 9,860]

behind 

[mic 1,384]

Depends on a song imho. She brought something new to the table with Aura, MJH and Swine. While at the same time she took a step back with MANiCURE, Dope and Gypsy.

[monstereo 1,232]

BEHIND

[xdeki666 245]

i dont givr a shiit

its in my top 3 fave albums of all time 

[TheResidentZionist 128]

Both ahead and behind. 

I've been into electro before it was called EDM... and ARTPOP has alot of unique sonic structure in some songs but others were pandering. 

Aura is completely original is everyway. Structurally it's like nothing I've ever heard before.  If your gunna complain that Infected mushroom made it years before it's use you're missing  the point. ARTPOP had a theme of collaboration in non othodox ways. 

SEXXX DREAMS is an extremely unique. It still stands as being one of Gagas most original. 

I still show people who are really into electronic music SWINE and it blows there brains out! 

Then you had the songs that were clearly following the fads (GUY DWUW VENUS ECT)

Something I noticed is that every single ARTPOP chorus/lyrics are something you doooooont really wanna say out loud in public. It's by design alienating, shocking and weird. It's against the social norm to say alot of these things. It's something that was created without the intention of starting or following a trend 

[Shitwrecked 183]

2 years behind tbh 

The whole ZEDD sound exploded in 2011. 

[Pierre 10,480]

Ahead: The concept, art into music...

Behind: I think some songs, by the time, sounded a little "last year", but that's my opinion. 

[Quark 7,016]

22 minutes ago, Shitwrecked said:

2 years behind tbh 

The whole ZEDD sound exploded in 2011. 

ZEDD is still making songs right now so...

[eifulien 2,276]

Well, musically it's 1 year late, so a bit behind. I mean just imagine it released next to Unapolgoetic from 2012 and you can see it would've blown the competition out of the water. 

But what sets ARTPOP apart is that while already starting to feel dated, its sound is not generic for 90% of the songs. Sure, Donatella, Fashion! are kinda but compared to Talk That Talk, Femme Fatale, Britney Jean and many many others, it's much better. 

When it comes to lyrical content, it goes to huge depths that are masked under big amount of irony and satire. But you can hear a deeply hurt passionate person that is in pain and willing to reveal herself, to speak the truth. She does that in a very smart way - by doing the very opposite - it's not an "Adele" kind of personal album, it's Gaga's own definiton of personal - giving the opposite of what she is capable of. It's like she gave us an ugly face, a grotesque of herself, basically it's a FUСK YOU to the industry, to the media. It is a bold statement: You want to make me seem superficial, dumb, careless - well here you go, I will be the image that you've been putting on me since the beginning. 

[Quark 7,016]

3 minutes ago, Son of ARTPOP said:

Well, musically it's 1 year late, so a bit behind. I mean just imagine it released next to Unapolgoetic from 2012 and you can see it would've blown the competition out of the water. 

But what sets ARTPOP apart is that while already starting to feel dated, its sound is not generic for 90% of the songs. Sure, Donatella, Fashion! are kinda but compared to Talk That Talk, Femme Fatale, Britney Jean and many many others, it's much better. 

When it comes to lyrical content, it goes to huge depths that are masked under big amount of irony and satire. But you can hear a deeply hurt passionate person that is in pain and willing to reveal herself, to speak the truth. She does that in a very smart way - by doing the very opposite - it's not an "Adele" kind of personal album, it's Gaga's own definiton of personal - giving the opposite of what she is capable of. It's like she gave us an ugly face, a grotesque of herself, basically it's a FUСK YOU to the industry, to the media. It is a bold statement: You want to make me seem superficial, dumb, careless - well here you go, I will be the image that you've been putting on me since the beginning. 

So you are saying you heard songs like Aura, Venus, Swine, ARTPOP, MJH, Sexxx dreams, ect. in mainstream radio or in mainstream releases in 2012?

[aaronyoji 2,007]

it was a bit behind tbh. do what u want sounded like drakes "hold on" when it came out, fashion!!! sounds like a daft punk revival (how convenient, 9 months after theyre comeback) and donatella, venus, guy, and maybe some others just sound like theyre from 2010. not that im saying those are bad songs per se, but ARTPOP was the result of being way too self conscious and on the nose of what was happening in music. a lot of it has to do with the production, just stale and real cheesy, and over processed. 

[eifulien 2,276]

5 minutes ago, Enigma said:

So you are saying you heard songs like Aura, Venus, Swine, ARTPOP, MJH, Sexxx dreams, ect. in mainstream radio or in mainstream releases in 2012?

No, not exactly. Although David Guetta Zedd Avici Nicki Romero and many others were already quite big. What I'm saying is that kind of music would have fared better in 2012. In 2013 no pop release sounded quite like ARTPOP. The industry was already moving past this trend. 2013 was an year of The 20/20 Experience, Macklemore, Lorde, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Blurred Lines and then Beyoncé.

[Benji 20,113]

ARTPOP sounds like it should have came out in 2012 to sound current.

The Fame and The Fame Monster were ahead for the U.S. but Born This Way sounds like it's own thing outside of what was current.