Don't blame the critics

[Naufri 7,424]

Is funny that a lot of indie guys making commercial music in this album aren't accused of selfselling or make music inauthentic music with her, but is her the one is blamed all the time.

At the end is the same old story, pop is a lowbrow genre, and a pop girl only can trascend if she abandon and put totally in charge alternative artists of her album a la Lemonade/beyonce.

If Gaga would have removed all of her tics and signs of identity, and let the guys writing all the stuff, the metascore would be 80 by now.

[swakby 4,100]

Taste is very subjective. 

[Jed 7,716]

1 hour ago, Naufri said:

Is funny that a lot of indie guys making commercial music in this album aren't accused of selfselling or make music inauthentic music with her, but is her the one is blamed all the time.

At the end is the same old story, pop is a lowbrow genre, and a pop girl only can trascend if she abandon and put totally in charge alternative artists of her album a la Lemonade/beyonce.

If Gaga would have removed all of her tics and signs of identity, and let the guys writing all the stuff, the metascore would be 80 by now.

Well a lot of the songs have elements that are derivitive - and the lyrical content isn't the strongest Gagz has put out (imo).

i think a lot of the indie guys (and Lana to a major extent) don't get that kind of slack because they weren't aiming for sales in the first place. With LGs track history it's semi-obvious that sales and chart positions do mean SOMETHING to her (or at least the professionals around her) vs Father John Misty or Mac Demarco who weren't ever in that kind of marketable position. It's my belief that the album after this one will be received a lot better than Joanne only because Joanne was a palet cleanser in a sense. She can go anywhere from here!

[Daredevil 2,133]

I hope that NYT guy gets fired. His review is so biased and unprofessional 

[Jed 7,716]

1 minute ago, Daredevil said:

I hope that NYT guy gets fired. His review is so biased and unprofessional 

ESpecially coupled with the comments Solange made. Overall he's messy AF

[Jonathanholland 5,320]

Well what irks me is the fact that some reviewers say the album is better then ARTPOP, yet giving it less points. Thereby I could totally understand why the didn't like ARTPOP at the time, I like the album, but the reviews were mostly understandable. The album was loud and the music failed to match up to the (pretentious) concept. On the other hand I really don't agree with some things this people are saying about Joanne. 

Joanne is totally the opposite of ARTPOP. Where ARTPOP had soms similarities with Born This Way (Loud production, EDM) the difference between ARTPOP and Joanne couldn't be bigger. The reviewers said Gaga should stop with the attention seeking and concentrate on the music. Well she did exactly that and made a personal and a well put together album. I understand that tastes differ but some reviewers are saying that the album production has flaws, the album is too country,  her voice is too raw and that the songs 'don't feel authentic'. Well in my honest opinion, those points are exactly why I think this album is better then ARTPOP. They argue the album is bad just because of those aspects , exactly the same aspects they missed so much on ARTPOP. And when the exact same people reviewed Lemonade, which is put together by teams of writers, nobody complains the album isn't authentic enough, that 'don't hurt yourself' is too raw and Daddy Lessons is too country. She's held to completely different standards then the other pop girls, and while I agree she brought that on herself , I thinks she deserves a second chance and they just refuse to give her that. They just want another Fame Monster from her, but mark my words when she does that, they will complain she's not reinventing herself anymore. 

[Evan Peters 10,738]

i don't see the point in bringing up an artist's career moves or what they've done when your job is to review the music and that's it. It seems to be a common occurrence among critics who review gaga's music, but not any other artist. If you can't keep your personal feelings out of reviewing something then you shouldn't be in profession that requires you to remain unbiased. 

and anyways, what a critic says really has no impact on whether or not people will like an album.

[Rugbyguy 144]

3 hours ago, Naufri said:

Is funny that a lot of indie guys making commercial music in this album aren't accused of selfselling or make music inauthentic music with her, but is her the one is blamed all the time.

At the end is the same old story, pop is a lowbrow genre, and a pop girl only can trascend if she abandon and put totally in charge alternative artists of her album a la Lemonade/beyonce.

If Gaga would have removed all of her tics and signs of identity, and let the guys writing all the stuff, the metascore would be 80 by now.

How do you explain albums like Ray of Light and Like a Prayer then? Both feature raw, emotional ballads and are departures from her popular sound but still remain pop and received rave reviews from critics and sold millions.

Dont get too caught up in the mixed reviews. If your a true Gaga fan then you will be in it for the long term and there will be much more to come. Imagine being a fan of Madonna. I've had to sit back and watch her get slaughtered for two decades.

[Naufri 7,424]

10 minutes ago, Rugbyguy said:

How do you explain albums like Ray of Light and Like a Prayer then? Both feature raw, emotional ballads and are departures from her popular sound but still remain pop and received rave reviews from critics and sold millions.

Dont get too caught up in the mixed reviews. If your a true Gaga fan then you will be in it for the long term and there will be much more to come. Imagine being a fan of Madonna. I've had to sit back and watch her get slaughtered for two decades.

Ray of light was the third Madonna's attemp on the modern electronic music, Erotica was the first and I dont think I need to remember you what did happen with that album, and I can tell you that even today, even her fans put much of the merit of that album in her producers. 

Like a Prayer didn't was a change of sound for Madonna but a refinement of her previous sound. The album have ballads and is not so (so) danceable as previous records but the success of the album rested hugely in the pure pop super solid anthems (like a prayer, express yourself) that it have.

I reassert, is very difficult for an pop artist, specially someone as flamboyant as Gaga, to change her sound but holding her own personality at the same time, and being critically acclaimed.

The reviews we are seeing are blaming Gaga of faking, and not faking enough at the same time.

[Turbogirl 32]

5 hours ago, Jed said:

Love how elequent you responded. I have no disagreements with what you said whatsoever 

 

You are way too sweet / kind. Honestly your compliment made my entire year!

At some point, the thought popped into my head that I had thrown shade at Pitchfork for being long winded, and then realized my post was also starting to become long winded lol. So I appreciate anyone that took the time to read it.

I should also say, having spent a lot of time in the industry on the media side of things, I've gotten to know a lot of critics as people. And with that, I've gotten a pretty good understanding how certain publications are ran.

Let me just say that, more often then not - most reviews are not the sole opinion of the reviewer. Well, sort of. This gets a bit tricky. But a lot of publications decide ahead of time how they feel about an album. And then they select a reviewer (or someone requests it) that is going to represent that view.

So if a site hates a certain artist or genre, it doesn't matter if a single person on the staff loves it, they are going to go with someone that echoes the group. Now, maybe that's not so bad. After all, don't you think reviews should best represent the entire publication as opposed to one person?

Well, I think it is bad. And here is why. The biggest problem with this way of reviewing, is that it creates echo chambers. You have groups of people that already have pre-conceived ideas of who they like and hate. It means some artists never had a chance in hell to get a good review from that publication. It means they aren't taking each album as its own thing.

But it also takes things away from the individual critic - and their analysis. It becomes more about someone writing to an already agreed upon opinion from a group, rather then it be a well educated critical break down.

Best way I can describe it, is its like high school / college level writing. Like someone just getting an assignment. And I knew a lot of places that did this.

Well regarded newspapers and publications like that - still leave their critics alone. So they are much closer to how criticism used to be. But most major music publications function more like a machine. And a big part of that machine working is hiring interns out of college that are picking up assignments (something for their resume). 

This is a far cry from the past, where critics were expected to almost be scholars and have a deep education / background on the medium. And I think people are really starting to notice the shift in quality of criticism on the whole.

But ultimately, as long as a review is well written, that is the best you can ask for. Even if you strongly disagree with that critic.

[ImNotBritney 66]

6 hours ago, Jed said:

AKA I need a charts position to rationalize how I feel about a piece of art.

theres my whole point - y'all find too much meaning in things that don't matter 

The ****? I already KNOW I'm lukewarm on the album, it doesn't speak to me, I don't find myself going back to it.

It being #1 or not has nothing to do with my feelings about it, i enjoy numbers. Glory wasn't #1 and it's my favorite album of this year, period. 

Don't try to generalize **** and put everyone in the same category, idk who you think you are tbh 

[Born To Slay 10,996]

15 hours ago, Aussie said:

Guys even if Joanne sticks to 65/70 that is still in green and very positive. Keeping in mind the warm reception from GP, the fact that the album went to number 1 in over 60 countries and the general reception of Gaga has been very positive...well it's all going great:) If Gaga keeps it up, this could be her biggest album release since BTW. And all this without massive promo or great fanfare. I actually truly believe the dive bar tours live on Facebook was a stroke of genius. She spent all that money promoting BTW and ARTPOP yet Joanne is doing even better in many respects

It's not doing better then either in any respect 

[giskardsb 12,565]

The issue is "authenticity" isn't something that can actually be known.  Only the artist knows.  When a critic uses it against Gaga it automatically means they are assigning motivations to her based on their own biases about her.

[Kayla 7,595]

I think Gaga's great songwriting comes through when she's writing in layers and using symbolism. A lot of Joanne is so upfront and obvious in its meaning, which I don't feel is Gaga's strong point in writing (or perhaps I just personally like more layered meaning in lyrics...Personal bias/preference admitted )

I also think that the album is very focused on the lyrics. I've noticed even in songs where the sound as a whole is great I'm a bit distracted by the lyrics and vocals (Diamond Heart is the biggest example for me)

So....I think to a large extent the critics have valid reasons to dislike parts of the album. HOWEVER. I also think they're biased because of what they were expecting from Gaga. It's completely unlike what we would have expected, tbh, so if you go into it expecting another Bad Romance you're going to be disappointed and it's going to effect your review.  

It's honestly taken me 3 listens to be like "Oh! This song is really good!" You've gotta view it from a different lens, tbh. For me it took multiple listens to be in the right kind of open frame of mind. (Same deal with Perfect Illusion when it dropped, tbh)

Considering these reviews popped up not even a few days after the album was released it's pretty safe to say the critics didn't spend a lot of time pushing past their initial reaction. 

[Fantina 3,349]

On 10/21/2016 at 8:44 PM, Jed said:

I can find good examples of actually musical criticisms in most of the metacritic reviews

And i can accept that,but girl you are critiquing the music not the artists behind them.For example as much as I hate Justin Bieber i can't say that his records suck because he is awful towards his fans!

Critics should find a way to make the songs and music anonymous so the don't know who is singing so they can give a fair assessment!I can bet you 100 dollars that if a favored artist made this record the critics would have labeled it as the best record of all time and give it 100/100 on Metacritic!