My thoughts on Joanne (Album/Era)

[MaryJaneHolland 77,348]

Now, that Joanne era is over in terms of singles and promotion, I wanted to make a flashback on the whole Joanne era and sum up my overall opinion about it.

Albums's sound and cohesiveness

I'm glad it happened. It's not something that people would expect from her, to do a country/rock inspired album. But, in like 2 decades when we look back at her catalog, the album will stand out because it's THAT album when she changed her sound and stepped off her casual electro sound (unless she's planning to do more stripped back albums, smth I'm not really here for ) and when she changed her image to a more "toned down" Gaga. 

In my opinion, it's her least cohesive album when it comes to the sound and the production. There's rock, folk, country, electro, tropical, boring (aka Hey G*rl), jazz-ish sound. But, it's short, so that makes it listenable. The vocals are great, don't know what are people talking about. Everyone's voice changes when you sing for over a decade. 

I still listen to DIC, A-YO, DH, PI and JW on a daily basis. JW even became one of my favorite Gaga songs so far.

Promotion

The era was SHORT. We weren't waiting 3 years for this. She indeed did some big promo slots such as the AMAs, SNL, Carpool Karaoke etc. But, where were Ellen, Jimmy Kimmel/Fallon? In Europe she promoted only in The UK and she only did a phone call radio interview in Australia. The promo in Japan was decent. I don't want her to overwork herself as she did during the Born This Way era when she literally promoted on some Z-list TV channels, but she could've went to X Factor, The Voice and other things like that all over the world.

Music videos

The ****ing videos.... For real? Can she just drop Ruth when it comes to major things? She's good for a interlude, but definitely not good for a music video. She released her two WORST videos for the actual singles. I wanted to slap that bitch when I found out that Brandon Maxwell directed the Million Reasons video. The ****? He's a stylist. No wonder why it was similar to the Apple commercial, because he directed that one as well - which was really good considering it was just a commercial (seems like his directing skills are limited to white screen and a guitar ). A damn STAIN in her videography. The Perfect Illusion is.... nice? Like, it's not that bad, but the video could've had some storyline or something. And let me not start on how not in sync the picture and the sound in some of the parts are  And, then we have the beyond amazing video for John Wayne. Duh, it's JONAS AKERLUND, a professionalist who has already created two masterpieces with her. That's what you get when you hire REAL directors to o your videos. But, it was a waste, to be honest. The song didn't become a single, so the video remained unrecognized. I hope for the LG6 videos (which I hope will be more than 4 ), she'll hire professionals.

Single choices

The single choices? Awful and she needs to get her act together when it comes to this.  Songs which should've been Plan-B became actual singles, while songs which had the potential to become hits (A-YO, John Wayne, Dancin' in Circles and maybe even Diamond Heart) were paid dust. Sad. 

Spoiler

Apologies if I was a bit harsh on some things 

There were some parts that I omitted, in order to not get WPs or be attacked by y'all 

xoxo, MaryJaneHolland 

[Mary Jane Wayne 1,997]

The era was kind of messed up but I love this indie album 

[Red 98,019]

A Gaga era without messy single choices isn't a Gaga era  

[macca 1,318]

I think Joanne is horrible and we should forget this horrible material and era altogether. #streamthecurespotify

 

joanne was cringeworthy 

[Mary Jane Wayne 1,997]

8 minutes ago, macca said:

I think Joanne is horrible and we should forget this horrible material and era altogether. #streamthecurespotify

 

joanne was cringeworthy 

Joanne is a great album

[FentyGa 14,340]

Just now, macca said:

I think Joanne is horrible and we should forget this horrible material and era altogether. #streamthecurespotify

 

joanne was cringeworthy 

[gagagoogoose 30,952]

11 minutes ago, MaryJaneHolland said:

The ****ing videos.... For real? Can she just drop Ruth when it comes to major things? She's good for a interlude, but definitely not good for a music video. She released her two WORST videos for the actual singles. I wanted to slap that bitch when I found out that Brandon Maxwell directed the Million Reasons video. The ****? He's a stylist. No wonder why it was similar to the Apple commercial, because he directed that one as well - which was really good considering it was just a commercial (seems like his directing skills are limited to white screen and a guitar ).

YOU WENT IN! 

[My Enigma Heart 1,915]

13 minutes ago, MaryJaneHolland said:

The single choices? Awful and she needs to get her act together when it comes to this.  Songs which should've been Plan-B became actual singles, while songs which had the potential to become hits (A-YO, John Wayne, Dancin' in Circles and maybe even Diamond Heart) were paid dust. Sad. 

I definitely agree. And it also seems like she's releasing less and less singles every album. ARTPOP had 3. Joanne had 2. I wish she would get her sh*t together and do a full, proper album cycle.

[Thomas P 18,479]

It seemed like she was fully into Joanne for like 2 weeks and then got bored and stopped wanting to do anything for it. The era had some great moments, but **** it was like a month long. 

[Delulu Rogers 7,299]

good album, god awful era. 3 years for another underwhelming era that had so much potential 

[ImpossiblePrincess 3,878]

5 minutes ago, Thomas P said:

It seemed like she was fully into Joanne for like 2 weeks and then got bored and stopped wanting to do anything for it. The era had some great moments, but **** it was like a month long. 

Kind same with ARTPOP she was really promoting everything for a couple months and went away then came back.

[Stef 61,598]

Good album

**** era

its killed my hype for future Gaga eras  because there’s even more chance of them being insanely boring because we won’t have Super Bowl or Coachella or things like that   

[ToxicHot 6,444]

Perfect Illusion, amazing as it is, should not have been a single. Especially since she hardly promoted it at all (aside from radio interviews). I mean, what was the point? GP let it flop (peaked at #15 and then it drastically nosedived) and clearly was not here for it. It would've been a very interesting surprise for the album release had it not been a single, since it's a definite highlight on Joanne.

Million Reasons, however.....became a hit after its longevity and high exposure after the SB halftime show. I was skeptical during the first few months of its run, since it's a heartbreaking ballad. But all of its promo paid off and arguably it has become one of Gaga's most recognized/signature songs in recent years. The video was terribly underwhelming though, so I agree with you on that. Although, I suppose I admire its simplicity. 

Another thing: I cannot believe, after all this time, she paid absolute dust to Dancin' in Circles. This song SCREAMS hit single. I know this has been discussed on this forum many, many times. It's not radio friendly/too sexual, etc. Yes, WE BEEN KNEW. But it deserved so much better. Not even a single goddamn performance during Joanne promo either. It should have at least been debuted at Coachella. As far as I'm concerned, this is the hit that got away and the one she needed (before MR reached mass success, of course). 

Joanne era was far from perfect, we all know it lacked a lot. But I'm honestly proud of Gaga for all that she has achieved and how much she has grown as an artist. At least the album went #1 and surpassed expectations. It was a nice revival for her image following the ARTPOP backlash. I'm very grateful for this woman and all that she has done for me/us. Can't wait for the next record.

[MaryJaneHolland 77,348]

5 minutes ago, ToxicHot said:

Million Reasons, however.....became a hit after its longevity and high exposure after the SB halftime show. I was skeptical during the first few months of its run, since it's a heartbreaking ballad. But all of its promo paid off and arguably it has become one of Gaga's most recognized/signature songs in recent years

But then, it was a hit just in USA. She needs a WW hit asap 

[monsterdino 31,991]

1 hour ago, MaryJaneHolland said:

Now, that Joanne era is over in terms of singles and promotion, I wanted to make a flashback on the whole Joanne era and sum up my overall opinion about it.

Albums's sound and cohesiveness

I'm glad it happened. It's not something that people would expect from her, to do a country/rock inspired album. But, in like 2 decades when we look back at her catalog, the album will stand out because it's THAT album when she changed her sound and stepped off her casual electro sound (unless she's planning to do more stripped back albums, smth I'm not really here for ) and when she changed her image to a more "toned down" Gaga. 

In my opinion, it's her least cohesive album when it comes to the sound and the production. There's rock, folk, country, electro, tropical, boring (aka Hey G*rl), jazz-ish sound. But, it's short, so that makes it listenable. The vocals are great, don't know what are people talking about. Everyone's voice changes when you sing for over a decade. 

is this bad tho? I'd raher listen to an album that has different sounds than to listen to the same songs over and over again (ehm TFM)