Explaining Joanne Music Videos

[LIKELADYAGAGA 4,080]

So I was exploring some threads and A LOT of people are not fans of the Joanne album music videos.

My unpopular opinion... The Perfect Illusion music video is an artistic MASTERPIECE.

It is literally about the ARTPOP era and what happened to her.

Here is my interpretation...

She thought that she was loved and she had all of these raving fans (the mosh pit party). Everybody was cheering for Gaga and she was on top of the world.

Then she realized it was all an illusion and there was REALLY NOBODY THERE THE ENTIRE TIME (stay with me for sec). 

The illusion was the fame and success. Gaga had the impression that she was surrounded by so many people... but NOBODY WAS THERE FOR HER.

It was all an illusion.

This is why during the mosh-pit scene, it flashes between her dancing alone and then surrounded by people. They are both happening at the same time. One is reality (her alone) and one is what Gaga thought was happening during her rise to fame.

I think the flashing and fast movements is supposed to represent Gaga's life at the time. She has mentioned, that during the ARTPOP era, she felt like she was moving so fast that she thought she was going to die (something along those lines). I think the videos fast movements is a symbol for this.

WATCH THE VIDEO CLOSELY because there are so many symbols like this (her twirling the mic in the air as people life her up and surround her and then it flashes to her twirling the mic in the air alone). 

Then we got the Million Reasons video. This one is pretty self-explanatory and not as hard to understand, but I will go through it anyway...

The Million Reasons video defines the Joanne era. 

The ARTPOP era left her (symbolically) in the middle of a desert alone to die. DJWS has said on Twitter that Gaga was left with nobody after ARTPOP. 

Her TRUE FANS found her though and gave her one reason to keep going even though she had a million reasons not to.

We saved her.

We gave her a reason to create the Joanne era.

John Wayne was a bit more confusing and hard to interpret. Here is my best shot...

I think this video is supposed to represent the music industry. 

The "cowboys" are the industry (she gets on a bike to go chase them).

The cowboys are rough and mean and push Gaga around.

... but she loves it at the same time.

She then shot herself in the video and I'm still not 100% sure on what this means.

My best guess is that she had to kill her former self in order to reinvent herself for this new era.

Give me your thoughts below.

Can't wait to see if this story continues with the Joanne music video.

Here are the videos...watch them in order and look at the details for the story line.

 

 

 

[CarlsJrJepsen 238]

Interesting stuff my dude

[River 118,236]

It actually shows that promo budget that she had.

PI - cheap video

the single flopped and the album got released, the promo budget was cut even more.

MR - VERY cheap video

MR was successful and the album sold well.. more budget

JW - very expensive video with professional director and stuff

[DiscoStyx 3,355]

John Wayne could be her in 2016 being back in the studio with the boys (Mark, Bloodpop...), making new music again and being excited about it while killing her former 'pop' self to go 'country' with Joanne 

[LIKELADYAGAGA 4,080]

Just now, River said:

It actually shows that promo budget that she had.

PI - cheap video

the single flopped and the album got released, the promo budget was cut even more.

MR - VERY cheap video

MR was successful and the album sold well.. more budget

JW - very expensive video with professional director and stuff

Who said PI was a cheap video? They hired dozens of extras, built a stage in the middle of the desert, and added special effects like speeding up the video while signing at the normal pacing. 

[LIKELADYAGAGA 4,080]

Just now, gaganow said:

John Wayne could be her in 2016 being back in the studio with the boys (Mark, Bloodpop...), making new music again and being excited about it while killing her former 'pop' self to go 'country' with Joanne 

that makes sense since she picks up her guitar at the end.

[DiscoStyx 3,355]

1 minute ago, LIKELADYAGAGA said:

that makes sense since she picks up her guitar at the end.

I have yet to watch Joanne to see what's next

[Red Velvet 10,988]

Perfect Illusion: her crops

Million Reasons: her farm

John Wayne: Her gay chickens

Joanne: Her assistant Joanne

[Chris Evans 8,917]

10 minutes ago, River said:

It actually shows that promo budget that she had.

PI - cheap video

the single flopped and the album got released, the promo budget was cut even more.

MR - VERY cheap video

MR was successful and the album sold well.. more budget

JW - very expensive video with professional director and stuff

PI wasn't cheap, pretty sure it just has to do with what director she decides to work with since JW wasn't even a single just felt like a nice treat for the fans

[TheSlash 14,539]

I'm not the only one noticing the switches in the PI mv between her alone and the mosh-pit being a symbol of illusion  . And I like your theory, even though the JW mv is kinda confusing when it comes to the storyline you explained 

[Ladygagalover 604]

I love this thread, especially since we just got to experience the last MV of the era. I think your explanations for PI and MR are spot on!

For John Wayne, I think that the video is a representation of the path Gaga could have chosen. Those bikers, the drinking, the general recklessness are her sins and inner desires, which she craves. However, in a way, they also can represent the old, crazy Gaga. If she had continued down that path with the “wild men” in her life (Troy Carter, Rob Fusari, Akon, etc.), she would’ve ended up killing herself. While she chased and craved it in the beginning of her career, it was a destructive and poisonous life.

Thus, in the end, Gaga walks away as Joanne and, referencing Joanne’s poem and Joanne (the song), both knows and doesn’t know where she’s going. That was the purpose of Joanne (the album) - returning to her family roots in order to heal and understand where she will go next. I think the Joanne MV was a perfect way to say goodbye to Joanne the album and person.

Thanks Gaga. 

[LIKELADYAGAGA 4,080]

8 hours ago, Ladygagalover said:

I love this thread, especially since we just got to experience the last MV of the era. I think your explanations for PI and MR are spot on!

For John Wayne, I think that the video is a representation of the path Gaga could have chosen. Those bikers, the drinking, the general recklessness are her sins and inner desires, which she craves. However, in a way, they also can represent the old, crazy Gaga. If she had continued down that path with the “wild men” in her life (Troy Carter, Rob Fusari, Akon, etc.), she would’ve ended up killing herself. While she chased and craved it in the beginning of her career, it was a destructive and poisonous life.

Thus, in the end, Gaga walks away as Joanne and, referencing Joanne’s poem and Joanne (the song), both knows and doesn’t know where she’s going. That was the purpose of Joanne (the album) - returning to her family roots in order to heal and understand where she will go next. I think the Joanne MV was a perfect way to say goodbye to Joanne the album and person.

Thanks Gaga. 

I LOVE THIS! It is so cool that Gaga left John Wayne up for interpretation and didn't give us all of the answers. I think your meaning is more accurate than mine for JW.

[LIKELADYAGAGA 4,080]

9 hours ago, TheSlash said:

I'm not the only one noticing the switches in the PI mv between her alone and the mosh-pit being a symbol of illusion  . And I like your theory, even though the JW mv is kinda confusing when it comes to the storyline you explained 

Yeah I wasn't sure on JW. The PI video has sooo many different symbols though. It is very cool to just watch the video and try to listen to what Gaga is saying through the visuals.

[PerfectGUY 7,822]

@LIKELADYAGAGA  ( @derpmonster )

Thank you for not paying dust to PI (one of her best) and MR videos.
I'll add some things tough, tell me what you think about them :

- PI : the flashing lights when she's alone are the cameras, the paparazzi that focuses on her and she thought she was important. She's in the center of all that noise/that success and she is blinded by the flashes when in reality she's alone dancing and making her art. No one actually cares about what she's doing artistically but focus on the gossips, the buzz....

I think that when she's in the car, she's running away from the industry after ARTPOP because she was disgusted. She just wanted to be dancing and singing with her real fans. That's what she thinks she's doing, however there's a few hints it was an illusion : → she's dancing with them. However that would not be possible in real life without security, body guards, fans enjoying and not asking for pictures... That's what she would love to do but she can't, it's all an illusion 

Then she realises it. 

At the beginning of the MR video, she understands that for her to do what she love to, she has to go back to the industry. She can't spend time with monsters if she doesn't have an interface, security, a record company... She has to go back in order to keep making music. Even tough she's sad, she has to be happy, wear make up (to make the worst seem better) : we see that contrast when she's crying in backstage but is all dressed up/has make up on during the shots in the studio. Indeed, she has to be pretty / happy if she wants to keep promoting music (in order to still be able to release music). For her to keep in touch with her fans, to still deliver and serve greatness for them, she HAS to still be a part of that industry. But how ?

That's the JW video. And I'm not sure about it but here's what I'm thinking; 
While she's shooting that promo for her new music in that studio (the same of the A-YO AppleMusic commercial one when she's laughing : so maybe the fact that she was crying during the backstage of it shows that she has to keep the smile to promote ? ... Maybe both videos weren't actually shot the same day but the MR video references the promo video for A-YO ?). Anyway. So she's wondering during the MR shooting how to make her career evolve → she falls into a daydream during the promo shooting. She obviously loves being crazyGa and she tries to imagine the way her career can go if she stays that way and keeps playing with fire (with Fame). The gang boys (men in music industry) keep teasing/testing her but if she falls into their game (following them on with the motorcycle - maybe referencing the BTW album cover, where she thought that with huge promotion and being everywhere in the media, she could impose somehow the values of equality and bravery of the album, but it didn't work out well bc she can't win over Fame and this industry, and what people are really interested about, to say more bling than music itself) , it all ends up being chaotic and she finishes dead. She wakes up from her daydream. Here's what she realised : she needs, for the future, to stay in the music industry while remaining far from the illusions she thought were real at one point (play the game with fame → because she loses every time). And that's what she did with the Joanne era when she walks away with the joanne costume.