Gaga did not loose her creativity

[Supersonic 49,376]

1 hour ago, sipthistea said:

I think y'all like to freak out over minor things like Gaga's costumes and music videos, when this whole era was about the music itself. I mean, she herself was wondering about whether we would like her without the high visuals or not, and her friends told her that it would be ok 'cause the era was about the emotion and the feeling.

Guess they were wrong 'cause it seems like many of you gave 2 cents about Gaga opening her soul through this album. And what were you expecting? High heels and tons of make up for a personal era? To me, this is one of the most creative things she's ever made. She let people know her by her name. I think these decisions have allowed her to embrace her past and finally accept herself. 

She's not hiding anymore, and she will be able to give us her art and her heart from now on. 

Gays being shallow? Who would have thought.

[Quark 7,016]

4 hours ago, Didymus said:

I think she lost interest, which is a very different thing. I suspect she finds plenty of artistic stimulation and outlet in her personal life which we just don't see Remember she records music not meant for public release, she paints too etc. I just feel like she's willing to go through the motions because she's worked hard enough to get her money and attain the lifestyle and career options she wants. And respect for that In brutal honesty, I just think she wants to get to the end of her contract and do what she wants after that, which is probably not in line with what most of us love about Lady Gaga.

Though I think that's perfectly ok, I do fear she's tainting the memory of her career this way. Where once she was recognized for boundary-pushing artistry, she's becoming more and more indistinguishable from her peers now, and that might become a problem for her legacy

Joanne was radio friendly in the sense that the songs were simple and relatable, but it's whole image and sound is not trendy at all. Everyone else is busy making trap and tropical house music while Gaga went for rock, folk, country, sounding pop music. The album even has soul and bollywood flavors. So this shows that Gaga is still willing to take risks in order to make what she wants. This album may not be her most innovative but it is still very Gaga. Finally, you may be right about her being more comfortable and less boundary pushing. But then again she is already working with DJWS and may bring a more edgy electronic sound back.

[dynamite 50,362]

2 hours ago, Didymus said:

I have a problem with that assessment though Rant initiated.

Just gonna leave the awful "real music" comment aside, but even apart from that I never thought this argumentation worked. She's released stripped back songs with "real instruments" in the spotlight since 2008 She already showed that side with Again Again, Brown Eyes, Speechless, Yoü and I, The Queen (2nd half), the Country Road version of Born This Way, her holiday EP, Dope, and the countless acoustic/stripped down performances, as well as the jazz etc. performances

Now before you argue that Joanne was 100% stripped down, obviously that's false. Most tracks feature electronic elements, and there are three fully electronic dance tracks on it (with acoustic decoration only). Obviously the album features more acoustic elements, but she did not go far enough to describe the whole album as "stripped back" or "analog" or whatever. Obviously every Gaga album does need synths, "sick beats", killer videos (minus Million Reasons and the piano version of Joanne, but you can easily make comparisons with earlier Gaga video's: not all of them were ridiculously expensive or busy) and new outfits every day 'cause that's exactly what Gaga did for Joanne   If she was serious about the "real music" thing she'd have dropped John Wayne, Dancin' in Circles and Perfect Illusion in an instant.

I genuinely think that the fans who were disappointed by Joanne had no problem seeing a "different side" (god knows we already knew that side was shown 1000x since 2008), I think the music and the era still strayed way too far to the general formula without delivering the goods, thus ending up lackluster for them.

Upon hearing the album I instantly compared it to Shania Twain's Come on Over and Madonna's Music albums. Out of those three albums Joanne is the least stripped back and the most obviously radio friendly in design. Shania and Madge's eras were hugely successful and influential, so I refuse to see Joanne as some kind of boundary-pushing statement for stripped back "real music". People have no problem dealing with the difference when the end product is of quality How else did this fanbase survive the transition from The Fame to The Fame Monster?

When I say more stripped back than her other stuff I didn't mean she's never released music like this before or that every song belongs on some organic singer-songwriter album. More that it's GENERALLY that way whereas her previous mainstream releases were pop heavy. E.g. not quite as much of this sound on the same release. Obviously she's been performing acoustic tracks since before she was famous... And The Fame does have a lot of 'real instrument' songs but was overall marketed as uptempo pop / electronic whatever which changed the game for pop artists back in 2008, but I don't need to tell you that...

And I wasn't talking about performances, some holiday EP or alternate versions of songs where the originals are pop anyway... I was talking about her official and mainstream studio releases.  

Whether the tracks are literally stripped down and only using real instruments or whatever isn't my point, it's how it sounds and comes across to the listener. There is a clear change. Referring to JW, DIC and PI means nothing in regards to the album being considered 'real'.

I also didn't say Joanne was a "boundary-pushing statement". 

This is my opinion. You don't have to agree.

[Didymus 32,745]

57 minutes ago, Quark said:

Joanne was radio friendly in the sense that the songs were simple and relatable, but it's whole image and sound is not trendy at all.

But.. this is Lady Gaga we're talking about, she blended 70s inspired retro rock with glam electronics in 2008 and sounded like a unique freak no one could imitate musically She's been off trend every single era before, with her music and with her visuals. To me it's pretty insane to deny that with Joanne Gaga was 100x more on trend and actively GP friendly than anything she's ever done When Miley Cyrus goes for the exact same aesthetic, musically and visually, and literally every pop star in the game went for personal, deep, woke, "authentic" vibes in the last three years she's been more on trend than ever before

1 hour ago, Quark said:

Everyone else is busy making trap and tropical house music while Gaga went for rock, folk, country, sounding pop music. The album even has soul and bollywood flavors. So this shows that Gaga is still willing to take risks in order to make what she wants.

Literally every major pop star was desperate to do something different from tropical pop etc. Only Katy did the least effort, everyone else (even Kesha) went for a folksy, rootsy vibe, Beyoncé the most successfully (and Beyoncé blended the most genres together so Joanne was not impressive to the critics exactly because her peers had done her style more impressively).

So actually Joanne was not a surprise musically for anyone who paid attention to female pop stars (even Rebel Heart was noticeably more incorporative of acoustic sounds).

Just my take on it

 

[dynamite 50,362]

Just now, Didymus said:

But.. this is Lady Gaga we're talking about, she blended 70s inspired retro rock with glam electronics in 2008 and sounded like a unique freak no one could imitate musically She's been off trend every single era before, with her music and with her visuals. To me it's pretty insane to deny that with Joanne Gaga was 100x more on trend and actively GP friendly than anything she's ever done When Miley Cyrus goes for the exact same aesthetic, musically and visually, and literally every pop star in the game went for personal, deep, woke, "authentic" vibes in the last three years she's been more on trend than ever before

Literally every major pop star was desperate to do something different from tropical pop etc. Only Katy did the least effort, everyone else (even Kesha) went for a folksy, rootsy vibe, Beyoncé the most successfully (and Beyoncé blended the most genres together so Joanne was not impressive to the critics exactly because her peers had done her style more impressively).

So actually Joanne was not a surprise musically for anyone who paid attention to female pop stars (even Rebel Heart was noticeably more incorporative of acoustic sounds).

Just my take on it

 

 

Yes I will agree Joanne is more friendly and easier for the GP to get on board with

[Didymus 32,745]

11 minutes ago, dynamite said:

Whether the tracks are literally stripped down and only using real instruments or whatever isn't my point, it's how it sounds and comes across to the listener. There is a clear change. Referring to JW, DIC and PI means nothing in regards to the album being considered 'real'.

It kind of does since she released two out of those tracks as singles And nothing is more (American) GP pleasing than an acoustic ballad. I don't get how I'm supposed to think Joanne was out there when Beyoncé released Daddy Lessons as a single. If anything, after Lemonade, Joanne appeared shockingly mainstream and safe

[dynamite 50,362]

1 minute ago, Didymus said:

It kind of does since she released two out of those tracks as singles And nothing is more (American) GP pleasing than an acoustic ballad. I don't get how I'm supposed to think Joanne was out there when Beyoncé released Daddy Lessons as a single. If anything, after Lemonade, Joanne appeared shockingly mainstream and safe

 I didn't say Joanne was out there and I actually agree that it's completely safe. There is nothing like Bloody Mary, Venus etc on it, hell even Bad Romance was shocking when it first came out.

[Didymus 32,745]

14 minutes ago, dynamite said:

Idk why my post riled you so much, not like it had its own thread. 

Not going after you personally

[Didymus 32,745]

1 minute ago, dynamite said:

 I didn't say Joanne was out there and I actually agree that it's completely safe. There is nothing like Bloody Mary, Venus etc on it, hell even Bad Romance was shocking when it first came out.

Oh ok sorry, I sort of assumed you were implying that Gaga was doing something radically different from her peers by going in the "real music" direction, but I see that wasn't necessarily so now after I re-read

[Salvador Sequea 813]

On 10/2/2018 at 3:32 PM, Quark said:

Finally, the root of the problem is that many of you that are complaining decided to stan someone that is always changing while you are unwilling to adapt.

This is actually true 

[dynamite 50,362]

1 minute ago, Didymus said:

Oh ok sorry, I sort of assumed you were implying that Gaga was doing something radically different from her peers by going in the "real music" direction, but I see that wasn't necessarily so now after I re-read

Haha no definitely not. No worries 

[Quark 7,016]

4 minutes ago, Didymus said:

But.. this is Lady Gaga we're talking about, she blended 70s inspired retro rock with glam electronics in 2008 and sounded like a unique freak no one could imitate musically She's been off trend every single era before, with her music and with her visuals. To me it's pretty insane to deny that with Joanne Gaga was 100x more on trend and actively GP friendly than anything she's ever done When Miley Cyrus goes for the exact same aesthetic, musically and visually, and literally every pop star in the game went for personal, deep, woke, "authentic" vibes in the last three years she's been more on trend than ever before

Literally every major pop star was desperate to do something different from tropical pop etc. Only Katy did the least effort, everyone else (even Kesha) went for a folksy, rootsy vibe, Beyoncé the most successfully (and Beyoncé blended the most genres together so Joanne was not impressive to the critics exactly because her peers had done her style more impressively).

So actually Joanne was not a surprise musically for anyone who paid attention to female pop stars (even Rebel Heart was noticeably more incorporative of acoustic sounds).

Just my take on it

 

People like Kesha, Miley, and even Justin Timberlake released their albums after Joanne. Some media articles were even calling it the Joanne effect. So even if Gaga was not the first one to go for a more "authentic" sound, she was one of the first and more upfront about it. Joanne also keeps the interesting and diverse mix of sounds that she has always delivered in all her album's. Perfect Illusion is a disco rock song. Diamond Heart is a pop rock song. A-yo has country, blues, and electronic elements. Dancing In circles has a reggae, electronic and bollywood mix. Million Reasons is a ballad with country touches. Joanne is a folk song. Sinner's prayer is a western electronic song. Come To Mama and Just Another day are glam rock. Hey Girls is an electronic soul song. I mean she is still pretty unique if you ask me.

[Didymus 32,745]

1 minute ago, Quark said:

People like Kesha, Miley, and even Justin Timberlake released their albums after Joanne.

Barely.. there's no way they recorded those albums because of Gaga's release. If anything, Gaga saw the trend coming, back in 2014 she said music was moving from electronically based to more acoustic, even citing specific artists who were kickstarting the trend, like Bruno Mars. And don't forget releases like FourFiveSeconds. Joanne was not a musical surprise other than the retro vibes on the record, but should we really attribute that to her genius or to the fact that simply no one else is interested in recording a throwback song with no contemporary merit like Diamond Heart?

Beyoncé was the female pop star who epitomized this new trend by faking this whole "I'm a new, woke self" dynamic with more "authentic" sounding music so she didn't have to compete with her singles on the charts anymore. While other artists couldn't be that free (Gaga etc. still need their singles to do well) basically everyone ran along her trail, whether intentionally or not.

4 minutes ago, Quark said:

I mean she is still pretty unique if you ask me.

She did some interesting stuff on the album, absolutely. All I'm really trying to say is that musically and visually she was not doing something "different" or "challenging" that sets her apart from her peers. Nor did she write songs that, in my opinion, topped the work in the same vibe she released previously, like Yoü and I and Brown Eyes. So bringing up Joanne's sound and genres, to me personally, is just irrelevant when it comes to discussing her creativity. That's really what my posts are about to summarize them

[PunkTheFunk 121,511]

@Didymus 

[Quark 7,016]

8 minutes ago, Didymus said:

Barely.. there's no way they recorded those albums because of Gaga's release. If anything, Gaga saw the trend coming, back in 2014 she said music was moving from electronically based to more acoustic, even citing specific artists who were kickstarting the trend, like Bruno Mars. And don't forget releases like FourFiveSeconds. Joanne was not a musical surprise other than the retro vibes on the record, but should we really attribute that to her genius or to the fact that simply no one else is interested in recording a throwback song with no contemporary merit like Diamond Heart?

Beyoncé was the female pop star who epitomized this new trend by faking this whole "I'm a new, woke self" dynamic with more "authentic" sounding music so she didn't have to compete with her singles on the charts anymore. While other artists couldn't be that free (Gaga etc. still need their singles to do well) basically everyone ran along her trail, whether intentionally or not.

She did some interesting stuff on the album, absolutely. All I'm really trying to say is that musically and visually she was not doing something "different" or "challenging" that sets her apart from her peers. Nor did she write songs that, in my opinion, topped the work in the same vibe she released previously, like Yoü and I and Brown Eyes. So bringing up Joanne's sound and genres, to me personally, is just irrelevant when it comes to discussing her creativity. That's really what my posts are about to summarize them

Yes. She has been more "normal" than ever. But the whole point of this thread was simply that she still has her creativity. Is not like she is a bad artist now or like she is completely lost. Hopefully she uses her creativity more for LG6.