Was ARTPOP rushed?

[Smother Em Eh 7,131]

Before I get into this, I want to just say this is not at all a “ Hey lets bash ARTPOP” thread. I love ARTPOP and everything about it, I highly respect it and hey it gets way too much hate anyway so why spread more right? 

So a lot of people have mixed feelings and just flat out dislike ARTPOP for a few reasons. One main reason is the production. A lot of people (including me not gonna lie), are unsatisifed with the management of ARTPOP. 

Some songs on ARTPOP sound quite messy. Aura is a huge example! The intro is gold, but it pretty much goes downhill from there, production wise. It sounds like a whole bunch of beats thrown in together, vocals were tossed in and bammm the song was born. 

So with that said, Was ARTPOP rushed? Do you think it was? Why or why not?

[Mikolaj 11,635]

If she really made a hundred songs for it, I'm not sure we can suspect it to be rushed. It all boiled down to some very wrong decisions which have been talked so much about on this forum already.

Wouldn't rushing an album result in it being underproduced rather than overproduced? 

[gagzus 15,910]

The long answer is; It was made between March 2012 until September/October(?) 2013 so no it wasn't rushed at all. The songs are all different, the production is on point, the mastering is some of her best and the amount of vocal layers in each song that was in-detail recorded and mastered is astounding. The most rushed songs were Venus & J&D we know that for sure sine they were two of the last recorded songs and the longest recorded one was the title track as well as G.U.Y. and Sex Dreams i believe, if it was rushed she'd have made 12-13 almost identical songs with a LOT of filler tracks. Her most rushed albums are The Fame & Joanne but even that's not noticeable.

So the short answer is; No, it's not.

[Hades 27,980]

It's exactly the opposite. You can tell there were some changes on the direction of the record as it's been discussed before. Many tracks are overproduced and they didn't know which tracks to include until last minute. 

[Chris Evans 8,917]

yeah I remember when the deadline came around to submitting the songs everyone was exhausted- probably had to do with mixing. Unlike Joanne where she was almost done by the time PI was released

[AlexanderMagno 10,746]

1 hour ago, Hades said:

It's exactly the opposite. You can tell there were some changes on the direction of the record as it's been discussed before. Many tracks are overproduced and they didn't know which tracks to include until last minute. 

Exactly.

 

Back when it was released, this was hugely discussed. Fans immediately heard how the songs' main problem was that they were so overproduced, to the last detail, that they didn't feel very natural or emotionally appealing. They thought so much about these songs that they became almost too technical. On one hand, in my opinion, that's what makes Do What U Want and Applause the best songs from her career: the production is so incredibly intelligent, you can see how they thought so much about how every sound would fit in the song. But that's the only good thing I guess.

On the other hand, some of the songs are recycled instrumentals, and who knows what we don't know ARTPOP truly is a mystery.

[Lucas 27,061]

It would say opposite, they spent too much time on it. Too much stuff on the album feels overproduced, vocals and instrumentals always have that "too much" thing, which is why I dislike the album.

Can you imagine songs like Aura, Venus, ARTPOP etc if they felt more raw and authentic ? Would be incredible

[Enzo 37,977]

I can't at people saying it was overproduced

If it wasn't "overproduced" the songs will sound like those tragic demos

[whore 11,447]

5 minutes ago, Enzo said:

I can't at people saying it was overproduced

If it wasn't "overproduced" the songs will sound like those tragic demos

Okay but listen to the backing vocals of “Sexxx Dreams” compared to the Swinefest version. The album version lacks emotion, while the premiere is sultry and sexy. Her vocals on “MANiCURE” are too perfect, especially for a rock song. She’s supposed to be raising her voice, not miraculously hitting every note perfectly. “Do What U Want” is an amazing track, but would have been even better if it had that humanistic feel every other R&B song has. 

Its just little things like that that change the album as a whole 

[Cassidyfal 758]

Ya'll are just too picky. Try making a album then say that again. But lol idk ily 

[androiduser 7,438]

I don't think it was rushed at all, I think it was all done like Gaga planned, but the outcome was  not that Gaga had planned

[Enzo 37,977]

Just now, Possibly Maybe said:

Okay but listen to the backing vocals of “Sexxx Dreams” compared to the Swinefest version. The album version lacks emotion, while the premiere is sultry and sexy. Her vocals on “MANiCURE” are too perfect, especially for a rock song. She’s supposed to be raising her voice, not miraculously hitting every note perfectly. “Do What U Want” is an amazing track, but would have been even better if it had that humanistic feel every other R&B song has. 

Its just little things like that that change the album as a whole 

The only song that I could understand is Sexxx Dreams

The SwineFest version is better imo,it feels more raw,primitive,sexy,dirty

 

[Noah 26,941]

1 minute ago, Cassidyfal said:

But lol idk ily 

I am screaming

[gagzus 15,910]

y'all do realise that 98% of the album is ACTUALLY not overproduced though right like in technical standards and not just your personal opinions right? yes you have your opinions on elements you wish weren't there etc but it isn't a fact. Venus and the final version of Sex Dreams are the only actually overproduced songs due to the minor detail of excessive vocal layering and vox effects (especially Venus) and that's it. No song has a forced style by a producer, nothing is excessively edited or quantised, there's not an excessive amount of reverb or stems overpowering other stems really and the mastering between the channels made sure you got the feel of every element (thank you Dave Russell he doesn't get enough credit) 

The best two examples of actual overproduction in her discography are probably surprising to people so lemme put them in a spoiler to avoid arguments.

 

Spoiler

Boys Boys Boys and You & I.

BBB because it has overpowering stems, especially the drums, vox effects in the chorus are done not amazingly and the mastering isnt done correctly so it makes it sound harsh.

Y&I because Mutt Lange is NOTORIOUS for restricting sounds in his production, yes the layering is done well but his interference in the style definitely classifies it officially as being overproduced. The song should've been a Jazz style song imo not a country rock song.

 

[Benji 20,113]

They spent too long on the album.

You can hear in the demos that there were great ideas there but they spent so long on them that they cut out what made the songs interesting.  The finished album isn’t bad but it just sounds flat, dull and lacklustre to me bar a few songs.