Can Gaga really afford to make another non-pop album?

[SolidSnake 2,804]

4 hours ago, Princess Stache said:

*Long response ahead, worth reading tho*

Well first, Gaga is always experimenting in her music.  No one was doing Glam Rock in 2008, she took a 100 year old violin sample and made it into a massive pop song (Alejandro), No one was experimenting with 80s sounds in their music (Dance in the Dark, Monster, Most of Born this Way). No one in pop was doing country in 2016 until she did.  The question is, will she experiment in the right direction?  She can't go back to doing music like The Fame Monster and Born this Way, just like she can't go back to doing music like ARTPOP and Joanne.  Gaga is constantly evolving, and we're going to get something we've never seen from her before.  Gaga always differentiates herself from era to era, and Gaga NEVER plays it safe.  Whether she was releasing Just Dance, Bad Romance, Applause, Million Reasons, Perfect Illusion, Judas, The Edge of Glory, or Born This Way she was ALWAYS taking a risk.  The amount of payoff from the risk always varies.  From this next era we can expect something COMPLETELY different from Gaga, as we always get, and maybe we will get a HUGE payoff from whatever musical risks she takes.

Now this is where I take issue. Lots of my Trademark "boldface" ahead

Boldface #1: Neither was she lmao. Dressing up in silly outfits and putting a lightning bolt on your face doesnt mean you are Glam Rock. Its a specific sound.

Boldface #2: This point just isnt true. 80s music was very big then and still is. Its probably the most popular decade in pop music for a reason.

Boldface #3: One could argue Taylor Swift, and one could definitely argue Darrius Rucker made the change first back in like 09. 

Boldface #4: I would argue that while she does like to experiment with sounds from time to time she plays it TOO safe a lot of the time. Too afraid to fully break through the pop girl barrier that is holding her back. Even the supposed country album Joanne had a lot of pop on it. 



 

[Raccoon 1,047]

As long as it's not an album full of The Cure, she can do whatever she wants 

[MMXIX 51]

I'm still waiting for that mega rock album she's been threatening us with. MY BODY IS READY

[Seeka 12,372]

I hope the rest of her career is filled with non-pop music and we lose all the ungrateful little sh!ts only obsessed with "hits" annd dancing.

[Bradley 59,053]

15 hours ago, MaryJaneHolland said:

Of course she can. She's a rich bitch, she's the upper class 

But, don't expect big tours and videos then 

If Katy Perry can tour in Asia, South America and South Africa, I don't see why Gaga can't. Katy has yet to do stadiums if I'm correct whereas Gaga has.

Gaga can easily sell out any continents she visits.

[DonnieDarko 10,186]

Neither ARTPOP nor Joanne were "experimental" and both were mainstream (and amazing). Having said that Gaga can do and record whatever she wants at that point.

[AndyGa 322]

8 hours ago, Ziggy said:

Who tf have C2C bad reviews? If anything I think that got the most glowing reviews of her career hahaha the coming up short with ARTPOP had nothing to do with content and I think we can all agree with that. People were sick of her and it was very poorly managed. She had been a bright, polarizing star for a few years but other celebrities were also upping their game or entering it while Gaga had become old news (and she herself was a little burnt out). It’s not so simple as just the music itself otherwise there’d be no need for the label to pay millions for managing the business side of things.

And no, TF and TFM were by no means experimental in any way, shape or form. They are great albums, but there’s nothing remotely experimental about that material. I think she started edging that way more with BTW (where I think she took herself the most seriously, actually, she was just kind of done during AP) and ARTPOP. Her vocal cuts got weirder, her lyrics less easily digestible, productions more complex (and less digestible), etc. Now, I know you are saying you want something that’ll go down easily and that’s fine but you won’t find that in experimental material even “within limits” because by nature it is meant to push boundaries and be far out there where her earlier material was very much not. It was maybe not trendy at first but it was by no means experimental. TF was 80s pop, essentially, and TFM was europop with a little dark flair to it (sans Teeth which I would say is more old school soul influenced pop at least in the construction of the song).

 

With regards to her doing other genres...well, idk what to tell you lol she does what she does and if the past couple of years are anything to go by she’ll continue doing so. Now she’s becoming known for musical versatility so she actually has more freedom to flex her muscles a bit within the pop realm. But as we’ve seen the past week or so, she is working on both a pop and non-pop project so she knows she needs to serve things for everyone. I wouldn’t be too concerned, but just let people like what they like if you don’t want to be lambasted for liking PopGa.

 Yes TFM and BTW were not experimental and that's why she was the biggest artist in the world and that's why it would be better to create something fun spectacular like those albums that's gonna be well received by the fans , critics and GP that's what I was saying. She experienced a lot with other genres and stuff like that and that's why her career won't bear more it's more about wanting my idol to succeed more than what I like. And ofc the music itself has to do with the GP and fans reception. There are artists like Rihanna that you can't just avoid her and she never takes a break yet people never get tired of her. But when Gaga goes from Born This Way and Hair and The Edge of Glory to Donatella , Fashion! and Manicure that's mostly why the era was negatively received and flopped and I was saying experimental music got negative reviews meaning that era not C2C. C2C , the Oscars , Joanne , SB , Coachella while all were hugely successful and iconic were all a healing process for her mentality and reputation after ARTPOP aka her most experimental era. What's the point of building a huge reputation and making everybody love you and then release experimental music where people will call it wack or desperate again ? So that's why I think and wish that the coming album would be POP and the Gaga will get out again and I think she knows all that and that's what in her mind for LG6 aside from any other collabs or soundtracks that won't matter that much as the main album. Then she can experiment all what she wants.

[DonnieDarko 10,186]

14 hours ago, ChavaWM said:

BTW is super experimental and has a bit of RockGa so idk why I keep reading that BTW is solely pop. It is her best record tho. 

BTW is not experimental. As someone pointed out, ARTPOP was the closest to being that but it also wasn't really experimental.

[MaryJaneHolland 77,348]

1 hour ago, Bradley said:

If Katy Perry can tour in Asia, South America and South Africa, I don't see why Gaga can't. Katy has yet to do stadiums if I'm correct whereas Gaga has.

Gaga can easily sell out any continents she visits.

I was talking production-wise.

But what you said is still kinda incorrect. No need to act like Gaga has had a stadium tour or smth, she has had like 15-20 stadium dates throughout her whole career  And I'm not sure how easily she can sell out in Europe. Especially after the cancellation this year.

[Phoebe Buffay 12,525]

18 minutes ago, MaryJaneHolland said:

I was talking production-wise.

But what you said is still kinda incorrect. No need to act like Gaga has had a stadium tour or smth, she has had like 15-20 stadium dates throughout her whole career  And I'm not sure how easily she can sell out in Europe. Especially after the cancellation this year.

She's played in over 40 stadiums or parks bish. Don't underestimate the power of Gaga. 

[Lord Temptation 11,209]

Of course she can. She’s THAT bitch 

She doesn’t need to change the game all the time. Everything released so far has been going against the tide of what is deemed popular. But who knows with Gaga. 

She loves surprising us 

[Ziggy 11,798]

1 hour ago, AndyGa said:

 Yes TFM and BTW were not experimental and that's why she was the biggest artist in the world and that's why it would be better to create something fun spectacular like those albums that's gonna be well received by the fans , critics and GP that's what I was saying. She experienced a lot with other genres and stuff like that and that's why her career won't bear more it's more about wanting my idol to succeed more than what I like. And ofc the music itself has to do with the GP and fans reception. There are artists like Rihanna that you can't just avoid her and she never takes a break yet people never get tired of her. But when Gaga goes from Born This Way and Hair and The Edge of Glory to Donatella , Fashion! and Manicure that's mostly why the era was negatively received and flopped and I was saying experimental music got negative reviews meaning that era not C2C. C2C , the Oscars , Joanne , SB , Coachella while all were hugely successful and iconic were all a healing process for her mentality and reputation after ARTPOP aka her most experimental era. What's the point of building a huge reputation and making everybody love you and then release experimental music where people will call it wack or desperate again ? So that's why I think and wish that the coming album would be POP and the Gaga will get out again and I think she knows all that and that's what in her mind for LG6 aside from any other collabs or soundtracks that won't matter that much as the main album. Then she can experiment all what she wants.

Oh okay, I see what you’re saying now. Idk I think she could still dabble in things and innovate and find success. ARTPOP’s problem was less about content and more about 1) trend-wise, it was late to the game 2) BTW really exhausted interest in Gaga as a brand and it didn’t help that Gaga seemed largely disinterested and burnt out by the time ARTPOP dropped. She herself was in a different headspace than the album she had created. Then on a content level it was very loud and abrasive, but I think like all of her music some liked it and some didn’t. Honestly, BTW and the heavy promo around that did more to burn interest in her than ARTPOP. People were already done by then but liked the sound for the most part. DWUW was very well received and Applause was a #4 hit. That’s nothing to shake your stick at.

 

The difference between Gaga and the other major pop stars, though, is that the other stars had slower rises to fame and became global acts over time. Gaga EXPLODED globally and had to orient herself with that much faster. So it’s not a totally fair comparison between, say, Rihanna or Katy or even Beyoncé and Gaga because the former three had much slower, sustained rises. Even still, Beyoncé, and I think she’s great, is not really a global act in the truest sense. A western one, but not global. Gaga, on the other hand, is and so she has to balance a lot more. Think about it, she went from 2 years before touring tiny theaters singing for, maybe 1000 some odd people to selling out global stadiums on the BTWB tour. It started in Korea ffs. That’s bonkers. So I think comparison to really any other act isn’t totally fair as from a market sense, Gaga is an anomaly. 

[AndyGa 322]

51 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

Oh okay, I see what you’re saying now. Idk I think she could still dabble in things and innovate and find success. ARTPOP’s problem was less about content and more about 1) trend-wise, it was late to the game 2) BTW really exhausted interest in Gaga as a brand and it didn’t help that Gaga seemed largely disinterested and burnt out by the time ARTPOP dropped. She herself was in a different headspace than the album she had created. Then on a content level it was very loud and abrasive, but I think like all of her music some liked it and some didn’t. Honestly, BTW and the heavy promo around that did more to burn interest in her than ARTPOP. People were already done by then but liked the sound for the most part. DWUW was very well received and Applause was a #4 hit. That’s nothing to shake your stick at.

 

The difference between Gaga and the other major pop stars, though, is that the other stars had slower rises to fame and became global acts over time. Gaga EXPLODED globally and had to orient herself with that much faster. So it’s not a totally fair comparison between, say, Rihanna or Katy or even Beyoncé and Gaga because the former three had much slower, sustained rises. Even still, Beyoncé, and I think she’s great, is not really a global act in the truest sense. A western one, but not global. Gaga, on the other hand, is and so she has to balance a lot more. Think about it, she went from 2 years before touring tiny theaters singing for, maybe 1000 some odd people to selling out global stadiums on the BTWB tour. It started in Korea ffs. That’s bonkers. So I think comparison to really any other act isn’t totally fair as from a market sense, Gaga is an anomaly. 

Actually she's a global act not only western she's known here every where in the Middle East she's just not as successful or waiting to rise again just like her current state WW. And I think you're right about BTW burning ARTPOP a bit but the music itself was let's say not on the level of her previous efforts ... at all. That's why it's time for her to go big again and for fans wanting her to experiment more... she already experimented a lot with different genres for Jazz to EDM to the folky country rockish influenced Joanne. It's time now for her to do what she's best at and let's be real it's POP music.

[MaryJaneHolland 77,348]

1 hour ago, EvilRegal said:

She's played in over 40 stadiums or parks bish. Don't underestimate the power of Gaga. 

Cool, but Monsters need to stop like she's some stadium touring force (which she could become, but with Vegas...) 

[WildAmerican 13,672]

Pop is pretty much over, and I think you mean can Gaga afford another "Non-Commerical" album. and the answer is no. She needs another hit era to stay relevant in the long, and that's the truth.