Lady Gaga talks BTW sales/tour, defends electronic music

[Miel 15,009]

Adele 2011 was more successful than Gaga 2009.

That being said, it's inevitable than the two will be compared. It's like the Beyonce vs. Ashanti arguments from 2003 or Britney vs. Christina from 1999.

Until Gaga delivers an album that will outdo 21, which probably won't ever happen as long as she does dance music, she will always play second fiddle.

This is the MAIN reason why I said she needs to make an album to appeal to the larger masses. Not even due to the Adele comparisons, but to prove herself as an artist to more people than just the fans.

Define outdo? If you mean by sales, then I'd rather have Gaga moderately successful than to write music JUST to appeal to the larger masses. If by critical success, I personally think BTW, while much more outrageous and over the top and everywhere, is much more mature than 21. BTW reflected both adolescent and adult insecurities, political and social statements, personal family tragedies and love. 21, while still a good album, was mostly heartbreak.

Again, unfair disadvantage.

But then again-

She does need to do some different genres in order to satisfy everyone that lusts to listen to her various talents.

This is why I hope more than anything for ARTPOP to be 2 disc, one upbeat Gaga style, and the other as Acoustics/piano versions. Sometimes I'm not in the mood to listen to TEOG, but if I had a studio version of the piano ballad version that isn't some dodgy live recording, I'd be on it like a car bonnet.

I wouldn't mind acoustic/acoustic based music, at least a bit. I think cohesive diversity would do wonders (kinda getting there with BTW, though a bit messy). I just hope she never sacrifices her writing integrity.

[E24187 615]

Outdo in terms of sales, critical & commercial acclaim and accolades.

In terms of public response, 21 made Born This Way look amateurish. I don't think Adele's intention was to write music solely for the masses to soak up. Most of 21 was her own reflection JUST like Born This Way. Adele just made her story more appealing.

Yall keep acting like Gaga making a commercial album is her "selling out" when most people consider her doing dance/pop music a sell out to begin with.

[Miel 15,009]

Outdo in terms of sales, critical & commercial acclaim and accolades.

In terms of public response, 21 made Born This Way look amateurish. I don't think Adele's intention was to write music solely for the masses to soak up. Most of 21 was her own reflection JUST like Born This Way. Adele just made her story more appealing.

Yall keep acting like Gaga making a commercial album is her "selling out" when most people consider her doing dance/pop music a sell out to begin with.

I don't think doing dance/pop is the sell out point, I think it's when she caters to the masses intentionally. In a sense I know she does now, but it's not like she does just love songs, party songs, etc. That, imo, is the tipping point.

And I think Adele's story is going to be much more appealing because of its high relativity rate, imo. Not bad by any means, I just personally don't like it as a whole.

[exoskeleton123 6]

She does need to do some different genres in order to satisfy everyone that lusts to listen to her various talents.

This is why I hope more than anything for ARTPOP to be 2 disc, one upbeat Gaga style, and the other as Acoustics/piano versions. Sometimes I'm not in the mood to listen to TEOG, but if I had a studio version of the piano ballad version that isn't some dodgy live recording, I'd be on it like a car bonnet.

I think it should all be 1 disc but 14 tracks 4 acoustic/piano ballads the other 10 can be dance tracks

[leoj 2]

Adele's album is an album about heartbreak, and it's been done countless times.. tbh I have never really seen anyone write an album based on the decay of a blonde icon.. if that's what ARTPOP is about.. that topic is just unique.. and innovative.. coming from a pop singer who is supposed to be writing songs about heartbreak.. and dancing in clubs and having s-x.. because the general mass appeals to that.. and don't try to think when it comes to music.. she shouldn't just do acoustic songs to appeal to older audiences.. and she has written countless ballads that are better than most of the stuff that has come out from other singers.. Adele has just become a great overrated giant.. she was almost a no one in the U.S with 19(sure she won some grammies).. they(her label) just marketed and pushed 21 very hard in the U.S.. rolling in the deep didn't smash out the door in the U.S..

[E24187 615]

Alot of people consider dance music to be a sell-out cuz it's trendy. I was slightly disappointed to hear her next record is dance cuz I wanted her to start trends not follow them.

Every artist needs to cater to the masses. That's what makes it popular music. That's not even a bad thing. Where the line gets crossed is when you start showing no artistic growth or poor lyrics.

Nevermind Born This Way not being as successful as 21, I'm a full believer that Born This Way was a step in the right direction. The album highlights are some of the best she's ever recorded.

[Miel 15,009]

Alot of people consider dance music to be a sell-out cuz it's trendy. I was slightly disappointed to hear her next record is dance cuz I wanted her to start trends not follow them.

Every artist needs to cater to the masses. That's what makes it popular music. That's not even a bad thing. Where the line gets crossed is when you start showing no artistic growth or poor lyrics.

Nevermind Born This Way not being as successful as 21, I'm a full believer that Born This Way was a step in the right direction. The album highlights are some of the best she's ever recorded.

Ah, definitely. Also agree on the rest, too. I thought BTW was a good direction in terms of her progression, and still am a bit jaded to hear the next record is heavily dance/electronic. BUT, I'm still very hopeful as there's very good hype about it sounding very new and fresh. I know people still prefer TF/M to BTW, but I think BTW's sound was overall the best of all three, each a stepping stone form the previous. I just hope ARTPOP does the same.

[kupo 201]

Adele 2011 was more successful than Gaga 2009.

That being said, it's inevitable than the two will be compared. It's like the Beyonce vs. Ashanti arguments from 2003 or Britney vs. Christina from 1999.

Until Gaga delivers an album that will outdo 21, which probably won't ever happen as long as she does dance music, she will always play second fiddle.

This is the MAIN reason why I said she needs to make an album to appeal to the larger masses. Not even due to the Adele comparisons, but to prove herself as an artist to more people than just the fans.

Gotta disagree. It's all a matter of perspective. I certainly can't prove anything yet, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Adele herself fails to ever again even come close to the success of 21. We have no idea right now if she'll have staying power. But for the sake of argument, let's go ahead and assume she does...

Critically speaking, 21 got a 76 on metacritic, not much higher than BTW. And lower than The Fame Monster. Not to mention that 19 has a 68 on Metacritic, lower than all three of Gaga's albums. Critically speaking, they're about equals. Adele's commercial success has lead to the media completely distorting how much of a critical darling she is, as well as her acoustic and emotional aesthetic. It's made it very easy for the media to craft a narrative where Adele is the savior of "real" music, and Gaga represents the very apotheosis of the "shallow" pop scene. But it's a narrative of convenience, a fiction, and a lot of critics have spent a lot of time trying to debunk it (take this excellent article for instance: http://www.avclub.co...this-way,58174/ )

And the truth is Gaga and Adele are, critically speaking, relative equals because of two reasons: 1)they both create great music in their genre and 2) (this is the important one) they're both working in the same genre. Adele's blatant heartbroken aesthetic and preference for acoustic instrumentation gives her work a sheen of "importance," but anybody who knows music can recognize that her music is set into the same simple pop structures as Lady Gaga's. Adele does not write complex or deep or structurally challenging music. She just makes pop songs without computers. But again, all discerning critics have recognized that that's neither inherently "better" or "worse." A generally uninformed public feels smarter for listening to Adele, but again, that's because of critical fictions that have been established, not because Adele is actually a more difficult/rigorous/honest musician. (Indeed, BTW is actually, from an intellectual standpoint, a much more difficult and challenging album. That depth just comes hidden behind a barrier of electronic bleeps and bloops that keeps a lot of people from looking for it to begin with. That's their problem, not Gaga's. They hear songs titled Gov't Hooker, and think, "she just sings smut" instead of investigating how this smut operates semiotically.)

And Gaga's not playing second fiddle at all. In fact, that BTW is so widely considered a disappointment after selling 6+ million albums, providing three hit songs, and serving as the foundation for a record breaking tour is a testament to Gaga's indisputable relevance. Adele has no cultural cachet outside her music--she'll go down as a great vocalist and a woman who pushed more albums than people thought possible. But outside of those dialogues, nobody talks about her. Gaga is already a frequent topic at cultural criticism conferences, and is inspiring book length studies and university courses. And that's because she's inspiring all sorts of relevant dialogues: what it means to be a celebrity, the importance/possibilities of social networking, what it means to belong to and build communities, continuing the dialogue on queer theory and radical identity politics, continuing discussions on postmodernism, continuing discussions on feminism and the third-wave, and on and on. Gaga may never sell as many albums as 21 (I doubt she ever will...almost nobody ever will again), but she already is and will remain, artistically, politically, and philosophically a more important and radical figure.

Gaga certainly doesn't need to play into the tastes of the close-minded lowest common denominator to prove her importance or her artistry. It's already proven and verifiable.

[Hypnotico 0]

Bitch I want video screens.

[E24187 615]

Unpopular opinion alert but BTW > TF/M

Aside from the singles, The Fame shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as BTW.

The Fame Monster was a good album VISUALLY. Born This Way had better music imo. I think the issue was that the best songs on BTW > the best songs on TFM, but the worst songs on BTW < the worst songs on TFM.

Instead of moving forward completely, BTW just kinda expanded. Had it been shorter, and with a cleaner production, I think more fans would appreciate BTW.

[Hypnotico 0]

Unpopular opinion alert but BTW > TF/M

Aside from the singles, The Fame shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as BTW.

The Fame Monster was a good album VISUALLY. Born This Way had better music imo. I think the issue was that the best songs on BTW > the best songs on TFM, but the worst songs on BTW < the worst songs on TFM.

Instead of moving forward completely, BTW just kinda expanded. Had it been shorter, and with a cleaner production, I think more fans would appreciate BTW.

Best post of the history of GGD, thank you.

[Unheard Beat 0]

Doesn't anyone else see the irony in wanting to "normalize" the tour by making it so there are no screens for people to see, yet challenges the idea that Electronic music is better than Acoustic? She wanted us to have the love that music can give- she said she wanted all genres to come as one, but isn't this diminishing that by saying one is superior? I respect that she tries to stick outward with the music genres that would be deemed hard to make, but for people to truly come together, you have to speak with what comes best to you. I don't know if Gaga believes Electronic music comes best to her. And if Adele wants to sing acoustically, why not?

[Pop 4,541]

How dare they call Born This Way a disappointment? IT SOLD 8 MILLION COPIES. I can't.

[Miel 15,009]

Unpopular opinion alert but BTW > TF/M

Aside from the singles, The Fame shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as BTW.

The Fame Monster was a good album VISUALLY. Born This Way had better music imo. I think the issue was that the best songs on BTW > the best songs on TFM, but the worst songs on BTW < the worst songs on TFM.

Instead of moving forward completely, BTW just kinda expanded. Had it been shorter, and with a cleaner production, I think more fans would appreciate BTW.

Goh bless, I have to agree. TFM's short+sweet cohesiveness presents better than BTW, but I think BTW has better substance.

[CannaeDrive 3,412]

And Gaga's not playing second fiddle at all. In fact, that BTW is so widely considered a disappointment after selling 6+ million albums, providing three hit songs, and serving as the foundation for a record breaking tour is a testament to Gaga's indisputable relevance. Adele has no cultural cachet outside her music--she'll go down as a great vocalist and a woman who pushed more albums than people thought possible. But outside of those dialogues, nobody talks about her. Gaga is already a frequent topic at cultural criticism conferences, and is inspiring book length studies and university courses. And that's because she's inspiring all sorts of relevant dialogues: what it means to be a celebrity, the importance/possibilities of social networking, what it means to belong to and build communities, continuing the dialogue on queer theory and radical identity politics, continuing discussions on postmodernism, continuing discussions on feminism and the third-wave, and on and on. Gaga may never sell as many albums as 21 (I doubt she ever will...almost nobody ever will again), but she already is and will remain, artistically, politically, and philosophically a more important and radical figure.

Gaga certainly doesn't need to play into the tastes of the close-minded lowest common denominator to prove her importance or her artistry. It's already proven and verifiable.

This. That's the tea. :clap: I will add that if Adele is a great vocalist, Gaga on the other hand is a better singer: range, versatility, subtlety, etc.