Stupid Love already getting good reviews

[DSK 611]

On 2/28/2020 at 2:49 PM, Vitleysingur said:

Did The Atlantic just wrote a think piece for this? 

CULTURE:  Lady Gaga Is Trying to Bring Desperation Back to Pop

The title of Lady Gaga’s fantastic new single, “Stupid Love,” riffs on a concept she’s sung about many times before. A “stupid love” sounds like it could be a “bad romance,” diseased and vengeful. It might be the fleeting roar of a-p-p-l-a-u-s-e. “All I ever wanted was love,” she now croons, but listeners know that in the past she’s accepted a perfect illusion, a hit of dope, and the kiss of Judas: a love that leaves.

Gaga’s career has, in fact, shown that the best pop can be the neediest kind, the most insistent, and the most superficial. Her early visual aesthetic glinted and changed with the restlessness of a video-slot display, and her whirling synthetic sound matched. It was pop, on some level, about pop, and how its rush resembled and could even replace other sensory rushes. The culture inevitably got a hangover. “We’re far from the shallow now,” Gaga announced on the hit from 2018’s A Star Is Born, culminating her years-long correction into stately jazz, show tunes, and rock.

During that same late-2010s period, the Hot 100 became a zone of hauteur, burnout, and paranoia. To the extent that dance pop has survived, it’s been with post-Chainsmokers divas such as Dua Lipa performing chilly, come-hither coyness. Gaga’s attempts at that sort of affect, as with the 2017 single “The Cure” or the songs of her A Star Is Born character’s sellout phase, rang as parody. She’s just too much of a ham to pull off anything other than big and bold. At some point, she’d either have to retreat from aiming for nightclubs or—as her fans have been rooting for her to do—make a brash last stand for music that interrupts vibe-y playlists rather than fits in with them. So here she is now, red hot and panting, trying to jolt the national mood.

The prismatic arpeggios, assertive kick drum, and wait-is-this-Madonna? chord progression of “Stupid Love” will be called a return to form for Gaga. But the song, the first single off her sixth album, is no mere clone. For the first time in her career, Gaga is working with the superproducer Max Martin, the architect of many of the defining smashes of the past three decades. He’s fallen off a bit with regards to chart success in recent years, and so has Gaga, but their sonic matchup makes a ton of sense: Even if each note feels perfectly calibrated for catchiness, Gaga’s voice is so big and personable that a sense of humanity remains intact. Rather than chasing the operatic chaos of “Bad Romance” or ARTPOP, “Stupid Love” is light, sweet, and orderly, which is to say, it’s ineffably Swedish.

It’s clever, too. The producers BloodPop and Tchami help sprinkle the track with small delights: crunchy keyboards defibrillating the verses, chopped-up vocals looped like a chipper GIF, tearful gospel passages from the church of Annie Lennox. The surest sign that the team wasn’t working on autopilot comes in the bridge, when the song tamps down the energy, builds back up, and then roars into its final chorus—but withholds the big drop by crucial microseconds. It’s a fake-out that tricks the ear every time, as superfans who’ve been giddily listening to the song since it leaked in January can attest.

The video is B-movie camp, with Gaga in pink Barbarella gear (call her Chromatica, the possible name for her forthcoming album), playing peacemaker during a dance battle. Each warrior faction has a color and fashion theme, though in the place of the haute couture of Gaga’s early videos, these outfits looks crafted and Halloween-y. A generous reading would be that she’s trying to convey a more goofy, humble, and authentic kind of romance—do try this at home!—than she once did. Stupid love, the video suggests, is the kind that can heal the world’s fractures. Pop makes such promises all the time; while you’re dancing, you’re not worried whether they’re true.

On point. Loved This

[xoxo Craig 55,649]

4 hours ago, gagzus said:

I’m shocked at how well it’s being received considering it’s like her weakest lead song and it’s just a run of the mill song (that’s not bad I’m still enjoying it). Like even Pitchfork likes it, her Beyoncé era is upon us maybe that means LG6/LG7 will FINALLY give her and 80+ that she deserves on Metacritic 

Nnn this is her strongest lead single ever in my opinion 

[Mister G 10,422]

On 2/28/2020 at 4:07 PM, Kahzandra said:

EDIT: I meant to post this in the "Stupid Love looks cheap" thread but it ended up here

 

Indeed its too obvious the video was intended  to look campy and a little tacky and cheap in fresh way.  I think she and the director definitely drew inspiration from 90s era Power Rangers  aesthetics.

And did anyone else also pick up on the influence from those forgotten late 90s Eurodance videos (which are so iconic and beautifully retro now)

 

DON’T TEASE ME WITH 90’s EURODANCE omg Capella, 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor and Corona 

[YCHofficial 5,293]

wow bless

[Lady K 211]

On 2/28/2020 at 3:10 AM, Jigglygoth said:

This Oscar winning chanteause, will the ACCLAIM ever stop?  

PS: Can y'all stop dragging each other at the expense of Billie Elish? THANKS 

Can everyone just not drag each other?

KINDNESS!

[Lady K 211]

On 2/28/2020 at 7:10 AM, M Monstre said:

As usual, if Monsters hate it, the GP loves it. Y’all put Gaga on such a pedestal that nothing she does will make you think it’s “worthy”. The song is good, the video is good, and it seems like everyone gets that except some of y’all. I can’t wait for this era to continue SERVING!

I've been a fan since before she was famous (as if everyone hasn't said that) but needless to say I haven't LOVED everything but I'm always open to it all and have an appreciation for all of her stuff.  I feel that if you are a true fan you will at least give it a chance and not just dump from one listen.  That and be kind!  

[gagzus 15,862]

35 minutes ago, xoxo Craig said:

Nnn this is her strongest lead single ever in my opinion 

Nah I don’t think so tbh in terms of quality it’s not but the fact it’s getting good reviews purely based on the fact people were HUNGRY for her early pop music to make a revival is good enough for me. For my personal taste though in terms of quality it’s

Born This Way = Bad Romance (interchangeable tbh) > Perfect Illusion  > Just Dance > Applause > Stupid Love

But don’t get me wrong I still love it, Gaga is probably one of the few popstars who have almost entirely at the least good non-single songs she doesn’t have a single bad one imo. She’s not like Katy or Rihanna especially who have amazing singles but then diabolical album tracks

[xoxo Craig 55,649]

2 minutes ago, gagzus said:

Nah I don’t think so tbh in terms of quality it’s not but the fact it’s getting good reviews purely based on the fact people were HUNGRY for her early pop music to make a revival is good enough for me. For my personal taste though in terms of quality it’s

Born This Way = Bad Romance (interchangeable tbh) > Perfect Illusion  > Just Dance > Applause > Stupid Love

But don’t get me wrong I still love it, Gaga is probably one of the few popstars who have almost entirely at the least good non-single songs she doesn’t have a single bad one imo. She’s not like Katy or Rihanna especially who have amazing singles but then diabolical album tracks

 

Each to their own I guess

for me its definitely like...

Stupid Love > Perfect Illusion > Applause > Just Dance > Bad Romance > Born This Way

But I do love them all