A Retrospective Review: Cheek To Cheek

[ActLikeStr8 18]

she can just release joanne included with some jazz tracks instead this cover songs album

[NotMyFlop 1,979]

21 hours ago, Steven said:

I just can't get enough of your reviews. 

Do you want to be tagged? I have five more coming! 

[Miel 15,009]

Just wanted to say that I really love your retrospectives! I don't necessarily agree with everything, but it's so refreshing and stimulating to read your analyses, as they contextualize all of her work in a manner that isn't isolated to just the era, or even the album itself.

Regarding Cheek to Cheek, I really liked your reading of her performative aesthetic for this era- where she could have gone the "authentic" route for the album, she instead dyed her hair black, put on a giant curly black wig, wore some (gorgeous, admittedly) funny outfits, and gave old-school camp.

In a way, it even sets up the argument of authenticity regarding Joanne's persona- it can be seen almost like a visual metaphor of what general consumers perceive as the "authentic era", as opposed to it actually being it.

[steven 5,957]

38 minutes ago, NotMyFlop said:

Do you want to be tagged? I have five more coming! 

Oh yes my dear, that’d be awesome! 

[NotMyFlop 1,979]

12 hours ago, Miel said:

In a way, it even sets up the argument of authenticity regarding Joanne's persona- it can be seen almost like a visual metaphor of what general consumers perceive as the "authentic era", as opposed to it actually being it.

OMG! My review of Joanne tackles this very concept. I won't get too much into here, but I think some of what the album was supposed to be about was lost in translation. It's still a phenomenal album, but I don't think it fits the bill about being a dead aunt. (It comes out within the next few hours!)

[Ziggy 11,835]

I disagree that you the music is difficult to review because they aren’t original. You just review them in the canon of jazz standards. What was done well? What accentuated Gaga’s vocals well? Did they make an interesting arrangement choice that made a certain mood? Was something unexpected (like the inclusion of Nature Boy and Goodie Goodie)?

I think, really, the music is hard to review if you don’t know very much about music. That’s my two cents.

The performative bit I agree a lot with, though. However, I think for Gaga it was much like TF where she wanted to hide during C2C and so she hid in these enormous and ornate costumes that a Vegas lounge act would wear.

[EuphoricVibez 9]

47 minutes ago, NotMyFlop said:

OMG! My review of Joanne tackles this very concept. I won't get too much into here, but I think some of what the album was supposed to be about was lost in translation. It's still a phenomenal album, but I don't think it fits the bill about being a dead aunt. (It comes out within the next few hours!)

Can you tag me on your next post, please?  I love reading these!

[RockShow 579]

I get what you're saying but some points are actually incorrect. Most of the songs are not forgettable, it did chart well and sold a lot of copies and was promoted heavily in comparison to ARTPOP.

[numb the flame 7,321]

This was a really good read, can you please tag me in your Joanne review?

[NotMyFlop 1,979]

20 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

I disagree that you the music is difficult to review because they aren’t original. You just review them in the canon of jazz standards. What was done well? What accentuated Gaga’s vocals well? Did they make an interesting arrangement choice that made a certain mood? Was something unexpected (like the inclusion of Nature Boy and Goodie Goodie)?

I think, really, the music is hard to review if you don’t know very much about music. That’s my two cents.

I understand! I think in more relation to the point of my over-arching essays about her career, this one doesn't really "relate" to her, since she obviously had no involvement in writing them. However, we cannot deny this record didn't impact everything in how she proceeded until Chromatica, if that makes sense. I am also not SUPER educated on the canon of jazz standards, so I also wanted to avoid some ignorance. 

7 minutes ago, RockShow said:

I get what you're saying but some points are actually incorrect. Most of the songs are not forgettable, it did chart well and sold a lot of copies and was promoted heavily in comparison to ARTPOP.

I was honestly unsure if I should include the anecdote about sales, because I ultimately said it proved sales didn't matter for it to be interesting. I believe however it's still her least-selling album, but it's still a really sold amount when you think that it's jazz covers. I will admit, the comparsion of promotion is slightly from an egocentric perspective. I don't remember ever hearing/seeing anything about it, and I have always followed Gaga heavily. I just assumed it's because they knew it couldn't match any pop album. 

[KORG 4,756]

One of my favourite Gaga albums. I've listened to it more than TFM.

[RockShow 579]

18 minutes ago, NotMyFlop said:

I was honestly unsure if I should include the anecdote about sales, because I ultimately said it proved sales didn't matter for it to be interesting. I believe however it's still her least-selling album, but it's still a really sold amount when you think that it's jazz covers. I will admit, the comparsion of promotion is slightly from an egocentric perspective. I don't remember ever hearing/seeing anything about it, and I have always followed Gaga heavily. I just assumed it's because they knew it couldn't match any pop album. 

The album sold the same amount of pure copies as ARTPOP in the United States and sold 1M+ WW. C2C reached #1 on the BB200 and received a lot of promo: many interviews and talk shows appearances, performances, TV specials and music videos.