A (Retrospective) Review: Chromatica

[NotMyFlop 1,979]

"I'll keep looking for Wonderland," soars Lady Gaga within her opening lines of Chromatica, her sixth studio album. At face value, the reference is extremely recognizable; she is falling into the self-described planet of Chromatica. Metaphorically, however, it enhances a notion she has been exploring since 2009 - fame. Chromatica is an intimate look at the psyche of who Lady Gaga has become; deeply complex, tarnished by the wear and tear of fame and immeasurably vulnerable. If her career can be condensed into a singular theme, it's stardom. 

The Fame, as we know, is a deluded commentary of what endures as a celebrity. It's an unrealistic fantasy that refuses to address the monsters that comes with the burden of greatness. The Fame Monster, however, is the ultimate juxtaposition: a reverse expedition on what everything means. Gaga had realized her devil-may-care approach of her previous record was fundamentally false, so she let us stroll in the opposite direction. The darkness is what made Gaga's career move from pop culture sensation to something much more palpable; it's the same darkness that Chromatica stems its inspiration from. 

911, a song about taking an antipsychotic medicine, is one offering from Chromatica that is a hyper-specific to Lady Gaga. "This is biological stasis. My mood's shifting to manic places. Wish I laughed and kept the good friendships," her manipulated voice cooly says in the first verse. Because of this, she needs to "pop a 911." The closest song on The Fame Monster to mirroring this is So Happy I Could Die - a song roughly about the fear of substance abuse. As the latter album has aged 10 years, the vagueness is increasingly becoming its biggest weakness. The lyrics, at casual listen, could be about a friendship. There is no denying what 911 is about. It's in-your-face because it needs to be. 

The Fame Monster, unlike Chromatica, operates on an abstract level; these songs, or manifestations of her fears, are not allowed to be specific because they carry the responsibility of being a social commentary on fame, to keep the thematic cohesion from The Fame. Lady Gaga was too new onto the scene to project her specific pains onto the world. In 2020, after a boisterous career re-peak, we care about what she has to say. Chromatica never shies away from what is the driving force for all of her raging battles; it's the fame. On 911, even, she muses "Holdin' on so tight to this status. It's not real, but I'll try to grab it," she still wants her dream from 2008, but her dream is also the thing that is tearing her apart. 

Gaga's "Wonderland" metaphor than becomes something much more sinister. In the famous cartoon "Alice In Wonderland," the titular character falls into a world where common rules and customs are Earth and forgoed. It operates on an entirely different plane. In her GagaVision #47, she discusses heavily how Chromatica is driven by the kindness punks and the idea of peace within tribes. There are complications, as we see in the Stupid Love music video, but the concept is very sweet. It also works (as The Fame Monster does) as a particular social commentary. In her home country, ravaged with COVID-19, a historically unpopular President, years-long protests, her "Wonderland" must mean that kindness is not a driving force here. Since Chromatica is more specific to Lady Gaga, it must be taken a step further and realizing that her "Wonderland" is still the idea that she can have a traditional, easy-go-lucky, romanticized vision of fame as she bolstered in The Fame. 

Chromatica, in turn, is a world where she can achieve that sort of self-peace with her actual situation. It's an album full of self-exploration so she is a changed person at the end of the record. It's a beautifully clever narrative, and one that ties to her records beyond The Fame and The Fame Monster. In the closing moments of Chromatica, we hear Babylon. It's a record about the power of gossip, and how it stems back to the earliest times. It's full of biblical references and also showcases an acceptance that gossiping is a universal truth. In her real life, gossip has also been the backbone of her career: she had a penis, her lost engagements and never ending comparisons to Madonna are just as crucial in her career as her albums. It could be why Babylon sounds exactly like a circa Madonna song; it's a self-serving meta narrative that is immensely clever. 

It also becomes an extremely empowering song, if you have been following Gaga for years. The gossip that sensationalized itself during her infamous ARTPOP era had quite literally destroyed her career. On Joanne, she uses songs Perfect Illusion and Million Reasons as vehicles to explore how it has affected her, the latter songs saying she wanted to "let you go" and "quit the show", indirectly referencing her fame. On Perfect Illusion, a song that could easily read about a former lover, easily translates to a double entendre about how her fans abandoned her during the ARTPOP era. What makes Babylon so brilliant is that it's not specific. In fact, it's the least specific song on Chromatica. It helps build the theme that this gossip doesn't matter; Lady Gaga is confident enough to follow her own path now and do it however she feels and no one can say anything that can stop her. 

Releasing Chromatica, a pure pop record, comes after a six year stint of a reputation-rebranding. By flaunting her genre-fluidity by delving into jazz, metal, soul, rock and a host of other genres (mainly through collaborations), she was able to build the respect she lost during ARTPOP, and arguably never had prior to that. As a woman who professed to the world she wanted to be seen as an artist, this was the best way to do that. Of course, this peaked during A Star Is Born, when she became the all-American woman. 

For everything above, it explicitly and subconsciously makes Chromatica such a fantastic effort because it combines all of those elements of previous albums and makes it work. As referenced above, it draws its greatest inspiration from her first two albums. Chromatica is the third act in that trilogy; something ARTPOP wanted to be. Where The Fame represents her clichéd dream,The Fame Monster  represents her fears, and Chromatica showcases how both her dreams and fears have affected her. 

There is no more perfect example of that fusion than in Plastic Doll. The abstraction that female celebrities are objectified and fit into a box (ala Barbie) is utterly cliché; it's such a paper-thin idea that comes with stardom, which makes it something she could have easily explored in The Fame. Since the song talks about her pain, you realize that was a fear that has come true. "Don't play with me! It just hurts me," she screams in the chorus. It's something (a fear) that has manifested itself and is affecting her. It's a fear that would've fit into The Fame Monster, but this more emotional approach makes it perfect for Chromatica. Even more sinister, is the layers of vocal effects - does it represent that she doesn't feel she has a voice? If you look at the album from beginning to end, you realize there is tons of vocal editing. Interestingly enough, as it goes on, there becomes less and less in each song. A subtle narrative that she is finding a voice in "Wonderland" is deeply inspiring, meaning that she has been able to take her dreams and fears and overcome them, something she couldn't have done on The Fame or The Fame Monster. 

Born This Way, ARTPOP and Joanne are oft-discussed by their central weaknesses: being overstuffed, conceptually incoherent and pathos lost in translation respectively. With 16 tracks (13 without interludes), Chromatica is her shortest album to date at 43 minutes. It could've been a streaming move, sure, but in reality it works so well because there isn't a second that isn't maximized effectively. To argue anything is overstuffed would be lying. There are songs that are not fully-realized (Sour Candy), but it's forgivable because it fixes the ultimate Lady Gaga weakness: cohesion. Chromatica is relentlessly cohesive compared to all of her previous efforts. You can breeze through the album beginning to end and not think anything of it, where her other efforts can feel like a chore to listen to. Take, Born This Way for example, which has one additional song (technically four) and gives us an additional 31 minutes. With so many sonic detours in that album, it's hard to really get through. 

Chromatica was once described as "ARTPOP's little sister," and it's easy to see why: the thumping bassline and boosted energy (with elements of electronic music littered throughout) this is most sonically similar to ARTPOP. ARTPOP was supposed to explore how fame was affecting her in a "reverse warholian" adventure; which famously backfired and was lost in total translation. Chromatica fixes this, however, because the music is much easier to understand. Despite having a "planet" concept, Alice introduces this rather cleverly. While there is no song that explicitly shows her "exit" from the planet, there doesn't need to be because the Wonderland metaphor showcases how this planet is just a fantasy of Gaga's. 

Joanne, on the other hand, was praised for so much but confused fans alike by how "authentic" it was. An albums whose pathos were built around generational trauma in a family should not include songs about masturbation. In short, the album just seemed more oddly performative than anything of substance. Chromatica showcases yet another lesson Gaga has learned from her stint in solo albums and offers nothing that gets lost in translation. Chromatica is definitively her most personal album. 

This all seems to beg the question: is Chromatica her best record? On the whole, it very much is: it's Gaga after a decade of learning. It's a sonic tour-de-force an embodies everything she has built during her career. While none of these songs are her best, emotional or memorable, compared to the rest of her discography, it arguably is done by design. Chromatica is a singular idea, and should be viewed as such. 

Chromatica tells a layered story, both explicitly in songs and abstractly in production choices. "I'd rather be drunk, but at least I'm alive," some argue to hear on Rain On Me. It's one example (of several) of misheard lyrics on the album. Hearing these lyrics tweaks the meaning of the songs ever-so-slightly that makes them much more compelling narratively. This was practically confirmed in the Zane Lowe interview to be intentional as Lady Gaga discusses how Rain On Me could be a double entendre about drinking. In Replay, the official lyric is "damage is done," but some hear "that bitch is done," which then begs the question: is the person (or thing) torturing her close to killing her? 

From her dreams, her fears and everything else in between, Chromatica is the artistic liberation of Lady Gaga. It's a freedom in her music she has chased or built up to. It proves, as she aptly puts, that she is an enigma. She is an artist you can never pigeonhole or expect to follow the rules. While Chromatica is being celebrated around the world, and selling impressively all things considered, it proves she has earned her place in pop music legend. Her career path is unique and will likely never be replicated again, and that is for the best. If she has finished a decade-long experience exploring the central conceit of fame, there is one last question to ask: What is coming next...? 

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Thank you SO much for reading!  These reviews have been so fun to write, and I have always loved the constructive conversations that have surrounded them. If you are reading this and Chromatica is your first review, feel free to go back and read the others in my "Retrospective Series: The Fame, The Fame Monster, Born This Way, The Fall Before ARTPOP, ARTPOP, Cheek to Cheek, Joanne, A Star Is Born and Enigma." 

 

[numb the flame 7,321]

commenting so I can read this later!

[NotMyFlop 1,979]

@pop ate my heart, @Salvador Sequea, @Alex Spade, @ARTGOD, @Thomas P, @Quartz, @Esme Squalor, @GreenDiamond, @PrincessDiez, @DiamondAngel, @GGVS, @Steven, @EuphoricVibez, @spamuelbtanner & @MOT.

Thank you all so much for following my series.  I am really proud of this one, and I hope you all love it as much as I do. I really think it encapsulates everything I have been saying in all these reviews. I cannot say it enough now appreciate how much kindness you have shown me. 

If you ever wanna reach out to me, feel free! I always need new GGD friends and I am always too shy to reach out myself.  I also love writing, so if you ever want me to write about something on here... I am open to that as well. 

[NotMyFlop 1,979]

2 minutes ago, spamuelbtanner said:

commenting so I can read this later!

A bit powerful you commented before I tagged you. 

[numb the flame 7,321]

2 minutes ago, NotMyFlop said:

A bit powerful you commented before I tagged you. 

What can I say, I always look forward to seeing these threads so when I see them I hop straight on it!

[HorusRa2 5,005]

Not only did I love this interview, it kind of validated how I've felt about Chromatica in general. I really do think it is her best records for all of the reasons you mentioned. It's hard to say that as a fan who holds onto the nostalgia of Bad Romance as well as Born This Way the album & honestly I think that some fans hold her older works high on a pedestal to the point that nothing she does lives up to their expectations. 

I guarantee that if she had released this in 2011 instead of Born This Way, we as a fanbase would have claimed none of her future work compared to Chromatica. I will say that in the context of her discography as a whole that in 30 years one of the albums people remember of Gaga's will be this one (probably also Born This Way).

[FfFfFfFF 54,893]

Joanne, on the other hand, was praised for so much but confused fans alike by how "authentic" it was. An albums whose pathos were built around generational trauma in a family should not include songs about masturbation. In short, the album just seemed more oddly performative than anything of substance. Chromatica showcases yet another lesson Gaga has learned from her stint in solo albums and offers nothing that gets lost in translation. 

A really great point here!

[steven 5,841]

Oh God, I'm going to miss your reviews, this one's my favorite.  I believe Gaga will take a break from music after Chromatica and focus on acting in movies in the coming years. This is the impression that I get from reading your essay, I feel like Chromatica is a closure of the first big chapter of her life. 

[MOT 2,921]

First of all, thanks and congratulations once again on a fine piece of work.

I agree 100% that Chromatica is an album that you have no problem playing right through. It's short of course, which is a help in that regard, but it is also very much of a piece, more so than most albums, not just Gaga albums.

The tracks run into each other, abrupt endings then straight in. You are not given a chance to leave. Is this symphony number 1 rather than album number 6 ?

I love also the way that the SL video, with its riot of colour, fixed an idea in people's minds of what the album would be like (well my mind anyway), and I think it then lived up to that.

Long term, I see myself referencing and playing the album as a whole rather than any particular tracks.

 

 

[ARTGOD 3,266]

Very beautifully written .

This whole series is one of the most thoughtful and well written things I’ve seen on this website.

The way you basically elucidated the entire narrative of her career is commendable.

I have a more negative opinion of Chromatica and I think it was only a half-success, though I don’t think people wanna hear my negativity yet again lol .

I look forward to whatever you choose to write next .

[NotMyFlop 1,979]

2 hours ago, HorusRa2 said:

I think that some fans hold her older works high on a pedestal to the point that nothing she does lives up to their expectations. 

I guarantee that if she had released this in 2011 instead of Born This Way, we as a fanbase would have claimed none of her future work compared to Chromatica. I will say that in the context of her discography as a whole that in 30 years one of the albums people remember of Gaga's will be this one (probably also Born This Way).

Yes! I do this with The Fame Monster, so I struggled to even validate that Chromatica could be her best. It's hard to dissolve nostalgia and the youthfulness her older albums have on "veteran monsters". I think her signature records will be The Fame, A Star Is Born and potentially Chromatica. I think the messy rollout will cause it to lose momentum in pop culture, unfortunately. 

1 hour ago, Steven said:

Oh God, I'm going to miss your reviews, this one's my favorite.  I believe Gaga will take a break from music after Chromatica and focus on acting in movies in the coming years. This is the impression that I get from reading your essay, I feel like Chromatica is a closure of the first big chapter of her life. 

Thank you!  I could really seeing that be the case too. I know some people despise this, but I honestly think she'd be much better by releasing singles or mini-EPs from now on. It can help showcase her style without the pressure of what an album brings. We could really get some interesting material and collaborations from her because of this. (EX: The rumored MetalliGa collab would be such a serve as a mini-EP, but would never work as a whole era). She can focus on acting, too, which gives her much more artistic freedom. This is my favorite review, too, but I think it's because I wrote alot of this before realizing it was very complex, so I went back to dissect the several ideas I pounce on here without having to overexplain. 

1 hour ago, MOT said:

First of all, thanks and congratulations once again on a fine piece of work.

The tracks run into each other, abrupt endings then straight in. You are not given a chance to leave. Is this symphony number 1 rather than album number 6 ?

I love also the way that the SL video, with its riot of colour, fixed an idea in people's minds of what the album would be like (well my mind anyway), and I think it then lived up to that.

Thank you.  I would love if she worked on shorter, more cohesive pieces like this. She has so many creative ideas, kind of how I mentioned above. I will say Stupid Love, in my opinion, was misleading. It's a very colorful world, but the rest of the album has a much darker side. It's pop-infusions do play into the color idea presented in Stupid Love, but this album is much sadder than I expected. 

1 hour ago, ARTGOD said:

Very beautifully written .

This whole series is one of the most thoughtful and well written things I’ve seen on this website.

The way you basically elucidated the entire narrative of her career is commendable.

I have a more negative opinion of Chromatica and I think it was only a half-success, though I don’t think people wanna hear my negativity yet again lol .

I look forward to whatever you choose to write next .

Thank you!  I am really proud of this and I hope my perspective helped people form their own opinions. I am curious about your negative opinion(s) though; they hold just as much value as positive ones! 

[HorusRa2 5,005]

15 minutes ago, NotMyFlop said:

. I think the messy rollout will cause it to lose momentum in pop culture, unfortunately. 

I actually think it will be remembered as one of the only good things to come out of 2020 and in spite of the messy rollout. We will definitely find out! 

[veeen8 20]

Totally agree with your review, your analysis on the metaphors. This is definitely one of her most honest and personal album yet — Joanne doesn't even come close.

As much as I loved The Fame Monster/Born This Way, Chromatica tells us more about her as an artist than any of those albums combined. And its been a side of her that we've been dying to see.

Treasure this era, folks! We'll never get another Chromatica again.

[Salvador Sequea 813]

Tell you, you need to come up with a blog of your own 

Yes! I do believe Chromatica somehow sounds much more personal than Joanne, because we find Gaga swiming into familiar waters in Chromatica, whereas Joanne felt much more like a "costume".

In fact, she used to said this during the ARTPOP era, that she used this crazy outfits to hide herself from the world, so she could "overcome her pain". Basically playing a different character for the day, "with every different wig" she used. 

But now it's like she doesn't care about running away from her pain anymore. She learned to face it and accept it, that's the real way you overcome pain and I'm just so glad for her.

I do see her taking a break from music, but she's always unpredictable so who knows 

[NotMyFlop 1,979]

18 hours ago, veeen8 said:

Totally agree with your review, your analysis on the metaphors. This is definitely one of her most honest and personal album yet — Joanne doesn't even come close.

As much as I loved The Fame Monster/Born This Way, Chromatica tells us more about her as an artist than any of those albums combined. And its been a side of her that we've been dying to see.

When I saw the Joanne World Tour, she strutted on the stage and said "It has been said," conveniently not mentioning she said this, "that Joanne is my most personal album. I think my fans know better." And it really just proved to me how performative some of the album was. It doesn't make it bad, but just doesn't make it authentic. 

14 hours ago, Salvador Sequea said:

Tell you, you need to come up with a blog of your own 

But now it's like she doesn't care about running away from her pain anymore. She learned to face it and accept it, that's the real way you overcome pain and I'm just so glad for her.

I do see her taking a break from music, but she's always unpredictable so who knows 

Thank you, as always  I really like that point. I think the "planetary" concept, while executed well, still show how she is never willing to drop everything entirely. I think her love for campiness will always stick around. 

I just hope any "break" is unconventional. I don't think every album needs a whole promotional cycle, a tour, etc. I wish more major artists released more low-key albums for just their fans.