Your Chromatica First Listen Feels - Reminisce and Share!

[GerMonsterNotta 1,439]

So we've had the album for a couple of weeks, and I'm still loving it ..... 

Whilst the memories are so still fresh, summarise and share what some of your Chromatica first-feels were on that very first listen......

For me:
Rain on Me:
"Dang ... this dreamy intro is.... beautiful..... *chorus hits me -> tears* "

The first listen of Sine From Above, the drops had me like:



Honourable mention:

Free Woman...Leaked house demo version.... the stuttered I want t-to b-b-b-be free-ee-ee-ee forever, baby......
"SHES BACK SHES REALLY COMING BACK!!!" ... (still a bit sad this did not make it, as its such a vintage Gaga throwback but nvm )

 

[HausOfAntonio 8,021]

My soul left my body during the Sine outro. 
 

Career highlight. 

[Luke78619 23,327]

I don’t wanna describe in depth because yall love to hate on anyone with different opinions  but on my first listen I found the album to be underwhelming and every time I heard a new track I thought it sounded like the previous track

but after listening on shuffle I liked the album 1000x more and now I listen and bop daily 

[REALITY 76,540]

This was my initial review of Chromatica. God, this was only like 2 weeks ago, but I miss being able to listen to the songs for the first time. A lot of my opinions are the same, but I have shifted on which songs I like over others. For example, 911, 1000 Doves, and Free Woman grew on me the most, while songs like Alice and Enigma faded a little. I still love them! Let me make that clear. But I don't love them as much as I did on the first listen.

 

[MelbHawker 6,583]

The transition between Chromatica 2 & 911 is the thing that slayed me the most.

& the entirety of Sine From Above. 

[AsleepOnTheCeiling 6,395]

After listening to Alice I was so disappointed. Not because it's a bad track, but because a song based on Wonderland with historically trippy visuals sounded a bit too "regular". Afterwards I had trouble liking a lot of the tracks, though Chromatica 2 transitioning to 911 actually made my jaw drop. 911 kind of disappointed me too because the track talks about drugs/medication and I was just expecting deeper lyrical content than what was presented. Around Replay I started to feel better about the album, though Babylon initially also disappointed me because it was a bit more tame in regards to the electronic element I was expecting. 

I do want to add that the more I listened to the album the more I began to like each track. Replay remains my favorite track (though it reminds me of the Ben 10 theme). I really could listen to the whole album without skipping any tracks on occasion, though most of the time SL and Plastic Doll aren't for me. And I also understand how the changes to Babylon helped make it more cohesive to the entire experience and I like how it sounds like a celebratory ending. 

[SHALLOW 16,386]

meh

i expected a lot from Plastic doll and fun tonight so i played them first and i was like "where are the bops? i'm not really liking this" and then the other songs were a little better but still not as boppy as i wanted but most of the album has grown on me now 

[SHALLOW 16,386]

18 minutes ago, Luke78619 said:

I don’t wanna describe in depth because yall love to hate on anyone with different opinions  but on my first listen I found the album to be underwhelming and every time I heard a new track I thought it sounded like the previous track

but after listening on shuffle I liked the album 1000x more and now I listen and bop daily 

Same 

[Aga Gydal 3,158]

These were my first impressions of each track:

Alice - The melancholy mixed with that irresistible dance groove reminded me a lot of The Fame Monster. The simple message combined with the obvious callbacks to past Gaga memories ("ma-ma-ma," "free my mind", the robot vocals, etc.) told me exactly where this album was going.

Free Woman - I was listening mainly for what changes were made from the demo. My first impression was that it chilled out, and took out that silly Fame-era bridge that I liked so much, but I liked that it was so cleaned up. After Alice and Rain On Me, it didn't feel like a moment, but I blame the leak for that.

Fun Tonight - It made me cry. I felt like the title was a fake-out coz I was expecting this big banger, but instead it's this earnest cry for freedom and needing to be understood. It was the major "moment" from Act I to me.

911 - That transition blasted me into space so much I had to start Chromatica II over. This felt like an epic left turn sonically and I knew we were in for some deeper grooves with Act II. Was not expecting this sinister robotic vocal, and it definitely made the biggest impression so far.

Plastic Doll - Major The Fame vibes. I wasn't really feeling the verses as they were giving me like Katy Perry level precision in the lyrics, and the bridge felt like a "Lucky" callback. The chorus however blew my socks off, and definitely elevated the song for me. I was expecting a more sinister moment but instead we got this sweet and kinda classic pop song. 

Enigma - I went in expecting Swine, but instead got like 90s diva rock. The drop was way chiller than I wanted, but her vocals were out of control. Enigma was definitely furthest from my expectations going in.

Replay - Another song that was nothing like what I expected. I was pretty confident from the "grave" lyrics that this was going to be a ballad, but instead it's the clearest callback to classic dance Gaga yet. I didn't connect with this too much as she sounded exactly like Miley Cyrus in the first verse, and its hooks are just less obvious than previous tracks.

Sine From Above - Yet another song that ended up dancier than I expected. Gaga and Elton's vocals were amazing, and the hooks were clear as day. The drops though... I felt like I was in a Mykonos circuit party in 2012. I'm not sure why it sounds so familiar (or I guess, overdone) but I was getting major uncanny valley from that.

1000 Doves - Sine felt like a palette cleanser thematically, so 1000 Doves felt a bit derivative coz it followed the same beat drop format of Sine but didn't shine as bright overall. I immediately felt like this was going to be a grower.

Babylon - I was so blown away by this. I know it's a great Gaga song when I'm immediately transported somewhere, and I felt like I was in that bar scene in Star Wars episode 4, but it's a gay club in 90's Harlem and all the aliens are voguing around the bar. The steady build with the chorus backup singers is so genius that I was crying by the second to last chorus. Definite album MVP for me.

[waterlikemisery 1,008]

I remember not breathing when 911 came on, I couldn't believe it.

Replay's bridge made my eyes water, and I screamed at Sine From Above's chorus, the lyrics and the delivery were just perfection. Unforgettable.