Reasons Why Chromatica Isn’t Generic

[JRCF29 8,194]

Since some ungrateful heaux have decided to use this forum and their posting powers to slander the good sis and AOTY contender Chromatica (which, btw, has served us 1-2-2 on the charts and is fast approaching Gold Certification Eligibility), I thought it would be fun to make a thread listing all the reasons why Chromatica is not, in fact, a basic or generic album, and that just because the album contains such pure house, dance, and pop music IT ISN’T watered down or pandering- because pop music will NEVER be low brow. 
 

I’ll start: Chromatica II into 911 is one of the most well-planned and one of the smartest musical elements of any album of all time 

 

The vocal range on Enigma is a highlight of her discography and no other current artist would dare rhyme “mystery man” with “woman phantom” or include a call-and-response bridge on a solo song.

The outro on SFA, specifically as juxtaposed with the melody and tempo of the song, whatever one may think of it, is not generic and is in fact a very outside-the-box element.

 

Babylon’s final four choruses, each with less background noise than the last, could only be pulled off by Gaga. The entire song could only be pulled off by Gaga; even though it isn’t as direct, specific, sassy, or overtly ****-you as Piece of Me, such a silly song could only be made semi-serious by Gaga’s ability to seamlessly connect ancient history, Biblical verse, and gossip-focused wordplay. 

[Jose P 23,341]

Yes I don’t think it’s generic either. It’s definitely one of her safest records but it’s still got the bold Gaga touch. It has its generic moments tho, specifically Free Woman, Fun Tonight, and 1000 Doves (even though I still love that one)

[raragaga 8,119]

this is far from generic

[ARTGOD 3,266]

The Chromatica II - 911 transition is good, but if you think it’s one of the best moments of all time all I can say is that you need to listen to more music.

Engima is great. A call and response bridge is nothing to write home about.

The outro of SFA is just standard breakbeat with an amen break sample, there’s nothing in it that’s new.

Babylon pulls HEAVILY from early 90’s House.

There is nothing about Chromatica that is new or groundbreaking. It didn’t need to be, to be honest. Taking familiar genres and references of decades past and putting them through the Gaga lens was enough, and a bunch of the album succeeds at that. However, there’s also a big part of the album that doesn’t really take those references in any new or exciting direction. Is that being generic?, that’s up to personal opinion. But I think there are so many missed opportunities in the album that are really hard to ignore.

 

 

 

[pop ate my heart 2,865]

I can't thank you enough for making this thread

[Sherry 4,715]

5 minutes ago, ARTGOD said:

The Chromatica II - 911 transition is good, but if you think it’s one of the best moments of all time all I can say is that you need to listen to more music.

Engima is great. A call and response bridge is nothing to write home about.

The outro of SFA is just standard breakbeat with an amen break sample, there’s nothing in it that’s new.

Babylon pulls HEAVILY from early 90’s House.

There is nothing about Chromatica that is new or groundbreaking. It didn’t need to be, to be honest. Taking familiar genres and references of decades past and putting them through the Gaga lens was enough, and a bunch of of the album succeeds at that. However, there’s also a big part of the album that doesn’t really take those references in any new or exciting direction. Is that being generic?, that’s up to personal opinion. But I think there are so many missed opportunities in the album that are really hard to ignore.

 

 

 

House Music was the most popular in 80s and 90s so that's why maybe you feel that way. 

[RudraCNG 15,037]

Who said it's generic? 

Her best album to date. Period.

[DonnieDarko 10,186]

Chromatica is anything but generic. Just because its cohesive, doesn't mean it's generic and yeah, for me, it's definitely her best album yet.

[ARTGOD 3,266]

11 minutes ago, Sherry1411 said:

House Music was the most popular in 80s and 90s so that's why maybe you feel that way. 

The general problem is not that it takes inspiration from old genres, but that it doesn’t really do anything new with them, it’s very straightforward with its references.

That approach works decently when the sound she’s replicating is nostalgic, like 80’s synth music or 90’s House. You don’t really want her to be experimental with them, you just want a familiar House song. That’s why songs like Enigma, Babylon, Sour Candy and Replay are the strongest.

The real problem is when she also recreates early 2010’s EDM verbatim. That sound is considered to be old, dated and passé, but not old enough to have become nostalgic like those other genres. So when you hear songs like Fun Tonight or 1000 Doves you hear all those EDM elements that were done to death 10 years ago, but you still haven’t had the time to miss them and feel nostalgic about them, so you’re still kinda sick of them.

[Bobbylon 403]

I don’t like those dj summer type of beatdrops on free woman, fun tonight and 1000 doves. It’s screaming 2015 to me and it’s the only part that I’d say is generic. Otherwise the album is safe but has it’s own vibe

[Supersonic 49,376]

Imo... the lyrics are the best they have ever been on a regular Gaga studio album, but the instrumentals and beats are at times super generic (Free Woman Instrumental, 1000 Doves Instrumental, Fun Tonight Instrumental).

[pop ate my heart 2,865]

11 minutes ago, ARTGOD said:

but you still haven’t had the time to miss them and feel nostalgic about them, so you’re still kinda sick of them

Girl speak for yourself on that lol. I've never ever liked this trend of trap-pop and tropical-house that's been overdone since like 2015, so this early 10s edm sound was instantly welcome to my ears. And it also feels fresh to me, maybe because it still has that campy Gaga touch and the beat drops actually work great w the album's concept of soundwaves and music (CHROMATICa)

[Pennywise 36,079]

Why are y'all talking about the Chromatica II + 911 as if Gaga is the only person in the universe who did a seamless transition in an album tho 

I mean, it is great, but there are better ones in Confessions & Turn Off the Light 

As an album, though, who the **** says its generic, have they not listened to it at all 

[Zombiecat 16,672]

30 minutes ago, RudraCNG said:

Who said it's generic? 

the tasteless 

[River 116,708]

People just don't understand what is generic and what is experimental, they just like to throw words in the air and act like they understand something..