Should Gaga's next Lead Single Be A Ballad?

[VasilisVas 5,033]

I say yes. I’d love to hear Gaga singing a song like Madonna’s iconic Power of Goodbye and Frozen. A mid-tempo ballad with beautiful music and dark lyrics and an aesthetically dark video released in the fall preferably October. And no, I don’t mean a mud-tempo like Bloody Mary. I think it would make a nice lead single and propose something different from Gaga. 

[RRR 3,996]

No, delete this topic before Gaga gets any ideas

[Better Day 5,766]

Honestly, I don’t care what she releases. I will still listen. If I don’t like it I won’t listen again but if I do I will enjoy it and stream it. The charts - irrelevant. As long as the music is good, the genre doesn’t matter to me.

 
Gaga is a very very versatile artist, even on albums most songs reach a different genre- take Joanne for example, starts off with a rock songs then go to a ‘traditional’ Gaga song with hints of country, Joanne - flowery acoustic song, John Wayne country style bop, DIC - country reggae, Perfect Illusion - electro rock, Million Reasons - country pop ballad with a hint of hip hop, Sinner’s Prayer - country folk music, Come to Mama - pop, Hey Girl - 70 inspired music. What I’m trying to say in  don’t expect specific genres and don’t classify her music because anything can happen in a Gaga song

[tyler k 5,181]

4 hours ago, Chromatican said:

 Songs like A-Yo, Joanne, Sinner's Prayer, Million Reasons and Grigio Girls are pretty country, more country than some early Taylor Swift even. 

please. this a joke, right?

you mean to tell me Sinner's Prayer or Joanne sound like Tear Drops On My Guitar or Our Song? 
absolutely not lmao.

and Grigio Girls is not country... if anything it's a pop ballad. 

[Chromatican 4,046]

1 minute ago, tmo13 said:

please. this a joke, right?

you mean to tell me Sinner's Prayer or Joanne sound like Tear Drops On My Guitar or Our Song? 
absolutely not lmao.

and Grigio Girls is not country... if anything it's a pop ballad. 

Sinner's Prayer and Joanne are more country than Tear Drops On My Guitar, Better Than Revenge, State of Grace, Love Story, Mine, Back To December. Grigio Girls and a lot of Joanne was co-written by Hillary Lindsey, a country writer.

[Reality 73,671]

22 minutes ago, Chromatican said:

An album of ONLY ballads or MOSTLY ballads is the exact opposite of eclectic. The Fame Monster had Bad Romance, Monster, Speechless, So Happy I Could Die and Teeth, all very different, with Speechless verging into ballad territory. ASIB was pretty close to being an all ballad project so it is not like something Gaga hasn't explored before and like @The Clown mentioned, fans vastly overestimate Gaga's success with ballads as singles. I'm just not sure how doing an album primarily composed of ballads is an interesting evolution of Gaga's artistry at this point in time. I believe that as a commercial artist, Gaga should pursue pop music and acting above ballads yes. Changing genres isn't necessary for being eclectic, a pop music catalogue can be eclectic and all be pop.

Of course an album mostly composed of ballads isn't "eclectic," but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying that it would be different—hence, eclectic—of her to release a ballad album because it's different than what we're used to for Gaga. That's just a fact.

And no, fans don't overestimate Gaga's successes with ballads. People just say that because in the span of her 10+ years as an artist, she hasn't released as many ballads as singles or promotional material compared to electronic songs. MR, Shallow, and even ARUTW all did very well, with the latter not even being fully promoted as a single in the US. ASIB also did phenomenal. It's clear that people like her ballads. Even with Chromatica, the singles didn't catch on as much. SL and ROM are literally the epitome of dance pop songs, and while they did good, they certainly weren't as big as they could've been.

"Changing genres isn't necessary for being eclectic, a pop music catalogue can be eclectic and all be pop." — Well, technically it is. If you do the same thing over and over again, that's literally the opposite of being "eclectic." That's reductive. And again, you can have ballads that are still "pop." I think that you think all ballads are slow songs with just a piano and simple vocals. Ballads are actually a fairly diverse style of music.

[tyler k 5,181]

3 minutes ago, Chromatican said:

Sinner's Prayer and Joanne are more country than Tear Drops On My Guitar, Better Than Revenge, State of Grace, Love Story, Mine, Back To December. Grigio Girls and a lot of Joanne was co-written by Hillary Lindsey, a country writer.

and yeah, I know who Hillary Lindsey is

[LilyLark 9,960]

4 hours ago, Chromatican said:

In total though she is recognized as a pop artist. I don't see what going to do a HAC or ballad heavy album will do for her. The majority of her fandom is comprised of pop music listeners, and recording another Joanne-esque album following Chromatica would feel like another creative u-turn.

Agree and disagree. Critics loved Chromatica, but I wouldn't be surprised if she went full on Roisin Murphy or later Robyn style pop since "traditional" pop can be so insanely ageist. 911 had a very Murphy feel and Replay gave me shades of later Robyn. The public seems more for "ballad" Gaga and a "You and I"/"The Edge of Glory" style track would probably smash with both the public and hardcore fans. But yeah, if she went with soft rock some fans wouldn't be into it and so would some critics who thought Joanne was "fake."

[Chromatican 4,046]

20 minutes ago, Reality said:

Of course an album mostly composed of ballads isn't "eclectic," but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying that it would be different—hence, eclectic—of her to release a ballad album because it's different than what we're used to for Gaga. That's just a fact.

And no, fans don't overestimate Gaga's successes with ballads. People just say that because in the span of her 10+ years as an artist, she hasn't released as many ballads as singles or promotional material compared to electronic songs. MR, Shallow, and even ARUTW all did very well, with the latter not even being fully promoted as a single in the US. ASIB also did phenomenal. It's clear that people like her ballads. Even with Chromatica, the singles didn't catch on as much. SL and ROM are literally the epitome of dance pop songs, and while they did good, they certainly weren't as big as they could've been.

"Changing genres isn't necessary for being eclectic, a pop music catalogue can be eclectic and all be pop." — Well, technically it is. If you do the same thing over and over again, that's literally the opposite of being "eclectic." That's reductive. And again, you can have ballads that are still "pop." I think that you think all ballads are slow songs with just a piano and simple vocals. Ballads are actually a fairly diverse style of music.

I already said that since Gaga released ASIB it is not a huge change, but maybe you should provide examples of ballads that you have in mind that all sound different and would make a good album.

[GenericPhag 143]

At some point yes, but not very soon imo. She just now, after 7ish years, finally got back to dance-pop, it would be nice to have at least 1 more "pop album" before she makes another pivot. And she has ton of more ground to explore- industrial pop, hyperpop, imagine if she made Chromatica an orchestral house album (not just the interludes), etc. Now more than ever she has the space to truly goes balls-to-the-walls experimental pop (if she wants to).  And tbh, looking at the recent mini success of Judas and the recurrent criticism of Chromatica as "safe" for Gaga, it's not like the public is overwhelmingly against her giving us her experimental magnum opus. 

[Miel 15,009]

I'd love if she went full on stadium-rock ballad for a lead single. It still has the space for high energy and camp, but the earnestness and emotion of a traditional ballad.

[BlondeQueenOfGGD 25,454]

If she doesn’t disappear then yes. She hasn’t promoted a lead single since 2013.

[Reality 73,671]

54 minutes ago, Chromatican said:

I already said that since Gaga released ASIB it is not a huge change, but maybe you should provide examples of ballads that you have in mind that all sound different and would make a good album.

Dream On, Can't Help Falling in Love, I'll Make Love To You, and Total Eclipse of the Heart are all ballads, and they all sound very different from each other.

If you're talking about Gaga's discography, then Speechless, Dope, Angel Down, Million Reasons, You and I, Brown Eyes, and Gypsy are all "ballads," and again, they all sound very different. 

I, personally, would like to see a ballad album full of songs like INLA, ARUTW, Shallow, and ITA?, but ballad is a broad term. 

[Suspiria 10,683]

I can't bear the thought of her completely becoming a safe, adult contemporary ballad artist.

I know OP didn't necessarily mean that type of ballad, but it seems like a lot of fans do want super safe, generic, Adele-style acoustic pop ballads. I just can't fathom why anyone would want that from her when she has the daringness to do so much more. Anyone with a half decent voice can do that stuff, Gaga can do better.

[Jollibee 3,179]

I want her to make ballads like ASIB ballads. Like as good as INLA, ARUTW, Shallow, and ITA also using the same vocals not using Dope vocals. Nnnn.

Good ballads usually have longevity on streaming platforms. Just look at Shallow, ARUTW, and MR. Even INLA their streams are pretty consistent. Also, if we look at the streams of other popgirls ballads, Adele, Beyonce, and Rihanna. They are doing good if not great.