Jump to content
Follow Gaga Daily on Telegram
question

When Gaga said she was mismanaged during ARTPOP...?


Dr Fudge

Featured Posts

Dr Fudge

So last night I watched the iTunes Festival performance in its entirety for the first time in almost 8 years and I have so many thoughts. The last time I watched this was when it debuted while I was a student in college. Back then I was very busy with school work and I think I didn’t completely process the importance of this performance.

 

Before I get into my thoughts, I think it’s important to acknowledge a few things. The iTunes festival took place on September 1st, 2013 while ARTPOP dropped 2 months later on November 6th. For those who haven’t watched before, she performs Aura, Manicure, ARTPOP, Sex Dreams, Jewels n Drug, I Want to Be With You, Swine, and Applause. That’s 8 out of 15 tracks on the album. At this point in time, the general public had only heard Applause and the Aura demo if you were sneaky, so this was, in large, a grand unveiling of ARTPOP.

 

Now rewatching this concert the one thing that’s super apparent is the fact that 7/8 songs performed here are different than how they were on the album. While it’s common knowledge that Gaga was mismanaged during this era, do you think that part of this mismanagement by Troy was being forced to change the vision she had for these songs? I know it’s common for songs to change a lot as they’re created, but it’s surprising that she’d sing 7 songs live before she felt confident in the final creation, especially being the perfectionist that she is. Most artists don’t do such a large preview of an album before its release, which grants viewers an exclusive view at how much an album can change before release. Which is why this particular concert is so poignant for ARTPOP analysis- between this performance and leaks, that’s all we really have (as fans) to understand how much the album shifted during its creation.

 

I guess what I’m trying to get at is that for the longest time when I thought of her post declaring that she was mismanaged during this era, it came down to not having enough time to create the music videos, the R. K*lly/Terry fiasco with DWUW, the album not selling as much as born this way, and splitting ways with Troy; not her vision of the music getting distorted by others. In fact, I feel like all we really know is that she fought with Troy, but the details of their fights remains pretty enigmatic.
 

What really struck me recently was that DJ White Shadow had described himself as feeling nearly dead upon submitting the album. Obviously Gaga felt really defeated in the process as well. When she posted about people wanting more than just millions, but billions and trillions, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me at the time. But now I can see that changing the album content could have been just a power struggle between her and DJWS vs the other creators and managers of her brand.
 

Has this always been an obvious observation- that the music was mismanaged big time in addition to the other things? Or am I creating something in my brain that probably wasn’t reality? Now don’t get this post twisted, I happen to really love the final product of ARTPOP, but it is interesting that 7/8 songs here would change so much (which isn’t to say that more tracks couldn’t have changed as well), especially considering how joyful she seemed to perform them for the first time during the iTunes Festival. 
 

I mean this post as nothing more but analysis and speculation and not meant to rile feathers. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Been a cuff touple, a puff bupple, a tough couple of years.
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • Replies 59
  • Created
  • Last Reply
homomo

I don't think so, because I clearly remember Gaga saying that she purposely changed the songs a bit specifically for the performance. Just so the ARTPOP release would still sound like a fresh experience.

0110100001100101011011000110110001101111
Link to post
Share on other sites

Supersonic

I think it was obvious that the "mismangment" Gaga referrred to, was Troy putting Gaga on the same gruelling superstar schedule that she was on during the BTW Ball and before, despite her hip not being fully healed and her physically not being able to keep up with what Troy wanted her to do in terms of workload. She probably was in pain physically, in the early stages of developing fibromyalgia, in pain mentally because of her issues with substance abuse, working with somebody who did not understand what her issues were (and probably also made her feel bad for not being able to do what she used to be capable of).

Link to post
Share on other sites

Lucas

In an interview back then, Gaga also said she didn't want autotune on the songs but her label (or team, I don't remember exactly) forced her to have autotune so it would be more radio friendly.
And that she had to switch IWBWY with Dope because the label thought IWBWY was not relatable to the listeners.

Except those 2 issues I always thought that Gaga & the producers were satisfied with the outcome but it's true that DJWS saying he was broken when he had to submit the album makes me think they had to give an album that wasn't how they wanted it to be

Link to post
Share on other sites

HuffsAhoy

If I recall Gaga mentioned (either directly or not) that the versions she was performing at the show were strictly demos of the songs, Applause the exception of course. While I certainly think there was tension between her original concept for the album (just read the press release from July 2013 and compare it to what eventually transpired), I think a lot of the mismanagement she refers to is the fact that Troy and Co. literally tried to force her back to the forefront of the game before she was healed properly.  I'm not a medical professional but I find it hard to believe one can heal from such a traumatic injury in just a few months. So, I've always believed one of the main reasons she fired him was he was putting her health in dire jeopardy. 

You remind me that it's such a wonderful thing to love.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Zilla

To me, Troy and previous management didn’t really care she was coming off surgery and pushed her too far. Didn’t value/prioritize her and her needs but wanted to use her to fulfill their needs, meaning revenue. She wanted to be “free” when her management at the time wanted her to do this or that. ARTPOP is completely different than what they wanted.

𝙸'𝚖 𝚊 𝚓𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚓𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕.
Link to post
Share on other sites

The Z
7 minutes ago, Lucas said:

In an interview back then, Gaga also said she didn't want autotune on the songs but her label (or team, I don't remember exactly) forced her to have autotune so it would be more radio friendly.
And that she had to switch IWBWY with Dope because the label thought IWBWY was not relatable to the listeners.

Except those 2 issues I always thought that Gaga & the producers were satisfied with the outcome but it's true that DJWS saying he was broken when he had to submit the album makes me think they had to give an album that wasn't how they wanted it to be

I'm pretty sure Gaga herself changed IWBWY to Dope because the label wanted an Adele-like ballad, and she just didn't want to be a puppet so she made a dark ass song instead of a fairy one? 

Link to post
Share on other sites

js4754394o9823

Gaga was one of the executive producers of ARTPOP

(Vincent Herbert was the other one and DJWS was a co-exec)

She changed what she wanted, maybe other producers told her that something could be different

But Gaga had the control, so if she didn't like it, she wouldn't have done it.

red wine, cheap perfume and a filthy pout
Link to post
Share on other sites

Better Day

I still think the final product of ARTPOP was made to cause trouble with her label and her management. “We want a rapper” - what does she do, slap 3 rappers on a trap song. “We want a male singer” - slaps on “him”. “We want a ballad” - Dope was made. I will always believe that the “original” ARTPOP was different and more artistic than the one we got. 

Together You And I!
Link to post
Share on other sites

Noah

There was no taken care of her from her management and her label also looked forward for the Album to finally be out after BTWs success Era. 

The old Management Plan that leaked showed how much was planned, how much budget they already gave for the promotion etc. but no one listened to Gaga. Imagine if they dropped ARTPOP in Spring of 2014 or Summer 2014, or even a year later. Let her heal completely, maybe add 2-3 new Songs and then put out two Albums in a year. 

Troy did not care for Gaga as a human at all and left the ARTPOP Project as soon as it‘s success or projected first week numbers didn‘t show the same level as previous projects. With that all promotional Plans fell through the roof and the Project no longer had much financial backing. 

Obviously, the Album wasn‘t also what it was supposed to be. Possibly the label wanting guaranteed Hits on there or just wanting to make sure their investments pay off. 

At the end of the day, this Era will probably be talked about for another few decades with many what-ifs and more and more Behind The Scenes Info leaking once in five years. Maybe in 20 years we‘ll get an autobiography from Gaga, where she tells it like it was. 

⟡ ⋆ ˚。⋆🦢⋆ ˚。⋆⟡
Link to post
Share on other sites

js4754394o9823
12 minutes ago, Miss Dolly said:

I still think the final product of ARTPOP was made to cause trouble with her label and her management. “We want a rapper” - what does she do, slap 3 rappers on a trap song. “We want a male singer” - slaps on “him”. “We want a ballad” - Dope was made. I will always believe that the “original” ARTPOP was different and more artistic than the one we got. 

It's not true

Gaga told us that she was excited to work with rappers and that they were really great

And she also said that she called and asked R.Kelly to be on DWUW, because it's an RnB song and he's the king of RnB

red wine, cheap perfume and a filthy pout
Link to post
Share on other sites

Butters Stotch
14 minutes ago, Miss Dolly said:

I still think the final product of ARTPOP was made to cause trouble with her label and her management. “We want a rapper” - what does she do, slap 3 rappers on a trap song. “We want a male singer” - slaps on “him”. “We want a ballad” - Dope was made. I will always believe that the “original” ARTPOP was different and more artistic than the one we got. 

This. I think the original ideas she had ended up becoming what we have now in an attempt to keep her label and management happy. I remember her saying some songs would be on the final cut and then those songs were removed when the tracklist was released.

Also, I remember she had to produce Venus on a rush, and I always thought the intention behind it was to have a song that somehow sounds like ARTPOP but at the same time sounds like something Gaga would have done on her previous albums. 

We all know Aura was gonna be named Burqa and I think they forced her to change it for obvious reasons. And I think there was a point when she just said "f*ck it", and started doing what they wanted. As I was saying in another post last week, the reason why ARTPOP is so legendary is because its spirit demanded complete artistic freedom, and Gaga fought so hard to have artistic freedom during its creation and promotion, but she ended up crashing against a wall of judgement because the pop music industry back then was not gonna allow a female singer to get away with doing what she wanted and being successful. 

 

FIND YOUR FREEDOM IN THE MUSIC
Link to post
Share on other sites

js4754394o9823

Y'all are mixing facts with what is matching to the bad-label narrative

Gaga (musically) did what she wanted, never said that someone pressured her to change things and told us the stories on why those people are featured on her songs

red wine, cheap perfume and a filthy pout
Link to post
Share on other sites

Better Day
5 minutes ago, kukuryku666 said:

It's not true

Gaga told us that she was excited to work with rappers and that they were really great

And she also said that she called and asked R.Kelly to be on DWUW, because it's an RnB song and he's the king of RnB

Well she could not exactly said “I was forced to put rappers on my album”, “I was forced to put that “man” on my album. She has hinted that this was not the case and she was forced to change things on ARTPOP. 

Together You And I!
Link to post
Share on other sites

enissa11
39 minutes ago, Lucas said:

In an interview back then, Gaga also said she didn't want autotune on the songs but her label (or team, I don't remember exactly) forced her to have autotune so it would be more radio friendly.
And that she had to switch IWBWY with Dope because the label thought IWBWY was not relatable to the listeners.

Except those 2 issues I always thought that Gaga & the producers were satisfied with the outcome but it's true that DJWS saying he was broken when he had to submit the album makes me think they had to give an album that wasn't how they wanted it to be

Really??? i think Dope is a lot better than IWBWT, Dope is much more dark, specific and personal, as it deals with adiction to drugs and co depencency, the lyrics of IWBWY are pretty basic and much more easy relatable tbh... 

Mad Architect of Light
Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...