"The Grotesque Is No Longer Shocking In Pop" - Thoughts?

[Starmie25 18,363]

This may sound brutal, but Gaga still can pull of these concepts and visuals because well, she's "experienced" it in the past and can tap back into it and bring out the "artist". Sad but true. 

Like, look at the "911" mv or even that Coachella intro where's she devouring an octopus and don't even get me started on "DWUW" and "Replay" 

 

[HuffsAhoy 7,433]

46 minutes ago, RAMROD said:

Gaga and her SXSW Swine performance trained us well not too be squeamish anymore

Thats truly the only performance from Gaga that shocked me 

[enissa11 2,984]

Just now, Debithius said:

They would accuse her of glorifying suicide and all th animal activists would drag her harder than they did in 2010.

of couse bullshit would be said like always, but billie eilish get praise for her depressive stuff, and ppl still wear leather and no one gets cancelled...

[YaaaasGaga 6,119]

17 minutes ago, Staryu17 said:

This may sound brutal, but Gaga still can pull of these concepts and visuals because well, she's "experienced" it in the past and can tap back into it and bring out the "artist". Sad but true. 

Like, look at the "911" mv or even that Coachella intro where's she devouring an octopus and don't even get me started on "DWUW" and "Replay" 

 

Idk if I'd consider the 911 video or the octopus intro as 'shocking' though. Like, weird? Definitely, but not shocking - they weren't a controversial statement or something to provoke people with like with sexuality, religious themes, politics etc. 

[GAMS 1,845]

Whole lotta tricks and nottalotta treats 

[Sneaky Oliver 22,067]

I agree with the article. The whole “theatrical pop” is kinda dated. Pop is so much about aesthetic now. Chromatica visuals were simple and stunning. I want Gaga to explore more of modern and futuristic visuals and fashion.

As many of you guys have stated before in this thread, Chromatica features some of her darkest lyrics ever. I don’t think Gaga will ever completely leave the “dark” aspect of her art. It’s not like Gaga has been singing about falling in love and being happy. 

[Fresco 1,688]

6 hours ago, TheDemonIClingTo said:

Amen. I'd dare to say this was what made most of us fans in the first place

I don't think you should assume most of us came for the dark side. Frankly, I always thought the videos were much more violent than what the songs are. I would not have imagined a woman being sold as a sex slave and killing the man just by listening to the lyrics of Bad Romance. None of that is in the music, imo. I appreciate the Fame Monster era videos for the great quality, but I don't think they represented the actual music very well.  I do not need to watch someone die in every music video. That's just creepy to me. I was not drawn to LG's music to watch someone die on video. Not at all. And the irony of discussing shock value on Halloween has not escaped me.  I do watch movies, action movies, thrillers, even Disney movies kill characters. But that's all in the script, for the plot.

This very recent picture is shocking to the GP. It got a mention and a look on a national tv program. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVEFIadhao8/?utm_medium=copy_link

 

 

 

[rawrimamonster 1,115]

If anything, stuff that is lighthearted and optimistic is out of the ordinary now. That’s why people are drawn to Ted Lasso.

[Enigma 7,182]

Also, the whole big MVs, big looks, big everything era Gaga launched is tired for now, and people are looking for laid back stuff (Taylor, Ariana, Billie), which imo is ****ing boring and I can’t wait for that to be over. But it got me thinking that maybe the counter-movement to all that polish could also be a tacky but fun movement like we had beginning of the decade with LMFAO and the Black Eyed Peas. I really miss this era, it was so fun. I miss music being fun. Also once COVID is over people will want to party so there’ll definitely be a surge in party music.

Not really about shock per say, but that’s the direction I see music going in if it wants to feel fresh. There are definitely ways to shock/innovate by going this route. LMFAO’s aesthetic was so nonsensical it really set them apart. Same for Black Eyed Peas lyrics.

[Debithius 5,837]

8 hours ago, enissa11 said:

of couse bullshit would be said like always, but billie eilish get praise for her depressive stuff, and ppl still wear leather and no one gets cancelled...

But Billie isn't wearing a meat dress or hanging from the rooftop with a rope, bleeding from her eyes, face and stomach.

[enissa11 2,984]

1 hour ago, Debithius said:

But Billie isn't wearing a meat dress or hanging from the rooftop with a rope, bleeding from her eyes, face and stomach.

worse, in fact she was actually romanticizing depression in one way or another to impressionable teenagers in some songs like listen before i go or idontwannabeyouanymore etc, she benefited more than anyone else from that edgy image and surprise surprise, she's not cancelled, and it's ok, whatever.

[elijahfan 26,031]

I’m not sure I agree with this. We still live in an era where people like Billie Eilish or Lil Nas X can thrive. Once again, Pitchfork coming through with the facts… 

[elijahfan 26,031]

More on topic, I think shock value will always work as long as it’s done in service to a message, which imo Gaga has always done. When it’s gratuitous, then it becomes a trend and people stop paying attention. But I think this has always been the case in show-business, none of this is new.

[Guest]

21 hours ago, Mindblown said:

Our society is also completely different from when GAGA stepped on the world stage. We now live in constant cancel culture and everything is hyper political. Theres no way the 2009 VMA performance would survive in our current social climate. Reintroducing shock culture to the point that it's actually shocking for us now would need to cross lines and I feel thats very tricky without getting cancelled and maintaining GAGAs artistic standards. If you do something too shocking it could be tacky and you get thrown to the dogs. 

17 hours ago, YaaaasGaga said:

This is what I sort of thought. I think artists censor themselves so much more now and play everything so much safer as trying to shock people can either have a really big successful effect if done right on their careers, but if it doesn't have the expected outcome it can literally kill your career overnight.

I agree with this. If comedians are censoring themselves (and some absolutely are) to not have to deal with backlash that would destroy their career because an inappropriate didn't land, I think that's a pretty good sign regarding our social climate that impacts all other creative / entertainment fields.

[Enigma 7,182]

4 hours ago, elijahfan said:

I’m not sure I agree with this. We still live in an era where people like Billie Eilish or Lil Nas X can thrive. Once again, Pitchfork coming through with the facts… 

Billie has never done anything remotely shocking

Lil Nas is an exception, what he’s doing isn’t shocking for pop girls, but it is for a gay guy