Gaga's songwriting since ARTPOP

[nATAH 43,221]

11 minutes ago, Anderson123 said:

She had lots of plans for this era and everything got cancelled/postponed.

why do people always forget this?

[Ziggy 10,768]

6 hours ago, Benji said:

To me, I think Gaga’s lyrics and general music is at it’s best when she has someone moderating them.  I don’t mean this negatively, we all become blind to mistakes or spin off on a not so good tangent when we’re left to create and write on our own.  It’s why we have peers review our work before it’s published, you need fresh eyes.  Having someone tell you “I don’t like that idea, try this instead” is important.

I think ARTPOP’s writing is quite weak because people were just telling Gaga “yes” rather than helping her create something better.  There’s some great lyrics on there, like Fashion!’s iconic bridge… then there’s some real duds 

Nah I think ARTPOP was just too edited and directionless. Like she had a few separate album concepts going at once from music made from very different headspaces and I think that hindered it. In the end, she chose the best of a bunch of songs but even those had been nearly overworked imo still really good but we know some of these songs got worked to death lmao

 

4 hours ago, Noir said:

This is super interesting to me and something I think about a lot.

this sounds hyperbolic but I view Gaga transitioning from one era to another akin to a snake shedding it’s skin. It’s essential she lets it go and is constantly evolving - as mentioned she does kinda shade her past work i.e. “I don’t remember ARTPOP” but I think this is a mixture of her finding humour in her work, wanting to grow as an artist and being overly self-critical as a person/artist. 

I agree with @Benji’s point about moderation. That’s why I really enjoyed Mark Ronson’s work with Gaga and why her work with RedOne always worked. They saw her her greatness but also were sonically and commercially aware of music and their respective climates, not taking away her worth as the artist. I’ve never loved BloodPop and it think it’s because he oversteps the role of moderator imo. 

I’m very interested to see how much involvement she’ll have with LG7 and what route it will take. I don’t think this will happen anytime soon but I’d love an album similar to Marina’s FROOT where Gaga is the only (or at least main) co-writer/producer and it’s very intimate with 1 consistent executive producer. I’d die for that, just to see so clearly into her mind without others interjecting too much. 

Disagree on BP I think he just had a Gaga that didn’t want to do the work lmao redone did so she was firing all cylinders. Case in point, the Renaissance tracks BP worked on are great.

[Ziggy 10,768]

6 hours ago, NATAH said:

i don't see how this can be realistic... why has she bothered to make 5 albums since ARTPOP (when she was at her lowest) when she could comfortably retire and live off her wealth for the rest of her life or solely focus on acting?

she may enjoy what acting has to offer right now because she's still fresh on the scene but i think it's dramatic to say she's over music when she still sells records and embarks on tours despite her disability

what i'm trying to say is: she doesn't need to keep making music but she still choses to do so. she has all the money and connections to just record a bunch of piano songs and drop a random EP but she still chooses to undergo the classic album cycle with tours and promo. i think there is still passion for it, it's just not focused on dance pop (which i'm kinda grateful for )

Tbh I think she enjoys fame and status a lot lol controversial but I think that’s why it haunts her so much. It’s this deal of loving it SO much and having that platform SO much that even though she easily could go off and be a Björk who actively stepped away from being a megawatt star as she distinctly doesn’t like the spotlight like that, she really can’t. It’s controversial, I know, but it’s been on my mind since chromatica’s promo because, realistically, the only thing keeping her in the spotlight is her…(nothing wrong with that btw, to be clear; I’m on a Gaga forum so clearly I’m not judging someone enjoying and wanting fame lmao)

[C Rose 562]

To me, her best song, lyrically, is Speechless. She has not bested that one yet.

And in terms of album, IMHO, probably Born This Way. I do see what some of you are pointing out in terms of Gaga's lyrics losing a bit of oddity. I feel like that sort of thing just happens to artists as they mature. Music making becomes less try-hard.

[SpadesToStart 2,737]

I think BTW and ARTPOP are Gaga’s weakest albums lyrically.

[hieronymus 9,776]

19 minutes ago, C Rose said:

To me, her best song, lyrically, is Speechless. She has not bested that one yet.

And in terms of album, IMHO, probably Born This Way. I do see what some of you are pointing out in terms of Gaga's lyrics losing a bit of oddity. I feel like that sort of thing just happens to artists as they mature. Music making becomes less try-hard.

Speechless really is that bih

[hELXIG 41,857]

Edit: I'm so sorry about the huge rant... this has been boiling in my mind for a while now and you just gave me a place to put it  

I sometimes have this internal struggle when I'm critiquing Gaga's songwriting and lyrics, because I know that the work I consider to be her best was all written when she was heavily under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

I feel like TFM and BTW were so creatively written, oozing metaphors and each song draws from multiple references to create one unifying, central theme. But I know that she was drunk the whole time she was writing.

I believe that ARTPOP is so creatively crafted in many other ways, but I know that she was high the whole time she was writing it... And we all know that during that same writing period she was on the BTW ball tour, staying out of her mind on drugs so she could ignore her pain and abuse her body, until she broke.

Which leads me to the Dope performance at the Artrave/Vevo debut party, where she puts her hand up and vows: "I do not have to be high to be creative, I do not have to be drunk to have a good idea, I can sit with my thoughts and not feel crazy"

Now, her newer albums since then, Joanne and Chromatica, I LOVE these albums... but I feel like they just don't have the same edge, the same grit, the same passionate songwriting and metaphors and depth that her earlier stuff had. The lyrics feel very 'matter of fact' to me. I know it's unfair, but compare "we are not just art for Michaelangelo to carve, he could not rewrite the agro of my furied heart" to "I feel like I'm in a prison hell, stick my hands through the steel bars and yell". Please don't come for me! I really do love Chromatica so much and I've defending her since day 1! 

This being said, it's not the same... BUT, I refuse to judge her. Because would I want her to start drinking again to come up with those big ideas? No. Would I like for her to start smoking an endless stream of joints so she can write those metaphors? No!! Would I want her to go through dark times in her life and self-sabotage so she has the inspiration to thrash around in the studio and create passionate music, out of a desperation for release? Absolutely not!!

I care about Gaga and I no part of me wants her to be a 'tortured artist' type like she was before. I want her to be happy. And if that means she gets given a song like Come to Mama or Sour Candy or Enigma then so be it! If it means her metaphors aren't as deep, I don't care. If it means her music won't be as dark, then I'm fine with that

[ALittleMonsta 1,529]

6 hours ago, AUARAOFSHEISSE said:

I always thought ARTPOP had some of the most interesting writing of her career 

Hey sorrry that this is offtopic but where'd u find that pic of SOPHIE?? its so beautiful!!

[Benji 20,113]

9 hours ago, MonsterofFame said:

She literally said she didn't want to make Chromatica. Her friends pushed her to go into the studio to try to help her feel better.

It wasn't until ASIB that acting became a real career alternative for her due to its success. So the only Lady Gaga album that she actually released after shifting focus to acting is the same one she literally said she didn't want to do.

And if that wasn't direct enough, she literally did no promo after ROM, even though it was her biggest hit in years. She could've gotten another single or two from the album.

I think there is a huge difference in not wanting to make an album and being depressed.  The fact she pushed through it with the help of her friends, created what I think is her best album yet, with tonnes of content like a remix album, three music videos and now an insanely good tour that is up there with her best tells me it isn’t that she didn’t want to do it, it’s that she felt like she couldn’t.  If you want to see how much Gaga loves Chromatica, go to the tour… she is electrifying on this tour.  That passion for music is still there.

[Benji 20,113]

6 hours ago, AUARAOFSHEISSE said:

I always thought ARTPOP had some of the most interesting writing of her career 

Interesting is a word I’d use too… interesting doesn’t necessarily mean “good” though 

[KORG 4,756]

Unfortunately, what I loved about her writing was decoding the lyrics from superficial pop and understanding the references & metaphors. For that, ARTPOP was INSANE. The peak of her mind.

Sadly, her lyrics have become almost completely literal, or very simplistic metaphors.

I dont enjoy them as much as I enjoyed her earlier work... however, the songs themselves are far more mature (sometimes) and so it's like... add some sugar, take out some cream.

I prefer her as a cowriter. Her writing (second time around, brooklyn nights, etc) can be VERY wordy, almost written has if she needs a syllable on every half beat. A courier filters this through fresh ears.

[chromaticainmyhead 6,357]

I just hope we get an album that is not heavily influenced by many other artists but mostly her, her ideas and her purity. Chromatica is beautiful on its own and I love everything about it, love the music, the aesthetic, the ideas but at some points with production especially it makes it lose its direction a bit. If the stringency wasn't so heavily put on in this album by the aesthetic and creative direction (Studio Pending) I genuinely would have a hard time understanding why some songs were produced the way they are

[Benji 20,113]

4 hours ago, Ziggy said:

Nah I think ARTPOP was just too edited and directionless. Like she had a few separate album concepts going at once from music made from very different headspaces and I think that hindered it. In the end, she chose the best of a bunch of songs but even those had been nearly overworked imo still really good but we know some of these songs got worked to death lmao

I totally agree with this.  We know how ARTPOP was created over one of the craziest moments of her career.  I can’t imagine how you write an album when one moment you’re on your biggest worldwide tour and then have to retire from it due to injury.  The album has so many themes running through it that it doesn’t really land.  When she talked about it during promo it’s like she was describing a different album completely or only a few select songs on there.  I try to not be hard on ARTPOP, there are a few good songs on there but it just doesn’t live upto her usual high standard.  I just wish fans would stop trying to make ACT 2 happen… Gaga was visibly not doing well throughout the era and you could hear this in the music, wanting her to return to that is not something we should want her to do.

[KORG 4,756]

6 minutes ago, Benji said:

Interesting is a word I’d use too… interesting doesn’t necessarily mean “good” though 

Gypsy, Dope, Aura, sex dreams & ARTPOP are some examples of her best writing.

Wordplay in GUY as well as intertwining themes throughout of Greeks, drugs & travel... maybe its too much to consume at once.

[Benji 20,113]

3 minutes ago, KORG said:

Gypsy, Dope, Aura, sex dreams & ARTPOP are some examples of her best writing.

Wordplay in GUY as well as intertwining themes throughout of Greeks, drugs & travel... maybe its too much to consume at once.

Gypsy sounds like she felt like she had to write a The Edge of Glory 2.0.  Let’s not touch on the fact the chorus is just her screaming “tonight.”

Aura is pretty good, chorus is insanely good.  The verses are okay, a bit wordy and could be tightened.

Sexxx Dreams verses are good, chorus isn’t.

ARTPOP is just a wordy mess.  Could do with major tightening.

GUY is actually pretty good writing, shame it’s got Zedd’s sound on it.

The issue with ARTPOP is that it could all be tightened to be better.  Throwing a tonne of words into a pop song doesn’t make a good pop song.