ARTPOP is the perfect journey

[PartySick 148,834]

Hi  so, for anyone who doesn't know me, I like writing things. I don't think I'm very skilled at it but hey, it's fun and it's a nice outlet. Plus I've been so sick lately and my mind feels trapped while my body is kaput.

Anyway! I got it in my head to write an "album synopsis" of MJ's "Thriller", like movies have on the back of their dvd cases or in their descriptions. You can read that little blurb here if you want:

Spoiler

The catalyst through which the music and entertainment industry was revolutionized. Everything from the way artists produce their music to the videos that accompany their songs to the color of artists seen on millions of television screens changed with this one nine track album.

Featuring native African inspired chants on the funky "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", sultry vibes in the ballad "The Lady in My Life", haunting grooves on the titular "Thriller", explosive energy flowing through the electric "Beat It", and immaculate production on what is widely regarded as the greatest pop song ever written, "Billie Jean".

Hear the album that changed everything and cemented Michael Jackson's status as the most iconic and influential artist to have ever lived.

@Yaaaas Gaga's thread put the thought in my head

But then I was like "I wanna make one for Gaga" so I started writing for ARTPOP and...I went places  you can tell when this stopped being a "synopsis" and turned into me reliving ARTPOP as a body of work.

Anyway, I wanted to share for all the other ARTPOPists out there

Spoiler

Chaotic, loud, and expressive if anything else. The journey continues as Lady Gaga weaves the listener into a tapestry of self expression, love, rage, pain, addiction, and rebellion.

The punchy "Aura" sets the tone of the album as expectations are reversed and masquerades and facades become true faces. Pounding rhythms take us on journeys through space, sensuality, and passion with "Venus", "G.U.Y.", and "Sexxx Dreams" before landing on another tangent about the genuine vs the superficial with "Jewels n' Drugs" and "MANiCURE".

Naturally, she next lays claim to her own image and voice with the track "Do What U Want" (featuring nobody else) before making a statement that feels more like a question in spirit, declaring art and pop could belong together, in "ARTPOP", a song with "no climax, only foreplay". Playfully wistful, airy, and light; the title track provides a stark contrast to "Swine", a heavy and grungy scream in the void populated by insulting lyrics and gutteral screams of pain from a sex abuse victim before the words disintegrate beneath the electronic pounding rhythm and only the lingering cloud of anguish remains as the lights strobe and the air vibrates; the heartbeat of a destroyed person reclaiming themselves from their experiences and clawing their own way out of the trench. Truly a highlight of the album.

What follows is another left turn into a track that, contextually, feels almost like a coping mechanism. "Donatella" satirizes the world of the rich and famous while retaining a grounded sense of identity, leading into "Fashion!" flawlessly, further questioning the divide between the superficial and the sincere.

When we began our journey, the question of facades becoming real faces was proposed with "Aura", and "Fashion!" provides a fantastic springboard onto the second time we personally visit this theory with "Mary Jane Holland". A harsh, twisted bass, sharp synths, and wide snares flow beneath the story of Gaga putting on another face in order to reconnect with herself as a human being. Unfortunately, the medium through which she found herself was an addiction, one that did more harm than good. She confronted that demon in "Dope", a soul shattering apology to her loved ones delivered through slurred words, heavy organs, and a lone piano. Easily another album highlight and potentially the most heartbreakingly honest song she's ever written.

Of course, no journey is complete without a love story and the boisterous and joyful "Gypsy" caps off the core of the album with a declaration of love and a bittersweet smile as she pulls the listener by the hand all over the world.

Laid bare, the soul that flows through Gaga and onto the disc takes one more bow in "Applause", making it clear, if you somehow missed it, that she lives to create and perform. Expression, passion, and love are the driving forces behind her and so many of her Monsters.

Sometimes stories have no end. Sometimes the destination is irrelevant because it's the journey that matters. The masks we wear, the love we share, the passions we hold, the statements we make, the pain we feel, the harm we cause. After all, if death is the inevitable destination we all share then what truly matters is the lives we live.

It's all here, like a messily wrapped Christmas present. Right behind the statue of the girl from New York City.

I tried to go back and rewrite more for the first bit but writing like this is like letting out a really big burp. Once it's out, it's out

Anyway, it really is cool how the album manages to feel like a proper journey. It's so unique in that aspect too. For as crazy and disjointed as it can seem, it's surprisingly cohesive considering the woman who made it. It's all over the place, haphazardly tied together, and the perfect representation of how crazy Gaga's mind can be and how crazy we can be too, since so many of us have glow sticks and sea shells in our blood

Xoxo, the boy named after PARTYNAUSEOUS

[PartySick 148,834]

@Mother of Puppies you like reading my rambling apparently so here!

Lemme go weakly do the G.U.Y. choreo while my dog finds a place to pee

[Rocketno10 2,062]

Outsold pitchfork

[River 108,198]

u should be a critic

[Mother of Puppies 35,951]

30 minutes ago, River said:

u should be a critic

 

and he should write his own book

[Magneto 13,312]

But does it continue?⚔️

[Chromatislaps 34,792]

1 hour ago, Magneto said:

But does it continue?⚔️

no, just like Telephone

[Ivy 11,824]

When you write about ARTPOP it makes me remember why I love it so much 

[PartySick 148,834]

3 hours ago, Magneto said:

But does it continue?⚔️

Yes 🔵

4 hours ago, Mother of Puppies said:

and he should write his own book

I told y'all I'm working on a fallout 4 fanfic, that's like the closest you're getting to that

1 hour ago, Ivy said:

When you write about ARTPOP it makes me remember why I love it so much 

I'm actually lowkey proud of my Swine description 'cause that's exactly what it feels like

Some people see ARTPOP as the black sheep in her discography but I'd say it does the best job of conveying who Gaga really is

[GAYHEMikey 7,590]

You and Chicas are my favorite writers on this site. How you connect words and use them to visualize the text is amazing to me. please tag me once you write more! 

[PartySick 148,834]

3 minutes ago, M i K E Y said:

You and Chicas are my favorite writers on this site. How you connect words and use them to visualize the text is amazing to me. please tag me once you write more! 

Aw thanks

[ChicaSkas 22,412]

Mikey is right,  I love the way you visualize ideas