Why is Mayhem “return” to pop?

[Controversiaga 9,952]

Wasn’t her album before mayhem also pop? Chromatica? LG6 . Mayhem is LG7. 
Chromatica is more pop than Mayhem- yet mayhem is being called her “return” pop 

is it cause besides “Rain on Me” , Chromatica was a non event to the public so they didn’t know she already done returned to pop w Chromatica ??

joanne was her only solo studio album that isnt “pop” .  And harlequinn doesn’t count.

[Gagasdisease 72]

Yeah, I'm assuming people say that because it's been 5 years since Chromatica and she did like 2 jazz albums and 2 movies in between...

Or maybe 'cause it's closer in sound to her early records? Idk 

[eifulien 2,800]

Mostly because everybody sucks at genre recognition. Also because the most Gaga thing is to draw from other genres and stay on the border between said set of genres and pop, but always remain pop. For me, that's her style.

ARTPOP and Chromatica are very EDM/house-inspired. Joanne is rooted in rock, Americana, traditional pop, folk, country (no, Joanne is not a country album, it's pop but way more acoustic than anything else from her).

Born This Way is half 80s-inspired pop and half-electronic, techno, also with rock influences.

So when critics say it's a return to pop, I think they really mean that specific almost sweet-sounding 80s pop or 2000s RnB-infused pop. It has the rhythm, the synths, the guitars. Basically what she did on The Fame, The Fame Mosnter and some songs on BTW. 

[Lava 3,262]

It’s because Mayhem is a return to the type of pop she created during the Fame and Fame Monster. Chromatica was more house. 

[Ladle Ghoulash 18,264]

2 minutes ago, Lava said:

It’s because Mayhem is a return to the type of pop she created during the Fame and Fame Monster. Chromatica was more house. 

Yeah, that’s the context of her commentary on the issue at least (although Chromatica is still very much a pop record and so is Joanne). 

[Bronco 8,023]

Its a return to the maximalist genre bending in your face pop Gaga near enough created and is the sole provider of.

Chromatica was absolutely pop, threw in a little genre bending on Engima. But ultimately it was a pop house record that stayed true to its genre with few risks or classic Gaga stylings.

[Ladle Ghoulash 18,264]

3 minutes ago, eifulien said:

Mostly because everybody sucks at genre recognition. Also because the most Gaga thing is to draw from other genres and stay on the border between said set of genres and pop, but always remain pop. For me, that's her style.

ARTPOP and Chromatica are very EDM/house-inspired. Joanne is rooted in rock, Americana, traditional pop, folk, country (no, Joanne is not a country album, it's pop but way more acoustic than anything else from her).

Born This Way is half 80s-inspired pop and half-electronic, techno, also with rock influences.

So when critics say it's a return to pop, I think they really mean that specific almost sweet-sounding 80s pop or 2000s RnB-infused pop. It has the rhythm, the synths, the guitars. Basically what she did on The Fame, The Fame Mosnter and some songs on BTW. 

Exactly this. People don’t realize that pop is generally regarded as an umbrella genre that has more to do with structure/composition than which specific subgenre it falls into. Even C2C, LFS, and Harlequin still fall under the subcategory of jazz within the umbrella genre of pop.

[REALITY 74,555]

I think it has more to do with her returning to her "global popstar" status. At the time, Chromatica was also lauded as her "return" to pop, especially since it came after Joanne—though that album was also pop even though people want to say it was a "country" album. But MAYHEM not only delivers better sonically, it reminds people of Gaga's earlier works during TF/TFM and BTW. It's the return to her original sound, but with a modern twist and decades of experience in the industry. Chromatica was safer in comparison and MAYHEM is like full unadulterated Gaga again.

[Bonkers 28,665]

Would it be more clear if the headline was, "Lady Gaga crawls back to pop music as acting career lies in shambles after disaster Joker 2 nets her first razzy award nomination."

Someone hire me!!  

Edited 3 hours ago by Bonkers

[PartySick 150,163]

I really don't know 'cause ALL of her albums are pop albums

Hell, even one of her jazz albums won a pop Grammy

[Starmie25 16,120]

Sometimes I feel Gaga should've been branded as an electronic artist since "electronic style" is a huge part of her first 4 albums. 

[Madame Goo Goo 3,754]

1 hour ago, Controversiaga said:

Wasn’t her album before mayhem also pop? Chromatica? LG6 . Mayhem is LG7. 
Chromatica is more pop than Mayhem- yet mayhem is being called her “return” pop 

is it cause besides “Rain on Me” , Chromatica was a non event to the public so they didn’t know she already done returned to pop w Chromatica ??

joanne was her only solo studio album that isnt “pop” .  And harlequinn doesn’t count.

This is a hot take but Rain On Me was also a non event to the GP, I love telling people that they have a song together they are usually completely unaware. I met like two Arianators in college (they were a little bit offline tho, I must say) and they had never even heard of the song. It went #1 but also only spent a single week in the top 10 and only had 20 weeks on the chart. Weeks on chart is such an important metric when measuring what’s a hit and what isn’t. 

[River 109,807]

because people are dumb and it's the only way to tell them that this is not another jazz/country album

[Controversiaga 9,952]

16 minutes ago, Madame Goo Goo said:

This is a hot take but Rain On Me was also a non event to the GP, I love telling people that they have a song together they are usually completely unaware. I met like two Arianators in college (they were a little bit offline tho, I must say) and they had never even heard of the song. It went #1 but also only spent a single week in the top 10 and only had 20 weeks on the chart. Weeks on chart is such an important metric when measuring what’s a hit and what isn’t. 

Oh I completely agree- I was too scared to say this cause you know how they are around here …

[elijahfan 25,499]

I agree that this is a little confusing. I can only assume that it's a way to pique people's interest and make sure everyone's aware this is pop and not another side project.

Edited 2 hours ago by elijahfan