What went wrong - Chromatica?

[Gerrard174 649]

On 4/19/2025 at 4:40 PM, JoanneMonster said:

The biggest problem in chromatica for me is the lack of chorus in some songs and the basic production in some others. I never understood the love for free woman when there is literally just an instrumental chrous and it sounds like a 2015 tropical song.

I do think it has some of her worst or most basic songs (free woman, fun tonight, 1000 doves…) But it also has some standouts (alice, 911, replay, sine from above…)

U do know that free woman's chorus starts from "I'm not nothing without a steady hand..." that part right? The instrumental is just post-chorus/drop.

The demo version has the better transition between chorus, verse and a proper bridge.

[HairBow 599]

I like Rain On Me, Replay, 911, Babylon (the album version specifically), and Love Me Right.  That said, none of these songs are what I would call "favorites" of mine.

Stupid Love is a career low for Gaga; never ever liked that song, and I think it's easily one of her worst songs.  I like me some camp and some cheese every so often, but Stupid Love falls right into the "hokey" category for me.  Plus I cannot stand the production of the song with the chipmunk voice in the background.

The rest of the songs are ... Fine?

That's my problem with Chromatica as a whole:  It's fine.  It's not great, and it's not bad.  As I've said in another thread, I find most of the songs to be too linear; that they don't really go anywhere.  It just feels like there's something missing in there, making most of the songs feel incomplete.  That was my first impression upon listening to it for the first time, and my opinion has not changed.

It's a good album to listen to at the clubs or at the gyms.  As an album to listen to at home with my headphones though?  Not interesting enough for me to revisit often, save for a couple of songs.

With Mayhem, it was an instant love upon first listen, and I'm still listening to it all of the time a month and a half later.  I highly doubt it's recency bias at this point ... I think the album is just that fantastic.

[Ziggy 11,547]

On 4/20/2025 at 5:17 AM, Emily said:

Yeah I don’t understand what happened, this album is the epitome of Gaga’s sound and style and I don’t understand what happened during chromatica (and Joanne tbh) to make her step away from her iconic style

It’s not her style at all, though. Like at all. She was never a house dance girlie like that. If you look back on her career 80s pop revival is her BAG. A song like love me right fits that! But most of chromatica isn’t that, though a lot of mayhem is!

[Ziggy 11,547]

On 4/19/2025 at 10:20 AM, JustJames said:

Right. And, it wasn't just reaction YTers who complimented the "polished" production; it literally was her highest-rated album on Metacritic until MAYHEM. Fans were clamoring for a "cohesive" album from her, and considering the meltdowns when DWAS was added to the MAYHEM tracklist, it's amazing how many have done a 180 and criticize Chromatica for not being diverse enough.

It's not that those opinions aren't valid, but I definitely understood the vision/intent of the album we ended up with. And, there are plenty of tracks that range from good to great and are a key part of her discography: Alice, Rain On Me, 911, Replay, Enigma, Babylon. Could it have used some diversity? Sure. Would I (and many) have preferred longer track-lengths? Yes. Would any of that have really mattered in terms of fans' perceptions of it in 2025(+)? No.

The biggest reason this album had no legs, and why many fans feel a disconnect is because Gaga's ability to completely transform her singles in live form (Poker Face, Just Dance, Eh, Eh at the "CherryTree Sessions") and through performances (Paparazzi at the VMAs) accompanied with visuals, interviews, and other promotional content made her into a star and is how most of us fell in love with her. This continued through all the way through Joanne: the Dive Bar Tour gave us richer, fuller versions of many album tracks (Sinner's Prayer, A-YO), and beautiful visuals and/or orchestral arrangements (Royal Variety, AMAs, etc.) helped turn Million Reasons from basic into a classic and her 1st true "hit" ballad.

COVID prevented Chromatica from transforming beyond just an album; only 1 live performance (3+ months after) + tour (2+ yrs later). That had a real-time impact on people's connection / enjoyment, but also a long-term one. Her other projects can be revisited on YouTube (for ex). Their legacy has been archived. That's not the case for Chromatica.

I’ll be real, that all can happen but Chromatica felt musically anesthetic upon arrival. My first impression was underwhelmed bc it’s HOUSE music. Where is the liveliness, the energy, the humanity? The polish on the album is a problem bc it all feels to slick which is so not Gaga. She works best when the production matches her own eclecticness. Pop house trop house productions are going to sound stifling and did. No amount of performance or video could have altered that core aspect. We saw stupid love’s video…cool outfits some of the time, whatever video. Didn’t move the needle on the song. Maybe people would like it MORE with a real era but the music has to be great first. I really never found myself saying wow I’m so excited to hear how she does xyz Chromatica song live

[GerMonsterNotta 1,363]

I feel like the fans loved chromatica at the time, and we still love it now. It’s a fun end-to-end listen. It will always represent a key moment in Gaga history…. 

I think now 5 years on Chromatica has association with COVID and Gaga’s depression, and MAYHEM just seems to shine more brightly in many ways, with a full shameless, dark pop return, the gothic themes, the many genres, with funky prince/bowie/MJ sounds, the music videos, Coachella… it is all ultimately feels fuelled by Gaga’s happiness with life in 2025, rather than pain. 
 

chromatica feels a bit like she was trying to force a creative journey, she was lost and trying to connect with a vibe was getting to 95% at times, where MAYHEM hits 100+ consistently ….

chromatica vibes include either blood pop trying to pick her up out of depression to go to the studio, the exploratory collabs, the multiple producers… chromatica felt like it became it’s own beast… a beast which was only then harnessed by Gaga herself during the CBT…….

whereas Mayhem feels Gaga IS the beast (no pun intended) - much more in control, and fuelled by more of her own classic creativity, inspirations and love for music … 

Edited April 22 by GerMonsterNotta

[HIMe 1,948]

Babylon is still her best song since 2011.

[Cavadour 2,295]

With the Countess, for me, it was love at first sight. With Joanne, it was love at first listen. Then ASIB came for a perfect strike of Gaga music. L i v e , you know... vocals, piano, guitars, bass, drums...

Chromatica felt so contrived and artificial after that. For sure, covid didn't help. Anyway, my cold shoulder actually warmed up during TCB I thoroughly followed online. Gaga really outshines herself on stage. And on TCB, the songs were finally allowed to breathe !

All in all, I still listen to the powerful Tokyo Soundboard bootlegs and watch TCB movie. I also think Dawn of Chromatica is more interesting than the album itself.

[SimonBaetens 8,242]

1 minute ago, Cavadour said:

With the Countess, for me, it was love at first sight. With Joanne, it was love at first listen. Then ASIB came for a perfect strike of Gaga music. L i v e , you know... vocals, piano, guitars, bass, drums...

Chromatica felt so contrived and artificial after that. For sure, covid didn't help. Anyway, my cold shoulder actually warmed up during TCB I thoroughly followed online. Gaga really outshines herself on stage. And on TCB, the songs were finally allowed to breathe !

All in all, I still listen to the powerful Tokyo Soundboard bootlegs and watch TCB movie. I also think Dawn of Chromatica is more interesting than the album itself.

I sort of agree with that. I loved Chromatica when it first came out, but now in her discography it feels like the least inspired project musically. Like she was following trends rather than setting them. Chromatica Ball and Dawn were both amazing projects though!

[eMILY 1,071]

9 hours ago, Ziggy said:

It’s not her style at all, though. Like at all. She was never a house dance girlie like that. If you look back on her career 80s pop revival is her BAG. A song like love me right fits that! But most of chromatica isn’t that, though a lot of mayhem is!

I think you misread, I was saying chromatica wasn’t her style

[Bedazzler 8]

Yall complain too much! Chromatica was a great album for the time it came out, the distracting and alien visuals and the artificilness of the sound and the vulnerability of the lyrics encapsuled the feeling of the pandemic. For me it helped a lot with getting througth it

[XxBones 1,177]

I thought Chromatica was okay but I had the same exact thoughts even when it came out. I actually had been to almost all her tours but I didn’t even go to Chromatica ball because I thought I wouldn’t like it (regretted it after I saw the film). I just felt like the themes were too sad and we had gotten so much sadness from Gaga already. It also seem like she was less passionate about it for some reason and kept repeating that others tried to get her into the studio. The album wasn’t bad but it just seem safe and didn’t push her forward creatively. Mayhem seems like this was inspired and she wanted to do it. 
 

also we just have higher standards for Gaga. Her “bad” are always better than others. We just expect a certain quality and creativity from her. 

[VasilisVas 5,132]

I only listened to Chromatica heavily for about 2-3 months after release and never had the desire to go back to it. I think the album just aged extremely fast and badly for me. 

[ceminay 974]

Alice, Replay, 911, Babylon are all great songs, I love them. The rest, however, haven't aged well. Like others said, you can tell listening to Free Woman's demo that the final production is very stale and and lacks edge compared to her other albums.

Also - album aside, she kept implying she was forced to record pop music, and that her mental health was horrible at that time.  Whenever she's happiest and most excited about a project, she creates her best work. (TF, TFM, BTW, ASIB, MAYHEM)

It was a great album to get through the pandemic, and it is very cohesive, which is great too. I just don't want to remember the pandemic and I think most people feel the same way too.

[JoanneMonster 8,939]

22 hours ago, Gerrard174 said:

U do know that free woman's chorus starts from "I'm not nothing without a steady hand..." that part right? The instrumental is just post-chorus/drop.

The demo version has the better transition between chorus, verse and a proper bridge.

Come on, you know exactly what I mean.

I’m a free woman, uh uh (then endless instrumental)

Rain. On. Me. (then endless instrumental)

call it chorus or post chorus or however you want. my message was still pretty clear.

[Xzxcuzme 158]

The demos were GREAT.

Babylon early version, rain on me solo version and the free woman demo are so gooood, and the thing that makes them interesting is how gritty and unpolished they are, they have a personality. I still think that she should’ve ditched Bloodpop and make BoysNoize the main producer.

The album is too clean and slick sounding, imho if she kept the same sound of those demos the album could have been much much more interesting.

Edited April 23 by Xzxcuzme