What went wrong - Chromatica?

[Brazilwood 4,204]

1 hour ago, JoanneMonster said:

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.

I hate that discussion because I have had arguments with people about this since Chromatica came out. I called the instrumental parts a chorus and people jumped at me.

I'll paste below what Wikipedia says about it:

"Pop-drop is an element in a pop music track which, from a traditional perspective, serves as a kind of "post-chorus interlude", but is also regarded as the new climax point in pop music songs since the mid-2010s, downgrading the chorus to a building element of the drop section."

Focus on TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVE.

Traditionally the chorus is the climax. Then these house songs turned the drop into the climax. The naming and describing of things is confusing and sometimes paradoxal, as we can see. It's one of those things you can let it go, BUT NOT HERE ON GGD NOOOOOO. Whenever someone refers to the instrumental parts of those Chromatica songs as the chorus, there is ALWAYS someone ready to 🤓☝️.

And it's so frustrating because they normally understood what you meant and ignore your original point.

Edited April 23 by Brazilwood

[p0p2 2]

I still really love Mayhem BUT I do prefer Chromatica over it.

[Addison Rae 16,582]

sorry i hate to say it but it was just a horrible album imo. i love gaga but it was clear she was hands off with the production and it feels like a disney channel artist album 

[pachinko 10,374]

Chromatica ‘s production quality is low compared to Mayhem. 

[Gorehound 4,665]

Ugh whenever you guys post a thread like this I always have so much to say that I can’t help but write a whole bloody essay 

 

(I’m just gonna talk about the album itself because we all know the terrible state the world was in during the Chromatica era, which was all out of Gaga’s control, and I think she did alright with it regardless). And I wanna stress that I do still love this album overall, and have saved all my positive opinions till the end.

 

The main issue with Chromatica, as a Gaga album, is that it’s just begging for some edge! 

I really wish that SOPHIE was chosen as the executive producer of Chromatica, and then later collaborated with BloodPop as overall joint album curators. SOPHIE’s production skills and musical genius were leagues above BloodPop's, not just with her ‘pot and pans’ signature style, but with her slick-as-f*ck dance beats and stylish mixing overall. She was immensely talented and imaginative! (It would have also been very apt and progressive of Gaga to have a trans woman be in charge of making this album).

 

I’m fine with the album leaning heavily into 90’s house, but I feel that that move really limited what they could’ve done with the music, and rendered the album quite repetitive and monotonous. But, blending 90’s house with a genre like Hyperpop for example, (which was really on the rise in 2020), would’ve been an excellent match-made-in-heaven, and opened the doors to all kinds of exciting musical opportunities that would’ve really suited the aesthetics of Chromatica - (Dawn Of Chromatica proved that to an extent). She should’ve also got Arca involved imo, because her synth work is just spectacular - (listen to her ‘Mutant’ album for example).

 

But like everyone is saying, this album is pretty sterile and flat. A lot of the songs don’t really lead anywhere and are a bit melodically bland. The music is quite safe overall and lacks any particularly daring or bold ideas, luxurious Gaga choruses, and experimentation. And it’s not just BloodPop’s production to blame, it’s the overall construction of the songs; the lyrics, the vocals, the chord progressions etc. Everything is quite mid. The likes of SOPHIE and Arca would’ve provided way more euphoric, satisfying melodies, exotic atmospherics and crips, interesting textures and details - not to mention more exciting and hard hitting beats, basses and imaginative moments overall. And then BloodPop would be there to help contain all of these efforts within the pop spectrum.

 

We’ve also got to remember that Gaga was not in a good place at the time and was sadly uninspired to make music, and you can definitely hear that in her vocal delivery, lyrics and melodies at times. I remember reading an article on Chromatica which said that “Gaga sounds bored on this album”, and I’ve got to agree. Her vocals are often quite subdued and dreary, and even the moments where she’s expressing real passion or pain don’t always sound that convincing. There’s very little of the classic OG Gaga flair, energy, sass, sex appeal or humour present on Chromatica, and that's sorely missed. I also kinda wish that Gaga had commissioned a handful of good song writers to help her with this album. I know she holds great pride in writing all her own material, but, for the sake of quality, I don’t see any shame in collaborating with other writers - (and I know Sour Candy was written by someone else so honestly why not?)

 

I’ve also got to mention that this album shamefully panders to the ridiculous trend of cutting songs short and not surpassing the 3 minute mark, just for the sake of steaming replay value and "short attention spans". It's a pathetic trend and everyone who truly loves music hates it. So many of the songs suffer from it, sounding squashed, stunted and often clumsy; skipping out effective intros, big bridges, third choruses, lush outros etc. I’m so glad that this trend was quickly abandoned on MAYHEM. Music should be given the space to breathe and expand for it to be truly impactful.

 

Imo non of the songs on the album are particularly bad by any means, but so many feel half-baked or have the potential to be taken to much greater heights.

E.g. 911 - the robotic verses are brilliant, but the choruses are pretty underwhelming, and the song never climaxes and just kinda sleepily tails off at the end. If it is actually a song about battling a mental breakdown with medication, then make it sound like it! Have the song completely collapse into intense abstraction at the end or something. However that transition from Chromatica II to 911 is perfection.

Babylon - This song is begging for a massive, soaring saxophone solo at the end. The song is just far too short and, again, has no effective climax, which is definitely needed considering it’s meant to be the grand finale of the album. But I do love the gospel choir and exotic bird calls I’ve gotta admit.

Alice - Great song, but again it’s quite monotonous and condensed, and would’ve benefitted with a more acid-trance, squelchy bassline and crisp, psychedelic arpeggio synths, and maybe a second verse and more explosive outro at least?

Free Woman - This song was such a disappointment and again falls flat. You can just tell it was passed around from producer to producer and no one had any idea what to do with it and had no real passion for it. And to just fade the second pre-chorus down so it turns into the song's bridge, purely for the sake of keeping the song short, is lazy af imo . This could’ve been a fantastic, soaring disco banger, and a very empowering pro-trans anthem.

Sour Candy - It’s a really cool, sexy groove but it never really leads anywhere, and Gaga sounds bored af on it lol. I think a really heavy, filthy, SOPHIE-esque dance breakdown at the end would’ve been perfect for it, and that would've contrasted nicely with the swelling, atmospheric Enigma that follows.

Stupid Love has actually grown on me over time when I initially hated it, but the dance breaks are very underwhelming, and the lyrics could seriously do with some improvements. (And no offence to other's personal tastes, but the music video is a total eyesore).

 

- 

 

I could go on and on, but all in all, this is still a really good album in all fairness. It’s certainly Gaga’s most 'cohesive' effort (as she has a bit of a bad habit of making her track lists very jarring and random - (ARTPOP I'm looking at you ),  and I love the addition of the orchestral interludes, and the fact that most songs blend seamlessly into the next. Both really heighten the sense of it being a cinematic musical journey.

And there are moments of excellence on the album. Rain On Me is a 10/10 pop song imo, and I actually love the instrumental and production. It literally does sound wet and glistening like raindrops. And the vocals are stunning etc. Replay and Enigma are great to in their own rights, and I adore the chaotic breakbeat outro in Sine From Above! That is one of the rare moments where something genuinely exciting and surprising happens on the album, and I wish there was more of that!

And I love the overall vibe of the album. I love the artwork, and the concept of escaping into a different world in your mind, and all the beauty and darkness found there, and dancing through all the pain. And I love all the world-building created for the album, like the map of Chromatica and the different clans etc. and it's a shame that wasn't explored more.

I just think that the music deserved to be equally as spectacular, psychedelic, trippy and futuristic, but it isn't unfortunately. But I'm still grateful we have it. 

 

 

[phantasmas 10,481]

funny because I like Chromatica more than Mayhem 

Mayhem doesnt sound gay enough for me so I cant really f4g out like i did with Chromatica  

[hardcore1996 1,618]

lets see haha

1: The single choices were bad. Stupid love is not a lead single return to dance pop worthy song and the iphone shot video did not help. Rain on me is a boring song that barely has a chorus and the video is boring. 

2. She was barely involved in production. Passed around tracks and SFA wasnt even her song it was like a decade old Elton John demo that somehow became the thesis statement for the album. Also teasing us with the orignal Babylon beat and then we got something completely different.

3. The songs are lacking intros outros bridges and choruses. Boo.

4. The album shoot visuals are stunning and the best part of Chromatica but she gave up on them from 911 onward. 

5. 911 video was good but wasnt her idea. It was an idea the director already had based on a movie. Also that ****ing dollar store plastic snake really takes me out

6. Sorry but TCB was boring Alice-Monster was a good run but it was mostly just dance sequences or piano time. Not to mention the logistically awful stage design and only using 1 of the 2 runways.

7. Yes covid caused promo to stop but there was things she COULD do but didnt. Many other artists came up with ideas for performances during this time but she chose not to. Oh well.

8. Replay is a good song and so is Babylon kind of. The album shoot was amazing and her 2nd best after BTW and I wish that the rest of the era kept up with it

[Ladle Ghoulash 23,374]

3 hours ago, phantasmas said:

funny because I like Chromatica more than Mayhem 

Mayhem doesnt sound gay enough for me so I cant really f4g out like i did with Chromatica  

I love when people use “gay” as an adjective to describe music because mama, what does it MEAAAAAAAN

[phantasmas 10,481]

2 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

I love when people use “gay” as an adjective to describe music because mama, what does it MEAAAAAAAN

you know exactly what it means 

[Ladle Ghoulash 23,374]

17 minutes ago, phantasmas said:

you know exactly what it means 

You’re eating ass in the bathhouse listening to 2010 Kygo-ass drops?