Let’s be honest about dead dance

[gagafan1394 221]

22 hours ago, REALITY said:

If we REALLY wanna be honest, I think many people have convinced themselves TDD is "not a good song" because it's for Wednesday + it was released as a single before being put on the album. I fully believe if this song was always on MAYHEM, y'all would've been clamoring for it to be a single the same way y'all do with VIY, Zombieboy, SOAM, HBDUWM, GOE, etc. TDD fits perfectly with the rest of MAYHEM—sonically, thematically, and lyrically.

you said it all, babe 

it's a fantastic pop song, totally in the gaga-vein, and it deserves its spot on the tracklist. 

we may have a top 10 hit in our hands here... 

[Ziggy 11,937]

1 hour ago, REALITY said:

There's a strong argument to be made that Joanne was actually her most "experimental" record, but because it's not the industrial, electronic, techno, dance-y kind of record people expected, they hated it. For many monsters, "experimental" is just code for TFM or BTW.

Eh I’d say BTW stays her most experimental genuinely bc she really pulls from a WIDE swath to make that album’s tableau. I mean, it’s an enormous slew of sounds and eras and aesthetic choices. It’s why she never needs a self titled album. BTW really has so much of her in it.

i think Joanne could have been more experimental and she clearly wanted it to be but the label largely put the kibosh on that when they asked her to talk to bloodpop. 

[REALITY 77,308]

2 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

Eh I’d say BTW stays her most experimental genuinely bc she really pulls from a WIDE swath to make that album’s tableau. I mean, it’s an enormous slew of sounds and eras and aesthetic choices. It’s why she never needs a self titled album. BTW really has so much of her in it.

i think Joanne could have been more experimental and she clearly wanted it to be but the label largely put the kibosh on that when they asked her to talk to bloodpop. 

BTW is definitely up there in terms of her "experimental" music, but Joanne was just so vastly different than anything else she had done before at the time. At least you could say BTW continued the electronic/techno influences of TF and TFM. I mean, we had never had songs even remotely close to Hey Girl, Grigio Girls, Sinner's Prayer, etc., before from Gaga.

And aesthetically speaking, it was also unlike anything she's done before. We've never had a "stripped back" era before then. And I think her fashion since then has certainly changed. Prior to Joanne, she always had crazy and eccentric looks. Joanne, onwards, she mostly saves the strange and avant-garde looks for events. 

[Ziggy 11,937]

3 minutes ago, REALITY said:

BTW is definitely up there in terms of her "experimental" music, but Joanne was just so vastly different than anything else she had done before at the time. At least you could say BTW continued the electronic/techno influences of TF and TFM. I mean, we had never had songs even remotely close to Hey Girl, Grigio Girls, Sinner's Prayer, etc., before from Gaga.

And aesthetically speaking, it was also unlike anything she's done before. We've never had a "stripped back" era before then. And I think her fashion since then has certainly changed. Prior to Joanne, she always had crazy and eccentric looks. Joanne, onwards, she mostly saves the strange and avant-garde looks for events. 

Mmm ok I see we’re approaching it from two different angles. I agree for Gaga it is more experimental! I was speaking more in the general sense that her music felt its most genuinely experimental with BTW for the reasons I listed but I get why you’d say Joanne!

[Ziggy 11,937]

23 hours ago, REALITY said:

If we REALLY wanna be honest, I think many people have convinced themselves TDD is "not a good song" because it's for Wednesday + it was released as a single before being put on the album. I fully believe if this song was always on MAYHEM, y'all would've been clamoring for it to be a single the same way y'all do with VIY, Zombieboy, SOAM, HBDUWM, GOE, etc. TDD fits perfectly with the rest of MAYHEM—sonically, thematically, and lyrically.

That’s my issue. It feels kinda just like a simulacrum of Mayhem, an image of an image. Like at its best it works as a bridge track between zombieboy and love drug but it’s not a necessary one. It’s a way I’d feel even if it were there originally. The album is tighter without it, basically. It’s just filler the fits the vibe at the end of the day—not bad, not great, but solid and does its job

[REALITY 77,308]

1 hour ago, Ziggy said:

That’s my issue. It feels kinda just like a simulacrum of Mayhem, an image of an image. Like at its best it works as a bridge track between zombieboy and love drug but it’s not a necessary one. It’s a way I’d feel even if it were there originally. The album is tighter without it, basically. It’s just filler the fits the vibe at the end of the day—not bad, not great, but solid and does its job

I disagree with it being a simulacrum of MAYHEM. I think people only think that because they don't associate the song with the album. They see it as just a standalone single only for Wednesday. It is the embodiment of a MAYHEM track. 

I think its inclusion helps to bridge the gap between Zombieboy and LoveDrug. It's a disco/funk track, which obviously goes well with Zombieboy, but it also has a lot of 80s influence, which synergizes with LoveDrug. Imo I think the album is infinitely better with it + CSTH and KFL. Those three tracks perfectly balance out the album, and all three should've been included in the standard version of the record.

[Born This Way 1,808]

I think it fits better than Don't Call Tonight.

[Ziggy 11,937]

2 hours ago, REALITY said:

I disagree with it being a simulacrum of MAYHEM. I think people only think that because they don't associate the song with the album. They see it as just a standalone single only for Wednesday. It is the embodiment of a MAYHEM track. 

I think its inclusion helps to bridge the gap between Zombieboy and LoveDrug. It's a disco/funk track, which obviously goes well with Zombieboy, but it also has a lot of 80s influence, which synergizes with LoveDrug. Imo I think the album is infinitely better with it + CSTH and KFL. Those three tracks perfectly balance out the album, and all three should've been included in the standard version of the record.

So it being an embodiment of mayhem is my problem with it lol I’m saying that as a song it’s kinda less inventive in the disco funk and Michael Jackson synthesis than just about anything else like it. It’s not bad, but it has some of the album’s poorer lyricism for sure compared to even the other two bonus tracks which I agree absolutely work on the album. But those songs, I find, actively contribute. CSTH sounds a lot like PC and GoE but distinctly its own and so it works bc those sounds are so sparsely present on the album as is. IMO the album either gets TDD *or* KFL but both is overkill and both try too hard to sound like Thriller (in some cases you can hear specific sounds that thriller used in the same way, for instance) or like something on Off the Wall. When you have SoaM, KFL, The Beast, and TDD you have to take a look at the Michael Jackson inspo imo and cut the weakest of them. TDD, to me, is the one that treads closest to thriller without really doing anything different so imo that’s the chop. It’s not a *bad song, it’s just a very fine song imo and pretty forgettable on an album that’s very very tight and very stacked. But she performs it well and brings it to life more, for sure

[Hadrian 661]

I like it, but I think what would really elevate The Dead Dance is a better/clearer transition from the first verse to the first chorus. From what I remember, it starts off as this haunting ambient soundscape and then she goes YEAHILLKEEPON and we get a disco jumpscare

[OMF 3,483]

I see no relation to Bloody Mary for one. And it’s a great track, fits into Mayhem like a glove. No fillers on this album at all.

[angelduuh 526]

At first the song didn't wow me, same as the video. It wasn't like Abracadabra which I liked instantly. I feel like Zombieboy is a better 'halloween' song. But now I'm addicted to the song. Still, I think it's a good song. But it's no Abracadabra or Bad Romance. Still, I feel the GP will eat the song.

[Axl Jax 624]

On 9/8/2025 at 1:51 AM, Ladle Ghoulash said:

Great tune. Catchy, well-produced, great vocals, groovy, dynamic. 

You ain’t from the ARTPOP days I’m guessing 

[Axl Jax 624]

21 hours ago, Ziggy said:

That’s my issue. It feels kinda just like a simulacrum of Mayhem, an image of an image. Like at its best it works as a bridge track between zombieboy and love drug but it’s not a necessary one. It’s a way I’d feel even if it were there originally. The album is tighter without it, basically. It’s just filler the fits the vibe at the end of the day—not bad, not great, but solid and does its job

Tbh to me it just sounds like the Tadum thing on Netflix of her performing Bloody Mary (in the middle of zombie boy and abracadabra) recycled. This sounds harsh but it’s not the lady Gaga I grew up with, and hasn’t been since before chromatica

[Axl Jax 624]

12 hours ago, angelduuh said:

At first the song didn't wow me, same as the video. It wasn't like Abracadabra which I liked instantly. I feel like Zombieboy is a better 'halloween' song. But now I'm addicted to the song. Still, I think it's a good song. But it's no Abracadabra or Bad Romance. Still, I feel the GP will eat the song.

The tiktok GP people will, but it ain’t for me. It’s catchy but that’s it, very plain compared to the Gaga that I grew up with

[Axl Jax 624]

On 9/8/2025 at 10:58 PM, Ziggy said:

Yeah my primary issue with the song is it’s kinda filler more than thriller 

Lol you are completely correct btw 😩❤️👌