ARTPOP: Ahead of its time?

[TimotheeChalamet 6,191]

16 hours ago, Controversiaga said:

Aura and donatella for example. Who knows which other 

The bassline from Venus originated from a Madeon demo called Ubelkeit, Mary Jane Holland was another track called "Can't Beat The Machines" (also a demo from another artist) and the synths in Do What U Want come from "The Deep" by Dance With The Dead

[Ladle Ghoulash 30,151]

Another way I think the ARTPOP era was ahead of its time is how, through the pluralism and postmodernity of Lady Gaga’s image and music, she kind of predicted the erosion of the monoculture or at the very least a commercial landscape where she could conceivably be different things to different people at the same time. One of the ways I feel she did that, outside of her image, which was of course, at the time changing on a daily basis, was the partial overlap of the ARTPOP era and C2C. Seeing Gaga come out in the middle of a show that is ostensibly modeled after a rave with a jazz trumpet player performing “Bang Bang” felt like the perfect encapsulation of the type of creative flexibility she wanted to have, but she felt that she wasn’t being afforded.

Now fast forward to October 2024: simultaneously, Lady Gaga is promoting a theatrical character driven jazz pop record in Harlequin, a throwback pop love duet with Bruno in DWAS, and a grungy industrial synth pop banger with a classic horror inspired video in Disease. Part of why I think she was successfully able to pull this off is a decentralized media landscape where, if you’re seeing Gaga, you might only be seeing the side of her that appeals to you; but the other part is that I think, during the ARTPOP era, she explicitly began setting the stage for a more multidimensional version of her persona to exist on the public stage.

Edited November 12 by Ladle Ghoulash

[Kirby Ghosty 320]

Do you ARTPOP stans really like Jewels N Drugs? I’m sorry but I just don’t get it when people say it’s her best album. It had way too many fillers “just ask your gay friends”, “fashion fashiooon fashion ffashiunnnn” 

I mean they are fun songs and I still listen to them but collectively her other albums are better. 

[TheARTPOPball 923]

I imagine ARTPOP as a museum or a big quilt. Gaga gathered “pieces” from all over pop culture, and in the music world, and sewed them together. I actually appreciated the concept of her purchasing instrumentals and writing her own songs over them. I think the album was a product of its time, and not necessarily ahead of its time. But there are moments in the album that i think can be timeLESS. The titletrack in itself is very experimental, probably the best on the record, but i also i think some songs like jewels n drugs, would have been more successful if they we’re released later on after hip hop became the main music genre again. The visuals are probably my favorite out of all of them, except the joanne visuals, i quite liked. Chromatica could have been the best i think if there was a proper photoshoot. 

[StrawberryBlond 15,032]

The two major elements that made it somewhat ahead of its time were: introduction to trap sounds and the way popstars become more artistic and experimental afterwards. 

I'd never even heard of trap music (and I listen to rap and hip hop) when she started talking about how she was going to be incorporating those sounds onto it and I remember looking up trap mixes and getting into this whole vibe that was very new to me. Trap was starting to make a breakthrough at the time and only intensified after AP's release. The sound of Jewels and Drugs still sounds like how I wish modern hip hop sounded like.

And after release, so many popstars suddenly went into a new, more experimental direction with their next album and were trying to be more "artistic." Most notable examples were: Miley's Dead Petz (2015), Rihanna's Anti (2016), Beyonce's Lemonade (2016), Katy's Witness (2017). These artists were creating arguably some of the most experimental music of their career post-AP and I see it as no coincidence. Even the way they promoted these albums with quite a bit of pretentiousness, at art galleries, with indepth interviews, with novelties (surprise releases, visual albums, braille, unusual fashion choices, professing to it being their most artistically freeing and accomplished work, etc)...it was all so much like AP's rollout and execution.

[Alxjcgn 1,068]

On 11/11/2025 at 10:34 PM, Starmie25 said:

Not all, but part of it was. 

Mainly the over-the-top, visual marketing aspect like the app, the rave, the club costuming and the weirder, hyperactive electronic stuff like Aura, Partynauseous, Swine, JND etc

Electronic/EDM was still going strong in the mainstream due to the likes of Calvin Harris, Martin Garrix, Alicia, Galantis, Chainsmokers, Diplo, Zedd (break free)... so there's no reason why ARTPOP had to be left out of the circle, sans Applause.

And on that note I YEARN for more weirder electronic from GaGa. I need it, as does the tiktok crowd who are currently "crying for not being able to attend the artRAVE due to being 4 years of age" 

https://www.tiktok.com/@lady_gaga.max/video/7570146971604864264

I'm so glad that younger people are getting into Gaga but it is such a harsh reminder I am not young and hip anymore every time somebody yearns to have been old enough to attend the older tours hahaha

[Nine Inch Heels 739]

ARTPOP the song is imo, for me it’s nearly timeless 

[FameHookah 4,704]

Yeah, look at rosalia now, she took some notes

[Starmie25 20,065]

22 hours ago, Alxjcgn said:

I'm so glad that younger people are getting into Gaga but it is such a harsh reminder I am not young and hip anymore every time somebody yearns to have been old enough to attend the older tours hahaha

I don't think the core fanbase realises how many new fans Gaga has picked up since BM/Judas.