ARTPOP: Ahead of its time?

[Ladle Ghoulash 28,781]

Was ARTPOP ahead of its time? If so, how? If not, why?

 

 

Discuss 🔵

[Starmie25 19,914]

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

Edited 6 hours ago by Starmie25

[NUTELLA 13,199]

Dated upon arrival

[MountainMonster 1,009]

It was not ahead of its time. And I think its aged poorly. I think it’s her most juvenile work she ever created. Even the most pseudo-sincere songs are absolutely cringe-worthy. It’s the album I revisit the least because I think it’s sounds the worst now. 

Of course at the time I was all about it, and that’s all I listened to - and it served an important role in my life then, but it doesn’t sound fresh today. It’s like nothing happening in the mainstream a decade later - I think that alone makes it quite clear it couldn’t be ahead of its time. 

Edited 6 hours ago by MountainMonster

[Starmie25 19,914]

24 minutes ago, NUTELLA said:

Dated upon arrival

If "Aura" becomes the new Judas will you retract your statement? 

https://www.tiktok.com/@ricky_munoz_/video/7527899778093567262

[NemoMyName 1,026]

Nope, ARTPOP was better as a concept that as album. The people who claims it's her best album it's just people that made that era their whole personality.

[NUTELLA 13,199]

2 minutes ago, Starmie25 said:

If "Aura" becomes the new Judas will you retract your statement? 

https://www.tiktok.com/@ricky_munoz_/video/7527899778093567262

Funnily enough, Judas was dated upon arrival too

[Ladle Ghoulash 28,781]

My take:

I think maybe some of the performance art was ahead of its time (the postmodernity of the “I am not one icon, I am every icon” approach specifically), but I feel like very little of the music is genuinely ahead of its time. The music has a pre-hyperpop sensibility, but never fully crosses over. Aura is probably one of the only songs on the album I’d say is truly very innovative/experimental, tbh. If anything, sonically and thematically, the album kind of feels like a retread where Gar made the subtext of her previous work (“I play the object of desire, but I’m in control,” “I’m the art and the artist”) explicit, which is effective in moments when it feels as though she’s breaking the forth wall in a genuinely confrontational way (Aura, DWUW), but feels kind of trite in other places (Fashion!, Applause, G.U.Y). Musically, it also feels like something of a retread (MANiCURE harkening back to the glam pop of TF, GUY as a mashup LG + BR, Applause’s synth riff alluding to JD + PF).

More than anything, I see ARTPOP as an album where Gaga, after the controversy of BTW, was being pressured to dial it back by her management/label and resisted by doubling down on all of her idiosyncracies, for better or for worse. As a consequence, I think there’s a kind of aimlessness to the music: on the one hand, she seemed to want to placate the label’s desire for party/club music, but she also wanted to put her own spin on it and assert control over the narrative and her career, which I think resulted in a tonal mismatch between the ethos of the era and the music itself. Very interesting in hindsight and I think the era as a necessary deconstruction of her persona and the establishment of an overarching mission statement remains important, but as others have said, imo, the album itself has aged fairly poorly.

Edited 6 hours ago by Ladle Ghoulash

[VTV 12,988]

The era (performance, tech, fashion) were ahead of its time but the album sonically is 1 year behind and sounded like fresh from 2012 album. The demos are ahead of its time. 

[AVeryGagaHolyDick 26,753]

23 minutes ago, MountainMonster said:

It was not ahead of its time. And I think its aged poorly. I think it’s her most juvenile work she ever created. Even the most pseudo-sincere songs are absolutely cringe-worthy. It’s the album I revisit the least because I think it’s sounds the worst now. 

Of course at the time I was all about it, and that’s all I listened to - and it served an important role in my life then, but it doesn’t sound fresh today. It’s like nothing happening in the mainstream a decade later - I think that alone makes it quite clear it couldn’t be ahead of its time. 

And then you wake up and have taste 

[AVeryGagaHolyDick 26,753]

The music? Not at all.

The overall concept/communication? Defined the future.

[AVeryGagaHolyDick 26,753]

26 minutes ago, NUTELLA said:

Funnily enough, Judas was dated upon arrival too

Judas was never, ever dated. It’s completely unique. Sure, it’s similar to BR in terms of structure/melody, but that’s Gaga’s signature and lyrically Judas destroys BR

[Lucas 27,892]

If we're talking about the music, absolutely not, it sounded dated when it was released.

[NUTELLA 13,199]

3 minutes ago, AVeryGagaHolyDick said:

Judas was never, ever dated. It’s completely unique. Sure, it’s similar to BR in terms of structure/melody, but that’s Gaga’s signature and lyrically Judas destroys BR

The "love is like a brick" line is great 🧱

But even if we ignore the BR similarities (which seems impossible for me to do lol), I still think Judas is a ham-fisted mess, both sonically & lyrically.

Have always hated it. Will always hate it.

(Sorry for hijacking thread ✝️)

[Ladle Ghoulash 28,781]

13 minutes ago, NUTELLA said:

The "love is like a brick" line is great 🧱

But even if we ignore the BR similarities (which seems impossible for me to do lol), I still think Judas is a ham-fisted mess, both sonically & lyrically.

Have always hated it. Will always hate it.

(Sorry for hijacking thread ✝️)

She really wrote the ear condom line for you, huh, Ms. Nut? 

Edited 5 hours ago by Ladle Ghoulash