ARTPOP vs Chromatica: Who Aged Better?

[llemesm 1,713]

Disclaimer: This is just my personal opinion, based on how I experience both albums today.

I’ve been revisiting Gaga’s discography lately — album by album, start to finish — and something surprised me.

ARTPOP, the album everyone loved to drag back in the day, actually aged… pretty decently. It’s not Gaga’s best, and I’m not even sure it’s a “good” album in the traditional sense, but it is fun. It’s loud, chaotic, and honestly? Still enjoyable. The beats hit, the lyrics are wild, and as a whole it makes it easy to listen all the way through.

Chromatica, though...
The minute I hit track 6 (“Fun Tonight”), I’m already feeling drained. I don’t know if it’s the sound, the emotional weight, or just how dense the whole atmosphere gets, but it becomes overwhelming fast. And that’s the strange part: when it came out, I loved Chromatica — the visuals, the colors, the world-building, the videos, everything. I listened to it nonstop and have a lot of affection for that era.

But today? As a full-album experience, it hasn’t aged as well. It feels heavier, more exhausting, and harder to sit through in one go.

So honestly, if we’re talking about which album ages better when you listen from beginning to end? ARTPOP wins.

What do you think — ARTPOP or Chromatica?

[elsamars 4,083]

Chromatica was dead on arrival let alone aging at all

[vanna shintuyu 11,119]

I only find ¼ of Chromatica to even be listenable. Still love most of ARTPOP. I think Chromatica's visuals are better and way more cohesive. Sometimes I wonder if the positive reception to the music was a trauma response though.

[AVeryGagaHolyDick 27,201]

I’ve never liked Chromatica but tbh I think it did age pretty well 

ARTPOP did as well, which is actually more impressive to me because it was loud and daring 

So I voted for ARTPOP

[NUTELLA 13,759]

Both have aged poorly- one is a hot mess, the other is boring.

I don't like ARTPOP, but I reach for that album before Chromatica.

[AVeryGagaHolyDick 27,201]

8 minutes ago, NUTELLA said:

Both have aged poorly- one is a hot mess, the other is boring.

Born This Way is the definition of “hot mess” and it’s still her best album 

By the way, now that I think about it, I’m amazed that Interscope/UMG allowed her to put that record out. The GP was getting really tired of Gaga, her antics and political implication, and Born This Way was against everything the GP wanted from her, whether it’s sonically, thematically or visually  And they still managed to make it a success

Edited 3 hours ago by AVeryGagaHolyDick

[ThisGuyTony 31,602]

Well she clearly put a lot of heart and soul into ARTPOP.

She forced herself to make Chromatica. 

I still think Chromatica clears ARTPOP tho in terms of lyricism (more personal lyrics) and vocals.

I don’t think anything from ARTPOP can touch Replay or 911…

[NUTELLA 13,759]

Just now, AVeryGagaHolyDick said:

Born This Way is the definition of “hot mess” and it’s still her best album 

TFM is her best album imo... lean, mean, no skips.

Whereas BTW is her most "iconic" album/era (understandably so, given cultural context).

 

But song-for-song, TFM is superior.

Because you're right- BTW veers into hot mess-territory on a few tracks 👀

[faysalaaa 5,005]

I think ARTPOP is the only album where Gaga is fully unmasked and herself artistically. You can even see ARTPOP in her early work like The Fame but she was hiding it. Only people who viewed Gaga as a basic female blonde pop star did not enjoy the album. ARTPOP is one of my favorite albums of all time and my favorite from Gaga.

Edited 3 hours ago by faysalaaa

[Ladle Ghoulash 29,547]

1 minute ago, faysalaaa said:

I think ARTPOP is the only album where Gaga is herself and unmasked. You can see ARTPOP even in her early work on The Fame. Only people who viewed Gaga as a basic female blonde pop star did not enjoy the album. ARTPOP is one of my favorite albums of all time and my favorite from Gaga.

Eh, I think BTW and MAYHEM are far more quintessential Gaga than ARTPOP. ARTPOP is bloated with pretense and often lacking in substance/innovation (in spite of its marketing and title), whereas I think BTW and MAYHEM are both sonically exciting, sincere, reflect her range as an artist better, and are also just more consistent on a track by track basis. Btw, for what it’s worth, Gaga was well-beyond “basic blonde female pop star” by the time ARTPOP came out and the only record where that archetype even really applies (on a surface level at that) is TF.

[Ladle Ghoulash 29,547]

7 minutes ago, NUTELLA said:

TFM is her best album imo... lean, mean, no skips.

Whereas BTW is her most "iconic" album/era (understandably so, given cultural context).

 

But song-for-song, TFM is superior.

Because you're right- BTW veers into hot mess-territory on a few tracks 👀

No skips and yet SHICD is on it. Huh…

I love TFM (top three for me for sure), but I’d honestly rather listen to the “skips” on BTW than the weaker tracks on TFM. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Ladle Ghoulash

[Bronco 13,970]

Chromatica suffers because of its production and instrumentals. 

Like you can absolutely mix the lyricisim of Chromatica with House music, but you can't restrain the music. You need to let the house tracks do what house music does best and actually invoke that sense of euphoria. 

Sadly, Chromatica instrumentals feel like they're dogs chained up by Bloodpop and every time they attempt to run wild they get yanked back into the kennel. 

It stops Chromatica landing how it was intended and fully representing that dancing through the pain feeling.

[Ladle Ghoulash 29,547]

Both have aged somewhat poorly in different ways, imo (in part because I don’t think either sounded incredibly fresh upon arrival). I think the highs on ARTPOP are higher than the highs on Chromatica, but I think Chromatica is more consistent and a lot of the lows on ARTPOP are songs that I basically never listen to outside of the context of the album.

[Ladle Ghoulash 29,547]

5 minutes ago, Bronco said:

Chromatica suffers because of its production and instrumentals. 

Like you can absolutely mix the lyricisim of Chromatica with House music, but you can't restrain the music. You need to let the house tracks do what house music does best and actually invoke that sense of euphoria. 

Sadly, Chromatica instrumentals feel like they're dogs chained up by Bloodpop and every time they attempt to run wild they get yanked back into the kennel. 

It stops Chromatica landing how it was intended and fully representing that dancing through the pain feeling.

100%. FWIW, I honestly think if Chromatica were more bombastic production-wise, I’d prefer it to ARTPOP. I feel that Chromatica says everything Gaga wanted to say on ARTPOP without all the sloppy metaphors. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Ladle Ghoulash

[Bronco 13,970]

3 minutes ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

100%. FWIW, I honestly think if Chromatica were more bombastic production-wise, I’d prefer it to ARTPOP. 

Honestly, I think if the production had more life to it we'd have talked about that album the way we did about Mayhem on release.