ARTPOP vs Chromatica: Who Aged Better?

[TheFrenchGuy 1,426]

15 minutes ago, Bronco said:

I'd argue they're not saying the same thing because they represent totally different emotional responses to the topic. 

They're 2 sides of the same coin, but like any coin the 2 sides aren't identical and tell 2 stories. 

One is significantly more personal, comes from suffering and pain. It's emotional story is totally different to the one that almost angrily confronts the cause of the pain and suffering.

One is Stephanie almost crying for help, the other is Gaga going on the attack. 

You literally can't have had the lyrics written from a position of strength & confrontation without the lyrics that represented the position of weakness and helplessness. 

Sure, I guess the raw cry for help is less compelling to me artistically speaking. But I would argue that ARTPOP was also a cry for help but even on the most vulnerable song of the album (Dope), the writing is a lot more interesting. On Chromatica you can feel that she was exhausted and not working with her full toolset and i guess there is beauty in that vulnerability but  I tend to prefer the version of her who stands firmly in her craft, confident and fully in control of what she wants to express. 

Edited November 26 by TheFrenchGuy

[VentiGago 27]

ARTPOP feels better aged but one of the reasons is because it reached a Legendary tier in Gaga's discography through the years. It hasn't passed enough time to assess how good has or hasn't Chromatica aged

[Lord Mayhem 1,912]

I guess ARTPOP because fans still reference it to this day even hoping for ACT II one day to be released...it's going on 13 years old 

Chromatica feels dated because it references a time when everyone was locked in during COVID, Gaga was at her most depressed, and the sound was too polished and sterile. Didn't quite hit that house nostalgia we heard in the demos...

Overall I think most fans would rather listen to ARTPOP than Chromatica 

[27monster27 14,314]

11 hours ago, llemesm said:

Also on ARTPOP Gaga plays with vocal colors in a way she doesn’t on Chromatica. She’s soft, aggressive, sensual, playful — it’s a whole palette.

On Chromatica (and sorry for saying this), some tracks actually end up annoying to me. Fun Tonight, Free Woman, Plastic Doll, 1000 Doves… they’re so vocally upbeat that I literally get a headache from how much she’s pushing and almost screaming. That’s why I love the cadence on Babylon or the robotic softness of 911. In that sense, ARTPOP is just on a completely different — and superior — level.

While I personally am an ARTPOP stan, the one song that I will give colossal props to for vocals is Enigma. She DEFINITLEY played her cards right on that song. The transition from the lighter verses into the full and aggressive chorus vocals is pure bliss. I will never forget the incredible feeling when I first heard that back in 2020.

[27monster27 14,314]

1 hour ago, Gorehound said:

ARTPOP on the other hand is a hot mess, but at least Gaga was f*cking trying. The passion is there in floods and you can tell that she really believed in this album. And the production is great and imaginative. It's explosive, intense, ludicrous, pretentious, silly and sexual etc, and anything but safe. Every song, good and bad, still feels like you’re on a rollercoaster and it's just good fun. She did warn us that there was a lack of maturity on the album, and was focused more on being “dirty dance music” and that’s what we got. The EDM genre may be trapped in 2013, but at least each song hits hard and climaxes. Everybody absolutely loves to use the term “cohesive” when talking about albums as if it’s the number one rule, but that can quickly become boring (cough-Chromatica-cough). ARTPOP was always meant to be more abstract as an album and “genre-trip”. If anything I think it deserved to be even more incoherent and dive into a greater plethora of genres. (Tho Jewels N’ Drugs is far too jarring. Ratchet would’ve worked better imo). I could go on and on but ye, I love ARTPOP the same as the day it was released. It was Gaga in her prime for me.

ARTPOP was mostly made as a response to the Born This Way era. People said that Born This Way was too serious, so she turned around and made a loose cannon album where she gives the public what they want, only to spin it into a form of insanity. This is actually what she talked about in songs like A-Yo and the MAYHEM interviews earlier this year where if people wanted something from her, she would give it but spin it in a crazy direction to throw people off of what they wanted.

[Celloo Deng 55,398]

neither 

[Agunimon 170]

My ARTPOP could mean anything, but my Chromatica means dancing through the suffering. 

[Elizabeth 587]

It’s hard to say, I’d think the singles from Chromatica have aged better but overall I’d say ARTPOP, it’s more memorable as a whole for me personally. 

[Ilia Malinin 1,826]

ARTPOP, no question.  i skip most of chromatica now.  i only ever skip fashion! on ARTPOP because it's just not my kind of song.

[4th Time Around 4,668]

ARTPOP obviously. I don't even listen to Chromatica anymore outside of a few of the highlights.

[LUST FOR GAGA 26]

her two worst aged albums. but ARTPOP is still much better 

[Awrah999 4,408]

Definitely ARTPOP. Sure we can give Chromatica some time to "age" gracefully and see if we return back to it. To me, even though it is messy and there are lower lows, Gaga really WENT FOR IT on ARTPOP. She fired hard and missed sometimes but it was still gloriously authentic and full throttle. There are some of the best hooks, some of the best vocals, and she had zero filter. Chromatica is a good album, but I do feel the production is one note and you can tell that Gaga's full heart wasn't in it as much as she wanted to give us amazing music to dance to and this album got many of us through the pandemic including myself. I still listen to Replay, Alice, Rain On Me occasionally but if I'm honest the album as a whole lack's Gaga's signature grit, passion, and unpredictability that we love her for. I feel like other pop artists could have made a similar sounding album to Chromatica and it was relatively more on trend for the times; contrast that with ARTPOP in which Gaga clearly stated she wanted to do exactly what others didn't expect of her, and it completely showed for better or for worse. I still listen to Applause frequently and think even the deep cuts (and alternate versions like the Manicure Swinefest version, I Wanna Be With U, Gypsy demo with slighty different vocals, Burqa (vs Aura)) are really some of her best work ever as traumatizing and difficult of a time as it was for her. I truly appreciate Gaga as an artist, all iterations of her work even when certain genres like jazz or country aren't typically my thing, I have appreciated her incredible artistry and vocal versatility and talent. How genuinely inspiring it is to be a fan of an artist who can sing ballads as timeless and iconic as Shallow and Always Remember Us This Way, randomly put out side projects like Harlequin with high quality, and then repeak repeatedly in different genres and mediums of art like acting, singing, producing, songwriting, etc. She is more than a chameleon--she is an absolute force. I can't wait to see what she does next! Thanks for coming to my arTEDpop Talk 

[Gorehound 4,841]

15 hours ago, 27monster27 said:

ARTPOP was mostly made as a response to the Born This Way era. People said that Born This Way was too serious, so she turned around and made a loose cannon album where she gives the public what they want, only to spin it into a form of insanity. This is actually what she talked about in songs like A-Yo and the MAYHEM interviews earlier this year where if people wanted something from her, she would give it but spin it in a crazy direction to throw people off of what they wanted.

Ye well said man. See this is what I love about ARTPOP. There's so much depth and complexity to the project and her state of mind at the time. Once you think you've got a grasp of it it goes and turns everything on its head. A book or thesis really needs to be written about it at some point. 

Edited November 27 by Gorehound

[HotLikeMexico 5,425]

Chromatica > ARTPOP. 
I don’t get why everyone is so wet for ARTPOP. 

[skedaddleBItCh 2,821]

3 hours ago, HotLikeMexico said:

Chromatica > ARTPOP. 
I don’t get why everyone is so wet for ARTPOP. 

Well the album (ARTPOP) is as obnoxious as the fans so yeah I guess they really did connect with it