What Is Gaga's Best Concept Album?

[Future Lovers 7,883]

Well she’s never made one. 

An album in which a handful tracks brush against a general, undetailed theme does not a concept album make.

The Fame does not really deal with fame for the majority of it’s runtime and does not offer much actual commentary on the songs it does.

ARTPOP isn’t really about any one thing. No artistic expression and the melding of art and pop (whatever she meant by that) is not a theme. 

Joanne isn’t about any one thing in particular either. 

Chromatica is very loosely about trauma and depression sometimes but is not a unified concept or theme in any way. 

MAYHEM has a theme but the theme is applied to the sound of the record, not what the songs themselves are actually about (the actual tracks are about a variety of disconnected topics).

BTW is the closest she’s ever come to one but it also isn’t really one. A lot of the tracklist loosely revolves around the idea of freedom and expression but it’s never really tied together or presented as any sort of real throughline and several songs aren’t even within that theme at all. 

Edited August 13 by Future Lovers

[Concertaholic 6,680]

Joanne. Maybe not the best but certainly the most cohesive. To me she played the role of wannabe crossover country/Americana artist consistently throughout the entire album/era and had the most dedication to just one theme/vibe out of all the eras.

[Future Lovers 7,883]

I feel like several of you are approaching this as “cohesive sound = concept album” when that is…not what a concept album is. 

A track list of songs that have a similar sonic identity is not a concept album. That’s just what an album is babes. 

[Blackout19 16,386]

born this way & chromatica

[Taumaturg0 1,436]

To me, a concept album is an album whose tracks tell a story collectively, and only Chromatica fits that in her discography, there's a very clear storyline in the tracklist, with her other albums, you shift song order, and it doesn't change much. 

if the question is which album fits its concept better, then probably The Fame monster and Mayhem 

Edited August 13 by Taumaturg0

[Taumaturg0 1,436]

2 hours ago, Future Lovers said:

 

Chromatica is very loosely about trauma and depression sometimes but is not a unified concept or theme in any way. 

 

I disagree, there's a three act structure that follows a more or less clear progression. It's not the clearest, but a visual album would've made the concept clearer

[TAIPEI 3,399]

THE FAME + FAME MONSTER

BORN THIS WAY

CHROMATICA

MAYHEM

all the album concepts above are great.

[nATAH 58,594]

do we mean our favourite album's concept or our favourite concept album? cus lowkey she doesn't really have one but ARTPOP could have been if she was allowed to retain her vision

[Oriane 23,047]

ARTPOP is the one that is closer to the original definition of a concept album and the songs are in that order in the tracklist to tell a story.

I can share my analysis if I can find it (it's the first post I ever made here which used to be easily accessible but now you can only go a year back )

Edited August 13 by Oriane

[zevapaparazzo 2,659]

9 hours ago, Bronco said:

Joanne is 2 albums forced into an uneven coexistence that makes the album disjointed. 

bro i've been trying for like half an hour to sort each song in joAnne and joBnne

[Bronco 28,450]

17 minutes ago, zevthepaparazzo said:

bro i've been trying for like half an hour to sort each song in joAnne and joBnne

Its easy

A - all the rock influenced tracks she did that were inspired by things like Queen of the Stone Age

Diamond Heart, Ayo, Dancin in Circles, Perfect Illusion, John Wayne.

B- the americana tracks

Joanne, Million Reasons, Sinners Prayer, Come to Mama, Angel Down

The Americana tracks feel genuinely part of the country vision she had, but the rock influenced tracks take virtually nothing from that vision and take way more from indie-rock and alt-rock but are forced to fit into the country world she wanted for the album 

[zevapaparazzo 2,659]

14 minutes ago, Bronco said:

Its easy

A - all the rock influenced tracks she did that were inspired by things like Queen of the Stone Age

Diamond Heart, Ayo, Dancin in Circles, Perfect Illusion, John Wayne.

B- the americana tracks

Joanne, Million Reasons, Sinners Prayer, Come to Mama, Angel Down

The Americana tracks feel genuinely part of the country vision she had, but the rock influenced tracks take virtually nothing from that vision and take way more from indie-rock and alt-rock but are forced to fit into the country world she wanted for the album 

mind is expanding

[Cherry Blues 662]

33 minutes ago, Bronco said:

Its easy

A - all the rock influenced tracks she did that were inspired by things like Queen of the Stone Age

Diamond Heart, Ayo, Dancin in Circles, Perfect Illusion, John Wayne.

B- the americana tracks

Joanne, Million Reasons, Sinners Prayer, Come to Mama, Angel Down

The Americana tracks feel genuinely part of the country vision she had, but the rock influenced tracks take virtually nothing from that vision and take way more from indie-rock and alt-rock but are forced to fit into the country world she wanted for the album 

For me it feels that Joanne is may inspired by these genres, but still is pop. Dancin' in Circles for example is said to be inspired by indian music and it is said it is inspired by dancehall - for me it sounds like organic pop. 

[Versace 8,085]

I don’t think all her albums are concept albums, 

The Fame and The Fame Monster are undoubtedly and their concepts are crystal clear/consistent throughout the records  

ARTPOP is her most elaborate concept and explicitly tries to sell itself as a concept album from the title and Gaga’s marketing around it. However dare I say the concept was way too ambitious and is still ambiguous. There is a level of detachment from the concept and the music just on the listening experience alone. The title track and Venus are perhaps the most explicit references we get to the concept she tried to market (the intersection between ART and POP, only for us to find out that her ARTPOP could mean anything). The other tracks are just solid Pop songs. You could slap a “Dance Through Pain” or self titled and it would suffice as an album title, and simply can exist as an album without an explicit concept. With all that being said ARTPOP’s shortcomings with time have only added to its charm and many have come to appreciate its ambition as a record conceptually. 
 

Chromatica was sold to us a concept album. Not as ambitious as ARTPOP in its concept but its downfall (which it shares with ARTPOP) as a concept lies in the fact that it needs visuals/performance art to sell you on its world building aspect. The concept doesn’t translate as well sonically or lyrically, nor was she able to execute it to its full potential given the pandemic. But even then I have to scrutinize the concept of the world it was trying to build and the whole different factions. Was this her attempt at a Gay hunger games conceptually speaking, no shade? At the end of the day this is simply a collection of uptempo pop songs by Gaga, good pop music, but its concept is weak or forced at best. 

 

Each Gaga album is gonna have a main theme no doubt that its based on but as for actual concepts only TF and TFM execute it well. ARTPOP’s concept remains charming given the ambition, its shortcomings are to be expected. Chromatica although marketed as one, is more so a theme similar to her other albums rather than a full fleshed concept, at least that is my personal view on it. 

 

[gagzus 26,166]

She only has one “concept” album and that’s Harlequin. And she does it well.