What Is Gaga's Best Concept Album?

[imogen2133 581]

13 hours ago, bxr said:

Was part of ARTPOP‘s concept the decay of the blonde pop star or was that a fever dream reverse birth of venus de milo memory manipulation?

yes in 2011 shortly after BTW came out Gaga started making Princess Die/decided the album would be called ARTPOP and that was the original concept but it obviously changed sometime around 2012/13. That doesn't mean that it was a concept that was a full album obviously but it was a concept she later changed. 

[imogen2133 581]

13 hours ago, codymonster said:

To me, ARTPOP. The whole experience of the album brought the concept to life (her different characters as she left hotels, her art references, the living portraits, and all the creative things she explored). It really felt like she lived in the concept. 

Yes I agree the concept was explored well through the era and visuals but I meant the album only/strictly and the lyrics.

[imogen2133 581]

13 hours ago, Controversiaga said:

THE FAME

Some highlights in terms of concept:

lovegame

paparazzi

beautiful dirty rich 

the fame

money honey

starstruck

paper gangsta

truly her BEST CONCEPT ALBUM with born this way right behind it.

the rest of her albums have no concept.. they’re just compilations of random and unrelated songs with a verbal explanation from Gaga really reaching to make them be connected to one grand theme 

Could it not be argued that songs like I Like It Rough, Summerboy, Again Again, Poker face, Just Dance, Eh Eh, Boys Boys Boys and Disco Heaven are disconnected from the main "inner fame" concept though? I think the only songs that fit this theme (the main one) are Lovegame, Paparazzi, BDR, The Fame, Paper Gangsta, RDF, Starstruck and Money Honey. However the secondary idea/concept Gaga gave of choosing between love or fame/arguing about that idea is probably stronger and better represented especially through songs like Paparazzi and Lovegame but also because half of the songs explore the theme of fame and half are about love/romance. 

Edited 1 hour ago by imogen2133

[imogen2133 581]

13 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

Easily BTW. 

I actually largely agree with this, Most if not all the songs fit the ideas of self empowerment and love and a journey through life until you reach your destiny very well and mixing it in with the religious themes also adds additional layers. 

Empowerment through self love: BTW, GH, The Queen, Bad Kids, Highway Unicorn 

Empowerment through recognizing struggle and getting through life's challenges: Judas , MTN, Bloody Mary, Scheibe, Americano, Hair, the Edge Of Glory

Empowerment through love and connection: FOHL, You And I, Electric Chapel 

Empowerment through life's journey/ experiences: BJ + AF, HML 

 

[bxr 2,284]

1 hour ago, imogen2133 said:

yes in 2011 shortly after BTW came out Gaga started making Princess Die/decided the album would be called ARTPOP and that was the original concept but it obviously changed sometime around 2012/13. That doesn't mean that it was a concept that was a full album obviously but it was a concept she later changed. 

Ah, indeed …

I also zoned on the lyrical anchor for conceptual evaluation … I‘ll have to go through the liner notes / verbatim lyrics but I would level BTW (as you, Ladle, and others have mentioned) up to the top echelon with The Fame and ARTPOP … I‘ll definitely have to revisit Joanne lyrics but I might actually keep it at a number two … or maybe an honorable mention … Joanne‘s caveat is that we don‘t know the details of Joanne‘s life … in that way … so the songs could very well echo or express elements of her life and/or artistry (I think she was a poet?) that we simply do not know … which could be part of the more intimate connection Gaga endeavored to establish with her namesake through the songwriting process

That said … ARTPOP deals heavily with duality and maximalism and privacy in public … explicitly so … Swine, Jewels n‘ Drugs, ARTPOP, Aura, G.U.Y., Applause (however said lyricism is received), MANiCURE, Venus, Sexxx Dreams … all explore juxtaposition, duality, and a necessary collision between polarities in motion toward cataclysmic creation of something new within its adaptation or synthesis … there is a strong undercurrent of this new feminine form and its fraught journey through contemporary culture … as well as, again, explicit expression of this collapse between reality and fantasy (as evolved from BTW, for instance)

The Fame … my goodness even from “Daddy, I‘m so sorry—bang bang“ … the girl was always on a mission to eclipse conventional Fame … and possibly usurp the patriarchy along the way (though it‘s not a studio album lyric “I killed my boyfriend” is one of the most consistent narrative themes throughout Gaga‘s videography (cinema included) … 

But, again, I‘ll have to dig through the lyrical crates for verbatims … and, as always, just salt grain musings into the airwaves … and, really, ‘tis all quite subjective from our audience perspective … quite enjoy the thread, so, thank you!