Does Gaga play it too safe?

[Ziggy 14,174]

2 hours ago, steven said:

and this is why I still find Mayhem pretty safe as a whole, it doesn't challenge the status quo.

yeah it's not pushing any boundaries in the least but at least the songs are all solidly built and well performed.

[Junko Enoshima 4,656]

Yes. But she can pull off commercial pop

[nATAH 57,535]

how many times do people here need to be told that PC came near the END of Mayhem's creation? not at the start with a darker scrapped concept?

[nATAH 57,535]

also gaga at her safest is still something risky for most of her peers

if katy perry came out with an Abracadabra, would it be received just as well or would people find it way too odd for her? does katy have it in her to perform all the different renditions of Abra that exist? can she get a crowd of 2 million people screaming the chorus?

gaga successfully pulling off a record like mayhem may feel "safe" because she's talented, skilled and puts in enough effort to pull it off, we are used to it, we know she can work these genres well because we know her as a musician

the other pop girls can't just drop a mayhem and expect people to eat it up, they need to come with the attitude, drive, charisma, nerve and art in order to really sell it

[Cherry Blues 460]

Hope she will never go the path which younger pop girls create xD

[imogen2133 614]

19 minutes ago, nATAH said:

also gaga at her safest is still something risky for most of her peers

This gets said a lot but I think OP and people who ask this question are usually more so referring to Gaga's earlier work like TFM, BTW or ARTPOP being less safe or more risky than her more recent output and it is more so them comparing her to her self than other peers right now in the music landscape. 

[Cherry Blues 460]

17 minutes ago, imogen2133 said:

This gets said a lot but I think OP and people who ask this question are usually more so referring to Gaga's earlier work like TFM, BTW or ARTPOP being less safe or more risky than her more recent output and it is more so them comparing her to her self than other peers right now in the music landscape. 

I think TFM has such great pop melodies, it's a good pop record with the Gaga essence like Bad Romance. But it's not a Björk album. On BTW, yes, there is Heavy Metal Lover or Judas on Born This Way, but this is also made for big stadiums. ARTPOP was a good album with experiments like Venus - but is for the most time good electro pop with "normal" pop songs which make a reference to popculture like for example Donatella. While MAYHEM has Disease. Every Lady Gaga album was made for mainstream with some experiments here or there. She is more about bringing music,  pop culture and theatrical visual style together, the whole package makes her innovative and risky - the music alone was never that experimental. 

Edited 19 hours ago by Cherry Blues

[nATAH 57,535]

1 minute ago, imogen2133 said:

This gets said a lot but I think OP and people who ask this question are usually more so referring to Gaga's earlier work like TFM, BTW or ARTPOP being less safe or more risky than her more recent output and it is more so them comparing her to her self than other peers right now in the music landscape. 

I find her music to be more polished and well thought out than impulsive like before, as someone else previously said in this thread and I think that's perfectly fine. i think she is safe, not TOO safe. too safe would be having VIY or HBDYWM as the lead but instead we got Disease

it's good that she is "safer" about her music instead of creating under the influence like she did before. I think she's really back in touch with herself and the artist she wants to be and remembered for which is healthy for her future

some people may enjoy the chaos and mess of ARTPOP but I find it disorganised, over pressurised and almost untrue to her. i'm not saying it's a bad album that should never have been made, I think it's incredibly important to her growth as an artist

the title track itself is probably one of the most honest songs on that record (and her career) and represents what ARTPOP should have been without the commercial pressure put on by her label

I know you're very passionate for that album but, in my opinion, songs like donatella, mjh, fashion!, GUY and jnd (even though I like them all) really muddy the waters rather than support the vision

[imogen2133 614]

18 minutes ago, Cherry Blues said:

I think TFM has such great pop melodies, it's a good pop record with the Gaga essence like Bad Romance. But it's not a Björk album. On BTW, yes, there is Heavy Metal Lover or Judas on Born This Way, but this is also made for big stadiums. ARTPOP was a good album with experiments like Venus - but is for the most time good electro pop with "normal" pop songs which make a reference to popculture like for example Donatella. While MAYHEM has Disease. Every Lady Gaga album was made for mainstream with some experiments here or there. She is more about bringing music,  pop culture and theatrical visual style together, the whole package makes her innovative and risky - the music alone was never that experimental. 

Yes I am fully aware that Gaga has never been fully experimental especially compared to someone like Bjork but compared to most mainstream pop back then she was experimental and incorporated different genres like disco, RnB, rock, EDM, country, industrial and trap into her pop music and Gaga also always celebrated pop music as an art form and said that her idea was to take theatricality and combine that with pop music (and the visuals as well) and make that commercially viable. She also had unconventional song structures on quite a few of her songs as well and elements that were not really found in mainstream pop at that time. So overall I would say that her music was experimental compared to mainstream pop at that time but not as mainstream as other artists like Bjork but again the comparison is saying that Gaga's music now is more safe overall compared to her past work and that she is willing to take less risks musically now compared to back then (for whatever reason which I am sure will be discussed). And even if her music now is not as safe as most mainstream pop music of today that is in the charts that doesn't mean that it isn't less safe than her past work.