Lady Gaga - Artpop

So there it is: Pop Music's most anticipated album of the year. Or at least of all the „Little Monsters“ out there, how Lady Gaga calls her fans herself.

After several not-so-overwhelming reviews for its first official single Applause, the surprising success of the R. Kelly- featured Do What You Want and the singer's performance on the iTUNES Festival two months ago, it was quite obvious that the american pop star hasn't changed her musical direction a lot since her 2012 forerunner Born This Way. Should this be an issue relating to her controversial role as one of the biggest phenomenons in modern music and culture? No, not really.
After all it is called Artpop and that is the road the 15-track-long LP struts down from beginning to end.

Considering tracks like the western-styled Aura, the lascivious Sexxx Dreams, dirtyish Swine or cliché-filled Donatella you can easily develop Gaga's main topics she has been concentrated on upon the production of her newest release: sex, fashion and her own persona.

Similar to her last record, Artpop mostly consists of electronic beats filled with an overdose of bass and synth-tunes, which is why you could just switch two letters in the album's title and call it Hardpop instead.

At least this way listeners would not only get an impression of the album's sound, but maybe also an hint for an own musical style or genre Gaga tries to produce and present as her „art(pop)“.

Of course you can find a few tonal exceptions on the one hour long LP: her two collaborations Jewels N' Drugs with T.I, Too $hort and Twista or the aforementioned Do What You Want represent the Hip Hop- and R'n'B- orientated part of the album, while MANiCURE sounds definitely more like a rock song Gaga performed in bars all around Brooklyn long before she even decided to do pop music.

Those musical breaks are interesting and work quite good, just like the rest of the record.

Artpop does not consist anymore of catchy and simple tunes like Pokerface or Bad Romance which topped charts and dance floors all around the world. Likewise on her last release, she tries to break out of the image of an ordinary pop star who delivers one hit after another. And what could be wrong about a bit of individuality in mainstream business?

Her pop gets heavier, her art becomes more insane than ever.

Does she care about the critics?

No, she just wants her applause.

Which she will get from her fans.




(Kai Hermann)