For me, it is a massive disappointment. Her gift for writing classic pop masterpieces has deserted her. There are a couple of tracks that are reasonably decent, but on the whole she has ran out of ideas and everything sounds like the same disco/synth beat - which actually sound horribly outdated by the way. I was hoping it would bring out the 'ART' in pop, so to speak - like how 10cc certainly had the 'art' in art rock. I think Gaga has been so consumed by her own celebrity status that she is unable to be musically dangerous and be the artist she tries to outwardly project. I mean, she puts out an image of high art and extreme quirkiness, but the music fails to match that same level of 'crazy' if you know what I mean. Anyway, here's my assessment, track-by-track:
1. Aura – an unusual opener, featuring some strange middle-eastern tones, progressive in its arrangement – it is perhaps the only track fitting of the ‘artpop’ description and one of the few standouts. Still, it’s no ‘Bad Romance’. 8/10
2. Venus – a strange recording and a real mish-mash in its construction, I guess in the same way ‘Judas’ was put together on Born This Way. It feels weird how she is able to vocally deflate all energy out of the utterance of the word ‘Venus’ – quite unsettling. However it then marches into one of the few great chorus hooks on the album. It also features the horrendously self-absorbed line: "Uranus – DON’T YOU KNOW MY ASS IS FAMOUS” !!! 9/10
3. G.U.Y. – good chorus in this song, reminds me of the ‘Bloody Mary’ style from the Born This Way album. Just don’t think there’s much else happening in this song apart from the hypnotic verse riff. 7/10
4. Sexxx Dreams – a throwaway. Terrible. 2/10
5. Jewels n' Drugz – Gaga tries her hand at gangsta hip-hop, and it’s horrible. 1/10
6. Manicure – an embarrassing attempt at fists-in-the-air heavy rock, not helped by the lack of real drums - supplanted by insistent pre-programmed handclaps. 1/10
7. Do What U Want – this had the potential to be a great song but it’s ruined by having R Kelly on it. Gaga recently performed this song live on the Graham Norton show, and it was far and away superior to this relatively tepid studio recording. There’s no fire on this track – more like a reheated soufflé. 7/10
8. Artpop – the title track features a really cool keyboard background loop throughout, and builds nicely. Again, this song would fit well on the Born This Way album alongside the likes of ‘Bloody Mary’. I like this one, and it continues to grow on me. 8/10
9. Swine – Gaga’s attempt at modern dancefloor grooves. When I heard the lyrics I thought she was singing “you’re just a Pagan sign”, but she’s actually singing “you’re just a pig inside”. Pagan sign sounds better. I was disappointed. 5/10
10. Donatella – another throwaway disco dance groove. Rather dull uninspired arrangement from a production perspective – and it sounds like the sort of thing a remix producer would come up with – like a bonus track on an EP that you would skip because it’s so awful. Not much to this song. 2/10
11. Fashion – unfortunately not the David Bowie song, but similar tempo and disco swagger. It also has a similar hook to ‘Holiday’ by Madonna. The last minute of the song is the only interesting part, with the heavier beats and French spoken over the top. 5/10
12. Mary Jane Holland – this is a song all about, you guessed it, Mary Jane Holland – Gaga herself (her pot-smoking alter-ego)! It’s terrible. “I think we’d have a good time if you’d meet me Mary Jane Holland tonight” Um no. 1/10
13. Dope – a bare piano ballad – this is what Gaga should be doing, this is what she does at her best. Unfortunately it sounds like she’s channelling Brandon Flowers and The Killers – belting out a third rate overwrought all-American road ballad. Good idea, flawed in its execution. 6/10
14. Gypsy – another piano ballad ruined by the absurd and out-of-place hi-NRG disco beat that doesn’t even fit properly. She debuted the song in Berlin earlier this year, donning a moustache – just her and piano – and belted it out – it was sublime – it didn’t need anything more. However in this recording it seems the producers decided to mutate it into another ‘Edge Of Glory’. So, what you have her is another case of Gaga channelling Jackson Browne, The Killers etc but churned out like a nondescript club remix. Such a shame. If there were no synthesizers, no keyboards, no drum machines allowed, this could’ve been a classic. Same goes for many of the tracks on this album. 5/10
15. Applause – this was the first single from the album, and most people agreed it was not on the level of her previous smash hits. I think it’s solid, but not great. A good album track, but not top single material. The chorus is pretty good melodywise though. 7/10
The most earnest stuff on the album sounds like a really bad impression of Jackson Browne doing The Killers, and that's before the disco beat sets in and cheapens it all. Hopefully this will be a mere blip in her career and the next one will allow her to express her true creative nature. I would like her to move away from disco and get back to her rock roots (i.e. the pre-Lady Gaga era under her original name Stefani Germanotta). I don’t mind her using electronica as experimentation but I guess she risks permanently losing her audience if she abandons her dancefloor side. I would like to see her as a true avant-garde act – to be a Yoko Ono figure laced with pop sensibilities. In the same way Grace Jones did it on her Warm Leatherette album, or Siouxsie and the Banshees on the Juju album. Gaga is capable of doing that – and much more. The question is where does she go from here? ARTPOP is generally an uneven mess. Will this album be recognised in 20 years as a kind of misunderstood classic? Sadly, I don’t think so.
Total score: 74/150 = 5/10
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Topic: Kyle's Review of Lady Gaga's 'ARTPOP' (2013) (Read 1607 times)