Art Pop
| Lady Gaga
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Art Pop
Artpop (stylized in all caps) is the third studio album recorded by American singer Lady Gaga. It was released on November 6, 2013, by Streamline and Interscope Records. Gaga began planning the project in 2011, shortly after the launch of her second effort, Born This Way. Work continued until 2013 while the singer was traveling for her Born This Way Ball concert tour and recovering from surgery for an injury she had sustained while touring. Gaga described Artpop as "a celebration and a poetic musical journey" and an exploration of the "reverse Warholian" phenomenon in pop culture. It displays an intentional "lack of maturity and responsibility" by comparison to the darker and anthemic nature of Born This Way. Gaga collaborated with various producers on the record, including DJ White Shadow, RedOne, Zedd and Madeon. Lyrically, Artpop revolves around Gaga's personal views of fame, sex and self-empowerment; references include Greek and Roman mythology. It also features guest vocals from T.I., Too Short, Twista, and R. Kelly. Kelly's featured song, "Do What U Want", was removed from all streaming and online versions of the album in January 2019, and is scheduled to be removed from new vinyl and CD pressings of the album in November of 2019.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
When I think of ARTPOP, I don’t think of career-burying Waterloos like Jackson’s final studio album Invincible. To me—as long as the whole world is going to compare Lady Gaga to Madonna anyway—ARTPOP is her Erotica.
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Consequence of Sound
On ARTPOP, Gaga lacks forward momentum in the same way she did on Born This Way. As her style has neared the mean and the DNA of her saw-toothed Euro ‘80s pastiche pop has been incorporated by other pop acts, Gaga has attempted to remain on the vanguard with only perfunctory musical evolution, giving less and less reason not to fall back on her earlier, more vibrant works.
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Spin
certainly transcends both art and pop; she remains singularly compelling and lovable as a celebrity, even if her records don’t always match up to her outsized persona. Even at their worst, they only prove that the art is sometimes unworthy of the artist.
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The Daily Beast
‘ARTPOP’ is a starkly naked exhibition of an artist whose brilliance is stripped away by her obsession with creativity. For all of her art, Lady Gaga’s album never really pops.
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Popfection
the album most definitely does not miss out on any of our classic Gaga moments of pure light-hearted fun and ecstasy.
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Observer
With each subsequent listen, Artpop’s narrative of resurrection unveils itself a bit more. It is the work of an artist who must have known her daring experiment was coming to an end. She wanted to determine how much “experimental art” people could tolerate from a pop star who also happens to be a woman. Gaga willingly hammered glitter-studded nails into her own coffin, and forced herself to begin anew.
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The Guardian
Illusion, masks, bareness, posing: all are exercised as ideas, without Gaga really settling on a preference.
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NPR
There are glimmers of cleverness — a few songs appear to worship at the altar of high fashion, but could just as easily be snarky commentary. Gaga got where she is by working every angle, both inside her music and in the culture. Sometimes it's cool when you can't tell the circus from the sideshow, but with this album, I couldn't shake the sense that the "art" of ARTPOP is much more evident in the marketing than in the music.
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Slant
Coincidentally, “Artpop,” a tribute to hybrids and contrast, is the closest Gaga comes to establishing a coherent theme for the album. In the end, though, it’s Artpop’s most naked, straightforward pop moments that are the album’s most redemptive. As Gaga concedes: “Sometimes the simplest move is right/The melody that you choose can rescue you.”
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What Culture
If you can separate the music from the unnecessary pretentiousness she feels the need to surround her work in, what you will find is that with ARTPOP Lady GaGa has once again made a fantastic pop album that manages to sound fresh and current, while still carrying the unmistakeable Lady GaGa stamp, which will no doubt comes as a relief to her loyal, and occasionally frightening, fan-base.
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Muumuse
ARTPOP is The Fame without The Filter, meaning that the songs are defiantly weirder, wilder and vastly less manicured.
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Telegraph
Lady Gaga inhabits many musical guises on her latest album, Artpop – but all of them are great for dancing
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Variety
Even when she isn’t calling attention to it, Gaga’s voice takes on interesting shadings throughout this record, her singing brassier and ballsier than the haughty, nasal line-readings she’s relied on in the past. On title track “Artpop” — the album’s obvious standout — Gaga effectively channels the icy allure of Debbie Harry over a downtempo disco throb, while the clangorous “Swine” sees her shred her larynx with some arrestingly percussive screams.
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Pop Crush
With 'ARTPOP,' she's trying too hard. The surefire hits are hard to find, which is surprising, since Gaga is an adept songwriter and piano-player.
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The Know
But as a straight pop album, “ARTPOP” is actually pretty interesting. Thanks to Lady Gaga’s twisted sensibilities, it’s got an edge to it, and pushes hard electronica foremost as opposed to the smooth-and-even gamut of genres you find in most pop albums today
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Time Out
Overall, however, this excellent if slightly sprawling LP reminds us how much Lady Gaga knows about classic hooks, high camp and huge choruses.
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Pretty Much Amazing
For once, Gaga’s quotidian performance-art stunts can be heard in the sound of her music: ARTPOP brims with blindingly vivid, jubilantly executed, idiosyncratic pop. Gaga sings with deadpan flair and full drag-show drama, when she’s not bleeding her vocal cords dry in a soaring holler. Song lyrics vary from playful and comical , to piercing and emotionally naked .
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Idolator
the employment of EDM throughout ARTPOP comes dangerously close to miring the whole thing down in a sloppy heap of overproduced mess. But you have to hand it to Gaga’s knack for savvy songwriting — those choruses chainsaw through the album’s flaws and rise like cream.
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Independent
One suspects it's the final two tracks, "Gypsy" and "Applause", that Gaga believes best represent her attitude – driven to wander, and slave to acclaim – but the title-track contains the real message of ARTPOP. "My art pop could mean anything," she sings – the corollary being that it could also mean nothing at all.
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Tampa Bay Times
But let it be known that Applause is the best thing on the album, and the catchiest single. Lady Gaga, once a refreshing tasty Tootsie Pop, is now dusty old Halloween candy. Let's hope she finds that recipe again soon.
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A Bit of Pop Music
Overall, Gaga does not disappoint and shows she is still relevant in pop music, despite what some people might say. Gaga just released one of the better proper pop albums of the year.
Listeners Reviews
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Continuously gritty, Lady Gaga does it again with ARTPOP. Still lighter sounding than the earlier albums in her discography, ARTPOP is faster paced with a few slowed songs that are a stark contrast to the remainder of the album. However, Gaga tells a perspective with the song titles alone. ARTPOP is a break into femininity, enchantment, and connectivity - continuously taking on pop beats. 4/5
By Jasmine J
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