Artpop
| Lady Gaga
Artpop
Artpop (stylized as ARTPOP) 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 Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, 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. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
Rolling Stone
For better and for worse, Artpop meets the mandate. It’s a bizarre album of squelchy disco (plus a handful of forays into R&B) that aspires to link gallery culture and radio heaven, preferring concepts to choruses.
-
Billboard
As always, Gaga has turned an lofty idea into a jingle for the masses.
-
Consequence of Sound
On ARTPOP, Gaga lacks forward momentum in the same way she did on Born This Way.
-
The Guardian
Artpop finds Lady Gaga in an unfamiliar position – on the back foot, flexing hard to keep her dominion over 21st-century pop.
-
Variety
Lady Gaga’s third full-length album bears little resemblance to fine art. Hell, it’s barely even Pop Art.
-
AV Music
ARTPOP is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition that more often than not feels detached from its emotions.
-
Telegraph
Lady Gaga inhabits many musical guises on her latest album, Artpop – but all of them are great for dancing
-
NME
It’s a decent pop record – camp, silly, witty, ridiculous –but that’s it. Where exactly is the art?
-
NPR
Pop's Resident Provocateur Fizzles On 'ARTPOP'
-
Spin
Lady Gaga’s Half-Cocked, Half-Great ‘ARTPOP’ Is Never Less Than Lovable
-
Slant Magazine
What makes Artpop impossible to dismiss, however, is that when Gaga revisits more conventional pop sounds and structures, the results are often sublime—and surprisingly revealing.
-
MTV
While there are noticeable highs and lows throughout the 15-song track list, I think that Gaga's reverse Warholian ambitions are achieved by the end of ARTPOP.
-
Popfection
Although there is an overwhelming abundance of danceable tracks with truly captivating and exhilarating production, Gaga doesn’t shy away from demonstrating vulnerability and rawness on this album, either.
-
Denver Post
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.
-
Harper's Bazaar
The album is filled with glittery synths and thumping electro beats that launch into her gagalaxy.
-
Forbes
Stripping down and chilling out seem to be the orders of the day; Gaga might have wowed us more if she gave us an album full of “Dope”.
-
Time Out
The basic elements might not be new, but the triumph of 'Artpop' is that it mixes its palette of influences in such entertaining ways.
-
Michigan Daily
Put some respect on Artpop’s name because it damn-well deserves it.
-
Clash
A great pop star, not a great pop album...
-
Daily Republic
In the end, “Artpop” is a piece of pop art that ultimately fails in its mission.
-
Digital Spy
Stylistically all over the shop, but the hits considerably outweigh the misses.
-
Idolator
ARTPOP is Mother Monster’s most cohesive work to-date. It’s here that she finally cements her “sound.”
-
Evening Standard
Much rests on ARTPOP, and for the most part it delivers. It’s as annoying, frustrating and contradictory as its author but it’s also as brilliant, provocative and as thrilling as she can be.
-
Uproxx
The majority of “Artpop” is a meditation on fame, culture, fashion, sex, drugs, music and pop art.
-
Tiny Mix Tapes
Or put more simply, ARTPOP wants to hide that it doesn’t have much to say.
-
Music OMH
ARTPOP strikes all the right poses for Lady Gaga’s vociferous fanbase to proclaim it as a work of genius. Taken in a wider context, however, it’s a depressing testament to how moribund pop music is at the moment.
-
Independent
No heart behind the art of Gaga's surface spectacle
-
Vibe
For 15 tracks, Lady Gaga peels back the curtains on the potpourri of thoughts swirling behind her poker face for art’s sake, regardless of whether or not her train of thought makes any sense to the listener.
-
Fact Mag
Of course, in actual fact, she hasn’t failed in a commercial sense at all... but still that whiff of ill-will lingers.
-
Hidden Under Headphones
Lady Gaga has hit the “make or break” point of her career.
-
Time
That refusal to experiment as wildly as she once did reads as fear, and a pop star who’s afraid ends up sounding like the once-weird Lady Gaga does on ARTPOP: boring and normal.
-
Pretty Much Amazing
Make no mistake – ARTPOP is a portrait of an artist at her prime.
-
Pop Matters
Artpop never rises above the level of sideshow curiosity, lost in its own sense of meaning and self-importance.
-
Pop Dust
Regarless of your taste, Gaga has managed to appeal to a wide variety of genres and likewise, there is a song in this album for everyone from the P.L.U.R. family to the rap lovers to straight disco queens.
-
What Culture
When Lady GaGa delivered the official press release for her third album ARTPOP, it was the eye roll felt around the world.
-
Nuda Bite
The reality is that, despite obvious hard work and having earnestly oversold the project in that fruit vendor sort of way, Gaga’s latest labor of love isn’t quite as interesting or immersive as she believes
-
Drowned in Sound
So... Lady Gaga wants to be AN ARTIST. Problem is, she isn’t too concerned about being a good artist.
-
USA Today
But given the scarcity of sing-along choruses, the rhythmic pounding and the absence of nuance in her powerhouse voice, the overall effect is exhausting if you're listening to the album all the way through.
-
Pop Crush
The surefire hits are hard to find, which is surprising, since Gaga is an adept songwriter and piano-player.
-
Critic of Music
ARTPOP has its moments when it's not too "look at me! I'm doing something different!" and these are the most enjoyable.
-
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.
-
MuuMuse
Too much of a (mostly) good thing isn’t a bad thing at all, especially considering today’s pop climate.
-
Celebuzz
It is a good album that suffered under the weighty expectations placed upon its maker’s shoulders.
-
The Atlantic
Artpop sees Gaga veering back to the straight-up club sounds that made her famous, turning down her heal-the-world pretensions, and having a few jokes on herself.
-
PopArazzi
While ARTPOP may not be Lady Gaga’s best work, it is still head and shoulders above recent releases in the pop world.
-
Bearded Gentlemen Music
But what is “art?” The vapidity of ARTPOP certainly isn’t it, and it isn’t providing any answers.
-
Chicago Tribune
Gaga aims for 'Artpop' but falls short
-
Brent Music Reviews
Gaga remains ‘eccentric’, goes über-risqué on Artpop
-
Hit the Floor Magazine
This album will either make or break Lady Gaga.
-
Dazed Digital
If this album were 10 songs long and Twista hadn't been allowed within a 100-metre radius, we'd probably be calling this the pop album of the year.
-
Spectrum Pulse
Because make no mistake, there are good songs on this album, but there aren't a lot of great songs.
-
The Dailyer
This is an album of self-promotion and sex, but that does not stop it from being enjoyable.
-
The Quietus
There are moments where she reminds us that she can still do wonderful things, but for the most part, Artpop shows us an artist who is trying to do too much all at once.
-
LA Times
... you can hear Lady Gaga mainlining her real drug of choice: our attention.
-
Brent Music Reviews
Even though Gaga still goes for shock value, it doesn’t necessarily mean that ARTPOP truly one-ups her strongest material.
-
Link Magazine
... the idea seems to be: throw every trick used in modern pop music at a wall and hope something sticks.
-
Sputnik
With how many amazing songs there are alone, it's worth the listen, and probably the most insightful look into the mind if Lady Gaga we'll possibly get...
-
Digital Journal
My suggestion for the fans would be to download the tracks that they like on iTunes, in an effort to save their money from the filler tracks.
-
The Line of Best Fit
It’s still pop, but she’s definitely made a bigger show of pointing out the differences between her and her contemporaries.
-
Boston Globe
When Gaga drops the performance shtick on “ARTPOP,” the album really finds its footing.
-
The Arts Desk
This one, despite the presence of a crunk apocalypse, featuring hip hop stars TI, Too Short and Twista, and a Rick Rubin-produced piano ballad, just doesn’t quite get away with it.
-
Move Magazine
The pop queen’s latest might not deserve our “applause.”
-
Affordable Poverty
... fortunately, Artpop is, more often than not, an absolute blast.
-
The News-Herald
Lady Gaga's ‘Artpop' doesn't live up to its avant-garde ambitions
-
KSSU
Although not perfect, Artpop is a decent album that you will be singing in the shower for months.
-
Contact Music
Sadly for Gaga, her highly anticipated ARTPOP jars with those who expected the same dancefloor alchemy as some of her previous big hitters.
-
Pop Mythology
Musically, "ARTPOP" drags the listener to the dance-floor and rarely lets up.
-
Treble
Despite Gaga’s quirky nature and obvious self-awareness, you’re probably better off looking elsewhere for your artpop.
-
The Burg
Next to “Artpop” the event, “Artpop” the album seems like little more than a soundtrack to a much larger drama...
-
CJ's in Sight
Overall, she gives you a bit of everything, one track follows the other & plays along the themes of otherworldly, EDM, rock & RnB, sex, drugs & fashion...
-
Daily Mail
Big beats, little pop fizz.
-
The Star
Lady Gaga’s Artpop a sexy beast of a dance album
-
NY Times
Validation from the fine-arts world — a much more elitist, insular place than pop’s mass market — shouldn’t matter anywhere nearly as much as stirring the passions of the little monsters.
-
The Buffalo News
“ARTPOP” is a fun pop album that has the occasional moment of genius.
-
The Cambridge Student
Overall, it’s easy to listen to sing along with. But is hasn’t provided the music shift that Gaga was striving for.
-
Nouse
Lady Gaga’s album has merit but lacks originality, a quality her fans love her for.
-
Love is Pop
If you like art in your pop, you should grow to love ARTPOP more than dope!
-
Tender Lentil
... Artpop, on the other hand, is unstable, scatty, with moments of greatness but sadly, they are over shadowed by tedious rehash’s of old demos, and soulless, empty songwriting.
-
The Varsity
Gaga’s initial artistic revolution of pop music once had potential, but that bubble has long since popped.
-
New Zealand Herald
Gaga is more flamboyant, sexualised, and pulsating than ever, but whether you would actually want to listen to the 15 tracks that make up Artpop all in one go is debatable.
-
Polari Magazine
ARTPOP epitomizes the intent of Lady Gaga’s career and how she frames herself as an artist in the world.
-
Omoha Go
Her lack of experimentation, which resulted in some admittedly amazing pop jams, makes “ARTPOP” simply bore us.
-
Ranting About Music
... the Lady Gaga bubble busts on ARTPOP
-
Culture or Trash
Thankfully she is still intermittently producing the musical goods to back up her musings, ensuring the listener is compelled enough to wonder alongside her.
-
Thought Catalog
ARTPOP is an album for a generation that’s tricking itself into thinking its creative because its obsessed with information. It’s cut and paste, self-entitlement, and it’s bleeding through belligerent EDM.
-
Breathe Heavy
She has turned what could have been a good album into a disjointed (but sometimes listenable) EDM mess.
-
NY Daily News
It's a (nearly) nonstop disco blast, with beats that pound, synths that dart and vocals that fire like a blowtorch.
-
The Cardinal Times
ARTPOP is Gaga’s best work, and continues to explore themes of celebrity and high-class status that started with her first studio album The Fame.
-
The West Australian
Lady Gaga's third full-length album is a crazy, grandiose and overproduced pop explosion but also a fun, well-crafted piece of work that rewards repeated listening.
-
EQ Music
From its dance/pop influences, to its odes to rock and roll, and surprising R&B and hip-hop flavor, the artist crosses multiple genres successfully and pulls off what I believe to be her best release to date.
-
Louder Than War
ARTPOP is a pendulum that swings between the two – I see the pop but where is the art?
-
Iowa State Daily
Overall, the album’s tracks and make-up fit very well together, and it is a fantastic composition
-
The HudSucker
... it’s still a fun and good pop album with a few fantastic tracks worth listening to over and over again.
-
Toya'z World
This album is not exceptional or outstanding. It was difficult to get into, even after a few listens.
-
MIMO
ARTPOP deserves to be recognized as a valiant attempt to bring a more artful edge into the pop market, but in more ways than one, it gets in its own way.
-
Amherst Wire
The original Queen of Weird, Lady Gaga does not disappoint with ARTPOP and will forever remain Mother Monster to her loyal fans.
-
AXS
... ARTPOP was not just a solid album, but why Lady Gaga deserves more credit as a thoughtful songwriter.
-
Source Magazine
It perhaps could be described as ‘art’ but there’s no real pop.
-
News OK
So much of Lady Gaga's career was built on quirks and no small amount of courage in presentation and performance, but on “Artpop,” any semblance of personality is filtered out — the “art” in “Artpop” stands for “artifice.”
-
York Vision
ARTPOP has been possibly the most anticipated album release of the year, but unfortunately the album’s three way division between awful, average and amazing means that anticipation won’t be met by any beyond her beloved, if decreasing, Little Monsters.
-
NY Post
Gaga's "Art Pop" falls short of a masterpiece
-
Now Toronto
For all of Lady Gaga's talking points, the fusion of art and pop has resulted in a lot of familiar dance-pop - more artful for its campiness than its musical innovation.
-
Renowned for Sound
Artpop is certainly more unconventional when compared to her previous albums, falling within a broader genre landscape, picking out the best of each to form the backbone of this new collection.
-
Exclaim
Still, ARTPOP is a dynamic, memorable album that, while it fails to unveil the girl behind the aura, reveals a performer who finally sounds as invested in her art as she is in her image.
-
Plan It Northwest
Some great backing music saves this venture from being a complete bust.
-
The Scotsman
Lady Gaga's new album marks no great change
-
Fan Base Press
It's fun, theatrical, has a ton of goodness, loads of surprises, is decidedly different, and yet distinctly Gaga.
-
Def Pen
Summing it up, ARTPOP is a great album with interesting lyrics and great beats.
-
Press Play OK
In practice, it’s doesn’t even touch triumphant, and nowhere near as clever or artistic as it tries to be
-
Rocksucker
Overall, ARTPOP is the perfect Christmas present for someone you hate.
-
The Spark
I think the uniqueness of it is attention-grabbing but some songs really don’t have much pizzazz compared to others.
-
Thomas Bleach
This album does deliver with minimal disappointment, making it one of her best releases yet.
-
Seawanhaka Press
ARTPOP is a solid album that hits all the right places.
-
The Charlatan
ARTPOP is a mostly good, sometimes great, return for Gaga. More than that, its more acoustic songs create hope that the rumours of her jazz album are true.
-
Freaky Party
It's a decent, if flawed, pop album, its good bits good enough to keep her filling stadiums as big as the gulf between her ideas and her music.
-
Awards Watch
Exhausting and inconsistent, ARTPOP is, nevertheless, a fascinating and ultimately rewarding endeavor.
-
Boy Culture
More seriously, this is her first album I kinda hate.
-
Live in Limbo
With every song climaxing, every track leading off the next, and the album taking a ride from the highest point outside of one’s mind down into the deepest parts of their subconscious, ARTPOP is an unusual pop album.
-
The River
This is an album that no other pop artist (past or present) could pull off.
-
A Bit of Pop Music
Gaga just released one of the better proper pop albums of the year.
-
The Salt Lake Tribune
In the end, "Artpop" is a piece of pop art that ultimately fails in its mission.
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments