My perfect ARTPOP! The album revisited and reworked.

Music Reviews- ARTPOP Act II (2013)

I consider ARTPOP to be my favourite album as I love EDM and how hard it hits. But, I realise the album is not perfect. I consider the album too long and the message of to be a little bit hard to decipher. In addition, the album is not commercial friendly. The following is a restructuring of the album on how I would “perfect” it, with my opinions on how to make the narrative clearer and make it more digestible for the wider public. This is just for fun to explore the album differently and offer my take on an album I consider almost perfect.

Normal text= reasons behind change.

Bold text= the album narrative after the changes.

Applause- It is an amazing song and great lead single, but being at the very end of a 15 track album I don’t get to hear it as much as I would like. As a song it grows with every listen, so being the first song means more people will love it and consider it more favourably because they will hear it more. In addition, for first listen, having the lead single first helps casual listeners ease into the album and not scare them off. The song introduces the listener to The Popstar figure: the entertainer that lives for your applause.

Aura- I’ve always believed Aura, love it or hate it, is a very memorable song, so being second means many people will hear it and remember it. Also, coming off of the pristine pop of Applause it offers a distinct change in tone that is exceedingly memorable and throws the listener off kilter to what to expect from the album. I also enjoy the song being near the start as Gaga's questions in the chorus offer the listeners an invite into the album and Gaga ''Do you want to see behind the aura?''. The perfect Popstar from Applause is not enough, listeners want to know more. They want to see the Popstar vulnerable, naked and see underneath the performance that they put on.

Do What You Want (solo version)- Though the solo version is not as good as the R.Kelly version, it is morally better and moves the focus away from sex. Also, the solo version adds weight to the below album narrative. Being the third song it moves the hits of the album into the first half; the change puts the album's best foot forward and makes it more commercial as casual fans don’t want to stay for the whole album as they just want the hits. The Popstar doesn’t want to give listeners her mind or her heart as they are hers and she doesn’t want to be that vulnerable for people to tear her apart. So, the Popstar gives you her body, her costumes and her performance on stage as that is not truly her and she can hide behind them.

Gypsy- But, the ballad version performed in Germany the first time she sand the song live, minus the section where she lists countries. The song has such strong lyrics that more people need to appreciate it and more people will listen to the lyrics as a ballad. In addition, being the fourth song the album needs a change of pace to make it feel less heavy; ARTPOP being 15 tracks and all being really fast paced pop until the end couple of tracks always made it feel heavy. Also, many fans love the song, so moving it to the front of the album fits with putting its best foot forward. By not giving people her Mind or her Heart, the Popstar is lonely. She enjoys travelling and being a Popstar, but knows she can’t do it forever. She has hope for the future that she will find a way to belong.

ARTPOP- The titular track, the main theme of the album. Being nearer the front makes the album feel less heavy as it’s getting to the “point” of the album quicker, it makes Gaga’s aims clearer and more direct. The Popstar finds ART: a different medium to explore her work. This different way of writing/working excites the Popstar as it makes her feel like she can belong in her work. Her “heart beats with bricks and strings”: with a little bit of ART the Popstar is able to show off her heart, her true self, and be happy. A hybrid of ART and Pop can make the Popstar happy.

Venus- But, with the haunting opening of “When you touch me, I die...” from the X Factor UK performance; throw some slight synths under the opening to explode when she says Venus for the first time like the X Factor performance. The song is about the feeling of love and how when you first get the feelings it blasts you into a new world, a new dimension and you are unable to control it. In the original, I believe the message gets lost because the song opens in this world of love with the kooky lyrics of the first two verses. By starting the song with the chorus where the songs meaning is clearest, it allows the listener to go on the journey with Gaga and when she lists the kooky world that Venus is, the listener knows why they are there and accepts it. The Popstar is in love with this new way of writing, using Art in her work blasts her into a new world to explore and have fun in. She begins to explore the medium and let it guide her.

G.U.Y.- The big sister to Venus, they have to go next to each other as they are similar in theme and metaphors (Greek/Roman mythology). The song shows the Popstar getting to grips with her new world and beginning to show dominance. She starts to command/ make demands of what she wants; to the point where she tells the Producer what she wants them to do, “No Zedd”. The Popstar is comfortable in her new medium and is able to use it to get full pleasure from it.

Sexxx dreams- I’ve always considered Venus, G.U.Y. and Sexxx dreams as a tri-force of exploring sex/love. So, even without the below album narrative the three songs together offer a cute mini narrative. The Popstar is now so comfortable in her new medium, using Art, she is willing to reveal her darkest thoughts, her dreams and her desires. She gives the listener a look into her mind and she ''can’t believe she’s telling us these things'' that are so personal to her.

Swine- It’s a heavy/experimental song, so going near the end of the album means it wont scare casual fans off. Also coming off of the 1,2,3 punch of the previous songs gives it momentum to properly hit hard unlike going after ARTPOP a slow burner. The Popstar is angry and hurt as her art, her heart and her deepest thoughts are not received well, so she feels betrayed and disgusted that she would let herself be so vulnerable and let people take advantage of that.

Donatella- An excellent song from first listen, unlike Applause you only need one listen to understand and enjoy the song. I’ve always loved the song, but considered it to have a really quick burn out where I cannot listen to it on repeat because it pops hard and it is quite heavy on multiple listens, so it is best as last song. I’ve always considered the song to be a recovery from the angry Swine, the song encapsulates sitting with a glass of alcohol and your friends being silly and over the top after a relationship has hurt you. It has got a level of sarcasm of “oh you think I’m a bitch do you?” that I love the sass of. This is how the Gaga we know is born. The sassy over the top and in your face artist. It is Gaga saying fuck you to the people that don’t like her art by playing up to everything they think she is. It’s the Popstar turned to 11. It captures “pop music doesn’t have to be low brow” because if she’s going to be put into the box of the Popstar then she going to go over the top and have fun with it. It goes back to the perfect popstar from Applause and mixes in her speech from 5ft2 where she states ''she always going to put her spin on it''.

The album is a journey exploring the role of a Popstar and results in the message that Gaga's weird spin on the Popstar figure where she turns everything up to 11 is how she mediates Art and Pop and where they truly belong together.

The songs that didn’t make the cut:

- Fashion! & Mary Jane Holland: as individual songs they are good. They are both solid 7s out of 10. But, when placed on a 15 track album it always feels “are they THAT good” to make the album worth a 1-hour length. They are decent, but make the album really long and heavy when I just want to get to Gypsy and Applause at the end.

- Jewels N’ Drugs: The song is good and I like it. But, would I put it on a perfect album? Probably not. The song always felt more of a statement that Gaga can do rap rather than trying to be the best song. With Gaga’s “I don’t want to be put in the Popstar box” introduction during I-tunes festival, the song could be placed on my above album narrative after Sexxx dreams as a sign of rebelling against pop. But, the album is less controversial without it.

- Dope: The song is excellent and emotional, but on my perfect album I wanted Gypsy to be THE ballad of the album, so didn’t want Dope to detract uniqueness or power from Gypsy. Also, though I love the song and how emotional it is, I’ve always felt the word Dope is a bit childish and does the song a disservice. The message is so serious, to use a colloquial and slang term that can also be used as meaning really cool, it has always felt a tiny bit on the silly side.

- MANiCURE: The song is a lot of fun and I enjoy it a great tonne. It just doesn’t fit in my album narrative.