A second round of ‘Applause’: the resurgence of Lady Gaga’s ‘ARTPOP’

“My ARTPOP could mean anything.”

This lyric from ARTPOP’s title track is likely the one that describes it best – an album that lets the listener make their own case from the music, while also letting Gaga’s thoughts, emotions and vulnerability through. And all of that in the midst of wild pop experimentation and ground-breaking music production, that were ahead of its time. How far ahead? Well, it seems to be just over seven years. 

Lady Gaga’s Little Monsters started a campaign for the rightful recognition of ARTPOP, which is arguably her most controversial album to date. #BuyArtpopOniTunes has trended over the past few weeks, and a petition to release ARTPOP: Act II was created after the album’s producer, DJWS, suggested it on Twitter. It currently stands at over 51,000 signatures. Some may be confused as to why all of this has been going on, especially for a seven-year-old album that is considered to be a commercial flop. To many of Gaga’s fans, though, this is a special album – rather than appealing to the current trends, it feels tailor-made just for them and Gaga.

Of course, ARTPOP was only a flop by Lady Gaga standards – it entered the charts at No. 1, accompanied by a sold-out tour, claimed a variety of industry awards, and even made Billboard’s top 15 albums of the year. Despite this, it still felt like the end of Lady Gaga’s domination over the world of pop. Its highly artistic and experimental sound, combining her established pop-synth and EDM sound with techno, disco, house and rock, and the outrageous videos of the era, proved to be a bit too much for the 2013 crowd. The critics gave it mediocre reviews, labelling it as chaotic and underwhelming, and to the general audience ARTPOP was simply attention-seeking and indigestible, especially following her previous albums – which were pushing the envelope to begin with.

ARTPOP may not have been for everyone then, but it is easy to see how it fits in music today

From our perspective in 2021, it’s easy to see that Gaga wasn’t going anywhere. However, it is interesting to consider where this album stands in her career, and in the music scene of today. ARTPOP is much more about Gaga and her fans, rather than the general pop audience and the music industry. It marks a change in her image and her sound, as she let us see her in a much freer state, and she completely trashed what was 2013’s expectation of female pop artists. Despite her 2019 tweet “I don’t remember ARTPOP,” you can still feel its influence in her music today – take 2020’s Chromatica where we saw her glorious return to dance pop, and again felt the vulnerability in her lyrics underneath experimental EDM melodies.

In a sense, ARTPOP is an album that gives the listener a unique feeling of escapism, something we have all craved at some point over the last year, which is perhaps why so many have gone back to it. Many of the lyrics refer to that wish to escape, which perhaps reflects the turmoil in the album’s making, and in Gaga’s life at the time. One of the best examples of this is ‘Gypsy’, a personal favourite of mine: “And what about our future plans? / Does this thing we have even make sense / When I got the whole world in front of me?”

It is hard to talk about the music without also giving a nod to the era itself as well – ARTPOP pushed boundaries both musically and, as most of Gaga’s work, cinematically. The album’s videos may seem to have a chaotic feeling, but in my opinion they fit perfectly. Their eccentricity is just like the album itself. These kinds of videos are just not really something we see in pop today, excepting those by Gaga herself. One moment that stands out to me is the ‘G.U.Y.’ video, which draws inspiration from Botticelli’s painting, The Birth of Venus. It is certainly an unusual source but the references to the vulnerability we see in that painting match Gaga’s artistic vulnerability in the song, and in the album. That video also reminds me of Queen’s ‘It’s a Hard Life’ – a video that was once seen as confusing by many, even by the band members themselves, but ultimately became iconic. Call it a wish, but it’s the kind of arc that ARTPOP deserves.

ARTPOP may not have been for everyone then, but it is easy to see how it fits in music today. Its EDM experimentalism paved the way for the genre of hyperpop and artists like Charli XCX and SOPHIE. The ARTPOP: Act II project was something teased before the release of the album and I am very excited to see what it holds. For now though, it is great to see how an album as experimental and freeing as ARTPOP is can be appreciated, even years later.

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