I don't think Applause's problem is with DJ Transparent Shade, he did a good job with the production. It's very crisp and fun and a 'total bop' in the chorus. The issue is with Gaga's songwriting...it reminds me of a concept regarding storytelling I studied last year in my Creative Writing class. Many films, TV shows, novels, games, etc, will have a 'story universe' where the plot is set, but will expand that universe beyond the main storyline presented in the central media (for example, for Star Wars it would be the film series) by presenting other elements within that universe in other types of media (continuing with the Star Wars example, the card games, video games, novelizations, etc etc would be all the other information and stories about the Star Wars universe). This is done to further involve fans and create a hardcore group of super fans that will remain loyal to the property throughout the years and will purchase anything related to it.
In this sense Gaga has been able to achieve this by creating her super fans, the 'Little Monsters', and by expanding the message and themes presented in her music (the primary form of media) through her concerts, online videos, little monsters.com site, various tweets where she talks about her influences and concepts like the 'Abramovic method', random videos, extra collaborations, etc etc.
However the key to still achieving commercial viability is making the primary storyline (or the lyrical content of the music, in Gaga's case) accessible and understandable to anyone who has not necessarily been exposed to all the additional content. It's creating a fine balance where anybody can enjoy and understand the main media while the super fans can still feel much more entrenched into the story world and know all this extra info.
Gaga seems to have failed at this second, more important task, alienating anyone who isn't part of the group of super fans, similarly to what happened with the Matrix sequels (and the third film after the disappointing Reloaded had an almost 50% drop in attendance).
