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Celeb News: ARTPOP Official Reviews: 61/100
ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 11/5/2011
Posts: 100,491
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Pretty Much Amazing: REVIEW: LADY GAGA – ARTPOP
Lady Gaga opens ARTPOP by posing a critical question to the listener, her “cosmic lover”: “Do you want to peek underneath the cover?” If your answer is anything less than a resounding hell yes – head for the hills, quick. You’ve been forewarned. Gaga’s third full-length studio album is no peek, but a full-frontal exhibition of her psyche in all its ******* glory.
“The girl who lives behind the aura,” on the other hand, is Stefani Germanotta, a supremely canny, talented, and bruised artist. Years of hijinks have taken their toll. It seems as if Gaga now only inspires derision – or worse, indifference – from all outside her cult of Little Monsters. I, too, used to dismiss her outright, and even relished each harsh criticism regularly lobbed her way: sexless Madonna wannabe, weirdo provocateur, brazen kleptomaniac. That is, until I reviewed Born This Way, her terrific 2011 sophomore album (which, admittedly, tended to buckle under its own heft), and began to perceive Gaga anew. A few months later, I was introduced to the woman buried under the wigs in a revelatory interview with Howard Stern on his SiriusXM radio show. By the time Germanotta performed “The Edge of Glory,” solo with grand piano, I was left rapt, deep in the back pocket of her black-leather hot pants. Here was an artist and musician who could have flourished in any number of respectable genres (take your pick). Germanotta instead chose a radical route – to inject Pop Art into the artifice of pop. Taking a new moniker from a Queen song (with a thunder-clapping wink), she consequently strode atop the Hot 100 in Alexander McQueen stilettos and a beekeeper’s suit.
Stefani Germanotta’s alter-ego detonates like a supernova throughout ARTPOP, a truly bonkers album aimed squarely at the mainstream, ready or not. (I suspect not.) Sonically, ARTPOP picks up where Lady Gaga’s phenomenal EP The Fame Monster left off. Born This Way’s guitar bombast rears its rawk head every so often, and Gaga takes a few detours, both welcome (splendid piano balladry) and failed (disastrous hip-hop). But ARTPOP mostly booms with familiar four-on-the-floor electronic dance. Gay scenesters across the land may now roar with a collective hallelujah.
Lady Gaga’s utter lack of self-restraint sets ARTPOP apart from her earlier work (ruminate on that for a moment). The Fame’s chilly remove and Born This Way’s self-help bluster are thoroughly exorcised. 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 (“I know that mom and dad think I’m a mess/ But it’s alright because I am rich as piss”), to piercing and emotionally naked (“Been hurting low from living high for so long”). More often than not, her words stick their landing. Any hack can be provocative and weird with substandard material (entire genres are built around that premise, after all). Only a visionary would be willing to take such exquisitely wrought melodies, so fit for popular consumption, and subvert them for the sake her art.
ARTPOP may be marred by some missteps – the obvious Bowie homage “Fashion!” and the forgettable “Sexxx Dreams” – and sinks to a career-worthy nadir on “Jewels and Drugs.” Also, did Gaga have to telegraph her intent so literally with the album’s title, in ALL CAPS no less? These flaws aside, this is not just another collection of pop songs. Lady Gaga aspires for the sort of greatness her peers couldn’t fathom, let alone attempt. (I doubt Miley Cyrus has even heard of Clarence Clemons or Brian May; both were prominently featured on Born This Way.) Make no mistake – ARTPOP is a portrait of an artist at her prime.
Strike through the kaleidoscopic swirl of ARTPOP and you’re bound to hit a melody that could rival “Paparazzi” and “Bad Romance.” “Aura” and “Venus,” ARTPOP’s opening knockout, contain Gaga’s strongest choruses on the album and maybe to date. Plucked from its context, the plaintive call at the center of “Aura” represents the year’s finest pop moment. A close runner-up would be the exuberant hook that rockets “Venus” upward. ARTPOP concludes by slowing to a gorgeous halt (“Dope”), building up grandiosity (“Gypsy”), and then tying a bow around itself with a club-ready manifesto (“Applause”). In between, we encounter Gaga at her brashest (“Swine”), slinkiest (“Artpop”), and most sexually political (“Do What U Want”).
Lady Gaga opens ARTPOP by calling ******** on herself and my entire review: “Enigma pop star is fun/ She wear burqa for fashion/ It’s not a statement as much as just a move of passion.” Is that not the central doubt that nags at us all when we evaluate the worthiness of contemporary art? Is Gaga being ironic? Is the snake swallowing its tail? Do we have to call in a philosopher to untangle this mess? Before you ponder any of the above questions, consider for a second what Katy Perry would have to say about all of this.
RATING: B+
83/100 on MetaCritic
http://prettymuchamazing.com/reviews/lady-gaga-artpop
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Member Since: 9/1/2013
Posts: 259
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Quote:
Originally posted by umichgrad07
Pretty Much Amazing: REVIEW: LADY GAGA – ARTPOP
Lady Gaga opens ARTPOP by posing a critical question to the listener, her “cosmic lover”: “Do you want to peek underneath the cover?” If your answer is anything less than a resounding hell yes – head for the hills, quick. You’ve been forewarned. Gaga’s third full-length studio album is no peek, but a full-frontal exhibition of her psyche in all its ******* glory.
“The girl who lives behind the aura,” on the other hand, is Stefani Germanotta, a supremely canny, talented, and bruised artist. Years of hijinks have taken their toll. It seems as if Gaga now only inspires derision – or worse, indifference – from all outside her cult of Little Monsters. I, too, used to dismiss her outright, and even relished each harsh criticism regularly lobbed her way: sexless Madonna wannabe, weirdo provocateur, brazen kleptomaniac. That is, until I reviewed Born This Way, her terrific 2011 sophomore album (which, admittedly, tended to buckle under its own heft), and began to perceive Gaga anew. A few months later, I was introduced to the woman buried under the wigs in a revelatory interview with Howard Stern on his SiriusXM radio show. By the time Germanotta performed “The Edge of Glory,” solo with grand piano, I was left rapt, deep in the back pocket of her black-leather hot pants. Here was an artist and musician who could have flourished in any number of respectable genres (take your pick). Germanotta instead chose a radical route – to inject Pop Art into the artifice of pop. Taking a new moniker from a Queen song (with a thunder-clapping wink), she consequently strode atop the Hot 100 in Alexander McQueen stilettos and a beekeeper’s suit.
Stefani Germanotta’s alter-ego detonates like a supernova throughout ARTPOP, a truly bonkers album aimed squarely at the mainstream, ready or not. (I suspect not.) Sonically, ARTPOP picks up where Lady Gaga’s phenomenal EP The Fame Monster left off. Born This Way’s guitar bombast rears its rawk head every so often, and Gaga takes a few detours, both welcome (splendid piano balladry) and failed (disastrous hip-hop). But ARTPOP mostly booms with familiar four-on-the-floor electronic dance. Gay scenesters across the land may now roar with a collective hallelujah.
Lady Gaga’s utter lack of self-restraint sets ARTPOP apart from her earlier work (ruminate on that for a moment). The Fame’s chilly remove and Born This Way’s self-help bluster are thoroughly exorcised. 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 (“I know that mom and dad think I’m a mess/ But it’s alright because I am rich as piss”), to piercing and emotionally naked (“Been hurting low from living high for so long”). More often than not, her words stick their landing. Any hack can be provocative and weird with substandard material (entire genres are built around that premise, after all). Only a visionary would be willing to take such exquisitely wrought melodies, so fit for popular consumption, and subvert them for the sake her art.
ARTPOP may be marred by some missteps – the obvious Bowie homage “Fashion!” and the forgettable “Sexxx Dreams” – and sinks to a career-worthy nadir on “Jewels and Drugs.” Also, did Gaga have to telegraph her intent so literally with the album’s title, in ALL CAPS no less? These flaws aside, this is not just another collection of pop songs. Lady Gaga aspires for the sort of greatness her peers couldn’t fathom, let alone attempt. (I doubt Miley Cyrus has even heard of Clarence Clemons or Brian May; both were prominently featured on Born This Way.) Make no mistake – ARTPOP is a portrait of an artist at her prime.
Strike through the kaleidoscopic swirl of ARTPOP and you’re bound to hit a melody that could rival “Paparazzi” and “Bad Romance.” “Aura” and “Venus,” ARTPOP’s opening knockout, contain Gaga’s strongest choruses on the album and maybe to date. Plucked from its context, the plaintive call at the center of “Aura” represents the year’s finest pop moment. A close runner-up would be the exuberant hook that rockets “Venus” upward. ARTPOP concludes by slowing to a gorgeous halt (“Dope”), building up grandiosity (“Gypsy”), and then tying a bow around itself with a club-ready manifesto (“Applause”). In between, we encounter Gaga at her brashest (“Swine”), slinkiest (“Artpop”), and most sexually political (“Do What U Want”).
Lady Gaga opens ARTPOP by calling ******** on herself and my entire review: “Enigma pop star is fun/ She wear burqa for fashion/ It’s not a statement as much as just a move of passion.” Is that not the central doubt that nags at us all when we evaluate the worthiness of contemporary art? Is Gaga being ironic? Is the snake swallowing its tail? Do we have to call in a philosopher to untangle this mess? Before you ponder any of the above questions, consider for a second what Katy Perry would have to say about all of this.
RATING: B+
83/100 on MetaCritic
http://prettymuchamazing.com/reviews/lady-gaga-artpop
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Great review
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Member Since: 10/29/2010
Posts: 29,249
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Exclaim - Lady Gaga: ARTPOP Review
Perhaps understandably, Lady Gaga has had a hard time making music that matches the size of her persona. Debut LP The Fame, led by run-of-the-mill singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face," was catchy but unremarkable, seeming more interesting in the glow of Gaga's fashion-forward look and art school background. Her formidable vocal chops got their due on the diverse, melody-driven The Fame Monster EP, but follow-up Born This Way — anticipated by fans and critics as a grand statement — felt oddly complacent, recycling the sound of the EP and seemingly favouring the performance of Gaga over songwriting verve.
Enter ARTPOP, on which opener "Aura" asks, "Do you want to see the girl who lives behind the aura?" It's a tantalizing line, if a bit of a red herring; as its title suggests, While ARTPOP is as much about the performance of Gaga as ever, this time, she's finally matched her outsized personality with the dynamic songwriting and production they demand.
"Venus" is an updated, superior "LoveGame," on which Gaga confidently struts from hook to hook as if relying on just one had gone out of fashion; "Sexxx Dreams" starts hesitantly, but as the lyrics describe mounting sexual tension, the pressure builds to a chorus that explodes with panning synth stabs and a funked-up, slapped bassline; "Swine" finds Gaga screeching "Squeal, oh, you're so disgusting" with such palpable repugnance that you feel like the target of her righteous scorn.
Like all good pop albums, ARTPOP is defined by tension and release, but unpredictably so; rather than hanging entire songs on a single hooky chorus, Gaga distinguishes each song with a series of captivating moments that draw the listener in and then linger, culminating satisfyingly in a memorable heap by the end of each track and demanding another listen.
ARTPOP's few weak points stem from a lack of editing: Gaga is utterly insignificant on the T.I.-, Too Short- and Twista-featuring trap banger (and album flow-disrupter) "Jewels n' Drugs," while the generic, Katy Perry-esque power ballad "Gypsy" interferes with the dramatic one-two of "Dope" and perfect closer "Applause."
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.
RATING: 8/10
80/100 on MetaCritic
http://exclaim.ca/Reviews/PopAndRock/lady_gaga-artpop
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Member Since: 9/1/2013
Posts: 259
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Quote:
Originally posted by DG1
Exclaim - Lady Gaga: ARTPOP Review
Perhaps understandably, Lady Gaga has had a hard time making music that matches the size of her persona. Debut LP The Fame, led by run-of-the-mill singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face," was catchy but unremarkable, seeming more interesting in the glow of Gaga's fashion-forward look and art school background. Her formidable vocal chops got their due on the diverse, melody-driven The Fame Monster EP, but follow-up Born This Way — anticipated by fans and critics as a grand statement — felt oddly complacent, recycling the sound of the EP and seemingly favouring the performance of Gaga over songwriting verve.
Enter ARTPOP, on which opener "Aura" asks, "Do you want to see the girl who lives behind the aura?" It's a tantalizing line, if a bit of a red herring; as its title suggests, While ARTPOP is as much about the performance of Gaga as ever, this time, she's finally matched her outsized personality with the dynamic songwriting and production they demand.
"Venus" is an updated, superior "LoveGame," on which Gaga confidently struts from hook to hook as if relying on just one had gone out of fashion; "Sexxx Dreams" starts hesitantly, but as the lyrics describe mounting sexual tension, the pressure builds to a chorus that explodes with panning synth stabs and a funked-up, slapped bassline; "Swine" finds Gaga screeching "Squeal, oh, you're so disgusting" with such palpable repugnance that you feel like the target of her righteous scorn.
Like all good pop albums, ARTPOP is defined by tension and release, but unpredictably so; rather than hanging entire songs on a single hooky chorus, Gaga distinguishes each song with a series of captivating moments that draw the listener in and then linger, culminating satisfyingly in a memorable heap by the end of each track and demanding another listen.
ARTPOP's few weak points stem from a lack of editing: Gaga is utterly insignificant on the T.I.-, Too Short- and Twista-featuring trap banger (and album flow-disrupter) "Jewels n' Drugs," while the generic, Katy Perry-esque power ballad "Gypsy" interferes with the dramatic one-two of "Dope" and perfect closer "Applause."
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.
RATING: 8/10
80/100 on MetaCritic
http://exclaim.ca/Reviews/PopAndRock/lady_gaga-artpop
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YAAAS
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Member Since: 4/21/2011
Posts: 19,331
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Thank you DG1 and umichgrad07.
Great reviews 
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Member Since: 2/16/2012
Posts: 2,247
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What's the average on MetaCritic now? 
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Banned
Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 1,487
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Quote:
Originally posted by Evangeline
What's the average on MetaCritic now? |
I calculated 71, not including 1 review without a score (it will have a score 80-90 on Metacritic later).
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Member Since: 1/13/2011
Posts: 9,289
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3 80+ today and one 60...
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Member Since: 2/16/2012
Posts: 2,247
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Quote:
Originally posted by GaSkrillex
I calculated 71, not including 1 review without a score (it will have a score 80-90 on Metacritic later).
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Great.I'm still unsure about how I actually feel about this album but I don't want her 70+ streak to end,so I hope this manages to bag a 70 in the end,somehow.
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Member Since: 10/14/2008
Posts: 9,686
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Quote:
Originally posted by Almighty Gaga
The Fame + BTW: 71
TFM: 78
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Fixed. 
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Member Since: 1/1/2013
Posts: 15,264
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What decides if Metacritic takes a review that is eligible into account?! They need to update their score!
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Member Since: 8/3/2012
Posts: 2,521
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Yasss! Nice reviews! What is running metacritic score?
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Member Since: 1/1/2013
Posts: 17,232
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Added the new Metacritic reviews to the OP!
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Member Since: 8/28/2012
Posts: 34,863
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Wait. 80, 80 and 83 in one page 
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Banned
Member Since: 12/3/2011
Posts: 19,217
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Quote:
Originally posted by GaSkrillex
I calculated 71, not including 1 review without a score (it will have a score 80-90 on Metacritic later).
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Slay Stefani.
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Member Since: 8/28/2012
Posts: 34,863
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So. Do people who were having meltdowns in the past pages loving the album again now?
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Member Since: 10/2/2011
Posts: 43,174
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Is that not the central doubt that nags at us all when we evaluate the worthiness of contemporary art? Is Gaga being ironic? Is the snake swallowing its tail? Do we have to call in a philosopher to untangle this mess? Before you ponder any of the above questions, consider for a second what Katy Perry would have to say about all of this.
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while the generic, Katy Perry-esque power ballad
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Member Since: 4/22/2012
Posts: 15,844
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This thread needs to get its title updated with the current mark or at least a link to Metacritic in the OP.
Urgently.
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Member Since: 1/1/2013
Posts: 17,232
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Quote:
Originally posted by - JED -
This thread needs to get its title updated with the current mark or at least a link to Metacritic in the OP.
Urgently.
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Done
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Member Since: 8/28/2012
Posts: 34,863
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Change it to 'ARTPOP Official Reviews: 68/100'
It looks messy now.
+ mess @ one 80 pushing it by 1 only 
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