“Underneath the po-faced pronouncements ARTPOP reminds the listener of exactly what Lady Gaga brings to the pop world, a certain flamboyant fearlessness. In a time when the women of pop are a depressing mess of childish coquettishness and tawdry ****ification, Gaga stands alone as an almost sexless carnival of the bizarre, creating an absurd spectacle unafraid to be derided just like the influential pop icons before her. As Katy Perry filled the airwaves with self-help book nonsense and Taylor Swift acted like a hormonal Girls World doll, Gaga was referencing Ingmar Bergman at the VMAs, vaulting around the X Factor stage covered in bandages and greeting fans in Germany with something akin to a giant Weetabix on her head. This is Lady Gaga’s imperial phase, her magnificently excessive Marie Antoinette-style indulgence. Little Monsters and casual observers alike wait in anticipation for the ludicrous fibre-glass statue moment that is surely only a false eyelash blink away.”
