The real tragedy is that people are so obsessed with the idea of Gaga being obsessed with the idea of being an artist, that they don't allow themselves to have fun or even understand her having fun.
It seems pretty telling that she would choose Jeff Koons for the ARTPOP cover, since he's not only polarizing but known for kitschy "reproductions of banal objects", his art being more or less the battleground for discourse on what is good art. It's one thing to dislike the music on ARTPOP, and something to which everyone's entitled. But it's another thing entirely to simply dismiss the album as bad art: lazy criticism.
The Drowning In Sound review spends much of its text criticizing Koons and Gaga as artists and the rest dismissing the thematic content of the album as vacuous. It offers descriptions of the technical underpinnings of the music, but doesn't seem to be concerned with offering commentary on them. Instead, we see things like "More substantial sentiments are few and far between. 'My artpop could mean anything,' Gaga theorizes at one point. Well does it mean anything? Does it mean nothing?" These questions aren't so much stupid as they are empty. And maybe they are stupid because Gaga seems to be beating everyone over the head with the answer.
Musically, ARTPOP seems to be a bunch of music Gaga likes and she hopes other people will like. If you (critics, GP, anyone) are so interested in the high art that you believe Gaga claims to be creating, then maybe you should pay attention to what she's throwing in your face. Virtually everything she did to kick off this era, the release of Applause, the Lady Gaga is OVER video, dressing as a Pierrot, contracting Koons to build a cover of her banal self, was a statement on her audience, an audience that she wants appreciation from, but an audience that wants above anything to feel superior to her, to reduce her to a naive and arrogant teenager. Again, Drowned In Sound concedes that the only defence for Koons' bad art is that it "holds a mirror up the superficiality of Western culture". I think Gaga is holding up a mirror to the superficiality of Western culture, but it's not in the way they suspect: sure, it partially reflects society's lame ideas (expectations?) of what art is and should be, but more frighteningly seems to show that people have just generally cultivated an idea of art being beyond the average person, something that by recognizing or submitting to makes you elite. If you're the average person, you believe art is beyond the average "artist". Art isn't something everyone can make, art is a classification that you achieve. To be labeled as "art" is something imposing in itself. And if you're "smarter" than the average person, like this Drowned In Sound reviewer, maybe you see that the title of art isn't imposing in itself, that you may dismiss things as BAD art.
I would say it seems pretentious, that people think they're so intelligent that they not only see Gaga for what she is--an art student--and have the authority to meaningfully dismiss her artwork (or non-artwork) entirely, but it's not. It just seems to me like people are scared of the idea that Gaga might be making art, that she might be making good art. And more than that, it seems that critics, be them of the average or high-brow variety, are so pretentious and so self-entitled that they can't stand to see someone else being pretentious and self-entitled, hate seeing themselves put on blast in the mirror of her album. Can't stand the fact that her album is really just a collection of a bunch of fun, diverse, outlandish pop songs constructed to reflect, dissect, ignore, and parody the critics that try to tear it apart.
Oh dear.
This is worst than your post about Yeezus.
After checking a few pages of the Review Thread, here's what I found:
1. The majority of negative reviews are low because of the album title
*Though I would like someone to explain why the title didn't stop Fiona Apple getting nearly 90 on Metacritic for album with this title:
"The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do"
2. They focus on her personality, not the music
*But how did Madonna the Super Bitch get 80 for Confessions on a Dancefloor
3. Any negative review is written by a hater, critics are biased !!!111!!
*Probably written by Swag!!1!!!
4. Critics are snobs, reviews don't matter, critics are pressed, who cares about Metacritic
*rewind a couple of weeks back and remember when they dragged Kety for 62 on Metacritic?
5. Artpop is still album of the year, the music is great, I don't get it.
That goes for Rihanna too.
If she actually tried, both Talk That Talk and Unapologetic couldve sold north of 5 million
Talk That Talk: VMAs, Grammys, X Factor US, X Factor UK, BRITs, American Idol (Finale,) SNL...
Unapologetic: Grammys, SNL, The Voice (Finale,) The X Factor UK (Twice,) some German show...
"Suit and Tie" was doing way worse than Perfume until he performed the song almost on a daily basis and eventually Radio started playing the song. That the blatant CMAR rip-off, Mirrors, was the only song that was an effortless hit shows you how much of JTs success was due to his long absence after a massively successful era.
Talk That Talk: VMAs, Grammys, X Factor US, X Factor UK, BRITs, American Idol (Finale,) SNL...
Unapologetic: Grammys, SNL, The Voice (Finale,) The X Factor UK (Twice,) some German show...
Her promotion is nothing like Katy's or Justin's.
She hasn't promoted since February this year. Right Now didn't get a video, neither did Birthday Cake, Talk That Talk, Pour It Up's video didn't come until 3 months after release and she says What Now's video is coming but I doubt it.
Her management and promotion is a mess. Rihanna has had so many missed opportunities and wasted potential it actually makes me mad.
This proves that literally no woman will ever have a career as amazingly brilliant as Madonna's.
I'm not even going to drag her for copying Madonna any more because she doesn't deserve any comparisons to Her Madgesty.
Gaga just simply isn't as smart, talented, creative or fabulous as Madonna.
She's right back to being one of the Peasants of Pop, along with Katy, Rihanna, Brinty and the other trash.
And the best thing about this is Little Monsters can't say I'm pressed any more, because who in the name of Gawd would be pressed by that coke-snorting, try-hard, talentless flop?
