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. - PrettyMuchAmazing
haters can stay fuming over the Queen of Critical Acclaim
