Quote:
Originally posted by toanythingtaboo
I don't see this as abandoning "Lady Gaga" at all.
The reality of her situation is that she had to evolve from a career perspective and she clearly grew up personally too. Doing more of the same wouldn't have worked commercially or creatively.
I see what she's doing with Joanne as her sharing a side to her that she's teased from the beginning but hasn't felt comfortable committing to before now. Its also a side to her people have been asking her to explore properly for years. If anything, she's having the last laugh because all she had to do to demonstrate a more personal/legit side to her was take off the costume and reduce the dance beat. It's an easy gimmick when the other gimmicks were running out.
In terms of trying to go high brow by moving away from pop and gaining indie cred, she wasn't likely to achieve that sound with pop hitmakers. Naturally she went where the sound was. I wouldn't be surprised if Joanne is still quite pop but doesn't get taken seriously by the cool crowd, yet isn't commercial enough for top 40 either. Shame, but I'm so excited to hear the damn music.
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The part in bolded reminds me of Lana Del Rey, especially with her debut album. She was too 'pop' for alternative, but her music was too slow for mainstream top 40 music so she occupied a weird niche in between.
I've always seen Gaga as an artist who has, at various levels/degrees, trying to fill that niche where she still releases commercial music while still feeling like she has the freedom to explore her artistic side. Perfect Illusion sounds quite different to anything on commercial radio while still being commercial - it kind of reminds me of the singles from BTW (especially TEOG, Y&I, and MTN) in that sense.
Regardless of commercial performance, I've personally been enjoying the more 'chilled out' aspect of this era - the song, the visual, and the interviews have all been great thus far.
