Lady Gaga - ARTPOP [2012]

lol "applause plause"

This is OK, not great. Aside from the bits of schticky vocal it sounds kinda generic viz the charts of the last couple years. I'd like it more as an album track. Maybe it'll grow on me though, as many of hers have.

Official TF Reax transplanted from Facebook: This is very very good! I like (a) the "jagged" beat, which conveys a certain air of "rock" muscularity that I will deign to call "butch" for this purpose; (b) the strident Siouxie and the Banshees quality to her vocals in the verses (secondary reference: Kate Bush circa The Dreaming going basso profundo) shading so expertly into a chorus whose windtunnel shouty indecipherability can but only facilitate a long shelflife on houseparty dancefloors. Agreed that this of the Madonna school of lyricism however if we must have tell-don't-show obviousness then explicitly setting out yr metaphysic seems like a relatively noble early 90s Madonna strategy: "Pop culture was in art now / art and pop culture in me."

Did they release this early because of the leak? I thought it was scheduled for the 19th, but it's on Spotify.

Apparently it's available on itunes worldwide already.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/12/piracy-lady-gaga

In a not entirely surprising turn of events, Applause was rush-released this evening to radio stations and Apple's iTunes Store in the US, with other countries to follow. Gaga tweeted the news in characteristically bullish style as a "POP MUSIC EMERGENCY", blaming the leak on hackers.

The fan-led anti-piracy campaign was a turnaround from the usual nature of such leaks, where fans eagerly share the links, and labels – if they choose to respond – file a barrage of takedown notices to blogs and search engines.

Applause is the first single from Gaga's upcoming album ARTPOP, with a carefully-planned campaign to release the single on the same day that the album (and its spin-off app) will be available to pre-order.

Gaga herself seemed initially upset by news of the leak, tweeting "Lord, in HEAVEN WHY" and "YOU JUST COULDNT WAIT THIS IS TOO MUCH FOR ONE SATURDAY", before appearing to see the funny side and inviting fellow leakee Katy Perry to "grab some shovels and fuck up some hackers".

I don't think this is even worthy of being a Fame album track, tbh; everything about it screams half-assed and unfinished to me.

I can't find the link at the moment, but there's a Billboard article on how the rush-released Gaga and Katy Perry singles are expected to break the existing record for digital song sales. Leaks are a big promo opportunity...

The more I listen to "Applause" the less I like it. It has that same production stink that MDNA does

The opening staccato synth bit reminds me of Frogger. If it didn't have that little hoppity hop filter on it, it wouldn't bother me.

I do actually like the track, though. MUCH MUCH MUCH MORE than Katy Perry's.

Official TF Reax transplanted from Facebook: This is very very good! I like (a) the "jagged" beat, which conveys a certain air of "rock" muscularity that I will deign to call "butch" for this purpose; (b) the strident Siouxie and the Banshees quality to her vocals in the verses (secondary reference: Kate Bush circa The Dreaming going basso profundo) shading so expertly into a chorus whose windtunnel shouty indecipherability can but only facilitate a long shelflife on houseparty dancefloors. Agreed that this of the Madonna school of lyricism however if we must have tell-don't-show obviousness then explicitly setting out yr metaphysic seems like a relatively noble early 90s Madonna strategy: "Pop culture was in art now / art and pop culture in me."

― Tim F, Tuesday, 13 August 2013 17:48 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

really don't see how this is similar to madonna lyrically? apart from her issuance of commands in the chorus which madonna has somewhat of a preference for but ehhh. even at her worst i don't think madge has ever been this clunky lyrically (and she's sunk to some pretty awful depths in the past 10 years).

the further gaga gets into her career the less i feel madonna works that well as her immediate reference point.

it's similar to Madonna in that it's the sonic palette from "Girl Gone Wild" over the beat from "Give Me All Your Luvin'"

I was responding to a comment saying that it was from the Madonna school of lyrics in that Gaga doesn't understand subtlety anymore.

And, uh, I think Madonna has been this clunky. 4 Minutes?

you don't even have to go back that far, I mean are ppl already at the "let's pretend MDNA never happened" stage?

It's not like I ever paid attention enough to remember which songs had the truly awful lyrics.

I'd half-disagree with saying this is "Give Me All Your Luvin" meets "Girls Gone Wild" if only b/c they don't feel close enough in a pretty crowded field but it's worth noting that the beat and sonic palette of those songs were their best points respectively.

I agree that those are the best parts of those songs but putting them together works for me about as well as saying "I love the pungency of asparagus and the sweetness of buttercream icing; what wonderful thing will I get if I put them together?"

just remembered "frankly if my name was benjamin, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in"

ok i admit defeat

you don't even have to go back that far, I mean are ppl already at the "let's pretend MDNA never happened" stage?

― OH MY GOD HE'S OOGLY (DJP), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 1:34 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

some of us were there before it was even released

haha touche

Not really hearing the Girl Gone Wild comparisons, especially since that song is Madonna sleepwalking through an otherwise faceless Benny Benassi "banger", so what does it even distinctly have that his other work doesn't? You could just as easily say it's got the sonic palette of like, Beautiful People probably.

or of "Judas"

I don't know if I want Gags to sound like Fred Schneider.

oh she'd never sound like she's having that much fun.

just checking: does she actually sing "some of us just like to read"? and "I overheard your theory"?

I mean, I know these lyrics are a mess, but wau

seems like there's a kind of instructive pairing here in Gaga going for depth/relevance/meta-something and wiping out and Katy Perry playing it safe by keeping it uber-cliché

this song also makes me think of "stronger" by kelly clarkson, and it suffers in the comparison

er sorry - that was meant to go in the katy perry thread

"I love the pungency of asparagus and the sweetness of buttercream icing; what wonderful thing will I get if I put them together?"

worst Madonna lyric ever

well yeah the song is what you'd get if gaga just pressed Enter periodically throughout one of her V Magazine columns

Doesn't Gaga realize that Madonna had like 20 plus hits before she made "funny" meta-electro and threatened an album of standards?

she's just got no discipline and went straight for Dita and Evita asap

i mean you can still make a good career of ersatz madonna lifts but she's so self-serious that it's not even fun

Hoping there's at least a couple of everything-and-kitchen-sink songs on the album...

Was Born This Way (album & song) not enough for you?

the more I think about it "some of us just like to read" is kinda lovable in its sheer awkward try-hard vibes

http://theliterarylollipop.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/reading_is_sexy.gif

Was Born This Way (album & song) not enough for you?

No! When that iconoclasm works (as it does on BTW), I love it - my only complaint about BTW now is that it's too long.

some (or many) of the lyrics are borderline terrible so i try really hard not to listen to them (tho yes, the reading one is likably silly). however the tune is quite something. overall i am pleased. seems weird to compare them but i guess since they had the same release date i will say it is certainly better than katy perry's offering.

Oh no it isn't, also KP has been known not to be some irritating selfobsessed artschool dick constantly wandering aimlessly naked and DAZED on DRUGS and THBEORY

I'll take an irritating selfobsessed artschool dick constantly wandering aimlessly naked and DAZED on DRUGS and THBEORY over KP any day of the week.

gaga's self-obsession annoys me sometimes (often) but really, for some reason this song sits pretty well with me

Fair enough, but I'll take not giving a fuck abt theory above reading but entirely failing to internalise theory any oldf time

It's not that Katy doesn't give a fuck about theory, it's that she hasn't found a way to turn it into a campy themed outfit...yet.

This is also a good example of knowing theory better than LG

Forgot this was a Gaga thread and read that as a particularly snippy sideswipe of ILX poster Local Garda, or maybe (in my morning haze) L0u1s Gagg3r.

worst porn name ever

OK, this "Applause" song is barely a song.

if she'd written "some of us just like to read theory" I would have nodded and said welcome to my life, bitch

Gay men are leery of men who read theory.

unless they get beery