Lady Gaga - ARTPOP [2012]

yeah i didn't mean it should be a single per se but if any pop artist could do additional videos for non-singles the way rappers do it'd be Gaga

In retrospect, Judas was such a strange moment in her popstar career: her weirdest single to date, with a religion-baiting title, supported by a video where she portrays Jesus, Mary Magdalene and the 12 apostles as a modern day biker gang, released on Easter weekend. It predictably bombed as a single, but I can appreciate the sheer "no fucks given" attitude right at the height of her pop culture dominance there.

was "judas" that weird though? in light of "born this way" iirc it just seemed like some further madonna-biting. i like "judas" because it's catchy and sounds banging but it really suffers from having pretensions to meaningfulness and deep themes that it can't back up, the lyrics are just nonsense about nothing and not in the least controversial

in a way "Judas" was a 'safe' choice -- it was the only BTW single produced by RedOne and was the one that hewed closest to the "Bad Romance"/"Poker Face" formula. it just happened not to work.

judas wasn't weird at all but compared to edge of glory or you and i it was clearly the least conservative single from the run

'conservative' in terms of playing to classic rock values with Clarence Clemons and Mutt Lange but in terms of getting her bread buttered by pop radio they were somewhat risky

although i kinda wish BTW had succeeded more in baiting the establishment -- would've loved to see Gaga and Bruce do a Clarence tribute duet at the Grammys

Yeah after many complained about "Born This Way" (the song)'s new direction, "Judas" was supposed to give people a more familiar Lady Gaga. It backfired by being way too similar to "Bad Romance" which you can practically sing over and trying to be too weird, which turned a lot of people off.
After it flopped it was difficult even for "Edge Of Glory" to pick up the pieces, especially with that rushed video. I think they should've just stood behind that new sound and released EOG as the 2nd single.

"born this way" was a new direction? people weren't complaining that it was a departure (it wasn't!), they were complaining that it had dumb lyrics and was a straight madonna lift.

"the edge of glory" (and "yoü and i") weren't gaga's usual sound but they were def in the vein of stuff she'd hinted at doing before, like "speechless" - i always thought that was a direction she could mine profitably, but she hasn't quite made it work for her yet

I always thought she should've released a radio edit of "Speechless" as a single with a video made of images of her on the road on her Monster Ball Tour like they used to do in the 80's :-)
She was so huge at that time I'm sure it would've been a hit.

also, it's a bloody good song (with...good lyrics! i know gaga's always had her clunkers lyrically but listening back it's really apparent how much she's fallen off in that area)

considering how much she tours and how she still seems to sell tickets she prob is overdue for a video w/ concert footage. she hasn't done a live DVD or anything has she?

There's a DVD of her live concert at Madison Square Garden back when she was touring for The Fame Monster, but Born This Way's tour got cancelled before she could film a live dvd for it.

well, they did 98 dates of the tour and canceled less than 20 shows for her hip injury. maybe they were planning to take a camera crew on the last leg or something, though.

Skimming back over the thread, this is maybe the third or fourth time that the discussion has mostly been about Born This Way, its singles campaign, and Gaga in crisis. I never did give Artpop more than a couple spins to sink in, after halfheartedly trying to really 'get' BTW over the course of like, a year. This thread's launching of the New Jersey Wars seems increasingly on-point, sad to say.

haha yeah i was gonna say we're definitely going around in circles w/ this thread

She's probably mining this thread at this very moment for material for her next SNL appearance.

Would be cool if she did a New Jersey tribute album.

Maybe it's just in comparison to the embarrassing Venus but G.U.Y. sounds pretty decent in the video.

I also agree Swine was awesome and it seems like a big waste if it's not used as some kind of single. Maybe a remix or mashup?

although i kinda wish BTW had succeeded more in baiting the establishment -- would've loved to see Gaga and Bruce do a Clarence tribute duet at the Grammys

― some dude, Monday, March 24, 2014 11:35 AM Bookmark

this totally should have happened!

haha I started this thread and still haven't listened to this album

sexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx dreams chorus

that's all.

Yeesh. (NSFW.)

http://www.tmz.com/2014/06/19/lady-gaga-music-video-sexual-assault-do-what-u-want/?adid=hero1

D:

When Softcore Homages Go Horribly Wrong

also like... what timing for this snippet to leak just as people are getting even more up in arms over the predatory hackword of terry richardson

hackwork

if the rumours about that DWUW video are true, then that TMZ clip doesn't go close to the worst stuff in it

"when i agreed to make a video making fun of sexual assault i didn't realize that my collaborators were guilty of sexual assault" oh ok

That's the weird thing. It's not like the revelations about either of them were really news to anyone, let alone anyone in the music / fashion industries. What kind of reaction was she expecting and how can her judgement have been so terribly wrong in the first place?

Wait, isn't this a case of a popstar receiving good advice and then electing to follow it? I mean, how many times have we gone through the 'shouldn't someone have told them that was offensive?' Or 'Why didn't they listen?' I'd rather hold her to her last judgement, not her initial one.

yeah obv the initial idea was terrible on every level and i guess at least she recognised that and didn't go through with it anyway for the clicks? hard to take someone to task for something they DIDN'T release.

the putative theme of the video makes it more ~shocking but the actual problem isn't a complex theme clumsily handled, it's megastars continuing to work with known predators no matter what the actual content produced is like, so, like, beyoncé working with richardson on an actually released product is more problematic to me i think, even if that video is very innocent (and artistically better)

it's funny to me because the whole idea was clearly to be provocative and controversial, from writing the song to putting R. on it to having Richardson do the video (Gaga says she didn't know about the allegations against TR but even so his work is known for being sexual and 'edgy'). obviously it's possible to go down that road without going this far -- i still think the song itself is pretty brilliant -- but it definitely feels like Gaga knew exactly what she was doing and can't go oh, sorry, didn't mean to offend.

It's virtually impossible for anyone with a tangential interest in fashion to have not heard the allegations against Richardson. Nobody as embedded in the culture as Gaga could have avoided them for several years, not be aware of why he has been dropped by so many high-profile clients, not know why UK fashion magazines refuse to work with him, etc. Pleading bad judgement rather than ignorance would be better.

i get the impression that a lot of people in show business 'know' about how Richardson operates and just don't think it's that big a deal and maybe the people who have complained aren't ready for how the fashion industry works or something. i mean, the guy still has tons of huge clients, the pushback on a major scale has been relatively recent.

There's definitely a lot of that. A friend who's now an editor at a magazine that refuses to work with him mentioned that when she started in the industry about ten years ago it was widely known that he was sexually abusive and the only thing the company she was with at the time did was to make sure that they only gave him expendable models they didn't mind not seeing again. A lot of clients dropped him quietly as they didn't want to look uncool by stating their reasons in public but there has been a fairly significant shift away from him for a couple of years. The public pushback has been going on since at least 2010, though.

yeah it's def been a public topic of discussion for a while. feels like the tipping point of celebrities even thinking about being wary of him has been in only the last year though.

the thing is, there's no way to know without a lot more information and/or business-side reporting a) how many other people almost did ridiculously offensive projects but scrapped them before anyone saw, and b) how much gaga was even involved with getting terry richardson on board, or who contributed what creative input. (for all we know the thing wasn't scrapped because of the r. kelly stuff earlier this year but because of some more mundane disagreement behind the scenes, like with joseph kahn and edge of glory.)

yeah when the video got shelved right after the Voice's big R. piece it seemed very obviously about that, although that was before the "getting impregnated while unconscious" plotline of the video was revealed.

was that before or after she and r kelly did that jfk-marilyn thing on an awards show?

and while yeah, obv it's not as "wtf" as if she released it triumphantly, i don't feel like patting her on the back for (at best, giving her the benefit of the doubt) realizing she'd filmed a rape joke with two rapists and then tweeting about being betrayed.

sorry, not tweeting - blogging this, which makes even less sense with the alleged context

https://littlemonsters.com/post/52c9ee5da296c8b7228b4f86

It is late because, just like with the Applause video unfortunately, I was given a week to plan and execute it. It is very devastating for someone like me, I devote every moment of my life to creating fantasies for you. All my my most successful videos were planned over a period of time when I was rested and my creativity was honored. Those who have betrayed me gravely mismanaged my time and health and left me on my own to damage control any problems that ensued as a result. Millions of dollars are not enough for some people. They want billions. Then they need trillions. I was not enough for some people. They wanted more. I am very grateful to the photographers and designers who have always stood by me to make sure my fans are never aware of the things that happen behind the scenes, but unfortunately after my surgery I was too sick, too tired, and too sad to control the damage on my own. My label was not aware that this was going on. The next few months of ARTPOP will truly be its beginning. Because those who did not care about ARTPOP's success are now gone, and the dreams I have been planning can now come to fruition. Please forgive me that I did not foresee this coming, I never thought after all the years of hard work that those I called friends and partners would ever care so little at a time I needed them the most. Give me a chance to show you the meaning of seeing art all around you. Open your hearts to me again that I may show you the joy of us coming together through our talents, that we are stronger as a unit than when we are alone. Let me be for you the Goddess that I know I truly am, let me show you the visions that have been in my mind for two years. I love you. Forgive me monsters. Forgive me ARTPOP. You are my whole world.

sounds like narcissistic lunacy, a string delusional non-sequiturs arranged around a persecution complex. is this how celebrities are expected to communicate? has she always been bonkers?

Lady Gaga has another stage name now.
She is someone you will never find on the net.
You never her.
I write in different languages. The music you heard is not what I am all about.
It is very little.
I resent being analyzed.
alot of you and the people who are running Google are on a powertrip.
I just want to do music for people who don't analyze it, but just enjoy it.
I am moving right now.
I am moving to a nice house on a lake and awaiting my Avalon 747 which should be here soon. I am in a place where I can't record. It is very noisy. That is why I have to move.
People are just sitting back, smug and analyzing and correcting me...with no knowledge of what I know or what I am doing.
I am not here for people to judge. I am not a little girl. I do know that men enjoy picking on women like they are little girls who need to be corrected...but I am not interested in this game anymore. I don't care if some of you will never find me.
You don't post really nice comments and there always has to be some kind of negative stick.
YOU will never FIND MY NEW STAGE NAME.
YOU CAN'T JUST ABUSE ARTISTS..AND YOU ARE ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN IN THIS UNMODERATED ABUSE BOARD, CALLED "I LOVE MUSIC." WHAT A JOKE. HARDLY ANY OF YOU RESPECT ARTISTS.

my favorite inane thing she has posted on littlemonsters.com was "Would you critic an English paper if you did not speak English?"

I am moving to a nice house on a lake and awaiting my Avalon 747 which should be here soon. I am in a place where I can't record. It is very noisy. That is why I have to move.

these have the feel of haunting last words

god she is so over

#buyartpoponitunes

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6487693/lady-gaga-r-kelly-obama-selma-50th

I stand by anyone who has ever been the victim of sexual assault: pic.twitter.com/67sz4WpV3i

— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) January 10, 2019

Swine is really the only one off this I still listen to. The rest I can take or leave, even Applause, and I don’t think I’ve listened much to her material after that since (The Fame/TFM obviously still classics).