YAASSSS GAGA

As a longtime Little Monster, I have been anticipating the release of “ARTPOP” since Lady Gaga first announced she was writing new music. Gaga’s idea behind the album is that it will be more than just a musical experience—she released a mobile app to accompany it and even had a flying dress developed for her album debut event, ARTRAVE.

Gaga intends for this album to be listened to in order, and it starts off with “Aura,” which was originally leaked as “Burqa.” The intro and Gaga’s creepy evil laugh caught my attention right away.

“Venus,” “Sexxx Dreams,” “G.U.Y” and “Swine” all have catchy choruses and are more reminiscent of Gaga’s older songs, but have a distinct ARTPOP sound: Gaga is no longer afraid to experiment with atonality and grungier beats.  “Venus” is one of my favorite tracks, and I think it will gain popularity. “Donatella” and “Gypsy” stay true to Gaga’s style with great dance-pop beats and lyrics.

“Jewels N’ Drugs” is my least favorite track on ARTPOP, mostly because it just doesn’t sound like Gaga. Collaborators T.I., Too $hort, and Twista dominate the whole song, making it almost purely a rap song. As evidenced by the title, the theme of this one is shallow compared to that of other tracks. Gaga pulled off a rap song with “Paper Gangsta” on “The Fame,” but this time, the collaborating artists really cramped her style.

“MANiCURE” just might be my favorite piece of ARTPOP. Unlike some of the other tracks, I loved it on the first listen. It’s upbeat, catchy, and fun to sing along to. If the radio stations choose to play one song off this album, I hope this is it.

While “Fashion!” and “Mary Jane Holland” blend in with the rest of the album, “ARTPOP”, the album’s title song, seems very experimental—it really shows the ART side of the album rather than the POP side. “Dope” is Gaga’s obligatory slow song on the album, but I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I did the slow tracks on her other albums. As with her past albums, the lyrics on ARTPOP all center around Gaga’s four loves: sex, drugs, feminism, and fashion.

“Do What U Want” featuring R. Kelly was one of the singles released early off the album. It’s a decent song, but I think Gaga would have been better off releasing a different single. It doesn’t stand out to me as a very memorable track.

The album ends with the first single that was released, “Applause”,  a performer’s anthem. In my opinion, applause is exactly what Gaga deserves for her latest album.  But only the words of her fans can capture the true love we Little Monsters have for this album: “YAASSSS, GAGA!”