Lady Gaga – ARTPOP

I am generally pretty ignorant of the pop stratosphere – I have no idea of what a Miley Cyrus or Katy Perry song sounds like.  Lady Gaga hooked me a few years ago when I unavoidably saw her headline 2010 Lolalpsalooza (early in the Monster Ball tour).  At that point she was ascending to super-stardom – I was curious about the hype.  Born This Way was still 9 months away, but she was test driving some of its songs and they caught my attention on that first live listen.  She had established herself with her debut as the next big thing.   I was impressed – she was the next big thing: a Madonna wannabe, but with more musical talent than Madge (and she was building a specific tribe).  When Born This Way was released I was pretty blown away – this was a real POP star with a singles heavy album.  She had a hell of shining moment from 2008-2011 and it will be hard to duplicate that super nova.  Plus she has some real competition in her space now.

This is not a review but a first impression – you can’t really write a review on just a couple of listens.  I have not listened to any of the leaked singles – so I have no preconceived notions.   Today is my maiden voyage with ARTPOP.  It does not knock me over the head like Born This Way did. This album seems more subtle.  I am on my third listen and there seems to be more to it than meets the eye (my first listen response was “this is unremarkable”).  There is not the obvious knock your over single, but I kind of like that – obvious singles don’t always wear well.  Born This Way seemed like a collection of singles – ARTPOP sounds more like a cohesive album.  I am feeling a depth to the arrangements.  I actually want to listen to this some more.  It is too early to really evaluate it – other than Gaga has invited us in to her twisted mind and I think I want to stay for a while and I am not sure why – is it merely a shiny object or is there some real substance here.  If there is substance I will be back with a real review.