ARTPOP - Lady Gaga

[Nick]

I saw that a lot of people seem to really be excited about the album.

This morning it leaked in LQ, and the HQ version is floating around the internet now as well (I have it!!). If you've listened to it, what are your favorite songs? And other questions about it here. Just talk about it.

I love Venus, G.U.Y, ARTPOP, Donatella, Mary Jane Holland, and Gypsy.

Gypsy is my favorite track.
Aura is my least favorite track.

 

[Ace.]

uh.... it leaked? wonder how it will affect its first week sales..

anyways oomg downloading it now

 

[Eruption]

Typical for it to leak when I can't listen to it. I'll contribute an opinion on it when I get the chance.

Gaga has some loyal fans so the first week sales might not be hit as much as most artists have been. This is an album I plan to buy if it's good (which based on singles so far it is).

 

[Nick]

First week sales are predicted to be 375,000, I think.
Albums generally leak around this time ahead of the album release these days.

 

[Perriechu]

Honestly I don't think this leak will greatly affect sales, I think it'll still storm the charts.

As for the tracks - It's still downloading so the only songs I've heard so far from it are Applause, Venus and Do What U Want. I'm kinda iffy on Applause, it's catchy but I'm not hooked on it. Do What U Want is probably my favorite of the three, I had such low hopes for this song because I didn't think it would sound like it did. I don't really like Venus, oop. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Ace.]

First week sales are predicted to be 375,000, I think.
Albums generally leak around this time ahead of the album release these days.

woah 375k is a bit low for her since BTW did 1 million in its first week. that's almost a 60% drop.

 

[Eruption]

This is all based on one listen so some track may grow on me over time, but anyway...

After the first four tracks, I felt like this was maybe on some AOTY type thing for me personally, they were all great up to that point. It sort of dropped off immediately following those four with the 'trap/hip-hop' song which I probably would've liked if Too $hort's annoying voice wasn't on it and then there was the forgettable 'MANiCURE'. I was happy to see Do What U Want up next since I already liked the song, it's probably my favourite on the album so that put it back on the strting form. I liked the repetitive beat on the title track that followed and overall it was an alright song. Swine was a bit crazy, but once again an alright song. Donatella and Fashion! were okay, but forgettable. Then we gathered pace again in the last four tracks with a reasonably strong finish, all good songs (not great, I'd say the first four tracks and Do What U Want are better).

Overall I'd say, based on the first listen, that at this point in time it's a good album but not up to the standard of Gaga's previous work. The high points of the album are great (I'm sure I'll be replaying Do What U Want for months), but there's less consistency here with a few 'meh' tracks.

I'll put my opinions into numbers so I can go along with the new ratings thread and post it there too (with another album of course), but I'll spoiler them to stop this post from being too long.

Spoiler:

Aura - 8.5/10 - I felt like I'd like this song, but it was annoying to listen to with the Machete Kills lines intercut. Now I can listen to the pure version, it is pretty good.

Venus - 8.5/10 - I must admit when I first heard the first verse, it was a bit weird, but as the song went on I liked it. I can cope with the first verse too now.

G.U.Y. - 7.5/10 - Carrying on with the sexual subject matter, but as long as it's good music I'm not too bothered and this was once again pretty good.

Sexxx Dreams - 8/10 - Pretty catchy suprisingly. I liked the idea explored with the two different stories being expanded on per line.

Jewels & Drugs - 5.5/10 - It had potential, but I've heard Too $hort in like three songs and he always ruins them, sure enough he did again. Plus I'm sure he's used that 'It's not even the weekend' crap before.

MANiCURE - 5/10 - Meh.

Do What U Want - 9.5/10 - Great R&B song imo. I'm not a big R Kelly fan, but his feature really was good.

ARTPOP - 7/10 - The beat was weirdly good, it literally repeats the same sort of thirteen space noises for 4 minutes, but I liked it.

Swine - 6.5/10 - A bit crazy, but lovely production on this track again.

Donatella - 5.5/10 - Just really not great. Not worth many replays.

Fashion - 5.5/10 - Similar to Donatella, not feeling it.

Mary Jane Holland - 7/10 - I don't smoke weed, nor would I want to, but I don't hate the subject matter in songs as some do. Reasonably good song.

Dope - 7/10 - Nice ballad. I see it as a sort of reverse message version of another of my favourite band's newer songs, similar invention of comparison between a substance (in the other case nicotine) and relationship dependence.

Gypsy - 7.5/10 - I can already feel the catchiness, I think a couple more listens will lean more towards this song. I like this one though and with the exception of 'Dope', it's probably the most emotional song for Gaga on the album.

Applause - 8/10 - I wasn't a major fan when this song first released, but I've warmed to it and now it's pretty good. I think once I'm used to the other songs, it will be surpassed by quite a few though.

So overall I draw 7.1 from that which seems to be a score reflecting my opinions. A good album, but not amazing. It might grow on me a little, but it'll still be a little bit off the usual Gaga standard.

 

[antemortem]

It shouldn't effect sales since, from what I've heard, the leaks are not great quality. It'll just take away from the demographic those that already pirate music, which to say isn't taking any away. :P In any case, I'll probably be buying this one because I have high hopes I won't be disappointed with it, which is why I usually download my music for free (because I'm not sure I'll like it) and I won't be bothering with the leaks because poor quality isn't something I can tolerate listening to.

 

[Eruption]

I'm not sure whether the original state was that the leaks were poor quality, but they're CDQ now. I'll probably end up forcing myself to buy it anyway, but it was nice to hear it early.

 

[Nick]

It shouldn't effect sales since, from what I've heard, the leaks are not great quality. It'll just take away from the demographic those that already pirate music, which to say isn't taking any away. :P In any case, I'll probably be buying this one because I have high hopes I won't be disappointed with it, which is why I usually download my music for free (because I'm not sure I'll like it) and I won't be bothering with the leaks because poor quality isn't something I can tolerate listening to.

HQ leaked about an hour before I made this thread.

 

[Sydian]

I'm a good little soldier and I'm waiting for release day to buy the album and listen to it then.

 

[mikey]

Like Syd, I am going to wait to listen. I don't like listening to leaks. It spoils it for me :3

 

[Nick]

I'm already tired of this album.

 

[Guy]

I'm already tired of this album.

And all before the official release!

This is the main reason why I put off listening to the album before its release. I didn't want to get bored of it before then. I love pop music in general, and I'm a big fan of Lady Gaga, but pop music today doesn't really have that replay value after awhile. Once you binge on a pop album for a few days straight it gets tired really fast.

 

[Ace.]

Okay so I've listened to this like 10 times and the tracks I keep repeating is G.U.Y, Gypsy (should be third single though), Dope, and X Dreams.

I like the tracks released as singles/promo singles I just skip them when I listen to the album because I listen to them separately. Though I only like the latter of Aura as I felt like the song should have been that way throughout.

 

[antemortem]

Okay so I've listened to this like 10 times and the tracks I keep repeating is G.U.Y, Gypsy (should be third single though), Dope, and X Dreams.

I have also found solace in G.U.Y (I broke my promise sorry guys) as well as Donatella, Sexxx Dreams, annnnnnnd Artpop. I'm really in love with those, but the rest of the album, bar Venus, I could probably live without since they're all unimpressive tracks, especially Mary Jane Holland/Jewels and Drugs/Dope.

 

[Ace.]

I predict this album will open with 400-450k. Seeing she wasn't as big as the Fame/post Fame era she probably won't open as high as 1 million like her previous era.

 

[Domo Genesis]

Eh, I still do not know what is so interesting about lady Gaga's music. I'll give the record a whirl, though.

 

[Flushed]

Not a huge Gaga fan, but I like her earlier stuff, so I had to give Artpop a listen. I got about 5 songs in through iTunes Radio when my internet cut out. From what I listened to though, honestly, not that big of a fan. Do What u Want was alright, but the first couple songs I really didn't care for. I guess I'm just more used to/a fan of the old Gaga with the more or less same catchy overall tones and vibes. The new stuff seems to me rather gimmicky, but that's just me, I'm not exactly keen on the pop scene, so I don't know what passes these days.

 

[Guy]

Downloaded it earlier this morning and listening to it now. It certainly took its time to get here, but it was worth it.

Further thoughts to come soon!

edit: 12 hours later...

Aura
It's weird. It's especially an odd choice for the first song on the album. I'm not really sure what I think of it except I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. I kind of like it though.

Venus
So this wasn't a new song, at least not for a few weeks now. It's one of my favorite tracks on the album though. It's catchy, addictive, I love the beats. It doesn't exactly have award winning lyrics, but it's a lot of fun listening (and dancing) to.

G.U.Y.
I looooove this song! From the snippet I knew it would have been one of my favorites, but hearing the full version, it was better than I thought it would be. Definitely going to play this till I kill it.

Sexxx Dreams
I'm sure we can all relate, am I right? Anyway, this is like Aura. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either.

Jewels N' Drugs
Ugh, no. Least favorite song on the album. I have it two stars on iTunes.

MANiCURE
Like G.U.Y., I also looooove this song! I've danced to it every time it played today. So good!

Do What U Want
Another favorite and very 90's-ish, which is why I think I like it so much.

Artpop
I was expecting this song to be way more upbeat than it actually is. I kind of like it though. It's just a little slow for my tastes.

Swine
This is a really weird song, but it has a lot of meaning and it's really upbeat. I don't love it, but it's definitely a song I can grow to love. I'm sure a song like this would be great for clubs to play.

Donatella
This was just playing a minute ago!! The more I listen to it, the more I like it. The opening lyrics is golden on this one.

Fashion!
I think I've listened to this song once so far today and I can't really recall what it sounds like. I don't think that's a good sign!

Mary Jane Holland
Another favorite! This feels like a classic Gaga song from her Fame era, and I love it!

Dope
When I first heard the title of this song, I was expecting something incredibly different and kind of lame. So I was pretty surprised by how much I like it.

Gypsy
Probably one of the best songs Lady Gaga has ever done? It's really good!!

Applause
First single. Loved it after a few plays. Kind of tired by it now. That doesn't make me like it any less, it's just old news now.

Overall, I give the album an 8/10 or 4 out of 5 stars. It's kind of a mix between Fame Monster and Born This Way in terms of sound and production, but I'm really loving the album right now.