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Review: Lady Gaga- ARTPOP

★★☆☆☆ Two Stars

To the many who are aware of the ‘meat dress’ incident, the fact that Lady Gaga’s new album ARTPOP is a bit weird will probably not come as a shock. For the most part, these fifteen tracks are in much the same vein as her previous albums – simple, pop-dance tunes, with a couple of curveballs thrown in for good measure. But Gaga seems to push things to the extreme in Artpop, and not in a good way.

Perhaps most noticeable is the smack-you-round-the-face sexualisation of a lot of the tracks. Lady Gaga has always embraced her body and sexuality, and has never shied away from this in her lyrics, music videos and clothing. But some of the songs on ARTPOP take it to the extreme.

‘Sexxx Dreams’, for example, proudly announces ‘When I lay in bed I touch myself and think of you’, whilst G.U.Y. (standing for Girl Under You) sets itself up almost as a musical karma-sutra, inviting the listener to ‘Lay back, and feast as this audio guides you through new and exciting positions’.

Sadly, even shameless sex lyrics are not enough to mask the fact that the music on this album is mediocre at best. The pounding beats and synth sounds we might expect are there, but despite there being fifteen tracks, Gaga does not seem to have managed to create one sing-a-long hit – what this album seriously lacks is a ‘Born This Way’, a ‘Pokerface’ or a ‘Just Dance’.

As on previous albums there is also the token slow song, manifested here as the track ‘Dope.’ This is perhaps the redeeming feature of the album – the lyrics are interesting, the melody is rousing, and she sings it like she actually means it. However, compared to similar songs on other albums, notably ‘Brown Eyes’ and ‘Speechless’, it just does not quite hit the mark.

If you want some generic pop to listen to whilst getting ready for a night out, then ARTPOP might be the album for you. Other than that, the tracks on this album lack the catchy tunes and memorability of her previous releases, definitely leaving something to be desired.

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