One of my favourite reviews I've ever written was on Lady Gaga's last album ARTPOP. Whilst at the time I was besieged with a bad album (along with a few interruptions from telephone scammers), it appears I wasn't the only one who thought the album was pretty dire.
But with every cloud, the silver lining was ARTPOP inspired me to do something different and, because of how bad it was, I had ample material to draw upon, even as I hammered away with the album still making it's first play.
The music world has radically shifted again and despite only being three years ago, Gaga is no longer the most flamboyant pop act out there, instead replaced by the younger and more outlandish cartoon character Miley Cyrus.
Sure, she released a duet album with Tony Bennett of all people which consisted of all things Jazz covers, but whilst mainstream pop has evolved/devolved/gone metastatic, Gaga has largely been out of the limelight, instead appearing on TV whilst her musical star has dimmed.
Well, enough about her, lets talk about Joanne. Stylistically, Joanne is a radical departure of Gaga's previous catalogue of electropop and instead, whilst definitely not a stripped-back affair, instead is more grounded, despite the music genres ranging from simple country ballads to more traditional modern pop.
Plus point, Gaga's vocals are an underrated gem and are perfectly utilised on this record. They're not instrumentalised and instead, allow her to show off her pipes, even if the lyrics are, typically banal and generic.
Negative points; the album shares far more structural similarities with ARTPOP and Born This Way. Whilst not as outlandish as her previous albums, the album refuses to conform to a single style and, as an album, is simply part-disorientating and part-boring. The album opens up with the slightly rocky Diamond Heart before leading into the cringey funk abomination A-YO before than jumping to acoustic ballad title track.
You can argue that most modern pop albums are not built as albums anymore but instead mostly singles and obvious filler, the singles currently released and potential ones range from generic to just plain bad. Perfect Illusion is the anaemic rehash of Bad Romance (although again, her vocals alone nearly save it) whilst Million Reasons is mediocre rap played over a stripped back arrangement with dull lyrics and offer nothing new.
Whilst Joanne isn't as bad as ARTPOP, it is however, as bad as Born This Way. Whilst she can be applauded for delivering such a radical reinvention of her own particular sound, Joanne is just an unsatisfying, generic and uninspired mess that's a trudge to listen to in one sitting and with tracks that individually are nearly all filler.
Where Gaga will go next is a mug's punt but one can hope it's more Bad Romance than Come to Mama. Although, if like me, you'll be tempted to rip your ears off and eat them to avoid enduring it again.
4/10
H
@Retcon_Nation
No comments:
Post a Comment