Lady Gaga - "Perfect Illusion" and new album 2016

thanks for that post katherine!

I think it's a lot more common to hear artists singing in too low a register, very hard to pull off live, thought about that when Lana del Rey did her first live performances - just transpose those songs, she'll do fine! But then again, it made for really good studio versions. Anyway, you see it with fx Matt Berninger from the National too and generally perhaps more male than female artists.

I do dislike Sia's singing style because of the belting, not because it's "shrill" but because it seems kinda overreaching or smth to me.

main issue with sia is that it sounds like she's gathering every inch of her vocal cords with every syllable

sia's voice doesn't bother me because she's pretty much been singing this way for 20 years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwuzWdI9s9A

Lol that's exactly what I (and I imagine a lot of other ppl) love abt Sia's voice

Used to hate her voice for that reason and now I love it lol. She joined the ranks of Bjork, Morrissey, and Neil Tennant for singers I did a 180 on

Wow, obvs I can understand having an issue with Bjork or Moz—I enjoy both, and the reasons I also might not are quite clear—but I've never heard anyone say that about Neil Tennant.

i think i accidentally framed my description as a criticism

Tbf I was like 12 years old when I decided he was great after all

update!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYRJ-ryPEu0

Joanne:

1. "Diamond Heart" 3:30
2. "A-Yo" 3:28
3. "Joanne" 3:17
4. "John Wayne" 2:54
5. "Dancin' in Circles" 3:27
6. "Perfect Illusion" 3:02
7. "Million Reasons" 3:25
8. "Sinner's Prayer" 3:43
9. "Come to Mama" 4:15
10. "Hey Girl" (featuring Florence Welch) 4:15
11. "Angel Down" 3:49
12. "Grigio Girls" 3:00
13. "Just Another Day" 2:58
14. "Angel Down" (work tape) 2:20

it seems my fears are being confirmed, at least in part, and this is going to be the boring album done in penance for pop sins

yeah "million reasons" feels so.... formal

also no better than "teeth" really and certainly not "speechless"

this album seems v uninteresting

my expectations for this album were rock bottom and i wasn't especially enthused about listening to it but i really like it! doesn't feel like a boring authenticity play at all. love "john wayne" and "dancin' in circles". that said the worst songs (about 3) are absolutely horrifically shit, including both the pre-release singles and obviously "come to mama"

i like "a yo" but i agree w/ johnny that this seemed kinda po faced and boring

This seems to be perfectly competent.

I've heard it twice and the 19-year-old intern/Gaga fan we've got said, "She sounds like my mom singing in the kitchen."

I've never been a fan but when I've liked her she's garish. This isn't garish.

I want her to stop belting

ha just as I said that "Sinner's Prayer" started and it seems that 2016 is the year that I discover a love of non-country people doing country songs?

"She sounds like my mom singing in the kitchen."
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 October 2016 17:38 (three minutes ago)

boom.
despite the fact i have not heard it, i suspect that's the album wrapped up right there.

Florence Welch's last album was more Gaga-esque.

ha just as I said that "Sinner's Prayer" started and it seems that 2016 is the year that I discover a love of non-country people doing country songs?

― ¶ (DJP), Friday, October 21, 2016 1:41 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's low key this whole album, and in this case is certainly why i'm enjoying it by and large

"She sounds like my mom singing in the kitchen."

Vicious!

she's on snl rn. i guess her new album is pop country

wow FJM sure gave her a shitty song

her outfits are fun. her fake twang isn't doing this ballad any favors.

man, I wonder how much of the "non-country people doing country songs" thing is increasingly flailing attempts to get airplay on radio formats other than top 40, which (for numerous reasons) has kind of abandoned the artists

I'm probably projecting, but my biggest gripe with this album is that she seems about as enthused performing these songs as I am listening to them—which isn't very much. She'd claim otherwise, naturally, but she doesn't seem into it anymore. Ever the consummate showperson, though, she's selling it hard.

Yeah it seems like a really halfhearted genre pastiche. I am not getting a sense that the sounds and imagery of country music speak to her the same way, say, cabaret culture did when she was playing with that. Could be wrong of course -- only lady gaga can say -- but she wasn't selling it convincingly last night

A lot of the country comparisons are overstated imo, but it's definitely present in her voice this time around. If Lex is right and this is her authenticity play, it fails. It feels less authentic than any other point in her career, including the Tony Bennett collaboration.

i think "a yo" is pretty sick but this album felt weirdly lifeless to me too...

she sorta missed the pop/country/edm thing by a good year or so didn't she? when avicii and pitbull are beating you to a concept..

This is as much a country album as Young Americans is an R&B album.

i don't read this as an edm or country thing as much as an extension of the americana fetish she explored on "edge of glory" but without the fun kitsch that has defined her career and thus inferior

Yeah, this isn't genre tourism on her part. It's just a mess of her wanting to evolve in some direction away from the Just Dance/Bad Romance years and from what made Artpop a misstep and not really committing to the result. I have no doubt she could've made a good album in the hinterland where roots and 21st century pop meet, but every impulse she has in that regard seems like the wrong one.

Both young NY Times writer Joe Coscarelli and older blog/email guy Lefsetz are fixated on this new album's songs not doing well on Billboard Hot 100 so far

my lady gaga loving friend:

"I think someone found a bunch of unreleased really upbeat Lana Del Rey songs and Lady Gaga bought them and this is the album"

I've softened.

I like half of it.