Lady Gaga’s boundary-pushing album ARTPOP takes on themes of femininity and sexuality, still incredibly important to fans.
Lady Gaga’s third album ARTPOP is a collection of eccentric, conceptual, and colorful songs. In 2013, it was a disastrous phantasm of experimentation. Charts donned singles but sales overall were timid for the super-pop-star at the time. ARTPOP was often deemed “highbrow” for a pop album, with many creative moments soaring above the public’s Katy Perry-fixated minds. It was a futuristic, camp narrative of a woman overcoming sexual trauma and exploring an artful landscape constructed by modern artist Jeff Koons.
Gaga’s baroque outpouring of creativity and experimentation was questionably and poorly received. Lyrics surrounding feminism are blown into grandiose pop songs, tilting the norms of a commercial album. I’ve selected standout tracks that never made it on the radio, but deserve a place in anyone’s ears.
TRACK ONE: AURA
ARTPOP opens with a plucky, frantic guitar sound and western-movie reminiscent tones. The distorted voice and eerie howls in the background that greet us with the deranged speak of a murder of Gaga’s “former,” and fall into a sitar melody with maniacal “ha ha ha’s” until we reach a very 2013-like EDM buildup. The drop launches us into spoken-word on top of a slimey, neon, bassy synthesizer. The lyrics are a feminist declaration of who she is, with camp undertones: “I’m not a wandering slave / I am a woman of choice. / My veil is protection for the gorgeousness of my face.” Originally titled “Burqa,” this song is an undressing; the chorus taunts the listener in a cosmic sea of starry synths if they want to “see the girl who lives behind the aura.” She calls herself an “enigma popstar,” mentioning that she may wear things not as a statement but just as a move of passion. It exhibits her true artistic spirit, to wear, dance, and create for the sake of creation. While it does not reveal what is behind the aura just yet, it sets a colorful scene for what follows in ARTPOP.
TRACK TWO: VENUS
Produced by Lady Gaga herself, the sonic palette that follows is cohesive with the previous track. The EDM sounds are melted into a pop atmosphere, not overwhelmingly wubby or deterring. Venus is an intergalactic love song, weaving space with hot love. The repeated “Venus!” reminds us of the goddess of love throughout the entire track The overarching sublime hedonism lyrically is juxtaposed against a camp, electronic instrumental, resplendent with synthesizers. The bridge is an homage to the planets, and especially after listing Uranus, she shouts in a semi-comical, semi-powerful yell “Don’t you know my ass is famous?” The track is an ode to a cosmic lover, one who’s “out of this world, galaxy, space, and time.” The theme of Venus is baroque, alluding to the world of ARTPOP that Gaga affirms in the titular track. One can create anything, and this is one of many fantasies of art that occur on this album.
TRACK 3: G.U.Y.
G.U.Y. is an acronym for ‘Girl Under You.’ It opens with a spoken word passage that continues the Greek god theme established in Venus by mentioning Himeros, the god of sexual desire. G.U.Y. is a nuanced view of feminism over a frenetic dance beat. The riff in the background has a gritty, aggressive quality, which is a reason why one could have been dissuaded from this song, but it bursts and breathes in the chorus. It is pop experimentation with the EDM trend of 2013 with lyrics that take decoding and ultimately becomes a frequent relisten. Lyrics such as “I’m gonna wear the tie / want the power to leave you / aiming for full control of this love,” assert power, but then in the chorus she decodes G.U.Y. for us: she wants to be in power, but without the trope of being powerless when you’re underneath somebody, both figuratively and sexually. The message of being a powerful woman whilst not wanting the norm of submission to continue is a hefty feminist statement not made by any other pop artist at the time. G.U.Y. is Gaga asserting herself as the intense figure that she is. 5’2 and sure of what she wants in love.
TRACK 4: SEXXX DREAMS (or censored as X DREAMS)
Lady Gaga claims that this track was born out of a psychedelic trip and not until the last moment did it coalesce. A shimmering, 80s inspired instrumental glows as Gaga has almost a conversation with herself. One is talk-singing, the other replying in song. This song is a full admission of illicit thoughts to the lucky person, so candid in nature that she even includes a clip of her talking that mimics the confession that she’d genuinely make to the person at a party. The lines are a bit too raunchy to share here, but the message is a tongue-in-cheek due to how forward she is. This song was never likely going to become a radio hit as the FCC would have laughed at any attempts to censor the message. This song also speaks about Gaga’s bisexuality at a time when LGBTQ+ themes were mostly absent from mainstream pop music. In 2013, her blunt lyrics, subtle humor, and catchy melodies were overlooked.
TRACK 6: MANiCURE
MANiCURE experiments with a cocktail of classic rock guitar shredding and modern dancehall beats. Gaga’s energetic vocals are belted like an 80s rockstar with a hint of Kate Bush. The song begins with the private moment of getting ready to see someone, putting lipstick and perfume on but in a wildly flamboyant way. The bombastic nature of this song matches the ardent vocals, even though the subject is that of an insecure relationship, perhaps on both sides. The production is huge, with a booming drum beat, clapping rhythms, and synths that brighten the mostly gibberish chorus. Even though the chorus may be less literary than a song like G.U.Y., it is still ARTPOP to Gaga, meaning that it is her passion driving this heavy beat pop song. MANiCURE speaks about taking time to oneself perhaps by getting a manicure in order to cure oneself of the insecurity of a relationship with a man. The moment that one takes to focus on makeup, nails, or any type of self-care in that realm is a moment seldom spoken about in music, yet it can be therapeutic to have time alone to get dressed up and feel beautiful.
TRACK 7: ARTPOP
The thesis of the album blossoms in this track. “Come to me / in all your glamour and cruelty,” and “the melody that you choose can rescue you.” The funky synth in the background sounds like an intergalactic telephone, as Gaga sings “We could belong together ARTPOP.” This song is the most lyrically dense on the record, speaking of how art can withstand the capitalist nightmare of the music world we live in. Gaga paints us a fantasy that she manifests in this album. Art and pop can fuse in a colorful, experimental palette. Her creative side of eccentricity is not for shock value, rather for expression, echoing back to the line in Aura that “it’s not a statement as much as just a move of passion.” Her art flourishes in choice, sometimes cultural commentary, other times decadent, the idea that art for art’s sake is the soul singing through the medium of song. Immaterial, visceral passion is perfectly apt ground for art, as she says “my ARTPOP could be anything.”
TRACK 11: MARY JANE HOLLAND
Opening with a guitar riff written by a teenage producer from France, Mary Jane Holland is an avant-garde hyperpop song bathing in synths and unusual beats. Freedom from international fame is a fantasy for Gaga; she conjures a character named Mary Jane Holland, free from blonde hair and the “culture of the popular.” This track chronicles her time in Amsterdam with freshly-dyed black hair, in disguise for the first time in years. It’s a breathtaking song about Gaga having a breath of air unpolluted by paparazzi. In an experimental bridge, one cannot tell if the instrument in the background is an electric guitar or distorted synth. Theatre-inspired vocals create a strange narrative over an EDM beat that beckons her back into the last chorus, in which Mary Jane Holland is introduced as a star again with cameras clicking in the background. Her escapist dream is over as the show begins that night in Amsterdam.
ARTPOP was a wild art experiment in 2013, sonic palettes leaving listeners confused instead of bemused, but now one should relisten and swim in Gaga’s colorful world.