Lady Uh-Oh3 Out Of 5 Stars
One of the brilliant things about Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" was just how varied the song styles were. It was like she took a sponge over the best of what the 80's and 90's had to offer, sopped it up, then wrung it out all over her music. A little Madonna, a little Prince, even a little Springsteen. It was an 'everything but the kitchen sink' approach and it worked to an amazing effect. Now, after riding a tidal wave of personality and more hype than just about any pop album in the last few years, we get "ArtPop." What was an amalgamation before now just comes off as rote. Her personality still compensates for a lot here, but this is not much more than a standard issue laptop dance album. After Katy Perry's disappointing "Prism," "Artpop" carries too much baggage and ultimately fails to deliver the goods.
The opener, the middle eastern tinged "Aura," does give the album a major kickstart, but even then it just ascends into electronic dance music. There's the three rappers on "Jewels and Drugs," which does not one up having Kanye West on the last album. And for friggin' sakes, a pot puffing song in "Mary Jane Holland"? If I wanted Myley Cyrus, I would've bought "Bangerz." The profanities are gratuitous, the songs sound-alikes, and the lack of variety gets painfully obvious after a couple of listens.
The saving graces come mostly from the singles. "Applause" was enough of a bell-ringer that I was prepared for a solid album. Odd that it is what closes the album. "Venus" is also fun, where the worldplay may be juvenile (Uranus, hee hee hee), but the hook inescapable. The duet with R Kelly is a big surprise as the old school crooner is a perfect match for a subdued Gaga on "Do What U Want" (even the title is a throwback, in the way the best songs on "Born This Way" were). That's only four songs that I think will interest me long enough to go back to the album for. Lady Gaga is now in danger of becoming something I was hoping she'd be able to avoid; "Artpop" reveals the artist as cookie-cutter poptart saved mainly by that larger than life character she's invented for herself.
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