Artpop

Recording information: 80 Hertz Studios, Manchester; CRC Studios, Chicago, IL; Patchwerk Studios, Atlanta, CA; Piano Music Studios, Amsterdam; Record Plant, Hollywood, CA; Shangri La Studios, Malibu, CA.
If Born This Way was made for the Little Monsters, its 2013 sequel ARTPOP was made for the world. Lady Gaga has grand designs for her third album, to pull a "reverse Warhol," which presumably means she wants to channel high art into pop instead of pop into high art, but it's a little difficult to discern Gaga's intent, either in this statement or ARTPOP as a whole. Willfully existing simply on the surface, a surface that perhaps (or perhaps not) signifies a greater depth, ARTPOP is teasingly garish, its bright colors and brittle beats attacking with glee, the emphasis always on big, pulsating beats, shattered reflections, sound cascading over song in every instance. Inevitably, this emphasis on production means the pop in ARTPOP winds up diminished; perhaps it's "pop" in the pop-art sense, as it's shamelessly, intentionally populist, but as pop music it relies not on hooks in either its melody or rhythm, but rather a full-on glitz blitz that can dazzle as often as it tires. Lost in her self-generated mythos, Gaga doesn't much care whether her music sticks as long as she's not ignored -- even such seemingly soul-baring moments as the single-spotlight showcase "Dope" isn't confessional so much as a gearshift designed to capture attention -- and ARTPOP continually demands attention as it eschews the notion of love, right down to how all the sex songs deliberately separate the body from the soul. This isn't limited to Gaga's exhortation to R. Kelly to "do what you want with my body" on "Do What U Want," either. At times -- particularly throughout the album's first half -- ARTPOP is a non-stop erotic cabaret, Gaga contorting herself to fulfill any desire, switching roles between a guy and a girl and a bottom and a top, her ambidexterous sexuality signaling power, not sensuality. This same arrogance glides her through songs about style -- the ludicrous "Donatella," a tribute to Versace that borders on character assassination; "Fashion!," which isn't a David Bowie cover, no matter how much it longs to be -- and songs about drugs, a cycle that takes her toward a concluding coda where Gaga stands resplendent in the applause. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine