A pop renaissance

A pop renaissance

Lady Gaga makes a welcome return to the maximalist electropop for which she's known and loved, continuing to cement her diva status with a big, bold and personal sixth studio album

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
A pop renaissance

If Madonna's long, illustrious career has taught us mortals anything, it's that a pop chameleon makes the best kind of pop music.

While it's no secret that self-reinvention and the ability to assume any persona play such an integral part to a successful pop career, only a rare few have managed to execute it with conviction. Next to Madge, one of those rare few is Stefani Germanotta, also known the world over as Lady Gaga, the shape-shifting songstress behind massive hits including Poker Face, Just Dance, Bad Romance and Shallow.

Her latest record, the sixth LP Chromatica, arrives after a brief detour into the rustic Americana of 2016's Joanne and her leading role in the Oscar-winning A Star Is Born. Themed around a utopian planet of the same name, the album boasts a production team culled from both pop and EDM ends of the spectrum -- Swedish House Mafia's Axwell, Skrillex, Burns, BloodPop and Gaga herself, of course. As if that weren't enough, she also enlists Ariana Grande, Elton John and K-pop group Blackpink to help bring her vision to life.

Lead single Stupid Love is a fitting introduction to Gaga's imagined utopia. Drenched in candy-coloured disco synths, the track is a faithful throwback to her electropop roots.

"All I ever wanted was love… I want your stupid love!" she intones with the same giddy euphoria of Bad Romance. And there's more where that came from -- some taking shape of high profile, albeit not-quite-memorable collabs (Rain On Me, Sine From Above and Sour Candy) with the rest oscillating between Eurodance and 90s house.

Despite the absence of balladry, Chromatica still packs substantial emotional heft. On Free Woman, Gaga digs deep into her past trauma, emerging from a sexual assault empowered and victorious ("I'm still something if I don't got a man/ I'm a free woman"). Elsewhere on 911, she details her unpleasant experience with an antipsychotic and a love-hate relationship with fame: "Holdin' on so tight to this status/ It's not real, but I'll try to grab it/ Keep myself in beautiful places."


The verdict: Basked in a rushing pink glow of disco-house glory, Chromatica is not only Gaga's triumphant return to form, but also her most poignant output to date.

Listen to this: Stupid Love, 911, Free Woman.

THE PLAYLIST

Tomemitsu / I'll Be Alright

LA-based singer-songwriter Martin Tomemitsu Roark describes his solo project Tomemitsu simply as "bedroom recordings from Echo Park, California". It's an earnest description, one that succinctly conveys the understated, dreamlike quality of his music including Runaway and In Dreams, which were both featured in HBO's series High Maintenance. Seven years have passed since the project's inception, and Tomemitsu's musical landscape has grown even more distinctive. Lifted from the latest EP, new cut I'll Be Alright boasts a step forward in his artistic evolution, combining trademark haziness with something a little looser and more carefree. This is a perfect pick-me-up gem for when things get a bit too much.

Foster The People / Lamb's Wool

The outfit behind the massive indie anthem Pumped Up Kicks returns with latest single Lamb's Wool, a follow-up to the stirring Covid-19 ballad It's Ok To Be Human. Not unlike their recent offerings, the song fuses their indie-rock roots with a good helping of psychedelia and profound lyrics that deal with heavier subjects like death of a loved one. "It's hard to look into your eyes/ Knowing it might be the last time," sings Mark Foster about his late uncle, hoping for the hereafter where he could "run again without the pain" and "fall into the flowers bloom, of the other side".

Violette Wautier / I'd Do It Again

Thai-Belgian songstress Violette Wautier has been dipping her toes into the more electronic side of pop with recent tracks like Smoke and Drive. Now, she's back with I'd Do It Again, a mid-tempo cut that further highlights her penchant for the sound. "It was bittersweet/ You were like a dream," she sings about a doomed romance over the production evocative of Taylor Swift's Style. "And I was your girl on the passenger seat… We were unstoppable/ We thought we had it all."

Cigarettes After Sex / You're All I Want

Even though it's been eight years since the release of their 2012's sleeper hit Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby, Cigarettes After Sex in 2020 still insist on churning out the same ambient-pop ballad dedicated to overflowing love and post-coitus afterglow. Latest track You're All I Want is cut from the exact same cloth as Nothing (and pretty much everything that's followed), offering the usual serving of spicy lyrics set to echoey guitars drifting melodies. There's nothing inherently wrong with the song itself, but perhaps it's time they broke away from the same musical palette they've been rehashing for nearly a decade?

Christian Leave / No Use

After dropping his debut four-track Trilogy EP back in 2018, former Vine star Christian Leave returns with a new single called No Use. Co-produced by LA-based electropop duo MNDR, the track finds the 20-year-old singer-songwriter stepping away from the lo-fi bedroom pop of his early days to take on the more polished, radio-ready production. "I'm a speck in existence/ I'm a hair on your chin," he begins over a laidback bass groove, alluding to how he's being taken for granted in a relationship. "You should've let me go long before/ Should've ripped me out, should've slammed that door." The whole vibe here is very much in line with the early 2000s R&B-infused pop, recalling the Timbaland-era Justin Timberlake.

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