Lately I have written like five posts about Lady Gaga and what things she is about to release and what I think we will se coming. But with last nights revelation of her new single cover art work, and her first interview with the world since six months we get a deeper inside of what ARTPOP and Applause will be like.
Well of course I will put first things first and talk about the most obvious: the cover for her new single Applause, to be released on August 19th. As we can see it is a totally different approach to a cover art then we know from Gaga. If you think of her usual covers, no matter if album or single, tis one does not quite fit the grid. It is first of all white, and never before has there been a cover that has had so much white. Her covers normally are dar and have that edge of violence, power and sex. Bit that white and theatrical, make up smeared and puppet like image wows the community of little monsters once more. if we go in deeper we of course have the chalk white based face. It is like an empty canvas, on which make up is smeared. A deep blue and a fiery fierce orange contrast. Her eyer have a very starring attitude and seem to directly address the viewer. Her hair is caught behind the black turban, and her face surrounded by some white coat. Somehow the cover reminds me of a clown, but in other ways it is almost a reinterpretation of a puppet from a puppet theater, since it is some kind of lifeless. Additionally I am hugely reminded of Picasso and his interpretations of women. Important to notice as well is that there is a resemblance to this picture to classical ballet and performance art. Closing off the picture is underlined with the hand written line "lady gaga applause". The handwriting is very unusual as well, since in the Born This way time Gaga has used either bold fat capitalized letters or edgy writing. definitely a new approach. The whole cover comes off as a painting since it is surrounded by that black line, which would emphasize ARTPOP's most obvious message: the exchange between pop and art.
When it comes to the interview Gaga gave "Women's Wear Daily" she really lets us view deep into ARTPOP and how it really is concepted. She says that it has been worked on for the last 6 months, and she has started from a blank canvas. ATPOP also seems to be about beauty and especially feeling comfortable with your natural side of beauty. She, in my opinion, finally expresses the deepest thought of Born This Way, expresses the inner regions of her, and really brings them outside and makes herself vulnerable, bare and naked. This bare and naked theme has also been reflected in what we have seen until now from ARTPOP images. But she gives us a clear saying that ARTPOP is not a phase to be pinned down by the style of one image or single cover. Not every image defines an era, she just says it is the captured momentum we get to see. The article is headed by a quote, simply telling us: "Gaga: I am every Icon". And what might sound a little to full of herself might be the best way to bring that image she wants us to see and analyze out there. ARTPOP is less about sheer consumption and warholian repetition like "The Fame", less about cultivating deep dark things than "The Fame Monster" and more then sheer involvement then "Born This Way". When she is asked to explain the single cover, to explain the story behind it, she answers that the interviewer should analyze it first, otherwise it would not be art. And she is right about that. What points out is the "command" to not only consume, create and recreate the seen, heard and experienced by rather to analyze, deconstruct and understand deeply the message behind this and enjoy the craft as a construct: art.
Concerning applause she gives away that the video was directed by Inez Vinoodh, as well as her cover shoot for V magazine was done by them. The master class of art in collaboration with the master class of pop. Well that really gives us the reminder ARTPOP is about the clash and collaboration, exchange and work of art and pop together, or as Gaga would probably put it. "When Pop sucks the tits of Art!" What is so interesting about the collaboration is that Gaga stated that she never felt beautiful before she was shot by Inez Vinoodh, which brings up the question: will there be the answer to the question of what beauty really is in this album? Probably not, but wouldn't that be beautiful in its own way?
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