だいじょばない

Here’s the thing. You’re my best friend. And I love my life. And I don’t know how much time we have left, but however much it is, I wanna spend it with you. And I know we can’t technically get married, but I also don’t really care. We can wear the rings, and we’ll know. Okay? And… that’s enough for me. If it’s enough for you. I reckon that’s enough for me, yeah.

For me, this album really showcases Gaga’s musicianship and how she’s versatile enough to explore different genres of music. Most people would describe the album as country, but sonically it’s American Folk with a tinge of country influences. After hearing this album for the first time I can most definitely tell you that it is one of Gaga’s most cohesive albums up to date. It’s definitely not like the contemporary pop music that you’d find on the radio. But then again, Gaga never tries to create pop music for the masses. 

Especially for this era, the narrative of the album is much more personal and autobiographical. The music and the lyrics relate to the music that she grew up with and not so much based on a particular concept like her previous albums. Not to mention that lyrically this is her most mature album. A lot of her fans don’t enjoy this album because it’s a drastic change from what they are used to hearing. 

I feel like she’s enjoying herself more this era. She now has more control over her management. The management she had during the ARTPOP era was a mess, resulting in the public’s perception that the album was unsuccessful, even though it sold as much as Anti and Lemonade. 

Following Gaga for the past 8 years, she’s always been extra in her eras. I’ve seen so many of her fans going crazy because she wanted them to address her as “Joanne” during a performance. That’s literally her middle name and of course she’s not going to change her entire brand for this album. 

Whenever I see fans say that she could do better I often wonder what that means. I’m assuming that they want more dark and euro-industrial pop music like from The Fame Monster. But the magic of Gaga is that she’s always changing and that she’s always evolving as an artist. She wouldn’t be as interesting if she kept creating the same music for 6 years. The public loves to call her a fad despite her always proving them otherwise. Whether that’s from winning a Grammy for a jazz collaboration album with Tony Bennett or winning a Golden Globe. 

I wanna capture the look on a woman’s face as she’s being crowned… this sort of um ecstatic, blue eyeliner running, kind of ‘I am, I am— I won! I have hemorrhoid cream under my eyes and adhesive tape on my butt, and I had to scratch and claw and fuck my way up, but I won Miss Congeniality!’ and that’s the essence of sickness in this culture I’d like to capture.