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Posted by: Kath ♡ 21st December 2014, 09:17 PM

2014 A-Z: J is for JAZZ ALBUM



In 2008, Lady Gaga was the best popstar in the world.
In 2009, Lady Gaga was the best popstar in the world.
In 2010, Lady Gaga was the best popstar in the world.
In 2011, Lady Gaga was the best popstar in the world.
In 2012, Lady Gaga was the best popstar in the world.
In 2013, Lady Gaga was still just about the best popstar in the world.
In 2014, Lady Gaga released a jazz album.

Except actually it wasn’t really a Lady Gaga jazz album. A Lady Gaga jazz album would have seen Lady Gaga doing to jazz what Lady Gaga did to pop: identifying the best bits, inventing some even better bits, turning the whole thing inside out and thrilling the world.

Lady Gaga’s Tony Bennett duets album ‘Cheek To Cheek’ was not something that conformed to Gaga’s brand values at all. When you consider how experimental, avant-garde and breathtakingly insane jazz can be, and when you consider how incendiary it could have been to add Lady Gaga to the mix, the album she released was almost offensively pedestrian.
We kept reading things about ‘Cheek To Cheek’ being a brave move. It didn’t sound very brave to us. What’s brave about releasing an album of easy listening covers for the Q4 market?
This said, Gaga got to make an album she could be truly passionate about, and as anyone who follows her on Twitter will tell you, she was thrilled by the good reviews the album received from esteemed critics. Where’s the harm in that?



Several years ago Lady Gaga made a promise: POP MUSIC WILL NEVER BE LOWBROW.

It’s hard to see where this fits in with ‘Cheek To Cheek’, an album through which Lady Gaga was apparently attempting to be taken seriously, in certain circles, for the first time. The idea, in so far as we could understand it, was that ‘Cheek To Cheek’ would allow Gaga’s true artistry to shine through.

We’re not sure that’s the Lady Gaga we fell in love with.

The Lady Gaga we fell in love with would say “f*** YOU” to anyone who only took her seriously when she adhered to conservative notions of talent and artistry. She’d say “f*** YOU” to anyone who considered ‘Bad Romance’, ‘Alejandro’ or ‘Poker Face’ somehow unworthy of rigorous critical attention simply because they were pop songs. And she’d say “f*** YOU” to anyone who finally complimented her on her vocal talents just because they were being used away from a drum machine.

Maybe we got her wrong at the start. Maybe she was using pop to get somewhere else, when we thought she was using pop to make pop a better place. Maybe the Gaga we thought we fell in love with never really existed at all.

Actually that’s bollocks. We’re absolutely sure she did exist. And while some have written her off, we also feel with complete certainty that the Lady Gaga who once ruled the planet will one day exist again. We’re not sure when that’ll be, but we do know that she’d have been back in the game a lot sooner if she’d taken a year off instead of releasing ‘Cheek To Cheek’.


Source: http://www.popjustice.com/briefing/2014-a-z-j-is-for-jazz-album/133283/#ixzz3MZMd0dMN

Posted by: RebelHaus 21st December 2014, 09:26 PM

Well that's quite hard to read. mostly because i agree with a bit of it eek. The album while pleasant is a tad on the safe side, and while that's no bad thing, it's really not the Gaga i love. Even the live performances, the styling etc just aren't what i buy into. I appreciate that there is a market for this and i am glad she did it because as the article says, she is SO passionate about it, and it seems to have made her a lot more positive in her own personal identity which was getting distorted during the ARTPOP era.

Actually that’s bollocks. We’re absolutely sure she did exist. And while some have written her off, we also feel with complete certainty that the Lady Gaga who once ruled the planet will one day exist again. We’re not sure when that’ll be, but we do know that she’d have been back in the game a lot sooner if she’d taken a year off instead of releasing ‘Cheek To Cheek’.

^ this makes me excited and nervous in equal measure. I have complete faith in her, i just want it to happen sooner rather than later lol.

Posted by: Kath ♡ 21st December 2014, 09:29 PM

@ Cheek to Cheek haters

Posted by: TOXIC_AIR 21st December 2014, 09:31 PM

I enjoy Cheek to cheek.

However, all her previous albums are MILES better. And I'm so over the light ARTPOP shade. That album is f***ing fantastic.

Posted by: Kath ♡ 21st December 2014, 09:42 PM

SING IT

Being an artist is being able to change constantly and we all know Gaga as an artist. The music she made in 2008 and the one she made in 2011 or 2013 was't the same, either! and jazz, jazz is the core of an energy she needed for a long time. LET HER BE THE ARTIST and DO NOT TRY TO CONTROL HER IDENTITY

Posted by: Umi 21st December 2014, 10:07 PM

I do agree with a lot of the article, particularly towards the end. I've not listened to C2C so I can't say anything negative about it but I've never liked how shady Tony has been towards PopGa and how appreciative she seems to be of him complimenting her voice (as said in the piece, only when she's away from anything pop). Tony seems to think she's only worth taking seriously when she's not doing pop and she doesn't seem to disagree with him, which is just weird for someone who was once such a champion of the genre.

Posted by: Christmas 21st December 2014, 10:12 PM

Tony has always been an asshole though. My Mum hates him the fire of a thousand suns.

Posted by: Umi 21st December 2014, 10:39 PM

That just makes it all the worse that GaGa seems to accept everything he says as true

Reminds me of the type of relationship where the boyfriend will destroy the girl's confidence so she stays with him.

Posted by: ░░░░ 21st December 2014, 10:50 PM

i agree with the record wholeheartedly

anybody that says this is what they EVER wanted or expected from gaga so early in her career trajectory is telling UNTRUTHS

it's a horrible blip to try and explain, how and why did this ever manage to happen?

as long as she is fulfilling her want to turn 180, who are we to complain?!

Posted by: December 21st December 2014, 11:05 PM

But the fatal error is that Popjustice have assumed that 'Cheek To Cheek' was intended as something more than just a side project with one her mates.

Posted by: TOXIC_AIR 21st December 2014, 11:58 PM

Exactly. They should know that when Gaga commits to a project, she commits 100%. I think some of her critics mistake her passion with a loss of identity, which is not the case.

Posted by: ░░░░ 22nd December 2014, 12:03 AM

this is true but how does that change anything pj has said?