Satori

Idk it works for me. I was expecting to hate it, because the single artwork and the title of the song just struck me as awful, and I didn’t listen to any of the leaks. But from the first time I heard it this morning I loved it. There’s something refreshing about hearing a plain and simple maximalist pop girl banger like this again. One could say she was trying to reinhabit her pop heights but to me this is both a throwback and a step forward in the best of ways. It’s more well-produced than any of her singles since The Fame Monster (not shading BTW or Artpop)—it just sounds polished, which isn’t surprising given Max’s involvement. But it also feels like she’s doing something new—I can’t remember the last time a Gaga song had this much joy seeping from it. Her upbeat stuff has traditionally been so aggressive (which is fine), but this feels like she’s adapting to the genre rather than bending the genre to her will. You could say that makes it less original and experimental, but it certainly doesn’t make it less infectious and listenable. It’s the one Gaga song I can think of that makes me smile as soon as it starts. And as far as the video, I don’t really buy the easy dismissals of the camp defense. All prior Gaga weirdness across her eras has been way too self-serious for it to ever be truly camp... there was always a solemnity behind the crazy costumes and the hyper charged beats. The music was always delivered with a conviction that she was doing something important™️.... whereas this feels like a much more healthy and charming version of self-awareness. The occasional “missteps” in the costumes and production design arrive with a wink, and more importantly, with a smile. Have you ever seen the girl look like she was just there making a video to have fun? Yes there’s the clumsy built-in mythology in the storyline, but this is a three-minute pink explosion shot on an iPhone. It’s not presented as an epic—it feels intentionally of the moment, ephemeral, and joyous the way all pop music that endures does, precisely because of the thoughtless emotion it evokes. (There are exceptions, but “meaningful” pop music isn’t really pop.) I’ve talked to a bunch of my cohortmates today about it and a lot of the Gaga fans don’t care for it while the casual listeners, and the people who had tuned her out for a while like me, love it. And they pinpointed they same things I did: it was fun, and it felt tongue in cheek in a way that was different for her, and above all, it was a bop. So I say good for her.

Literally SHAKING at how much her catalogue is worth. A friend and I were discussing this the other day and the hypothetical scenario of whether she’d be able/willing to buy them back if given the chance. I have a suspicion she would want to, because it’s truly a sound investment, and unlike buying someone else’s masters, she’d be investing in herself. But even if the actual cost was way lower, like $100 million, to imagine her having to cut her net worth down that drastically is insane. All that to say, you can see the ugly leverage the label had in trying to tempt her with the “earning them back” option.

This really puts Reputation in perspective tbh. Downright ridiculous the era is written off the way it is and even though I’m not the biggest fan of that particular album it still was a very good release and she blew literally every component that measures an era out of the water except for the Hot100 runs. But as we’re seeing, that’s one small piece of a massive pie. And plenty of people chart more songs higher but don’t have a fraction of the other numbers associated with Rep.

Music not the bling tbh. At the end of the day Madonna’s music has soundtracked my life ever since I was a child, and she’s been there as I’ve grown and learned more about the world and myself, sometimes illuminating the way before I saw it for myself. If I didn’t have that connection to her music I wouldn’t be okay with a version of the “stan” label being used, but with her it’s okay. I feel like I’ve learned a lot from her music and all the messages she associates with that music, on tour and in interviews etc. Years before I was able to love myself or ask anyone else to accept me she was literally the one voice in my life urging me to get to that place. That’s not an insult to my family or friends, but before I could confide in people it felt like I had confided in her and her music was her response to me. Or something. And that’s to say nothing of how great most of her music is in general. Erotica and Bedtime Stories brought me to house and R&B, her early 00s stuff brought me to dance and electronica, Confessions brought me to disco, etc., etc. (I feel the same way re Florence and Beyoncé to an extent, but Madonna’s the one who’s been there since the beginning, so I responded in reference to her.)

groundbreaking

struggelín Anyway on topic I can see Beyoncé releasing quality material at this point in her career. She grows with every album.

I used to bop to Full Moon and Aphrodisiac a lot. She has a really mellow voice that suits understated bops really well.