Joanne is tragic. Seems like she just released it for money/contract reasons since she wasnt asked back for AHS and the world collectively yawned with the whole Cheek to Cheek nonsense. I read in page six she's touring dive bars in support of this album which doesn't seem like the audience that she appeals to, smh girl get your life together.

^ nah Joanne's not tragic, it actually sounds really great. Lots of good writing and production all round, and great vocal performances.

Also the AHS bit is technically false. Ryan Murphy already said she's returning in a future season dedicated to the Coven world.

Her life seems pretty 'together' from everything that I can see... Not that this has anything to do at all with how much I enjoyed the record.

^she is on AHS, the current season at least. There is no cast for season 7, so i don't see what everyone is talking about. That said, I feel this album is pretty solid, laid back and easy-going? Why should it be a fullfillment of her contract? I really don't see why people bash it so much? because it is not over the top artistic, or straight out disco pop, or simply does not apply to your taste? Vocals are good, production values are good, producers and collaborators are good, image is good...everything seems to be on point? And I disagree about her vision failed. She did that with both Artpop and BTW and yes, she failed (album of the decade and so on), but she said she went back to herself (aka focus on her voice), did some simpler stuff (yes!) and wrote it on the road. Everything about this album feels pretty together to me.
it is not the best album the world has ever heard, yes, but it certainly can stand for itself.

even more, the critics for this album are pretty good, mostly giving her 3 out of 5 stars or more:

The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan considered Joanne to be a "brave move" for Gaga and admired it. In her three-out-of-five-star review in the newspaper, Sullivan explained that "Gaga's huge voice adds a self-protective veneer, as does the presence of the other musicians, but at least she's done the groundwork for future albums that might show her with true transparency."[51] Digital Spy's Lewis Corner wrote, "Joanne is clearly Gaga's most personal album, popping aside the synthetic personas for something more honest and, well, human. Mother Monster may be retired for now, but Lady Gaga's sheer musical brilliance still shines through."[50] For Evan Sawdey of PopMatters, the album—with its "flaws and all"—was a correct musical step for Gaga, which he believed would make "fans and observers once again rethink what they know about the daring diva".[53] Troye L. Smith from The Plain Dealer wrote,"Joanne seems more like a natural progression than anything Gaga has done in recent years. Thus, despite a few flaws, it's one of her most endearing efforts."[58]

Joanne is one of the best songs she's ever done, imo.

This is pretty much what I am feeling. I think Joanne is a great album. It's not converting me into a "little monster" but I am happy that I enjoyed a Lady Gaga album. It's been a while for me. I think the best songs are the album tracks. To me it is just a solid album from a talented woman in music. Her talent comes through more clearly when there isn't all those gimmicks and pretentious concepts.
As for the fans who aren't happy with the album, I expected this. I was shocked though when I did a quick listen and NONE of the songs were queen pop songs. I think it's safe to say that Lady Gaga's biggest fan demographic is gay males. But there's no statistics to prove this so it's really just an opinion of mine. But an album like Joanne is not going to appeal to that demographic and that became apparent when I started hearing the album tracks. In general, her demographic of fans want fierce queen disco club pop kinds of songs from her, not stripped down folk/country/pop rock.
So I'm not surprised about the negative reaction from fans. This album might end up alienating or dividing her fan base up though.:shrug

While Joanne may have resonated with some, it didn't it didn't resonated with most because most of the people I've heard from have been disappointed by the release. It's not saying anyone expects her to only release vapor pop songs, if you made your initial debut as a disco queen, you can't be an entirely pretentious piece of shit and abandon the demographic that made her famous in the first place considering that the kids and the radio call her "Lady CaCa" and are entirely disinterested. She's not in the current season of AHS because I watch it every week and the current season has 2 episodes left and she's Mia.

^She's the wood witch, she's not had so much on-screen time but she is. A quick Google search wold've confirmed it too ;)

I don't think she's "abandoning" anything, it's not like she stated that she was past that or anything pretentious, is it? Then again I don't follow her regularly so I wouldn't know if she did. But it looks to me like she's just trying to surprise, like she's always done, and the most surprising thing she could've done this time around is releasing a simpler, "purer" album.

I'm not a big fan either, a few songs sound nice but I got a bit bored listening to some of them, the album just feels a bit too repetitive to me. But I'm somehow impressed that she pulled it off, it's unexpected!

Well, actually she can do whatever she wants :rolleyes There are many other disco queens out there, you can just pick one to replace Gaga in your iTunes if that's so important for you. Also, there's absolutely no need to call her a "piece of shit." Mind your words.

I just find it funny that an Ayu forum can't wrap their heads around an artist changing genres with an album. Every one of Gagas albums will be different just as Ayu, Madonna, etc switches up their genres. When people look back on Gagas discography they will see a wide range of genres. I guess it's a bit hard to be going through it, but it makes for a more varied and rich career and song library.

You can evolve as an artist without abandoning your brand equities and ditching your USP (unique selling proposition).

I hate it when people try to play the "well, he/she is trying to grow as an artist card" when a musician goes and completely changes everything you enjoyed about their music. If I wanted to marvel at the "growth" of something, I'd plant a damn flower. You think people gave a shit when Coke tried to "grow" as a beverage? No, there was outrage. Or imagine if you went into a store you love - you've come to rely on them for a very specific look - and suddenly, everything in the store was different, but it still carried the brand name. For me, musicians are no different than anything else I enjoy; I come to have a taste for their style of music, rely on them to feed me that "sound," and when I am served a plate of something entirely different, I'm disappointed, and left in search of that sound that I connected with so much, that just can't be found in the exact context as it was originally found in anyplace else on earth.

For example, there's a group called "E-Rotic" I fell in love with when I was young. It's basically AQUA on acid with the entire concept regarding the group based around sexual innuendos. It was fun, light, energetic, and catchy as fuck. They released 12 albums and never once did they abandon their sound. As I continued to discover their material throughout the years, there was always more surprises to be found - the sound evolved slightly, but it always felt super on par with the artist/group and their "brand" of music. I never ever grew tired of it, and I still enjoy listening to them to this day. I never felt like they left me wanting more (well, I could never get enough but not "more" in the sense that there wasn't at least a large portion of tracks on the albums for me to enjoy). I think it large part it was due to the fact that a single producer was behind all of it, and it was that sound that I fell in love with. The sound always takes precedence over the person providing the vocals - at least for me. I fall in love with the MUSIC, not the individual.

Lol gimme a break. Joanne is a great album, and if you don't like it, fine. You like your artists to sound the same all the time? Fine.

Throwing in a bunch of advertising 101 jargon that my undergraduate intern could spew in his sleep doesn't make your argument valid especially since at least half of the record still sounds recognisably Gaga from the hooks in her songwriting, the subject matter of her lyrics, and I don't know, her voice?!

Your 'disappointment' means absolutely nothing since your very own USP argument self-defeats it. She has abandoned absolutely nothing about her unique brand as an artist except for the fact that the musical genre has changed. If you can't see beyond that, too bad.

I should have specified more clearly that the USP is how I interpret it for me. People may cling to her for different reasons, but the main one that drew me in years ago is no longer there. I don't care about the lyrics, I never died over her voice (don't like "powerful" vocals), ... It was all my own perception, and just as people have a right to continue liking her releases for various reasons, it's not fair to say "it's growth" when someone decides they don't like the release as a whole.

^^I have to agree with you... If you give Perfect Illusion an EDM arrangment, for example, it pretty much becomes your everyday Lady Gaga lead single, Million Reasons is very similar to her usual big ballads, etc.

^^ That's a fair point of view, although it's strange that you would disregard all the work she's done in the past 3 years, doing jazz standards with Tony Bennett and performing at the Oscars. Anyone who's tuned in would know that she's done a lot more than just that EDM sound in her first 3 records, and that she's taken her identity more definitively to 'musicianship' of late.

Her work with Tony Bennett was never really positioned as the definite follow-up to the previous album - to me, it was clear that it was a side-project/endeavor. A big part of it is the fact that there has been multiple sources and reports throughout the past year or so that her next album would be somewhat of a "return to form," music wise. It's no doubt that the Lady Gaga "image" was present in Artpop and Born This Way, but the music suffered. It was reported that she had gone back to working with Red One, and the interviews he gave said he was really excited about the projects they worked on together, and that he really tried to recapture the magic they historically made as a duo in the studio for this next endeavor of hers. I read that in the beginning, she was very obedient (perhaps not the right word, but what I mean is she didn't put up a fight) to Red One's suggestions, but as she grew as a star, she was less receptive to Red's input, and working together became more of a challenge for the both of them. In my mind, RedOne was the visionary, and Lady Gaga was just his protege, so I never really considered myself a "fan" of Gaga, I considered myself a fan of the works she was releasing at the time, which is entirely different. But people tend to feed into the star - they attach their admirations to the person that they see, and fail to recognize the creator behind the sound itself. Which is fine because that's how the industry has always worked, but it's frustrating having this mentality that others don't necessarily have, and being stuck to endure it. I think being a fan of electronic music for ages has made me this way, as the releases they put out are crafts of their own, with various vocalists, so the angle from which you come to appreciate them is very different than the angle from which the general public comes to appreciate a pop star.

Yeah it was really interesting to read his feedback on their collaborative process and his interpretation of their changing work environment. He talked about how he really believed in her after she was dropped from her original label, and he would continue working with her even when she hadn't been resigned because he believed in her; furthermore, he really felt strongly about "breaking a new sound," and knew in his heart that she was the key to doing so.

The first thing that I noticed about the album was how distinct Gaga's lyrics always are and still are. The lyrics, and songwriting style in general, on this album definitely have Gaga's fingerprint.

And, ok, Joanne (the song) and Million Reasons literally brought tears to my eyes when I went through the album for the second time. Two of her most beautiful songs imo. The rest of the album has few high points, but overall it's decent. Not my fav Gaga album but not bad in the least. I've been following music releases closely this year and "Joanne" is definitely a fresh album.

What did you guys think of her performances at the Super Bowl? :)