now? she lost it with Born this way already
she was only great for one era (The Fame) :/
I'm lifting a lot of this info from a USA music industry "behind the scenes" site which I frequent, as it explains a hell of a lot with what goes on "behind the music":
The Fame - was a really poor album with only 3 good songs on them (albeit the 3 big hit singles), and the rest being lightweight filler as Little Boots & La Roux's debut albums were better. But neither of them came remotely close to Ms Stefani's stage presence..
The Fame Monster - was a great 8 track album with only one semi dud (Teeth)
Now things get interesting ....
Born This Way - is a classic example of a great album badly executed promotion wise with some appalling single choices (Judas - should have been nowhere near the album; "You & I" was never a single for Europe (why they never went for the Killers meets the Pet Shop Boys sounding "Bloody Mary"; Whilst leaving "Nothing On (But The Radio)" off the album still beggars belief; and I can't help but wonder how much better the album would have done had Gaga got her way and went for a 1-2-3 single release of "Marry The Night"; "Edge Of Glory"; then "ScheiSe" with the title track remaining a non single album track (she's apparently a bit old school like old albums used to be with the title track remaining a non single); as her relationship with her management (Troy Carter & the Haus of Ga) was starting to unravel. Troy was always a believer that there is no such thing as bad publicity; and favoured shock tactics/gimmicks; which Ms Stefani did not agree with and caused friction between them, not least when he refused to shut down the whole Angela Cheung fake blogs which started up in this era; and their ridiculous statements on spending $25 million on making the album, etc.
Artpop - Easily her weakest album since her debut. Her original concept for that album was for her to have a whole album with promo videos filmed and suddenly released without any forewarning. Hence she spent 6 months not on Twitter. Unfortunately, her manager and Interscope records boss & music legend Jimmy Iovine thought this was madness; so what we got was the final track on the album (which thematically was meant to tie up the album like a musical playout to a movie) being the first single, and a mess of a video with a bunch of random personas that represented different characters/personas from different tracks on the album which would have made far more sense had her original concept been delivered. Then Beyonce thought Gaga's idea was a good one, implemented it and got a load of praise whilst Gaga fumed; and then came the point of no return when Gaga refused to sanction the release of her manager Troy Carter's concept to the "Do What U Want" video (which she had originally written as a duet with Britney Spears), but was persuaded that getting the 1990s R&B "water sports" enthusiast was a better idea. Hence an acrimonious split occurred between the pair which shut down promo for that album (on the Saturday she arrived in the UK to film X-Factor and find none of her costumes had been shipped over) killing it cold. Whilst Jimmy Iovine jumped ship to Apple (he cited to Hits Daily Double in 2015 the time he did not back the vision of the artist over her manager and subsequent events as the moment he felt he needed to move on).
Unfortunately for Lady Gaga her contract with Troy Carter & the Haus of Ga meant she could not release new material until that contract expired in April 2016 (and was unwilling to buyout the remainder of the contract such was the animosity between the pair). In the mean time she hired Bobby Campbell as her manager, who had won a bunch of industry awards for his promo for David Bowie's The Next Day album (he also orchestrated the promo work for his final album Blackstar), where that artist did zero promo interviews to the media. Hence to keep her profile up she turned up at numerous tribute shows, and detoxified her increasingly tired, gimmicky image. Including probably her greatest performance to date:
Since Artpop she recorded a 1970s covers album in 2015 (which she could not release, as she recorded it whilst still being under Troy Carter's management, so the album got stiffed when she lost a music tribunal case to him, her new team tried to argue as it was non original compositions it could be released; and she subsequently performed the album in full just once at a Hillary Clinton for POTUS fund raiser (so you are safe from hearing her cover 1970s album tracks by David Bowie, Queen, Elton John, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel; Todd Rundgren, Patti Smith, Laura Nyro, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac; .....); ditto why all the material on her just released 5th album was (re)recorded since April 2016).
Hence, as she has extricated herself from her former manager and his team (both parties have agreed to a confidentiality agreement to not talk about the split to avoid a Ke$ha vs Dr Luke career suicide battle); and Bobby Campbell has brought on a handful of David Bowie's accountants, lawyers, close entourage; etc to sort out an amicable business divorce, and maintain her finances; and guide her future career (including her getting into acting which suggest she is more a future Bette Midler or Cher, rather than a Madonna or Britney Spears) she has made this album which has the quite simple concept of an album of music her auntie Joanne who died aged 19 in 1974 would have made or liked. Hence why this does not sound remotely like anything the Chainsmokers or Drake would release tomorrow; and is instead very much a back to the future album comparable to Billy Joel's 1983 "An Innocent Man" pre Beatles pop album; as it has a modern production, but with authentic musicianship harking back to classic early to mid 1970s Glam Rock; acoustic guitar singer/songwriters; country pop; blues rock; Heavy Rock; Piano Pop; LA synth pop; etc.
Therefore the album Joanne contains the Bruce Springsteen'esque "Grigio Girls"; the McCartney'esque "Just Another Day"; the Bonnie Raitt'esque "Angel Down"; the Todd Rundgren lifting Elton John's Bennie & The Jets riff on "Hey Girl"; the joyful Laura Nyro meets Carole King "Come To Mama"; the Stevie Nicks led Fleetwood Mac "Sinners Prayer"; the Dolly Parton fronting the Spiders From Mars "A-Yo"; the Neil Young & Crazy Horse inspired "Diamond Heart"; etc.
Also her new management connections explains why a lot of credible musicians appear on this album, and why this album will doubtless get a lot of hostile reviews especially from music snob websites. Not least as alongside asking her about her former management split, questions relating to her connections to Team Bowie are out of bounds to interviewers. (Although Elton John nearly let the cat out of the bag before majorly back tracking).
Not bad for someone who was a New York's "Fame" TISCH performing arts alumni; who finished second in a 2006 talent contest where one of the three judges was David Bowie's longtime confidante Coco Schwab whom was most impressed with her; as I remember a pre fame Ms Stefani regularly posting on a certain Bowie website until one day early in 2008 all her posting history was removed.
(Then there is the long historical feud that existed between David Bowie and Madonna; and why Madonna used the same quoted insult to describe "Born This Way"; that Keith Richards used to describe Bowie's 1974 single "Rebel Rebel"; which explains a lot ....
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As numerous producers, band members who worked with the late David Bowie have revealed on a number of occasions, one of the biggest buzzes Bowie got was "jumping the track" and changing his sound and vision periodically; and he often read aloud his reviews to his colleagues, especially if they failed to get the point of his new material; and critically mauled it. As David Buckley who is beginning to do promo for his 5th & final update to his definitive exhausting Bowie biography "Strange Fascination" (out next week) "If Metacritic had begun in the 1960s, then Bowie's worst album according to contemporaneous reviews would be 1977's Low" - which is now regarded as his best album.
Remember back in 1977 the lead single (from Low's follow up album) "Heroes" only peaked at UK #24, as he was increasingly commercially irrelevant at the time in the year which saw David Soul score 2 UK #1 hits & a #2; when compared to 1972/3 when he was the biggest star in the UK with an omnipresence in the singles & album charts throughout 1973!
So I would say she & her management team know exactly what they are doing, and comparing her new material and its (lack of) commercial success to the likes of today's flavour of the month EDM, pop, & Tropical House is missing the point of what she is now trying to achieve. Because having made her millions, she is now trying to build a legacy & longevity, rather than a string of pop hits. The fact she may very well fail; or as I suspect turn into the female solo equivalent of Duran Duran is another matter.
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