Artpop (stylized in all caps) is the third studio album by the American singer Lady Gaga. It was released on November 6, 2013, by Streamline and Interscope Records. Gaga began planning the project in 2011, shortly after the launch of her second album, Born This Way. Work continued until 2013 while Gaga was traveling for her Born This Way Ball tour and recovering from surgery for an injury she had sustained while touring. Gaga described Artpop as "a celebration and a poetic musical journey". It displays an intentional "lack of maturity and responsibility" compared to the darker and anthemic nature of Born This Way.
Gaga collaborated with various producers on the record, including DJ White Shadow, Zedd, and Madeon. Musically, Artpop is an EDM and synth-pop album, with influences from R&B, techno, industrial, and dubstep, among other genres. The themes of the album revolve around Gaga's personal views of fame, sex, and self-empowerment; references include Greek and Roman mythology. It also features guest vocals from T.I., Too Short, Twista, and R. Kelly. On January 10, 2019, as a reaction to the documentary Surviving R. Kelly, Kelly's featured song, "Do What U Want", was removed from all streaming and online versions, as well as new vinyl and CD pressings of the album.
The release of Artpop was preceded by a two-day album release party dubbed ArtRave. While the album received generally mixed reviews from music critics, it was included in multiple year-end lists and has since earned positive retrospective reviews from critics and publications. It topped the charts in Austria, Croatia, Japan, Mexico, Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, while charting within the top five in Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, and Switzerland. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Artpop was the ninth-best-selling album globally of 2013, with 2.3 million copies worldwide.
"Applause" was released as the lead single from Artpop on August 12, 2013. It was a critical and commercial success, charting within the top ten in more than 20 countries worldwide and peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The second single, "Do What U Want", was released on October 21 and reached number 13 in the US. It was followed by the promotional singles "Venus" and "Dope" shortly before the album's release. "G.U.Y." was the third and final single released from the album. Gaga promoted Artpop with various television appearances and performances, including her second Thanksgiving Day special. After a short residency at Roseland Ballroom, she embarked on her fourth headlining concert tour, ArtRave: The Artpop Ball.
Background
Development of Artpop began shortly after the release of Lady Gaga's second studio album, Born This Way (2011), and later that year, its concepts were "beginning to flourish" as Gaga collaborated with producers Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow. By May 2012, Gaga was working on new material while touring with the Born This Way Ball, with co-manager Vincent Herbert saying that they were "doing it on the road" and promising "insane, great records". By December, Gaga said that she had written around 50 songs for the album, though she had not yet determined which would be included. Gaga wanted audiences to have "a really good time" with Artpop and conceived the album to evoke "a night at the club", with its songs flowing together in a way that she felt suited listening with friends from beginning to end. Meanwhile, Gaga began presenting tracks to her record company and hoped to reveal the album's working title by September, a title that was instead announced a month in advance.
Gaga recruited Jeff Koons into the project in early 2013; the two had previously met at a Metropolitan Museum of Art fashion event three years earlier, where Gaga provided a live performance. According to Koons, she "just kind of grabbed ahold of me and gave me a big hug around my waist" and replied, "You know, Jeff, I've been such a fan of yours, and when I was a kid just hanging out in Central Park I would talk to my friends about your work." Following her hip surgery in February 2013, Gaga was forced into a six-month hiatus, during which she studied literature and music with her creative team, the Haus of Gaga, and shared "creative gifts". This stage allowed her to review and enhance her creative direction, which she described as a meticulous "gazing process". She explained, "I have to gaze into the work for long periods of time for it to be good," adding that upon analyzing her ideas, she received "that wonderful feeling" that told her "that's the one".
Conception
Gaga described Artpop as "a celebration and a poetic musical journey" that displayed a "lack of maturity and responsibility", in contrast to the dark, anthemic nature of Born This Way. In an August 2013 interview, she told V magazine that she underwent a "cosmetic experience with words" as she examined potential names for the project. "Popart" was initially favored, but as Gaga questioned "the cultural implication of the words" and the title's evolution post-release, she soon found a "nice ring" to "Artpop". With Artpop, Gaga attempts to inject vulnerability into her work; she also cited Pierrot and Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus (c. 1484–1486) painting as an influence. She also said that at the height of the Born This Way era, she had become increasingly self-conscious about her public image. Explaining the concept behind Artpop, Gaga said she imagined standing before a mirror and removing the wigs, makeup, and elaborate costumes associated with her persona. She wanted to prove she could be artistically "brilliant" without them and to challenge herself to innovate from within.
The album's themes primarily revolve around fame, sex, and empowerment, while briefly exploring gender roles and marijuana. References include Greek and Roman mythology, as well as the classic jazz and electronic musician Sun Ra. Spencer Kornhaber from The Atlantic saw Artpop as an "attention-freak's manifesto" and interpreted the record's exploration of carnal desire as a facet of the broader idea of "owning up to one's own desire for attention". John Aizlewood of the London Evening Standard suggested that songs such as "Do What U Want" and "Dope" highlighted Gaga's "curiously submissive" tendencies as a lyricist. Jason Lipshutz from Billboard commented that Artpop "naturally abides" to her "far-reaching ambition" to "re-think the 'pop album' as an entity", while Jerry Shriver of USA Today observed that the lyrics foretold "the exploits of an empowered, sexy siren who wrestles with fame", something he expected from Gaga. Jon Pareles of The New York Times argued that, with Artpop, Gaga reasserted "her need for the love of her audience and announced her new pivot to align herself with the [visual] art world".
Recording Production
Gaga composed and produced all the songs on the album, working with producers including DJ White Shadow, Zedd, and Madeon. White Shadow told MTV that Gaga contacted him less than a week after the release of her previous album, Born This Way, saying she already "had the name and the general concept for the record". In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said their goal was to create music that pushed listeners' expectations and experimented with ideas outside the norm. He added that many songs were written while Gaga was touring for the Born This Way Ball and that multiple tracks were often developed simultaneously until the final deadline for submission to Interscope.
Zedd described the sessions as highly experimental, saying Gaga encouraged a completely open creative approach in which unconventional ideas were welcomed and songs did not need to conform to standard radio formats. He said the collaborators were not specifically trying to make an EDM album but also did not avoid the style. Zedd added that some material began from unusual prompts, recalling that one track originated after Gaga gave him a list of words describing an emotion and asked him to translate it into music. He also said their work progressed slowly at times due to their busy schedules, and much of the material was developed while they were touring.
For French DJ Madeon, the project marked his first experience collaborating face-to-face with a vocalist. He said he had long wanted to work with pop artists and that Gaga had been his top choice for collaboration. Gaga praised Madeon's production abilities, saying he had a strong understanding of music despite his young age and describing him as deeply passionate about it. Madeon later recalled that recording sessions often began after Gaga had finished performing shows on the Born This Way Ball tour. Artpop also marked the first time she worked with will.i.am, on the track "Fashion!". Gaga said that they had been trying to work together for years, but both were very "picky" and had been waiting until they found the right song and musical style.
Featured artists
In mid-2013, Gaga contacted rappers T.I., Too Short, and Twista to record a song, later revealed as "Jewels n' Drugs". Too Short said that he became involved after producer DJ White Shadow suggested him for the track, and he subsequently recorded his verse in Los Angeles. In an interview with MTV, the artists confirmed that they recorded their verses separately because of scheduling constraints. Twista said Gaga wanted to bring together some artists with different styles to capture the atmosphere she envisioned for the song. Gaga also worked with rapper Azealia Banks on two songs titled "Red Flame" and "Ratchet", though the tracks remained unreleased as their collaboration ended in a dispute.
DJ White Shadow told the Chicago Tribune that while he was working on "Do What U Want" with Gaga during the European leg of the Born This Way Ball tour, he suggested bringing R. Kelly onto the track. He said it "seemed logical" to pair "two writing/singing geniuses". Kelly later told Billboard that he enjoyed recording the song and praised Gaga's professionalism. At a press conference in Japan in 2013, when Gaga was asked why she worked with Kelly, she defended the collaboration, saying that both she and Kelly had experienced false media coverage and that this created a sense of connection between them. Following the broadcast of the documentary Surviving R. Kelly in January 2019, which detailed sexual abuse allegations against Kelly, Gaga apologized for working with him, stating that her thinking at the time had been "explicitly twisted" and that she had exercised "poor judgement". The song was subsequently removed from all digital versions of Artpop, as well as later vinyl and CD pressings of the album.
Composition Music