<p id=”par-1_45″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/lady-gaga/”>Lady Gaga</a>‘s “Applause” is one of her most memorable songs and it speaks to the theater kid in all of us. Despite that, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/inside-lady-gagas-dating-history-and-why-she-and-bradley-cooper-will-never-be-a-couple.html/”>the “Shallow” singer</a> made a grave mistake when she put out “Applause.” One of the song’s writers said the tune underperformed expectations.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-lady-gaga-s-applause-should-have-been-an-album-starter”>Lady Gaga’s ‘Applause’ should have been an album-starter</h2>
<p id=”par-2_58″>Album sequencing is its own art form. Songs on the best albums appear in a cohesive order. For example, The Beatles’ <em>Abbey Road</em> wouldn’t have worked as well if it started with “The End.” Most of Gaga’s records are sequenced just fine, but she made a big mistake with her third studio album, which is pretentiously titled <em>Artpop</em>.</p>
<p id=”par-3_55″>“Applause” is the final track on that album. A song about a love of performing should have started the record and pumped the audience up. Instead, Gaga proclaims her love of performing right before the record stops. It’s such a huge anticlimax that one can only wonder why she thought it was a good idea.</p>
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<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-lady-gaga-s-artpop-feels-half-baked”>Lady Gaga’s ‘Artpop’ feels half-baked</h2>
<p id=”par-4_61″>In addition, the album has a Greek mythology theme. One of the songs is called “Venus,” another starts with an invocation to Eros, and the album cover includes images from Sandro Botticelli’s <em>The Birth of Venus</em>. The record should have concluded with a mythological song to solidify the theme. Instead, Gaga drops the mythological references, making them feel like a cop-out.</p>
<p id=”par-5_58″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/lady-gaga-pretended-whitney-houston-while-writing-born-this-way.html/”>Gaga’s previous album, <em>Born This Wa</em></a><em>y</em>, contains many references to Catholicism. One song is about Judas Iscariot, another includes the line “I don’t need your Jesus Christo,” and <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/lady-gaga-revealed-bloody-mary.html/”>another centers on Mary Magdalene</a>. In that record, Gaga seemed to reject her Catholic upbringing for something more bohemian and libertine. In contrast, the mythological underpinnings of <em>Artpop </em>feel half-baked.</p>
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<div class=”related-article related-article–simple”>
<span class=”related-article-flag”>Related</span>
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<a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/lady-gaga-song-sounds-way-much-like-madonna.html/”>
This Lady Gaga Song Sounds Way Too Much Like Madonna </a>
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<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-the-producer-of-applause-was-upset-by-the-song-s-performance”>The producer of ‘Applause’ was upset by the song’s performance</h2>
<p id=”par-6_63″>DJ White Shadow co-produced “Applause.” During a 2021 interview with <a href=”https://ew.com/music/lady-gaga-artpop-act-ii-dj-white-shadow-interview/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Entertainment Weekly</a>, DJ White Shadow explained the background of <em>Artpop</em>. “After <em>Born This Way</em> was finished and turned in, I remember laying on the couch at my house, and I picked up the phone and it was [Gaga],” he recalled. “She was like, ‘I got the name for the next record. It’s <em>Artpop</em>!’”</p>
<p id=”par-7_77″>DJ White Shadow said making <em>Artpop </em>was difficult. “Everything was in a state of turmoil at the time,” he said. “Everybody was making guesses about how to get stuff out. It was a moving target. When ‘Applause’ came out, it didn’t go to No. 1 right away; ‘Born This Way’ went to No. 1 right off the jump. I know it wasn’t like an, ‘Oh s***, Macy’s Day Parade’ moment. We were all kind of freaked out.”</p>
<p id=”par-8_82″>DJ White Shadow said creating <em>Artpop </em>gave him trauma. “I never wanted to make another record for the rest of my life once that was done,” he explained. “It was so bad. I was finished. I have a picture of me walking out of [recording studio] Record Plant after it was over, and I look so f****** terrible.” DJ White Shadow said he slept in the studio for a month to complete <em>Artpop </em>and the experience made him look 150 years old.</p>
<p id=”par-9_14″>“Applause” is a great song, even if its placement doesn’t do <em>Artpop </em>any favors.</p>