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Lady Gaga's Massive 2016 Comeback (Super Bowl, Bowie Tribute, Oscar?)

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Soulscribe

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Found this editorial talking about how high-stakes February will be for Gaga, and how it'll be interesting to see how she'll use that momentum to leverage a big comeback this year.

On her image deconstruction and The Sound of Music:
It was a year ago at the Oscars that Gaga staged her big coming-out as a normal-ish person. Her faithful and lovely tribute to The Sound of Music shocked people who hadn’t seen the videos of her pre-meat-dress performances under her birth name Stefani Germanotta, or hadn’t listened to her recent Tony Bennett collaboration Cheek to Cheek, or just hadn’t paid attention to her pipes on “Edge of Glory.” She also dropped the shroud she had long held up around her personal life, gushing on social media about her engagement to the actor Taylor Kinney. The year ended with her starring in American Horror Story, a decision that called back to her old loud-proud-freak routine while also attempting to demonstrate her versatility.
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On Singing The National Anthem at the Super Bowl:
There’s no more sacred or scary gig than a Super Bowl performance of the national anthem. Botch it, and the caterwauling memes go into your permanent record. Truly nail it, and fans will write awestruck appreciations for decades, as Danyel Smith just did at ESPN with 3,000 words on Whitney Houston’s 1991 rendition. Smith’s article points out the oft-forgotten fact that Houston lip-synced then; indeed, many other landmark Super Bowl performances of the song, like Jennifer Hudson’s in 2009, were prerecorded. Judging by the backlash that followed the allegations of Beyoncé mouthing instead of singing at Barack Obama’s 2012 inauguration, though, lip-syncing is still a PR risk; if Gaga’s still trying to prove that she Really Can Sing, she might try it live.
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On performing a tribute to David Bowie at the Grammys:
Either way, she’ll be back in the spotlight a week later, facing skepticism from those horrified that the Grammys chose her to pay tribute to David Bowie. “She is not, however she might like to style herself, this generation’s answer to David Bowie,” Christina Cauterucci wrote at Slate. Well of course she isn’t and of course Gaga never actually claimed she is. But if someone has to take on the task, you could do worse than a star who uses ever-changing public personae as performance, has undisguised affection for cabaret, and has worked to undermine old gender and sexuality norms.

I’ll agree that the idea of one star of possibly fleeting popularity and still unclear historical importance trying to sum up a career as vast and influential as Bowie’s feels wrong. But that’s why it seems likely that other Bowie-connected performers will be brought in for Gaga’s three-to-four song medley; already, it’s been announced that the Chic guitarist and Bowie collaborator Nile Rodgers will participate. Really she has two choices for how to tackle the challenge before her. She can faithfully cover a few of Bowie’s defining tunes, making for a relatively safe bet as with her Sound of Music performance. Or she can do something weirder and newer that attempts to channel his adventuresome spirit. If it’s the latter she goes with, the risks of blowback are high, but so is the potential for a career-defining moment—maybe even the return of Gaga the pop star.
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On possibly winning an Oscar:
Gaga-uary will end, fittingly, with the Oscars, where she will perform the only piece of original music she put out in her year of normcore: “Til It Happens to You,” recorded for The Hunting Ground, a documentary about sexual assault on college campuses. The wrenching rock ballad is a frontrunner for Best Original Song, but if its release was an attempt to shore up Gaga’s credibility as a songwriter, the effort has been sabotaged. Last month, the musician Linda Perry tweeted that Gaga shouldn’t receive writing credit for the tune because the recorded version had barely been changed from the demo that co-writer Diane Warren shopped around a while back. Warren disagreed with that assessment and Perry backed down, but the damage had been done. It seems likely that Gaga’s contribution to the song, aside from the not-minor fact of belting it out forcefully, was altering just a few words.
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Gaga and pop music:
But fans of the ’08-’13 era when she did battle on the Hot 100 might argue that 2016 pop is sorely in need of a Gaga-like presence. The current chart dominators tend to be strained, calculatedly cool presences, whether it’s Bieber in his lip-biting “Sorry” phase or Alessia Cara acting like she’s so over partying or Selena Gomez shimmying blankly or Drake scowling from the top of the rap heap or Rihanna morosely messing around in the studio. All these artists refuse to find joy in nonsense, and to them I say ro-mah ro-mah-mah, Gaga oh-la-la.
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http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/02/gaga-february-super-bowl-oscars-grammys/459744/


Honestly doing a tribute to David Bowie is really damn ballsy, I expect his fans are pretty pessimistic about a pop star doing the honors. Being the massive Bowie fanatic that she is though, I think she'll hit it out of the park.

I do think her absence on the pop scene has been felt especially as pop has been trending toward songs that feel "smaller" and less boisterous. Part of me wants her to return to that larger-than-life energy a la Bad Romance, but I also want to see her explore other styles too.


So for you non-cynics, what are your thoughts on her 2016 hustle?
 
M

mreddie

Member
Hope she comes back, I do miss her, Applause and Edge of Glory were damn memorable.

Hope everyone remembers her still and that Swift/Perry didn't make them forget about Gaga.
 
I

injurai

Banned
The should have gotten Reznor for the tribute, but I'm sure he'd rather do something smaller more personal and in his own time.
 
B

Bronx-Man

Banned
I like most Gaga albums depsite not really being a pop guy myself. Loved The Fame, Fame Monster, & Born This Way. She does good shit like hosting SNL and peforming with Tony Bennett, but I still haven't seen her on AHS. Got nothing but love for Mother Monster & I hope she can pull off all these performances.
 
K

Koodo

Banned
This shows nothing regarding growth as a musician but rather another bulletpoint to her repertoire of publicity - which is what ultimately killed her career.

Beep me when it's not about the bling. YAWN.
 
K

KDC720

Member
For what it's worth I thought she was pretty damn good on AHS. I don't even like that show much (only watched it because of a girl I wanted to date), but she was a lot of fun on it.
 
W

WordAssassin

Member
IMO ArtPop was a travesty of shit and it actually put me off Gaga all together, so I really hope she does come back with a killer new album this year. She has so many excellent jams and is so good at her style of pop, and it really does feel like there's been a massive hole since she "left" to explore other genres. I want Fame/Fame Monster/Born this Way Gaga back ;___;
 
T

teruterubozu

Member
Koodo said:
This shows nothing regarding growth as a musician but rather another bulletpoint to her repertoire of publicity - which is what ultimately killed her career.

Beep me when it's not about the bling. YAWN.
Click to expand...

Yup, it's just more red carpet events. We get it, she's classy or whatever.
 
W

WordAssassin

Member
teruterubozu said:
Yup, it's just more red carpet events. We get it, she's classy or whatever.
Click to expand...

We might get it but the general populace seems to have no idea. Less than a month ago I saw someone on my Facebook feed posting a video to one of her recent "normal" live performances goin "Oh, she can actually sing? who knew she had talent beyond looking weird" soooo I meaaannnn
 
M

MrV4ltor

Member
WordAssassin said:
IMO ArtPop was a travesty of shit and it actually put me off Gaga all together, so I really hope she does come back with a killer new album this year. She has so many excellent jams and is so good at her style of pop, and it really does feel like there's been a massive hole since she "left" to explore other genres. I want Fame/Fame Monster/Born this Way Gaga back ;___;
Click to expand...

Elton John said that she's going back to You and I and Bad Romance style of music, for what it's worth.
She's also branching out and working with people like Nile Rodgers, Georgio Moroder, Diane Warren, Red One, Mark Ronson and Elton John for her new album.
 
T

teruterubozu

Member
WordAssassin said:
IMO ArtPop was a travesty of shit and it actually put me off Gaga all together, so I really hope she does come back with a killer new album this year. She has so many excellent jams and is so good at her style of pop, and it really does feel like there's been a massive hole since she "left" to explore other genres. I want Fame/Fame Monster/Born this Way Gaga back ;___;
Click to expand...

Interestingly she quit smoking weed during ArtPop (according to her Howard Stern interview). Some say she needs it back.
 
V

Vyrance

Member
I thought ARTPOP was her best album, personally. A lot of great songs on there. But I like all of her albums, so more of anything from her is welcome.
 
D

DataStream

Member
I hate her over produced, over compressed records, but have massive respect for her as a musician and songwriter.

I think she'll do a great job with a Bowie tribute (saying that as a Bowie cultist) and hope if anything that exploring his legacy she finds further inspiration to shed herself of expectations of what pop music needs to be in 2016 and drop the shitty EDM.
 
M

MrV4ltor

Member
DataStream said:
I hate her over produced, over compressed records, but have massive respect for her as a musician and songwriter.

I think she'll do a great job with a Bowie tribute (saying that as a Bowie cultist) and hope if anything that exploring his legacy she finds further inspiration to shed herself of expectations of what pop music needs to be in 2016 and drop the shitty EDM.
Click to expand...

She's definitely dropping EDM and going back to her old sound. Maybe a bit more mature than that even.
 
T

teruterubozu

Member
MrV4ltor said:
The national anthem is only sung by the most talent vocalists out there and Gaga's currently trying to show the general public that she is more than just her outfit's. Slaying the National Anthem is the best and most effective way to do that.
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I mean, she's decent at the Anthem, but I wouldn't say slaying:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdd6JzJgJGY

I wonder if she'll sing, "And the Home of the Gay!" like she did at the Pride Rally. That would be a hoot for the Super Bowl.
 
W

WordAssassin

Member
MrV4ltor said:
Elton John said that she's going back to You and I and Bad Romance style of music, for what it's worth.
She's also branching out and working with people like Nile Rodgers, Georgio Moroder, Diane Warren, Red One, Mark Ronson and Elton John for her new album.
Click to expand...

Yessss excellent. I love both of those tunes, especially You and I. Really glad to see Red One on that list too, I feel like they haven't worked together in ages? But honestly as I said ArtPop completely put me off of her music all together so I might just not remember.

teruterubozu said:
Interestingly she quit smoking weed during ArtPop (according to her Howard Stern interview). Some say she needs it back.
Click to expand...

The irony being that like half the songs on the album were about smoking weed and getting high. One of the reasons I disliked it so much was it seemed so low energy compared to the rest of her work so I actually assumed that she had just discovered weed and it was all she could think about.
 
S

Soulscribe

Member
WordAssassin said:
Yessss excellent. I love both of those tunes, especially You and I. Really glad to see Red One on that list too, I feel like they haven't worked together in ages? But honestly as I said ArtPop completely put me off of her music all together so I might just not remember.



The irony being that like half the songs on the album were about smoking weed and getting high. One of the reasons I disliked it so much was it seemed so low energy compared to the rest of her work so I actually assumed that she had just discovered weed and it was all she could think about.
Click to expand...

She was also hella depressed while writing ARTPOP and you can kinda tell by the music, it lacks the joyfulness of her old stuff, and sounded really unfocused/dissonant. She didn't even compose most of it at the piano, which was a first. She's said she's in a much better place so hopefully she's out there making great songs.

Courage said:
Should be interesting to see how it unfolds. Has she confirmed an album for this year?
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Yeah, with these people at the helm:

RedOne
Nile Rogers
Elton John
Mark Ronson
Giorgio Moroder
 
A

abolisher6812

Member
Until Lady Gaga came along, it had been a long time since hearing a memorable epic power ballad. I would gladly welcome some more of those type of songs from her.
 
M

MrV4ltor

Member
teruterubozu said:
I mean, she's decent at the Anthem, but I wouldn't say slaying:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdd6JzJgJGY

I wonder if she'll sing, "And the Home of the Gay!" like she did at the Pride Rally. That would be a hoot for the Super Bowl.
Click to expand...

That's 2013, before she did the Jazz album with Tony and trained for 6 months for the Sound Of Music tribute. Both of those things made her voice a lot more powerful. And no, she won't mention the gheys and she also won't come out in a meatdress.
 
W

WordAssassin

Member
Soulscribe said:
She was also hella depressed while writing ARTPOP and you can kinda tell by the music, it lacks the joyfulness of her old stuff, and sounded really unfocused/dissonant. She didn't even compose most of it at the piano, which was a first. She's said she's in a much better place so hopefully she's out there making great songs.
Click to expand...

Ah that's too bad. I may not have liked it but I know that using your craft to vent and work through issues can be really helpful and therapeutic so I hope it helped her get through some stuff. Glad to hear she says she's in a better place now, hopefully that'll translate to some fun upbeat tunes.
 
R

Revolver

Member
I wonder what songs she'll do in the tribute? Probably just the big hits. There are way more people that should be there before Nile Rodgers. He commercialized Bowie and sent him into a creative tailspin for several years. I'd rather see more people closely connected to Bowie and his music. Hopefully Eno and Visconti will be there to say something. Eno playing something from Low with a montage of pics of Bowie's career would be nice. I'd like to see some of his friends be a part of it. Anyway, I hope they do him justice.
 
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