Album Review: Lady Gaga-Joanne

Pop superstar Lady Gaga has made some drastic changes to her public persona over the past couple of years. She's abandoned her head-turning oddball fashion choices in favor of a more traditional Old Hollywood style and took a break from music to advance her acting career with a bit part in 2014's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and starring role in FX's American Horror Story: Hotel last fall. Gaga's recent string of transformations has now (unsurprisingly) led to a massive change in musical identity on her long-awaited comeback album Joanne, which manages to be an uneven, puzzling and occasionally brilliant ride that is practically assured to be one of 2016's most polarizing mainstream albums.     

The overhauled sound Gaga rolls with on Joanne introduces a whole new set of problems to her music. As flawed as her post-Fame/Fame Monster projects have been, they at least felt like fully-formed projects with a cohesive structure. On this record, Gaga pretty much just throws a bunch of clashing, seemingly random ideas at the listener's ears in the hope that some of them will leave a lasting impression. There's weak forays into glam rock ("Perfect Illusion"), grimy reggae ("Dancin' in Circles) and the complete unknown (the WTF-inducing "Come to Mama") that all that come off as forced, disjointed detours in the context of the album. These portions of Joanne should serve as a cautionary tale for any artist that is thinking about experimenting with their sound just for the hell of it.  

The closest Joanne comes to having a sense of cohesion comes on the set of country-influenced rock tracks that kick off the album. Unfortunately, these tracks-with the notable exception of "Diamond Heart", which is able to skate by on the sheer power of its hook- somehow manage to be worst than most of the whacked-out ones. Gaga inexplicably uses the type of soaring, melodramatic vocal delivery on these guitar-driven tracks ("A-YO", "John Wayne", "the aforementioned "Diamond Heart") that are typically reserved for Broadway musicals and bad Michael Jackson impersonators. Her over-the-top vocals have obviously served very well in the past, but they sound really awkward when paired with the combination of discarded Lynyrd Skynyrd riffs and C-grade electropop backing beats she utilizes on these tracks. Country and rock are both primarily driven by rough vocalists and Gaga's love of theatrics make it impossible for her to pull off these genres in any sort of convincing fashion.

When Gaga isn't consumed with trying to be a crossover country rockstar, Joanne manages to be pretty enjoyable. The title track and "Angel Down" are tender, moving ballads that showcase an introspective side that Gaga has never really put on display in the past while the Florence Welch-assisted "Hey Girl" is a captivating showcase for two of the finest vocalists on the planet. If Joanne was heavier on straight-up pop ballads, it would've ended up being the drastic reinvention Gaga was striving for. 

Joanne is ultimately a massive albeit somewhat endearing mess. The quality of the ballads and Gaga's vocals on the non-country tracks prevent it from ever approaching trainwreck status, but it's far too scattershot in quality and cohesiveness to really celebrate. I believe that Gaga has the talent to excel outside of her established zany synthpop niche, she just needs to organically discover a new style that better suits her skill set as an artist.

2.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Hey Girl (feat. Florence Welch)
2.Angel Down
3.Joanne