Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP & Its Artistic Inspirations
Lady Gaga is one of the biggest pop stars in the world. After success with her album Born This Way in 2011, she had dozens of hit singles under her belt. Gaga popularized dance, pop, and avant-garde fashion in the mainstream media. In 2013, she would promote and release her most polarizing, inventive album, ARTPOP. However, ARTPOP became her first “flop” album. Due to its excessive, maximalist sound and visuals, it was misunderstood by mainstream audiences. However, it cemented Gaga’s status as a musician and visual artist, bridging the music and contemporary art industries.
Lady Gaga has long been perceived as a “crazy” artist. Since beginning her pop career, she has been a master at generating public controversy. In the mid-2000s, Gaga’s radical artistic choices allowed her to explore meaningful themes with outrageous visuals that captivated audiences. For example, her infamous meat dress, worn in 2010 at the MTV Video Music Awards, was a statement protesting the United States Military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which prevented US military members from discussing sexual identity. Her VMA performance of “Paparazzi” in 2009 shocked audiences when Gaga was seen strung up by a rope and soaked in fake blood. The performance shed light on the damage and danger associated with fame. Gaga’s theatrical performances and captivating fashion throughout this era secured her as an artist who, in the mainstream media's mind, was doing something entirely different. Her performance and presence were not simply a pop star but a visionary performance artist.
Although Lady Gaga has explored outrageous themes before, ARTPOP was the first time in her career that the average consumer did not understand her art. Because Gaga was not merely trying to make purposeful social statements, the media saw her as an even crazier celebrity. Gaga was inspired by the world of visual arts and the art industry throughout the album's creation, making it visionary and ahead of its time.
Leading up to the release of ARTPOP, Gaga performed several outrageous acts that dissented from the norm of many pop stars. In August of 2013, Gaga collaborated with legendary performance artist Marina Abramovic. The two were fans of one another for several years before collaborating on a video titled “The Abramovic Method Practiced by Lady Gaga.” Gaga spent three days at Abramovic’s studio in upstate New York. The artist taught Gaga her method, a series of exercises focused on awareness of physical and mental state and being in the present moment. Based on mindful techniques, the exercises incorporate breath, stillness, and concentration. One exercise involved Abramovic giving Gaga a pound of rice and lentil seeds. Gaga had to mix them and then divide and count each piece. Gaga’s time with Abramovic helped her with self-control and concentration, which became her work's basis. It even helped the singer to give up smoking. Although many see performance art as strange and pointless, it only seemed natural that an artist like Gaga would incorporate the Abramovic Method into her music and performances.
Following her work with Abramovic, Gaga’s stage energy became even more intense and theatrical. It seemed that she was genuinely immersing herself in her art. She dressed in outfits that disguised her appearance, separating the artist within from her public persona. She wore a pair of metallic dentures to the YouTube Video Music Awards, making herself unrecognizable at public events.
Gaga was surrounded by artists, including personal friends who worked at the MoMA. She described her work during the creation of ARTPOP as a “research project” on performance art. She studied the work of Bjork and Yoko Ono, two musicians who were endlessly inspired by the art world.
The most striking connection Gaga made during the ARTPOP era was her close relationship with artist Jeff Koons. The two met at the MET in 2010. Gaga was a fan of his work, so she enlisted him to design ARTPOP’s cover. She also displayed his sculptures at ArtRAVE, a two-day event in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, to promote the album. The warehouse displayed a giant statue of Gaga created by Koons and played videos of her performances with Abramovic. Gaga even included a lyric about Koons on the album’s single, “Applause”: “One second I’m a Koons fan, then suddenly the Koons is me.” This lyric reflects Gaga’s shift from being a consumer of art to an exhibitor, muse, and creator of art.
Lyrically, “Applause” sees Gaga emerging as a pop culture and artistic figure, as if she is finally recognizing her impact on the arts. The lyric, “Pop culture was in art, now art’s in pop culture, in me,” expresses this merging between pop culture and the art world. Unlike many pop stars of the 2010s, Gaga aligned herself with all things art. She indeed became art.
The album also featured many references to art history. Botticelli’s Birth of Venus is referenced in the album art collage and the track “Venus,” which calls upon the nude Roman goddess from the sea. Venus also influenced Gaga’s image and fashion during this time, as she wore long wigs, seashell bikinis, and even a full-length dress with pictures of the painting. The “Applause” music video references Marcel Duchamp, Warhol’s Marilyn, Picasso’s minimalist animal drawings, Tracy Emin’s “My Bed,” and Monet’s flowers.
Overall, ARTPOP represents Lady Gaga’s desire to align herself with the world of visual arts. At a time when pop music was surface-level and safe, Gaga pushed the boundaries. Visual art has always inspired the pop star, but she took it a step further by collaborating and drawing inspiration from many iconic artists. Although these choices were exciting for art enthusiasts, those outside the arts did not understand the album, seeing it as tacky and strange. Gaga’s devotion to a concept album ultimately resulted in a lack of public interest, which was devastating and confusing for the biggest pop star at the time. Gaga said in 2019, “Making this album was like heart surgery. I was desperate, in pain, and poured my heart into electronic music that slammed harder than any drug I could ever find.”
If only ARTPOP had been released later, it may have been her biggest hit. Today, pop stars can easily merge into the contemporary art world. Artists like Kanye West, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and A$AP Rocky have all explored performance art in their recent work. The Met Gala is a more significant pop culture phenomenon today than ever. Fashion and fame have been crossing boundaries now more than ever. The lines between artist and musician are getting blurrier and blurrier. Was ARTPOP too pretentious and flashy, or was it ahead of its time?
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