The sad news is that there is no killer blow on Artpop – no Bad Romance, basically – that will automatically glue Gaga to her pedestal. Was he sacked? Did he leave a sinking ship? We don't know, but what is certain is that Applause, the first single, could only manage a so-so No 4 in the US charts, having been thrashed by Katy Perry's Roar, and as a result there's a slightly more frantic air than usual surrounding Artpop, which retrenches hard into club music after the mixed reaction to the rockier Born This Way (2011). Even more arresting than the tears, though, has been the news that Gaga has parted company with her manager, Troy Carter, whose hand has reportedly guided the business and technological aspects of Gaga's career, not least harnessing Little Monster power into the "likes", retweets and views of the new pop economy. What the lyric lacks in poetry, it makes up for in believability, partly because the previous song on Artpop is Mary Jane Holland, a track about just how much Gaga values her marijuana, and partly because one of Gaga's strongest assets as a star has been her rapport with the fans – Little Monsters – who consume her stuff. "I need you more than dope," she slurs, plenty of saliva in her throat. Live and on record, Dope is one of the more traditional and rewarding moments on Artpop, in which the former Stefani Germanotta sits at a piano, belting out a love song to her fans. Gaga performed a new track, Dope, live at the YouTube music awards the other night, weeping what certainly seemed like real tears. Preceded by the usual teases and leaks, Artpop arrives on a wave of more unscripted drama too. On her fourth album, a great many elements are thrown at the wall – a splatter effect of ideas, acrylic digitals and a few rappers – in an effort to re-establish brand Gaga as some luridly necessary cultural force. Artpop finds Lady Gaga in an unfamiliar position – on the back foot, flexing hard to keep her dominion over 21st-century pop.
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