[Jake.]

Originally Posted by MB.

Coincidentally that's also the same month the word "gullible" was removed from the dictionary

[Ross.]

Originally Posted by JerseyWins

Also, I would like to take part in this but will not be listening to a Lady Gaga album tho so will have to skip for now!

Thank god, we don’t need anymore of your trash opinions

[Morgan.]

Originally Posted by JerseyWins

Douglas joined in August 2016 luvs

Also, I would like to take part in this but will not be listening to a Lady Gaga album tho so will have to skip for now!

There won’t be a 6ix9ine album review so it’s probably not worth signing up x

[JerseyWins]

Originally Posted by DouglasS

I don’t know what’s going on in this off site chat where people throw rumours around but I joined in 2016, it says it on my profile also if people need to check

It's easily accessible on the sidebar of your posts, very handy feature on this site

[Shaun]

Alright so I'll try and keep this briefer than my usual reviews. On the whole, it's a return to form. The whole album is enjoyable and replayable, and I can see myself enjoying it for a while. Whether it'll endure as much as TFM/BTW did, I don't know... but right now it's on heavy rotation.

The singles are all good in varying ways... I really do enjoy 'Sour Candy' a lot even if it's brief, a sample that's been used a lot, and contains a feature that is largely pointless. Love a good monotonous house number (see: MNEK's Tongue). 'Rain on Me' is a deserved chart-topper and a pop "moment" in a music landscape that rarely makes room for those any more.

There's a generous dollop of euphoria in 'Free Woman' and 'Fun Tonight' but it's unlikely either will go down as classics for her. I'm intrigued/confused by her lyrics referencing her said classics on the latter, though - "You love the paparazzi, love the fame, even though you know it causes me pain/ I feel like I'm in a prison hell..." is she talking about those songs specifically or just being meta and namedropping her previous stuff to make a point about struggling with fame in general? Idk! idk!

Enjoy the random orchestral Chromatica segues; particularly juxtaposed with '911' which might be my favourite track. An antipsychotic pillpopping pussypopper? Yes please <3

What's stopping it from a perfect 10? 'Plastic Doll' mostly. Does nothing for me, sorry sounds like a Kim Petras b-side from 2017. The tracklisting is wise to dot the best songs around evenly so as not to get boring... 'Enigma' more than makes up for the muted feeling I have towards 'Replay', and 'Babylon' is a rare end-of-the-album moment that's actually great and cleanses the palate after a very confusing double-whammy of 1000 Doves/the Elton track. Will obviously feed into the hate from Madonna fans though with its heavy Vogue vibes.

Favourites: 911, Babylon, Enigma, Sour Candy, Rain On Me
BIN IT: Plastic Doll

Rating: 8.5

[LukeB]

Originally Posted by Shaun

Link for this week's record is now in the OP, so get listening and submit a score for it by next Thursday! For the first few weeks I'll pick the albums myself before opening them up to suggestions, just to make sure we cover some of the biggest releases of 2020 before plowing ahead with anything newer.

I'm thinking Fiona Apple, Dua Lipa, The Weeknd and The 1975 will be the next four.

Are we doing Grimes and Charli XCX? they are quite popular on here (and they both did great albums)

[Shaun]

Yeah I'd imagine they'll feature at some point, I just didn't want to dictatorially decide more than the opening five and at the same time wanted to make them somewhat diverse (aka. "include male artists")

Not sure how I'll work out the "who decides what we're reviewing" format, but it'll most likely be done on a loyalty basis (ie. members who submit multiple reviews for the opening five will have priority over someone who's JUST HERE FOR GAGA, SMITHY )

[JerseyWins]

I've changed my mind and started listening to this album. Not looking good

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by Fetch The Bolt Cutters

Don’t you dare start appropriating our culture you monster

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Shaun

(aka. "include male artists")

Scott will be fuming.

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by Shaun

Yeah I'd imagine they'll feature at some point, I just didn't want to dictatorially decide more than the opening five and at the same time wanted to make them somewhat diverse (aka. "include male artists")

Not sure how I'll work out the "who decides what we're reviewing" format, but it'll most likely be done on a loyalty basis (ie. members who submit multiple reviews for the opening five will have priority over someone who's JUST HERE FOR GAGA, SMITHY )

[Smithy]

Right girls, the review we’ve all been waiting for!

Well be prepared to be disappointed because I’m not eloquent at writing or refining my thoughts is not my sort of thing so this is very much a word vomit review

I think this is her most cohesive album since TFM, possibly her most cohesive ever? I feel like the Chromatica era as a whole has been planned to a tea and the videos/extras that are planned will lend itself to the cohesiveness of the album, which will end up deciding whether or not it is more cohesive than TFM.

Anyway onto the album, I LOVE that she is giving us everything that we’ve been dying for literally since ARTPOP, this whole album feels like ARTPOP done right without the whole pretentiousness of it all. It’s fun music, it makes you want to dance and I genuinely don’t think there’s a skip on the album, (let’s ignore the interludes because they don’t really count) which is the first time I’ve ever had this???

I’m not gonna write a review for each song but I LOVE the fact she’s tackling somewhat serious subjects in these songs (her antipsychotic meds, her mental health struggles, past trauma etc) and putting an amazingly positive spin on them and on top of the the lyrics are possibly some of the best she’s written. Yes there’s a few sis you for real but then there’s lyrics in 911, Fun Tonight, Sine, Replay and others that are EXCELLENT, clever and well thought out.

Is this her best album? Probably not, but as I said to Jordan it’s hard to compare an album of 8 excellent tracks to an album which has a handful of excellent tracks and a handful of good ones too. But it’s a return to form that loads of us have been waiting for and it’ll no doubt mark a turning point in her career now that things are back on track after derailing horrendously in 2013.

Stand out tracks: Alice, 911, Sine From Above & Replay
9/10

[JerseyWins]

Can't even say I'm disappointed but pretty bad.

Rain On Me is a bit catchy but nothing special. 911 is getting very overrated. The vocals & beat are so off (I think the beat ought to be lowered). Not the best rhythm to it and lyrically ok.

I'm not a full-on Gaga hater. Paparazzi & Poker Face by Gaga are good and maybe a few others that were decent like Telephone, Just Dance, Bad Romance. Anyway, none of this album was anywhere even close to that level, just more of the usual same boring stuff from her.

Debating between a 3 and upping it to a 3.5...

I'll give it a fair 3.3/10

[Jessica.]

Alice - 10/10
Energetic, motivational, dirty bass

Stupid Love - 10/10
A summer mood, accurate lyrics because love can be stupid but we crave it

Rain On Me - 10/10
Their voices go so well together, I love the meaning behind it, it's really okay to cry

Free Woman - 10/10
My favourite on the album, I love the melody and the lyrics

Fun Tonight - 10/10
Genuinely fun and makes me want to twerk


911 - 10/10
My second favourite, I adore it

Plastic Doll - 10/10
A bop, I love the beat and it's so catchy

Sour Candy - 10/10
It is a very cute song, the BLACKPINK girls have lovely voices.

Enigma - 10/10
A genuine enigma

Replay - 10/10
Amazing, overflowing with talent

Sine From Above - 9/10
It took a while to grow on me, I love the remix at the end, it was really a 5/10 on my first listen but I gave it a chance and now I love it

1000 Doves - 10/10
Emotional, meaningful and funky

Babylon - 10/10
Retro aesthetic, nostalgic, reminds me of some of her older songs which I've loved

The three Chromaticas - Stunning

The entire album is genuinely a 10/10 for me
I am not saying this because I love Gaga for who she is but because this is seriously my kind of music, I love music that you can blast in a car or add that extra umph to a hot summer day, a brilliant album, one of my favourites of all time. It may pass BTW as my top Gaga album.

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by JerseyWins

Also, I would like to take part in this but will not be listening to a Lady Gaga album tho so will have to skip for now!

Originally Posted by JerseyWins

I've changed my mind and started listening to this album. Not looking good

Originally Posted by JerseyWins

Can't even say I'm disappointed but pretty bad.

Rain On Me is a bit catchy but nothing special. 911 is getting very overrated. The vocals & beat are so off (I think the beat ought to be lowered). Not the best rhythm to it and lyrically ok.

I'm not a full-on Gaga hater. Paparazzi & Poker Face by Gaga are good and maybe a few others that were decent like Telephone, Just Dance, Bad Romance. Anyway, none of this album was anywhere even close to that level, just more of the usual same boring stuff from her.

Debating between a 3 and upping it to a 3.5...

I'll give it a fair 3.3/10

Being Jack's little lapdog must be exhausting.

[caprimint]

Just listened to this album this evening. I love Gaga so I was super excited for this (and hardly ever listen to anything if it's outside of being country so) and her last era was kind of **** compared to her earlier stuff but I was really disappointed </3

The only songs I really enjoyed were Rain On Me (Ariana makes it), Stupid Love and Sour Candy. The rest of the songs were either boring or bad. Not sure why the album took so long to produce when all the songs sound the same though

3/10?

[JerseyWins]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Being Jack's little lapdog must be exhausting.

I decided to go for it because Ross was practically begging me to tyvm

[Black Dagger]

Ofc sis

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by DouglasS

I honestly tried to give this a go, but I just found it awful. All the songs blend completely into one? There’s no uniqueness and the album is just one long boring song. Where is the originality or the change in pace? I was hoping it would be like the fame monster which seems to be her only good album. But the lyrics are kinda rubbish here and the songs just don’t ever reach a high point. It’s honestly given me a headache, it’s just electronic and extremely samey? Couldn’t even pull tracks out I like as they all blend into one but Enimga is the only one I didn’t mind? Maybe rain on me at a push. Honestly shocked this seems popular, a very poor effort. Give this album a year and I reckon it’ll be forgotten about as it’s just awful.

In half the songs she randomly speaks like a possessed goblin at times and I don’t understand why also

Edit: raised to 2.5/10

Originally Posted by JerseyWins

Can't even say I'm disappointed but pretty bad.

Rain On Me is a bit catchy but nothing special. 911 is getting very overrated. The vocals & beat are so off (I think the beat ought to be lowered). Not the best rhythm to it and lyrically ok.

I'm not a full-on Gaga hater. Paparazzi & Poker Face by Gaga are good and maybe a few others that were decent like Telephone, Just Dance, Bad Romance. Anyway, none of this album was anywhere even close to that level, just more of the usual same boring stuff from her.

Debating between a 3 and upping it to a 3.5...

I'll give it a fair 3.3/10

Originally Posted by caprimint

Just listened to this album this evening. I love Gaga so I was super excited for this (and hardly ever listen to anything if it's outside of being country so) and her last era was kind of **** compared to her earlier stuff but I was really disappointed </3

The only songs I really enjoyed were Rain On Me (Ariana makes it), Stupid Love and Sour Candy. The rest of the songs were either boring or bad. Not sure why the album took so long to produce when all the songs sound the same though

3/10?

[Marsh.]

Not Stacey only mentioning the 3 tracks released before the album. Almost like she hasn't listened. Desperate.

[caprimint]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Not Stacey only mentioning the 3 tracks released before the album. Almost like she hasn't listened. Desperate.

I didn't even know the others aside from Rain On Me had been released before

[Shaun]

Thank you everyone for the posts that will largely not be ignored!

[Samm]

After a few years taking a departure from her pop routes, which I argue even though a good half of the material on Joanne wasn't super, I do think it was beneficial after her creative vision with Artpop pushed the album and the era to be a bit overwhelming and not quite cohesive.

Anyway Chromatica is a dominant return to her original routes of pop music, the whole album has a ongoing theme of 90s acid house vibes mixed in with Gaga's own unique voice and sound. The sudden build up to the album due to the pop culture moment of Rain on me added to my excitement for the rest of the songs on the album and she didn't disappoint. Highlights included Alice a energetic pop twist on Alice in wonderland, Fun tonight a sad lyrical song about struggles she's faced turned into an upbeat bop is my favourite type of pop song echoing songs like; robyn's dancing on my own. The interlude into 911 is one of my favourite parts of the album a club banger that shares similar sounds to her material on The Fame. As the latter half of the album progresses both enigma and replay are ultimate disco tunes. Sine from above is VERY europop and i'm here for that rival. Babylon ****ing delivers and it's with Alice, Fun Tonight and 911 as my favourite songs from the album, a modern vogue.

Any criticism from me is that Plastic Doll isn't the best song and neither is 1000 doves, however they aren't bad songs more so get overshadowed. One thing that I would of liked to see is more of a electropop sound to the album throughout it's course, I was excited about SOPHIE being rumoured as a producer because the music they produce is so experiential and perfectly Gaga. Chromatica is a return for Gaga in the world of pop music and I can't wait to see where she takes it from here.

8.5/10

[Withano]

Tbf, the negative reviews all mention how repetitive the album sounds and that’s incredibly fair from anybody’s perspective surely?

Like even you guys voting it 9/10+ understand the songs sound very similar to one another surely? It’s fair for people to dislike that.

[Daniel.]

The point is the likes of Stacey and Jersey haven't listened