ARTPOP: Lady Gaga’s Latest Album of Hypersexualized Cacophonies

Recently, Lady Gaga released her new album ARTPOP. After listening to “Applause,” I decided to listen to the entire album yesterday, which was difficult to sit through. Like her last album, which was notable for its blasphemous, derogatory songs, it: is a tasteless, hardcore libertine “work of art” that perpetuates cultural decay and sends a bad message to both young men and women. Overall, it is just an epic cacophonous train wreck.Most of the songs on ARTPOP gleefully celebrate the darkest parts of human nature: casual sex with no consequences, female degradation through casual sex, male degradation using third-wave feminism’s talking points, excessive drug use, hedonism, narcissism, and drunkenness. “Swine,” “Sexxx Dreams,” “G.U.Y.,” “Jewels N’ Drugs,” “Do What U Want,” “Mary Jane Holland,” and “Donatella” strongly showcase these degrading, depressing themes. However, people who view Lady Gaga favorably and don’t pay attention to the degrading lyrics of these songs will easily get swept away by the trance-like nature of the album. They will continue to just dance, because after all, it’s gonna be okay,: da da doo-doo-mmm.Thankfully,: several reviews[2]: of the album have been negative. Not only is she mimicking Madonna and David Bowie, but she’s also desperately trying to remain famous and relevant in today’s pop culture by going to the extreme to keep the applause for her going. Critics have even noticed that her new album celebrates emotional emptiness, lacks substance, and is largely disappointing acoustically. This album easily reminds me of the post-modern art work we studied in my AP Art History class in high school, which all embodied meaninglessness, tastelessness, unnecessary repetitiveness, degradation, and the worst of human nature: libertinism.

In addition, Lady Gaga is again selling a terrible message to young men and women. She’s telling my generation that they will be happy and fulfilled as human beings if they only just “liberated” themselves with the damaging libertine lifestyle. She is falsely selling the idea that hookups, which lead to heartaches, the spread of STD’s, and the perpetuation of female and male degradation, will make young people happy. She is also falsely telling young people that a chaotic lifestyle embodied by emotionally and psychologically scarring casual sex, drunkenness, and drug use will help them “reach their full potential.” To everyone in my generation, you deserve better than what this shock artist is selling you.

Despite the fact that my generation is known as the socially libertine generation, many young men and women are hungry for the truth. They know deep down inside that the lifestyle Lady Gaga is promoting leaves them feeling empty and unfulfilled. We must be there for them to provide them with the hope they need that Lady Gaga’s album will never provide them. We must fearlessly and confidently present them with better alternatives that celebrate their dignity as human beings.

In order for our society to turn away from Lady Gaga’s music and for young people to find the hope they need, we must do what we can to promote good artists and music that honor the beauty of humanity. In order to achieve cultural renewal, we must work together on the local level and through social media to spread the word about better alternatives to what Hollywood promotes. United by our voices, we can make a difference and heal our broken culture. Cultural renewal can only be achieved by us. Let’s make it happen.

This blog post was originally published[3] on: Counter Cultured’s “Pop Cultured”: column.