applause Archives - KIMU

Music Video: Lady Gaga – APPLAUSE

admin — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 13:16:32 +0000

Before we go into the details of this piece of art, let’s take a moment to appreciate that in spite of a slew of negativity online and criticism from the broadest spectrum of individuals you could even imagine, from anonymous trolls to leading journalists combined with sales figures that have been subsequently affected by this (and the fact that the global public isn’t able to relate to a high concept track about fame as much as they can various self-empowerment anthems), Lady Gaga was still given the honour, hype and prestige of premiering the video for APPLAUSE on Good Morning America – creating a national (and global) pop culture moment reminiscent of Madonna, Britney and Michael.

Directed by Inez & Vinoodh, the video for APPLAUSE goes back to (and outdoes) the high concept world of The Fame Monster (Bad Romance, Alejandro) and to a certain extent the commercial for The Fame (fragrance). Every shot as enigmatic as the last, with her facial expressions and choreography throughout, the clip contains bountiful references to her official body of work (reaching five years this week) and unofficial body of work (with one look referencing Stefani Germanotta of Electric Kiss and Captivated fame). The iconography of the burnt our Fame Monster yellow wig look to the reincarnation of Shiva on the catwalk to the Daphne Guinness style green jacket and colour painted black swan Meret Oppenheim-esque rebirth (my favourite) are all incredibly telling visions demonstrating once more that Gaga is the most self-aware popstar in the history of time.

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LADY GAGA IS OVER: A FILM BY HAUS OF GAGA

admin — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 09:03:26 +0000

Smartest bitch in pop. You can only gain this much insight into who you are and how you are perceived by reading your own press coverage. It has the risk of making you insane, depressed, lonely, but gives you a sense of self-awareness that you cannot garner once you are at THAT level. Surrounded by people telling you that you’re amazing results in delusion, haters keep you down to earth. This is why this era is going to dominate. Here’s the first bit of video promo from the HAUS OF GAGA for APPLAUSE/ARTPOP. Read the subtitles.

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Audio: Lady Gaga – APPLAUSE

admin — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 17:40:00 +0000

So it appears that the reaction is split (shocker) on the early release of Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP debut single APPLAUSE. Originally intended for next Monday, following an eleven second leak last night, I heard the HQ version in full this morning. As someone who has always appreciated the art, but not always the product (to me, Born This Way (the track) was and is still weak, equality messaging aside), I was nervous about my reaction to APPLAUSE, particularly as the LQ eleven second snippet did it no justice.

The track is strong, it’s passed the test of a gym workout on repeat. That’s over fifty consecutive plays. The production quality is immense, anthemic and everything a “comeback” single should be. Lyrically it’s introspective and a commentary on media and society’s perception of her. It’s a “fuck you haters” track without actually saying the words (Lotus reference), instead inverting it and hero-ing self gratification. It sounds even better with headphones.

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Lady Gaga’s Artwork for APPLAUSE

admin — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 23:30:41 +0000

The first single from ARTPOP was today officially confirmed to be a track produced by DJ White Shadow, called APPLAUSE. Here’s the official artwork by Inez & Vinoodh (Gaga wears Gareth Pugh in the photo) as released to Women’s Wear Daily. Inez & Vinoodh (who Gaga first worked with at the V Magazine cover shoot in 2009) have also been shooting the promo images and V cover story for Gaga’s return to the spotlight.

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