Lady Gaga - Applause (Music Video Review) + The "ARTPOP" Concept

I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a huge fan of anything Pop culture, it's one of the reasons Pop Art was so predominantly featured in my work throughout A-Level. And as you've gathered I'm a bit of a Gaga fanatic, but it's only because she's one of the only Pop stars out there right now that's genuinely interested in Art and the science behind pop culture and celebrity. I'm also a huge media freak, and I'm obsessed with using video in my projects. The following is a link to my attempt at making a music video two years ago... granted my German is horrible, but I actually think the outcome is pretty good considering.

(And dear LORD please ignore the description box, I swear I'm not nearly as annoying as I sound)

Applause is her latest music video, coming straight from the minds of herself and Inez and Vinoodh, the Dutch fashion paring. Granted if we're looking at Applause as a music video, let's be honest it's no Bad Romance. But in terms of actual artistry, Applause is her most visually compelling and thematically interesting video to date. (See the link below to watch it for yourself)

The concept revolves around transformation, and we see Gaga playing homage to her former selves, showing her ability to reinvent herself time and time again. Which plays into the theme of a Magic Show, explaining the use of the grossly oversized top hat used at the beginning of the video and the fact that the whole video looks as if it were shot on some sort of stage. We see references to four different Gaga's, pre fame, breakout (Poker Face), her status as a bonified pop icon (bad romance), her Born this Way era, and finally where she is now. And it plays into the idea that Gaga isn't really a person, but more of a character, who's capable of morphing and shifting her personality, image and sound to create a completely new brand for herself and appeal to whole new demographic. A feat not done as well since the days of Madonna. There's a famous quote by fashion photographer Richard Avedon, stated after a session with Marilyn Monroe "There's no such person as Marilyn, she's an invention, a genius invention". In my opinion the same can be said for Gaga, she's a living breathing cartoon character (in the best possible sense).

Gaga has previously stated her album "ARTPOP" is the direct opposite of what Andy Warhol did with the Pop Art movement. As opposed to putting pop culture into art, it's in Gaga's intent to put art into pop culture, and with her recent collaborations with Jeff Koons and Robert Wilson it's an ideal she's eager to achieve.

Visually Applause strikes contrasts between bold colour and black and white. On a whole it's pretty eclectic. Playing into the idea of transformation and Gaga's ambition to play the role of anyone or anything. It's as if the aesthetic has been worked into the concept development. On top of that, simple black backdrops are balanced with highly eccentric fashion, and bizarre set pieces (see the Gaga swan).

Applause does bite off more than it can chew at times, but that's not a bad thing; not in this context. Gaga's larger than life persona (along with larger than life ambitions) kinda runs a nice parallel to the clusterfuck that is most of video's content. It's an all visual assault, and crams an insane amount of imagery and ideas into a relatively short three and a half minutes. Once dissected and isolated however, everything become a LOT more clear, and you're left with a relatively coherent beginning, middle and end.