Lady Gaga - Mayhem
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Hands down the queen of ballads, absolutely no discussion needed.
And this thread made me realize how good Rihanna is at ballads. "Haunted" and "Fool in Love" are two extremely underrated bonus tracks which weren't mentioned but her ballad list really rivals Gaga.
he/him
My two cents was originally just going to be embedding Live To Tell and Everytime and saying that the best pop ballads belong to the girls who are/were written off for being poor singers and how they used emotion to compensate for their lack of range but then I remembered that Beyonce has stuff like I Miss You, Heaven, Sandcastles… Ariana has ghostin’ and i wish i hated you… Christina has I’m OK and Save Me From Myself… a lot of my favourite Mariah ballads are her quieter, more understated ones. So yeah, it’s really a case that Gaga just doesn’t… get ballads. Joanne, Always Remember Us This Way and even Happy Mistake are the closest she’s come to getting it, but I don’t think any of them are a patch on the other songs I listed.
Something like Hair is more emotionally affecting than any of her ballads.
Something like Hair is more emotionally affecting than any of her ballads.
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Every time Gaga gets close to nailing one of her own ballads she always adds some over-the-top vocal affectation to it, like in the case of Dope. Joanne is an example of a successful Gaga ballad, as is *gasp* Grigio Girls. Why, you ask? Because they aren't trying so hard. I don't think it registered to her for the longest time that you can sell a ballad without making it overdramatic.
he/him
I actually find Angel Down to be an affecting ballad from Gags. It sounds genuinely mournful in a way her others never really have. The slight American Life-isms of the instrumental certainly don't hurt either
I’m such a sucker for an Xtina ballad. My faves from her:
I Turn To You
Beautiful
The Voice Within
Hurt
Save Me From Myself
You Lost Me
I Am
Stronger Than Ever
In terms of Gagas ballads I really enjoy the below but they dont move me in quite the same way a Xtina or classic Mariah ballad does.
Speechless
Joanne
Always Remember Us This Way
Is That Alright?
I’ll Never Love Again
Happy Mistake
I think we’re all forgetting the ultimate ballad test though. Which is of course would it be used by some girlie on the live shows of xfactor the week after landing in the bottom 2 in an attempt to show the public a different side to herself.
Phew The Voice Within still hits hard, especially that last section.
And the single shot black and white running in a silk slip video. Divine.
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If we are talking pop girl ballads let me throw my fave some much deserved love. Obviously Sober and Because of You get their love but she has some underrated ones in my book
I think my favourite ballad from her will always be Joanne.
The most excited I've ever been for new GaGa music was reading this review back in 2009:
https://www.popjustice.com/briefing...s-a-proper-album-and-a-very-good-one-at-that/
https://www.popjustice.com/briefing...s-a-proper-album-and-a-very-good-one-at-that/
Honestly the first time hearing this shifted my whole opinion on what she was capable of. 1+1 started said shift but when she hit those notes on I Care…werk.
I know everyone says it's "Alejandro", but "Yoü and I" was the first Gaga video I felt did not match the song really. Thematically in some ways yes, but visually and tonally kinda a clusterf#ck
It's not bad though, it is funny (and creepy) and visually nice to look at. Just the first time I ever went "....ok lol" at one of her official videos
It's not bad though, it is funny (and creepy) and visually nice to look at. Just the first time I ever went "....ok lol" at one of her official videos
