thejonspot

So this record is kind of bland and the writing is shallow but kind of good on some songs so it's a little weird. It also drags on hard by the second half and clearly "Thinking Of You" is the standout, but the rest of this album is very derivative besides its obvious bangers.

A very accessible and iconic pop debut.

Only "Replay" here has aged gracefully in my opinion. It's quite simply a stand-out banger that tackles her dealing with PTSD. The rest of the songs are ambitious at best but the problem with this record is its production sounds generic and it isn't nearly as big of an earworm as some of her best albums and songs, which is quite a disappointment considering how creative she is. Back in 2020 everybody expected this to be her major comeback but unfortunately it falls short at the ... read more

If you set aside some of the clunky stylistic choices of this record, which likely come as an inevitable consequence to Lady Gaga trying too hard to break the mold even in one of her most inoffensive records, you will find quite a few songs that are written and performed from a very pure place. Ultimately, it can be learned from this album that Lady Gaga is at her best when she's not attempting to hide behind overblown vocal productions (Mark Ronson had stated the vocals on here are kept ... read more