Will Lady Gaga Release ‘ARTPOP Act II’? She Addressed the Fan-Made Petition
Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP is a fan favorite. Although the album was considered a critical and commercial flop upon its 2013 release, it has aged well with the singer’s fandom. In recent days, Gaga’s Little Monsters have done a social media push on Twitter highlighting their love of the album. The goal was to get the album trending online and on iTunes. They succeeded, prompting a response from Gaga herself. She has now responded to the fan-made petition for an ARTPOP Act II.
Is ‘ARTPOP’ a flop?
ARTPOP didn’t have a good reputation at first. Critics said it wasn’t an impressive followup to Born This Way, released in 2011. There was a consensus that the album flopping was Gaga’s “inevitable” fall from popularity after three successful albums (The Fame, The Fame Monster, and Born This Way).
But let’s be real: There is a sexist assumption in music (and frankly, most industries) that a successful woman will eventually fail. Men, on the other hand, are assumed to have staying power.
Fans of the pop star have maintained for years that ARTPOP deserved better. They feel the album was ahead of its time, and so did the people working on it. But the album was a famously difficult process for the 12-time Grammy winner. She fired her manager one week before the album’s release on Nov. 6, 2013, and her pain can be heard in ARTPOP‘s hard-hitting songs.
In the “Venus” music video, Gaga embodies Icarus to show her metaphorically rise and fall in the music industry. The wing-clad Gaga is shot down by an arrow in the video, representing Gaga’s feelings of being betrayed by the industry throughout the album’s creation.
How many copies did ‘ARTPOP’ sell?
Although judged by critics and general audiences alike, the album sold 2.3 million copies and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. It was the ninth highest-selling global album of 2013. One of the producers who worked on ARTPOP, DJ White Shadow, is the one recently who inspired fans to get it to No. 1 on iTunes in hopes of a sequel album both he and Gaga claim exists.
In October 2013, one month before the album dropped, a fan on Twitter asked “Have you started already planning for the album after ARTPOP?” Gaga replied saying her next album would be an ARTPOP sequel.
“Yes, lots of songs for ACT TWO!” she said.
In April 2021, White Shadow (given name Paul Blair) joked about an ARTPOP sequel, but the fan response was intense.
“I made an April fools day joke about ‘Tea’ (sorry) and am amazed how much you all still care about that era, and about some songs you have never heard,” he wrote in a since deleted Instagram post. He then shared how working on the album was difficult for him, as well as the “Rain On Me” singer. He said:
“So many scum bags trying to latch on to the train I had worked so hard to get out of the station. So much transition and turmoil. Let me tell you that I have never been so broken as a human being the day when that record was turned in. I was nearly dead.”
Time healed his wounds, however, and he noted he “can hear the music with a happy heart” now and said in a separate statement that he hopes he and Gaga will return to the unreleased music one day.
He decided to text Gaga about the love fans showed for the album in response to his post, which prompted the Little Monsters to get ARTPOP on the charts again using the hashtag #butARTPOPoniTunes.
Lady Gaga thanked fans for celebrating ‘ARTPOP’
On April 13, ARTPOP was the No. 1 pop album on iTunes. In response, Blair confirmed to fans that Gaga saw everything. As he wrote on Instagram:
“You were heard. I talked to LG last night and she shared my incredible joy. We made a plan to get together after Italy and discuss your wishes. No promises made, but kindness and love are strong as steel. Now is not the time to let up. Go harder. Forget the past. Think about the future. Apply positive pressure to the universe and let’s make a diamond. I am so in love with you all.”
And then, along came Gaga, who is currently in Rome filming the House of Gucci biopic alongside Adam Driver.
“The petition to #buyARTPOPoniTunes for a volume II has inspired such a tremendous warmth in my heart,” she tweeted on April 13. “Making this album was like heart surgery, I was desperate, in pain, and poured my heart into electronic music that slammed harder than any drug I could find.”
“I fell apart after I released this album,” her second tweet read. “Thank you for celebrating something that once felt like destruction. We always believed it was ahead of its time. Years later turns out, sometimes, artists know. And so do little monsters. Paws up.”
Only time will tell if Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP Act II will come to be. Either way, justice for ARTPOP!
