Lady Gaga Made a Huge Mistake With ‘Applause’

Lady Gaga‘s “Applause” is one of her most memorable songs and it speaks to the theater kid in all of us. Despite that, the “Shallow” singer made a grave mistake when she put out “Applause.” One of the song’s writers said the tune underperformed expectations.

Lady Gaga’s ‘Applause’ should have been an album-starter

Album sequencing is its own art form. Songs on the best albums appear in a cohesive order. For example, The Beatles’ Abbey Road wouldn’t have worked as well if it started with “The End.” Most of Gaga’s records are sequenced just fine, but she made a big mistake with her third studio album, which is pretentiously titled Artpop.

“Applause” is the final track on that album. A song about a love of performing should have started the record and pumped the audience up. Instead, Gaga proclaims her love of performing right before the record stops. It’s such a huge anticlimax that one can only wonder why she thought it was a good idea.

Lady Gaga’s ‘Artpop’ feels half-baked

In addition, the album has a Greek mythology theme. One of the songs is called “Venus,” another starts with an invocation to Eros, and the album cover includes images from Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. The record should have concluded with a mythological song to solidify the theme. Instead, Gaga drops the mythological references, making them feel like a cop-out.

Gaga’s previous album, Born This Way, contains many references to Catholicism. One song is about Judas Iscariot, another includes the line “I don’t need your Jesus Christo,” and another centers on Mary Magdalene. In that record, Gaga seemed to reject her Catholic upbringing for something more bohemian and libertine. In contrast, the mythological underpinnings of Artpop feel half-baked.

The producer of ‘Applause’ was upset by the song’s performance

DJ White Shadow co-produced “Applause.” During a 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly, DJ White Shadow explained the background of Artpop. “After Born This Way was finished and turned in, I remember laying on the couch at my house, and I picked up the phone and it was [Gaga],” he recalled. “She was like, ‘I got the name for the next record. It’s Artpop!'”

DJ White Shadow said making Artpop was difficult. “Everything was in a state of turmoil at the time,” he said. “Everybody was making guesses about how to get stuff out. It was a moving target. When ‘Applause’ came out, it didn’t go to No. 1 right away; ‘Born This Way’ went to No. 1 right off the jump. I know it wasn’t like an, ‘Oh s***, Macy’s Day Parade’ moment. We were all kind of freaked out.”

DJ White Shadow said creating Artpop gave him trauma. “I never wanted to make another record for the rest of my life once that was done,” he explained. “It was so bad. I was finished. I have a picture of me walking out of [recording studio] Record Plant after it was over, and I look so f****** terrible.” DJ White Shadow said he slept in the studio for a month to complete Artpop and the experience made him look 150 years old.

“Applause” is a great song, even if its placement doesn’t do Artpop any favors.