A common criticism last decade on ATRL about Gaga's early music was that it was dated. This was even reflected on its recurrent streams, namely Born Thi Way which was lagging behind other albums of it's time. Fast forward to the 2020s and Gaga's early music seems to be having a resurgence. The Fame era hits are passed a billion streams or close to, while the Born This Way album has multiple viral as album tracks. I personally find a lot of those hits sound "of it's time" but the numbers tell a different story it seems. Has Gaga's catalog aged well? Is it just cyclical? Was it ahead of it's time? Is it just due to Gaga's own resurgence? 

Id say most has stood the test of time so far. However Joanne, Chromatica and The Fame do have some songs that aged pretty poorly (second half of TF, most of Joanne, 1000 Doves) 

 

But BTW, TFM and even ARTPOP sound fresh today

The majority of her singles have aged very well. 

the recent explosion of her catalogue only shows us that it aged like a fine WINE 

I don't think so.

 

I still listen to her discography but it has not aged well. In her defence most of they music from that time period hasn't 

Only her first two albums. They have dated tracks too but mosr are still listenable 

Edited February 12, 20251 yr by Johnny Jacobs

"Born This Way" and "Chromatica" aged well.

 

 

The rest are EXTREMELY dated,

especially "The Fame" and "The Fame Monster."

 

...Vin

10 minutes ago, Cheeky said:

The majority of her singles have aged very well. 

This.

 

Just Dance

Poker Face

Lovegame

Paparazzi

Bad Romance

Telephone

Alejandro

Born This Way

Judas

The Edge Of Glory

You & I

Applause

Shallow

Always Remember Us This Way

 

They're all classics and songs that everyone has heard and still like.

kinda yes, like this classic

 

and kinda no, like most of chromatica and joanne

7 minutes ago, Vin said:

"Born This Way" and "Chromatica" aged well.

 

 

The rest are EXTREMELY dated,

especially "The Fame" and "The Fame Monster."

 

...Vin

Isn't TF one of the longest charting albums?

yes, there's a reason judas, bloody mary and the whole born this way album has gone viral and smashing 13 years after release

 

everyone is talking about ARTPOP now because of abracadabra too. hopefully ARTPOP can finally get its very well deserved flowers this year too and serve judas and bloody mary virality because of MAYHEM

No, it all sounds very bad except for Heavy Metal Lover 

I think so. The 20 and 21-year-old college students I work with who were barely even alive when the songs came out still stream them and sing/dance along, so to me that says they have aged well and are still relevant to young people. 

Nobody cares what ATRL deems "dated" pls y'all give yourself way too much importance

 

Her catalog streams have consistently had yearly gains ever since her songs slowly started gaining traction on Tiktok and recently started to blow up as Abracadabra's success is only helping it further with a trickle-down effect across her entire discography which means that yes, it has aged extremely well. 

 

For any other artist, that would be enough evidence. But with Gaga it's always some "if, but, not that" mental gymnastics.

For the most part yes, sure there are some songs that sound very of its time but some of them are aged quite nicely.

Tbh I never really understood the "aged poorly" criticism. 

 

Is it bad when a song sounds like the years it came from? I don't get that. 

duh 

The Fame and The Fame Monster have aged well, and the BTW singles.

9 minutes ago, GraceRandolph said:

Isn't TF one of the longest charting albums?

What do sales and charts have to do with whether a record sounds dated?

 

 

"Thriller" is (allegedly) the best selling album of all time—doesn't mean it's not an extremely dated '80s record, the same way "The Fame" and "The Fame Monster" are both EXTREMELY dated records.

7 minutes ago, Vin said:

What do sales and charts have to do with whether a record sounds dated?

 

 

"Thriller" is (allegedly) the best selling album of all time—doesn't mean it's not an extremely dated '80s record, the same way "The Fame" and "The Fame Monster" are both EXTREMELY dated records.

Who said anything about sales? An album charting 17 years after release and its' singles also pulling over 1m streams daily is an indicator of it being timeless, not dated.

21 minutes ago, Heldenzeit said:

Tbh I never really understood the "aged poorly" criticism. 

 

Is it bad when a song sounds like the years it came from? I don't get that. 

It's seen as an impressive feat when a song that is decades old sounds like it could have been released recently, I guess. I don't think hers is particularly dated tho, not even The Fame or The Fame Monster.

 

20 minutes ago, Heldenzeit said:

Tbh I never really understood the "aged poorly" criticism. 

 

Is it bad when a song sounds like the years it came from? I don't get that. 

Literally this. When I listen to say Control or True Blue, they're inseparable from the 80s. The sonic palette, production choices, mixing, and mastering are incredibly of the decade and aren't at all "fresh" by ATRL standards. That's also not at all a bad thing and they're still strong pop albums. 

 

I get that time is a factor and there's distance between something being of its time and separated from current trends despite not being *that* old, or something just needing to be remastered, but its still a redundant criticism most of the time imo. 

They are of their time but apparently that sound is BACK, baby.

Common criticism? That would be an overstatement. The same people are saying that Katy's bubblegum/kidzbop music has aged much better than Gaga's catalogue. I wouldn't exactly take them at their word since so much of it is rooted in hatred than actual criticism. BTW and ARTPOP sound better than ever. Multiple songs from BTW have gone viral since and ARTPOP is better received now than it was back then. It's too early to say something about Chromatica. Joanne, I don't really care for at this present time and I wasn't a die hard fan during TF/TFM but whenever songs like Paparazzi or PokerFace pop up I'm still amazed how good they sound. Paparazzi in particular still sounds so fresh to this day. Some of her music like Bloody Mary and Judas were definitely ahead of it's time and the fact that they became hits much later proves this. 

bloody mary became a hit 11 years after its release... says it all! 

 

certified FRESH. particularly TFM and BTW, and a lot of ARTPOP