Far off into space, a new alien planet that revolves around the ideas of sex, art, drugs and love has been discovered: this alien planet is Lady Gaga’s new album “Artpop.” 

Gaga’s third studio album, which was released on Nov. 6, is without a doubt absolutely Gaga-ized. Every song on the 15-track album is completely the same style as all of her other past songs and works.

The eccentric album starts out with the track “Aura,” which begins with the synthesized voice of Lady Gaga, then quickly shifts to the most peculiar sounds, almost like an out of this world, alien guitar. One then hears Gaga in the background laughing maniacally, all to then be interrupted by some hardcore dub step beats. This explicit track offers sensual lyrics such as, “Do you wanna touch me cosmic lover? / Do you wanna peek underneath the cover? / Do you wanna see the girl who lives behind the aura?” This first song really sets the mood for the whole album and definitely makes listeners want to hear more.

The next song, “Venus” keeps with the theme of aliens and art and is one of my personal favorites on the album because it is so typically Gaga’s style. “I can’t help the way I’m feeling / Goddess of love please take me to your leader / I can’t help I keep on dancin’ / Goddess of Love! Goddess of Love! / Take me to your planet.” With upbeat, dance style music, this song would be any dance choreographers dream to perform to. 

Her next track, “G.U.Y.” is an interesting one because at first it seems as if Gaga is trying to gender-bend, which wouldn’t be too surprising for her, as the song contains lyrics such as “I wanna be that guy (G.U.Y.) / The girl under you, Guy / I’m gonna say the word / And own you / You’ll be my G.I.R.L.” After the first couple of listens to the song, the listener will then finally realize G.U.Y. stands for “girl under you,” and not Gaga trying to actually be a guy. 

One of the great aspects of any Lady Gaga album is that it gets the listener really thinking about many topics people in society people aren’t courageous enough to speak about, and the song “G.U.Y.,” I feel, is one of those songs that has some sort of meaning underneath it all regarding sex and gender.

In “Jewels n’ Drugs,” Gaga takes a music genre turn when she attempts a more explicit rap style song with featured artists, T.I., Too $hort and Twista.  Surprisingly Gaga can somewhat pull off more rap based vocals, but overall the track seems a bit out of place in a really dance style based album. 

In the only other track on the album that features another artist, R. Kelly and Gaga pull off a better collaboration in the song, “Do What U Want.” Kelly’s soulful and swoon-worthy voice meshes well with Gaga’s passionate vocals and they create for a great duet song about sex and love to some great ‘80s style dance music. 

The next song “Artpop” which holds the same name as the entire album is another one of my favorites. “Brushing your darkness won’t help you create your destiny of super / Artpop could mean anything / I try to sell myself, but I am really laughing / Because I just love the music not the bling.” In this song Gaga blends the two worlds of art and love to the sounds of trance-like beats and tones. 

The following track is probably one of the most shocking songs on the album, in that is hilariously hateful. The song “Swine” is Gaga proclaiming her significant other literally a pig and a swine. “I know, I know, I know, I know you want me / You’re just a pig inside a human body / Squealer, squealer, squeal out, you’re so disgusting! / You’re just a pig inside… swine.” After she declares this hatred she then proceeds to squeal like a pig throughout the song and some of the beats and sounds in the song sound very similar to that of an oinking piggy. 

One of the last songs on the album, “Mary Jane Holland,” clearly shows Gaga’s interest in a particular green plant. 

Mary Jane is another term for marijuana and the country Holland is one of the most avid supporters of weed in the whole world. “I think that I could be fine / If I could be Mary Jane Holland tonight / I think we’d have a good time / If you’d meet me and Mary Jane in Holland tonight.” 

The very last part of the song is the sound of someone lighting a match to what one can only imagine to be a rather large blunt.

Closing out the album is Gaga’s hit single, which has been dominating the radio stations, “Applause.” 

It seems that she put that track at the end on purpose because it is almost as if she is getting her applause at the end of her latest creation. Gaga definitely “lives for the applause” and I think it was a creative and witty choice to put this song as the finale of the album. 

“Artpop” is any Lady Gaga fan’s biggest dream come true. Very similar in style to her other albums, “The Fame” and “Born This Way,” this new creation all around encompasses who Gaga is as a performer and artists. 

“Artpop” is indeed filled to the brim with eclectic and artsy tracks and is very fun to listen to. If listeners want to journey to the alien planet that is Lady Gaga, look no further than this album.