Alright music fans. Lady Gaga's highly-discussed ARTPOP is officially released to the world today, so I think it's an interesting and important album to discuss. Why? Well for one, Lady Gaga is one of the most famous, top-earning pop artists in the world. People either love her or hate her, so she creates polarizing reactions to her work, but ultimately, she works with a team of talent to create catchy hooks, backed by a spectacle that captures audiences and creates interest and discussion.

For ARTPOP, Lady Gaga has created her own art-show to launch the album, which she calls an artRave. It happened yesterday and featured works that are compilations with Jeff Koons, who designed her album art for ARTPOP, Marina Abramovic, and Robert Wilson. In addition to this, she's worked with her team to create a digital application for the new album which will be released on iOS, Android, and for personal computers. So on the innovation side, I would say that one of Gaga's strengths is partnering with people to create unique experiences of her music - visually, aurally, and in an interactive manner. All of this is great, but here's the thing...as much as I think Lady Gaga has done some really interesting work and her artistic career will continue to evolve as she evolves...I think her new album is overly sexualized and not quite the "classic" Gaga sound. You can view this as a plus or a minus. She's created music which has a distinctly new sound. Where The Fame was a distinct pop sound, Born This Way evolved to a rock-influenced, grunge-pop. And now, ARTPOP is Lady Gaga's next generation of sound, with European dance and house influences. While she is great at putting out songs with catchy hooks, I think they get lost in some of these tracks. Her first singles, "Applause" and "Do What U Want" were probably the most crisp and clean sounds from her new album. I have no doubts that Gaga is happy with this album. I have no doubts that many of her current fans will love this album. To me, many of the tracks on this album have clunky lyrics that feel awkward. Ultimately, regardless of my experience with this album, Lady Gaga is once again adding a new dimension of experience to pop music. With ARTPOP, she self-proclaims her position as an artist in the pop world, and she is clearing space for her to continue making artist that has branches dipping into a wide-range of artistic expressions, including fashion (or should I say, "Fashion!", as one of the new tracks is named), visual art, and an upcoming documentary from Terry Richardson. Check out this album and make your own judgement. Lady Gaga has been making an obvious attempt to strip down a bit of the show (both literally and figuratively) to show her intentions as an artist. Both "Dope" and "Gypsy" demonstrate some honesty in her writing. I applaud and acknowledge that honesty, which would take a lot of courage to do after how much spectacle she has created in the last three years.

Overall, there are a few catchy singles on ARTPOP, but the themes do not resonate with me and it may be harsh, but while it may be a great accomplishment for her and her team, I don't think it's her best musical achievement.

What do you think about ARTPOP?