Lady Gaga - "Disease"

[Dylan :)]

She is serving absolute vocals here 🔥🔥

[shakemaki]

Oct 26, 2024 12:38:04 GMT -5 Dylan :) said:

She is serving absolute vocals here 🔥🔥

Agree, her vocals have just been next level this decade. It’s like night and day from her pre 20s studio work tbh.

[musiclife]

Before I make a hot 100 prediction I'll wait for the 2nd day numbers. If she gets the standard drop I think she'll be lucky for it to debut in the top 20.

[musiclife]

Oct 26, 2024 12:38:59 GMT -5 shakemaki said:

Oct 26, 2024 12:38:04 GMT -5 Dylan :) said:

She is serving absolute vocals here 🔥🔥

Agree, her vocals have just been next level this decade. It’s like night and day from her pre 20s studio work tbh.

I do agree she sounds vocally good here.

[Maximillian]

Oct 26, 2024 12:35:14 GMT -5 Choco said:

It's an OK start if she can pull some legs or grow from it; but tbh social media is dead silent about this which is never a great sign. Overall maybe the video helps, but if not then I do hope there's a safe second single choice planned for next year. She can more or less get by for the rest of the year with DWAS and whatever this song does.

My social media has been lit up — but it’s gay social media, so…

Side note, and I really don’t know how much this impacts things, but releasing on a holiday weekend (not technically, but people are doing Halloween events all this weekend), I wonder how many people haven’t tuned in yet as they focus on their social events.

[#LisaRinna]

LOL @ the tragic reaction to the Spotify debut.

[Koochie]

Filtered, but God this is so much more compelling than the actual song for me.



The pad in the second and final chorus could’ve been quieter in the mix, but the chord progression is insane. Had she reeled in the operatic vocals just a bit so they could blend with the production instead of fight it, this would’ve been a slam dunk for me.

[HEADOFTHEPACK]

The instrumental is truly where I heard the Artpop of it all.

[shakemaki]

Speaking of Artpop, are we ready to have the convo yet of how Applause goes toe to toe with BR as her best lead?

It’s also the only time she’s managed to replicate the BR formula in an effortless and non-derivative way imo. Both weird-ass pop songs with verse lyrics that will make you go “wut”, yet absurdly infectious with huge, massive choruses for days.

I wish Applause didn’t have to deal with all of the loss in momentum she sustained during the BTW era with all the backlashes against her during that. Wonder if it could’ve been one of her biggest like BR otherwise.

[musiclife]

Oct 26, 2024 12:46:54 GMT -5 Maximillian said:

Oct 26, 2024 12:35:14 GMT -5 Choco said:

It's an OK start if she can pull some legs or grow from it; but tbh social media is dead silent about this which is never a great sign. Overall maybe the video helps, but if not then I do hope there's a safe second single choice planned for next year. She can more or less get by for the rest of the year with DWAS and whatever this song does.

My social media has been lit up — but it’s gay social media, so…

Side note, and I really don’t know how much this impacts things, but releasing on a holiday weekend (not technically, but people are doing Halloween events all this weekend), I wonder how many people haven’t tuned in yet as they focus on their social events.

90% of her fanbase is gay men. So I'm sure every gay man in America, unless they're in bed with the flu, or on vacation has already heard it. Lol

[HEADOFTHEPACK]

Applause is great and one of her best singles imo. Amazing chorus. The verses aside, it's also one of her most 'pop' singles. People were just fed up of her and trends were shifting.

[Koochie]

People overestimate how much the gays carry pop artists. We will die for the divas, but if you’re a pop star, you want to appeal to women.

Oct 26, 2024 9:25:03 GMT -5 Albie said:

Jarring where? I will never understand how that word comes into play when we're talking about Gaga.

Carryover from her earliest years. Her style (the disco stick, the meat dress, the womb) and sound (the majority of her singles from “Just Dance” to “Perfect Illusion”) often borrowed from sounds that deliberately rejected pop conventions of their time. I’d argue she’s done that with “Disease,” but I could see where you could make the case that expecting the unexpected is her brand. I don’t think jarring is always a bad thing, certainly not in her case, and was arguably what she herself wanted her brand to be for a while. I’d agree with those who say this is a return to form for that reason even if I don’t care for it.

Oct 26, 2024 13:12:49 GMT -5 HEADOFTHEPACK said:

The instrumental is truly where I heard the Artpop of it all.

I actually do hear a bit of ARTPOP in it. The soundfont is evocative of Born This Way, but the structure is very much in line with the former.

[HEADOFTHEPACK]

Oct 26, 2024 13:29:35 GMT -5 Koochie said:

Oct 26, 2024 9:25:03 GMT -5 Albie said:

Jarring where? I will never understand how that word comes into play when we're talking about Gaga.

Carryover from her earliest years. Her style (the disco stick, the meat dress, the womb) and sound (the majority of her singles from “Just Dance” to “Perfect Illusion”) often borrowed from sounds that deliberately rejected pop conventions of their time. I’d argue she’s done that with “Disease,” but I could see where you could make the case that expecting the unexpected is her brand. I don’t think jarring is always a bad thing, certainly not in her case, and was arguably what she herself wanted her brand to be for a while. I’d agree with those who say this is a return to form for that reason even if I don’t care for it.

Oct 26, 2024 13:12:49 GMT -5 HEADOFTHEPACK said:

The instrumental is truly where I heard the Artpop of it all.

I actually do hear a bit of ARTPOP in it. The soundfont is evocative of Born This Way, but the structure is very much in line with the former.

Right, the kind of spooky/Bloody Mary vibes are BTW but I can count like 5 Artpop songs I hear in that instrumental, along with the structure as you say.

[shakemaki]

Ugh, that stuttering beat on Applause is just so damn addictive and uniquely recognizable. You could prob even talk me into that having the overall best production in her catalog. Dance-pop production polish for miles

[Koochie]

Oct 26, 2024 13:31:32 GMT -5 HEADOFTHEPACK said:

Right, the kind of spooky/Bloody Mary vibes are BTW but I can count like 5 Artpop songs I hear in that instrumental, along with the structure as you say.

I hear “Aura” (really in the deconstructed verses more than anything) and “Donatella,” but I’m not sure I can place much else. That’s not to say I’d be surprised to hear a version of this from another life on that album, but it would stand out to me (not that ARTPOP was cohesive with songs like “Venus” and the title track sticking out like sore thumbs).

Lowkey want the stems to leak. I was more favorable to the mix initially, but I think you had mentioned it being a bit too full earlier. I wonder if my opinion above would change if it was less bloated.

[Elusive Chanteuse]

Why the overreaction to the Spotify debut, NO ONE should be expecting Lady Gaga out of all people to come out with a #1 smash out of the gate, especially in 2024, years after her prime. And with a sound that isn’t current and/or popular in modern music. Let’s be so for f**king real here…

[shakemaki]

Oct 26, 2024 13:49:17 GMT -5 Elusive Chanteuse said:

Why the overreaction to the Spotify debut, NO ONE should be expecting Lady Gaga out of all people to come out with a #1 smash out of the gate, especially in 2024, years after her prime. And with a sound that isn’t current and/or popular in modern music. Let’s be so for f**king real here…

It’s a predictable debut, but I’d expect it to not hold particularly well. Whereas DWAS I think just proved that if she puts out something with wide appeal, she can still smash on streaming even without a huge debut.

[southerninternal999]

If we're only judging a song success based on first day Spotify streams, then DWAS wouldn't be a huge hit.

The odds might not look good right now, but let's wait another day before jumping to conclusions.

[KeepDeanWeird]

The rationalization for the reception is pure popcorn. Who cares?

In exactly 10 weeks, LG served up a pop single, a jazz single/album and an industrial single. Talk about diversity, while still being faithful to her style and brand. I’d rather have her continue to be off-center creator than a basic pop singer

[Choco]

Nobody is denying her artistic merits due to the day one numbers. It's just a forum centered around chart discussion, it was always going to generate talk no matter how good or bad the numbers were.

[Maximillian]

It’s increasing on Apple Music. This might hold somewhat steady tomorrow.

[SPRΞΞ]

Oct 26, 2024 15:44:32 GMT -5 Maximillian said:

It’s increasing on Apple Music. This might hold somewhat steady tomorrow.

no it's not. It fell back down to #65 after being up to #62 earlier.

[chickythelittlechicken]

Oct 26, 2024 15:58:21 GMT -5 SPRΞΞ said:

Oct 26, 2024 15:44:32 GMT -5 Maximillian said:

It’s increasing on Apple Music. This might hold somewhat steady tomorrow.

no it's not. It fell back down to #65 after being up to #62 earlier.

its at #58, maybe yours didnt update yet?

[Dylan :)]

Oct 26, 2024 13:09:37 GMT -5 Koochie said:

Filtered, but God this is so much more compelling than the actual song for me.



The pad in the second and final chorus could’ve been quieter in the mix, but the chord progression is insane. Had she reeled in the operatic vocals just a bit so they could blend with the production instead of fight it, this would’ve been a slam dunk for me.

The chain sounding thing that kicks in at 0:13 is driving me insane though. It runs throughout nearly the entire song

[NeRD]

Oct 26, 2024 14:56:31 GMT -5 Choco said:

Nobody is denying her artistic merits due to the day one numbers. It's just a forum centered around chart discussion, it was always going to generate talk no matter how good or bad the numbers were.

Thank you.

[85la]

I wasn't impressed after a first listen, but I do like it a lot better after a few listens, it definitely is a grower, which is probably the best thing this song has going for it. Like many songs these days though, it unfortunately falls a little flat during the chorus (the "1,2,3" line is especially cheesy, wish she would've come up with something more creative). It's still #1 on iTunes and has a solid 8 million radio impression debut the first day, if it stays strong on both of those fronts, not sure how much it will help it, but given the low streaming numbers so far, I think it's just a thing where the gp isn't interested in Gaga anymore. It would take a strong song (like DAWS) to overcome that, but I'm not sure this is it.

[SPRΞΞ]

it is strange about the video. No talk, no release date, not even a teaser besides that one little thing. Maybe they are planning a 2nd week strategy to keep this afloat longer. Cuz otherwise releasing this 3-4 days into the tracking week is a mistake. Perhaps they are banking on this rising on streaming.

[Koochie]

Oct 26, 2024 16:20:25 GMT -5 Dylan :) said:

Oct 26, 2024 13:09:37 GMT -5 Koochie said:

Filtered, but God this is so much more compelling than the actual song for me.



The pad in the second and final chorus could’ve been quieter in the mix, but the chord progression is insane. Had she reeled in the operatic vocals just a bit so they could blend with the production instead of fight it, this would’ve been a slam dunk for me.

The chain sounding thing that kicks in at 0:13 is driving me insane though. It runs throughout nearly the entire song

You mean the snare or the bass pluck running from bar 3/4? If it’s the former, I love it lol. Producers don’t play around with percussion like they did in the early/mid-2000’s. The Neptunes and Timbaland come to mind immediately—not that the snare sounds anything like their work, but rather how it doesn’t stick to percussion presets.

It reminds me of the snare used here, although I think this song goes all in on that almost metallic, mechanical sound and blends in more.



(Yes I know this is an Ayesha plug, but I’m talking about a sound here lol)

It also does a much better job of using grimy soundfonts to texturize the song and contrast that metallic grit. I think that’s what Gaga, Cirkuit, and co. were going for when producing the instrumental (not that they were directly inspired by this song at all), but I could see how this sound influenced “Disease” and it’s why I think Gaga’s flirting with hyperpop a bit. If the bassline in the verses wasn’t so plucky, it would be very close to the above until the chorus steers it back to pop.

Sidenote: Gaga would murder that and it actually would have been the new “Government Hooker.”

[HEADOFTHEPACK]

Oct 26, 2024 13:47:47 GMT -5 Koochie said:

Oct 26, 2024 13:31:32 GMT -5 HEADOFTHEPACK said:

Right, the kind of spooky/Bloody Mary vibes are BTW but I can count like 5 Artpop songs I hear in that instrumental, along with the structure as you say.

I hear “Aura” (really in the deconstructed verses more than anything) and “Donatella,” but I’m not sure I can place much else. That’s not to say I’d be surprised to hear a version of this from another life on that album, but it would stand out to me (not that ARTPOP was cohesive with songs like “Venus” and the title track sticking out like sore thumbs).

Lowkey want the stems to leak. I was more favorable to the mix initially, but I think you had mentioned it being a bit too full earlier. I wonder if my opinion above would change if it was less bloated.

I hear GUY (specifically the bridge), especially in the instrumental later in the song (starts to sound Zedd-y). A smidge of Mary Jane Holland. And yeah the mix gets a bit much, too many things happening at once toward the end.

[Coco Yu'Kneek- Saint]

Ok now that I heard it a second time I'm ready to fight over this song. It's like when I first heard Pink "Like A pill 💊" and I knew it would be a cocko favorite

Oct 26, 2024 13:11:14 GMT -5 Coco Yu'Kneek- Saint said:

Just heard Disease . I've always wondered what a METAL rock bih would sound over a pop synth beat and this is IT. This sounds a mature return to her roots but FRESH and not redundant.

Gaga said hold my cup I'm taking 2024 .



Not to be a dramatic drag queen 👑 but to the fish that said she is over because of the movie. Please tuck in your tail and run for cover.