Well, it's here: the release of Lady Gaga's highly anticipated third studio album Artpop. Though the music has been available to stream for over a week now (and out illegally even before that), there was still one brand new thing for Little Monsters to get excited about this morning: the release of Gaga's Artpop smartphone app.
Available for both iOS and Android devices, the Artpop app was teased as an all-inclusive experience. "Lady Gaga brings you a musical and visual engineering system that combines music, art, fashion, and technology with a new interactive worldwide community - 'the auras.' Altering the human experience, we bring ARTculture into POP in a reverse Warholian expedition," the product description reads in the iTunes store. "Exploring Gaga's existence as a cultural interface, the user will share their own projects, chat with one another, and watch in real-time on a virtual globe as ARTPOP explodes onto the physical and virtual universe at once."
That's a hefty order, but it was one made by one of the world's most innovative pop stars in history. So, does the Artpop app live up to expectations?
The answer is... kind of.
Upon opening Artpop for the first time, fans are met with a being named "Petga" (though it's obviously voiced by Lady Gaga herself).
Petga goes through the motions of asking for access to your location, photos and camera like all good smartphone apps under the guise of using these things for a higher power. Yes, Petga is going to create your "Aura," of course, playing off the first track from ArtpopFrom there, users are asked to identify themselves with some characteristics, artistic expressions, themes and lyrics related to Artpop in order to make their true sense of self. These options include some wonderfully bizarre answers. Next to athletic, one can be psychic. Fans will also be able to express their interest in galactic travel, gypsy life and squealing. But, such is the world of Artpop, where these themes are common.
Of course, I am psychic, so I identified as such, alongside expressing my love for music and the song "Swine," my aura was a fresh white.
From there, we're taken to the main menu, where only two of four options are immediately available. One can go to ARTPOP and listen to the album on a digital vinyl record, complete with needle drops and scratching back and forth.
Fans who have yet to download Artpop are also able to do so straight from the app.
The second presently available feature on the Artpop app is the Art Haus gif maker. Gaga and Artpop themed backgrounds are available for fans to play with, and you can make your own Koons ball-esque piece to share with other Little Monsters.
Perhaps it's my total lack of technical and artistic knowledge, but I found this part hard to navigate. It took me a good bit of browsing to find the section where one can select pig, crystal and flower shapes for your main object, and things kept bouncing between my camera, photo library and the pre-made backgrounds and images already in the app.
In the end, I couldn't figure out how to get my Koons ball to bounce around the screen, so there's just a wonky photo of my dog in the middle of a spacey scene.
Sorry, Maya.
Some Little Monsters have made impressive turns on the Artpop app, and you can browse their efforts. Someone reenacted the Artpop album cover, there's a bouncing Miley Cyrus butt, a hand slapping Gaga's own booty, and other funny and elaborate pieces.
The two inaccessible areas of the Artpop seem to be interactive audio and video components, titled Trakstar and GagaTV, respectively. These could very well play into the Artpop tour, with live concert streaming, but fans won't know for sure for another 141 days.
There's also a chat element to the app, connected to the Little Monsters social media site, so Gaga mega-fans can freak out about the glory that is Artpop together.
So, overall, how did the Haus of Gaga do?
Overall, the app is a pretty successful venture. The gif-maker has some really interesting potential, but could grow stale after a few bouncing balls are floated around the screen.
Unfortunately, the app is humongous, and made my iPhone 4S crash at least three times while I was in the middle of attempting to get my Havanese to bounce across space and Lady Gaga lyrics.
In the end, Little Monsters will absolutely love this app, and haters will continue to hate. Casual fans (like myself) will find some interest here. It's fun to look at others' creativity and attempt your own. I'll continue to play around with it and see what else Gaga has to offer, but I can't see this being fascinating by the end of the week.
Lady Gaga's Artpop app is available for download now from iTunes and Google Play. The app is free to download.
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