Originally scheduled for 2012, Gaga's fourth album was released wordlwide on November 11, 2013. ARTPOP, was revealed on August 3, 2012 by uploading a photo of her new tattoo. The cover was unveiled on October 7, 2013 on giant outdoor billboards belonging to Clear Channel in 18 cities in 12 countries. The track list was unveiled on October 9, 2013. For the occasion, Gaga asked a few fans to do a mural with the song titles on it.
Simultaneously as the album release, an application of the same title was released online for download on mobile stores. The application will allow fans to listen to the album and create their own artworks in the "artHAUS", with new updates to come in the near future. During the creation of the album, Gaga expressed her desire to release the album in two volumes, this plan is still under consideration.
Title
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On June 8th, Gaga posted on Twitter that she had played the new record to her record label and will release the title of the album in September. On June 29, 2012, Gaga sent pizza and wine along with a tweet:
and a handwritten notes:
On July 26, 2012, Gaga also hinted that the name of the album was short and that some fans already figured it out. |
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On August 3, 2012, in a Little Monsters chat, she reveals that "ARTPOP" is the new album title and she got a tattoo of the name. On August 5, 2012, she tweeted that she wants the album to have all capitalized letters, so she wants it to be designed as "ARTPOP".
Artwork
On August 30, 2012, Gaga explained on a picture comment on Little Monsters that the cover of the album will be colorful. During her interview with Elle (October 2013), Gaga revealed that Jeff Koons is “making a sculpture of me, and it’s going to be my album cover.”
On October 7, 2013, Gaga added that “Having Jeff create something for ARTPOP was a dream come true, and a very emotional experience. He has given me the greatest gift and we are excited to be sharing it with you.” (Press release)
Components
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The album cover includes a cropped version of the "The Birth of Venus" by Botticelli with a black and white series of photographs of "Apollo & Daphne" by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, "Lady Gaga" written in pink and "ARTPOP" written in white sprawled across the cover, with a blue Gazing Ball (one of her props in her VMA performance) and the sculpture of Gaga by Jeff Koons. Koons explained his intention for the cover to MTV News:
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Sculpture
The sculpture of Gaga was done by Jeff Koons using a series of photographs taken in 2013. For the sculpture, they used a blonde wig which, according to Gaga, was picked because everyone can recognise her with that look. The sculpture was made using white plaster and was digitally colored for the album cover.
Gazing Ball
Lady Gaga also utilizes Jeff Koons' "Gazing Ball" on the album cover. Previously, Gaga has used the "Gazing Ball" for her 2013 VMA Performance of "Applause" and has even mentioned having a "gazing period" during her interview with Good Morning America in August 2013. The "gazing period" was a period where Gaga jotted down her creative ideas and obsessed over her music.[1]
Gaga explained the significance of the gazing ball on the album cover in a tweet on October 13: "The gazing ball is significant also because my sanskrit's a small dot. I'm destined to float as a universe, fitting with all types of people."
- "What was beautiful about that work was the accessibility of the ball — that reflective ball that many people have in their yards as a symbol of generosity to your neighbors. But when you'd look at it you'd feel this transcendence where the ball would become everything and it would be about a mass dialogue about people not only wanting transcendence for themselves, but involved with the community discussing transcendence and what the possibilities are for humans." - Jeff Koons on the "Gazing Ball"
"Apollo and Daphne"
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 "Apollo and Daphne" |
"The Birth of Venus"
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 "The Birth of Venus" |
Limited edition
On October 10, Lady Gaga announced via twitter that the first 500,000 physical copies of ARTPOP would include hot pink and silver metallic foil on the cover. She tweeted: "the foiling represents true design of the cover as imagined by the artist Jeff Koons, who hand collaged the typography himself."
The #iHeartARTPOP campaign
On October 4, the Facebook page for Lady Gaga explained that album cover would be unveiled by sections starting at 1PM (Eastern Time) on October 7, 2013 by using the hashtag #iHeartARTPOP on Twitter. The message also included some sections of the album cover with the following caption: "What did JEFF KOONS make of LADY GAGA?". A sneak peak of the cover was released at the same time with missing pieces.
A few hours before the event, Jeff Koons released informations and hints about the cover through his Twitter account:
- "My work for @ladygaga is flawless. It is impeccable. It will change your life with its colors, themes, and utter lack of originality"
- "Fans, prepare for #ARTPOP. My album cover for @ladygaga will shock, amuse, entice, and possibly impregnate you"
- "#ARTPOP album cover hint # 1: I don't know what you fans are expecting, but @ladygaga is expecting!"
- "#ARTPOP Album Cover Hint # 2: @ladygaga's new profile picture means more than you think."
- "#ARTPOP Album Cover hint # 3: One second @ladygaga is a Koons, and the next – ?"
One hour before the event, Gaga tweeted: "Please welcome Jeff Koons into our family +shower him with love for the the talents he has shared with us. A pure and genuine collaborator. I'm nervous&excited to share something that's such a piece of my heart. Something I cherish deeply. A real depiction of my mind through his." She also revealed that the sculpture will be displayed on November 10, 2013 at the artRAVE. For the event, Gaga partnered with Clear Channel to display the event on their outdoor billboards in 18 cities of 12 countries (Full list). To those unable to catch the event in person, a live stream of the New York reveal from Times Square was available at Ladygaga.com/artpop-reveal. The event took 20 out of the planned 30 minutes with 3 update being made before the full cover was revealed. Following the event, all of Clear Channel iHeartRadio across the U.S. would post the cover on their individual websites.
Track list
Prior to the unveiling of the track list, Gaga had revealed nearly all of the songs name randomly through Twitter, Little Monster and Instagram from 2012 to 2013. Except for the song "Fashion!", which was still unknown before the track list was made available.
On Friday September 20th, 2013, Gaga confirmed that the official track list would be released on September 29th, 2013 via Twitter. However, due to a time extension given to her by her record label, Interscope Records, Gaga delayed the release date. On September 30, she referred to the delayed release on Twitter: "Im sorry the tracklisting is late monsters. A few more squirrels snuck into the ARTPOP tree. Don't worry it will be worth it!".
The track list was revealed later at 9pm PST on October 9th, 2013. For the event, Gaga asked some dedicated fans she nicknamed the "LA Rivington Rebels" to paint a mural in the parking lot of the Record Plant with the tracklist on it. She also later explained that the delay for the track list was due to two songs being considered to be track 12 on the album. The other track being considered was "Brooklyn Nights" but according to Gaga, the song required more work and thus, will be released on the application during the album cycle instead.
| No. | Title | Length |
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| 1. | "Aura" (Explicit) | 03:55 |
| 2. | "Venus" (Explicit) | 03:53 |
| 3. | "G.U.Y." (Explicit) | 03:52 |
| 4. | "Sexxx Dreams" (Explicit) | 03:34 |
| 5. | "Jewels N' Drugs" (feat. T.I., Too $hort, and Twista) (Explicit) | 03:48 |
| 6. | "MANiCURE" | 03:19 |
| 7. | "Do What U Want" (feat. R. Kelly) (Explicit) | 03:47 |
| 8. | "ARTPOP" | 04:07 |
| 9. | "Swine" (Explicit) | 04:28 |
| 10. | "Donatella" (Explicit) | 04:24 |
| 11. | "Fashion!" | 03:59 |
| 12. | "Mary Jane Holland" (Explicit) | 04:37 |
| 13. | "Dope" (Explicit) | 03:41 |
| 14. | "Gypsy" | 04:08 |
| 15. | "Applause" | 03:32 |
| Walmart bonus tracks |
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| 16. | "Applause" (DJ White Shadow Electrotech Remix) | 5:49 |
| 17. | "Applause" (Viceroy Remix) | 4:27 |
| Japanese bonus tracks |
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| 16. | "Applause" (DJ White Shadow Electrotech Remix) | 5:49 |
| 17. | "Applause" (Viceroy Remix) | 4:27 |
| 18. | "Applause" (Empire Of The Sun Remix) | 4:08 |
| Japanese bonus DVD |
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| 1. | "iTunes Music Festival 2013" | 60.00 |
| 2. | "Exclusive Interview" (with Japanese subtitles) | 12:49 |
| International deluxe edition bonus DVD |
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| 1. | "Aura" (Live at iTunes Festival 2013) | 7:36 |
| 2. | "MANiCURE" (Live at iTunes Festival 2013) | 7:58 |
| 3. | "ARTPOP" (Live at iTunes Festival 2013) | 8:37 |
| 4. | "Jewels N' Drugs" (Live at iTunes Festival 2013) | 9:50 |
| 5. | "Sexxx Dreams" (Live at iTunes Festival 2013) | 10:35 |
| 6. | "Swine" (Live at iTunes Festival 2013) | 9:12 |
| 7. | "I Wanna Be With You" (Live at iTunes Festival 2013) | 12:10 |
| 8. | "Applause" (Live at iTunes Festival 2013) | 5:19 |
Release history
In January of 2012, when asked about her plan for the year with The Insider, Gaga revealed her intention to release a new album, in addition to embarking on The Born This Way Ball Tour. On July 26th, Gaga revealed on Little Monsters, that the album would be out before spring of 2013, with the lead single scheduled for a late 2012 release. Later that year, she announced on Twitter that she wanted to wait a new year in order to get a fresh start which meant to postpone the single and the album until later in the year (2013).
On July 12, 2013 via Little Monsters, it was revealed that the album will be released on November 11, 2013. The free application was also released on the same date on the major virtual stores for Apple, Android and Blackberry devices.
| Region | Date | Format(s) |
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 Japan
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November 6, 2013 | CD · CD+DVD · digital download |
 Australia
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November 8, 2013 | |
 Germany
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 New Zealand
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 Switzerland
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 Austria
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CD · Digital download | |
 Belgium
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 Czech Republic
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 Fiji
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 Finland
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 Ireland
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 South Africa
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 Netherlands
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 Poland
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 Slovakia
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 Worldwide
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November 11, 2013 | CD · CD+DVD · digital download |
 United Kingdom
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| Worldwide
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December 30, 2013 | Vinyl (LP) |
The digital download version of the album is available both in an explicit and clean version. The DVD is only available for physical purchase.
Editions
| Region | Date | Format | Catalog # | Barcode | Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan
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November 6, 2013 | CD | UICS-9139 | 4988005794581 | Explicit |
| CD+DVDB | UICS-9140 | 4988005794604 | Explicit | ||
| Worldwide
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November 8 · 11A, 2013 | CD | B0019296-02 | 602537520695 | Clean |
| B0019295-02 | 602537543045 | Explicit | |||
| CD+DVDB | 0253758813 | 602537588138 | Explicit | ||
 United States
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CDC | B0019530-02 | 602537601837 | Clean | |
| Worldwide
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December 30, 2013 | Vinyl (LP) | 3754305 | 602537543052 | Explicit |
- ASee the previous table for details on the release date worldwide.
- BThe DVD is the full performance of Gaga at the iTunes Festival also known as "Swine Fest".
- CWalmart exclusive with two "Applause" remixes.
Limited edition
On October 10, 2013, Gaga revealed on Twitter that the first 500,000 physical copies of ARTPOP had a cut-out of hot pink metallic foil (on "Lady Gaga") and silver foil (on "ARTPOP", the star and on the "Parental Advisory" sticker) on the cover. She did not specify if the number was limited to the United States only and if this applies to every version in every market. However, it was revealed on the release date that the foil edition were not exclusive to the United States, and were in fact available to purchase in nearly every country, and each country had its own localized release of it. There was also more than 500,000 physical copies pressed with the foil text, however that statement may have only been referring to the copies pressed in the United States.
Format
On October 11, 2012, Gaga tweeted "do you know how hard it is to have albums+albums of new music that i can't play u. let me just lay on the floor + cry *stupid popstar rules*" On October 30, she explained her cryptic tweet in the chat on Little Monsters by saying that she might release the album in 2 volumes.
- "The album is not one kind of music. [...] I think I'm going to release 2 volumes: ARTPOP volume 1, ARTPOP volume 2. [I] would put on second volume maybe like 6 months after first? The difference between the 2 volumes... well [it's] the music but I can't decide how to tracklist [it] yet." She then explained her idea so far consisted of "sort of thinking that VOL.1 should have all the commercial songs, and then save the experimental material. To be honest, even the experimental stuff is catchy. It's just a bit more modern and you never know if radio is ready. "
When asked about a volume 2 for ARTPOP, Gaga later stated that it was still her intention but had no plan on the moment about it. On October 13, 2013, Gaga confirmed that she have "lots of songs for ACT TWO!" already planned.
App
- For more, see the ARTPOP app page.
ARTPOP app icon
Gaga revealed in September of 2012, her intention to release an application for mobile on Android and iOS compatible devices with ARTPOP. She hired Relative Wave and her newly created company TechHaus for the project. The back end development is handled by Cloud City Development. These teams worked together for 12 months to create the app.
On launch date, Gaga explained that some of the features were not included in order to test the server capacity and that they would be released in the next "few weeks".
Booklet and credits
Before the release of the album on October 14, Gaga posted a glimpse of the album booklet with a few tweets related to it:
- "I impart first as a bonus a shitty photograph of the inside of ARTPOP completely epic booklet on instagram."
- "The booklet includes photos of the day Jeff and I explored different poses for the sculpture. IT IS COMPLETELY AMAZING Been leafing through her allll day."
- Don’t worry there are still some typos in the booklet proof! thank you for your notes little monsters! always lookin out #pawsup
The last tweet related to the booklet was on October 15: more changes to booklet, and off to shipping :( i need one of those church .gifs i need SAVING. or a TALL GLASS of brown liquor + dope
Jeff Koons who designed the album cover, also designed the booklet which was then created by Julian People Studio. The booklet have white background with pink text with a few photographs of Koons taking photographs of Lady Gaga and some optical illusions. The limited editions of the album (CD and vinyl) includes hot foil stamping on the cover: hot pink metallic foil (on "Lady Gaga") and silver hot foil (on "ARTPOP", the star and on the "Parental Advisory" sticker if it's an uncensored edition).
The Japanese pressing of the album contains a different booklet compared to the rest of the world. The layout uses a more colourful design with lyrics and borders, and images included are also in different positions and a different order, however, the content is the same on both editions. In Japan, the limited edition foil first pressing of the album contains a foiled front and back cover for the booklet, all other international editions however only have a foiled front cover.
Censored Version
For the clean version, the designers digitally added balloons over the more revealing photos in the booklet, and the cover and disc also featured a larger Gazing Ball, "Sexxx Dreams" is listed as "X Dreams", and "Jewels N' Drugs" is listed as "Jewels N' *****" in order to make it more appropriate for a younger audience. In certain countries in the middle eastern area, the booklet has extremely large Gazing Balls over Gaga's body, almost covering the entire image, Gaga is also wearing navy blue stockings on the cover for this pressing.
The Indian pressing of the CD features a large turquoise Gazing Ball on the cover, rather than the regular dark blue one, this is the only known localized edition of the album to have this color Gazing Ball.
International edition
Japanese edition
Original booklet
Thank you
ARTPOP was the last album to have a 'Thank you' section as the other releases would only credits personnel involved with the album.
| “ | To DJ White Shadow, Zedd, Madeon, Dave Russell, Nick Monson, Dino Zisis, Rick Rubin, T.I., Too $hort, Twista, R. Kelly, Bill Malina, Don Lawrence, Benjamin Rice and will.i.am.
To Troy Carter, Vincent Herbert, Jimmy Iovine and John Janick. To the Haus of Gaga: Brandon Maxwell, Tara Savelo, Frederic Aspiras, Richy Jackson, Bobby Campbell, Lane Bentley, Sonja Durham, Lacee Franks, Perry Meek, Marla Weinhoff, Kimmi McAllister and Ashley Gutierrez. To Jeff Koons, Inez+Vinoodh, Robert Wilson, Marina Abramovic, Stephen Gan, Klaus Biesenbach, Donatella Versace, Ruth Hogben, Petga, Terry Richardson, Swanson and Wiggins. To the TechHaus: Max Weisel, Adam Debreczeni, and all of RelativeWave; Nancy Tilbury, Benjamin Males and all of Studio XO. To the dancers, the band, Little Monsters, my family and Taylor. All my gratitude to you, for believing in and living the philosophy of ARTPOP. |
” |
—Lady Gaga | ||
Credits
| Executive producer | Lady Gaga and Vincent Herbert |
| Musical director | Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair |
| A&R | Vincent Herbert for Streamline Records |
| Management | Troy Carter for Atom Factory |
| Marketing | Bobby Campbell for Atom Factory |
| Day to day management | Lane Bentley for Atom Factory |
| Album cover and Package Design | Jeff Koons |
| Fashion director | Brandon Maxwell for Haus of Gaga |
| Hair | Frederic Aspiras for Haus of Gaga |
| Makeup | Tara Savelo for Haus of Gaga |
| Creative coordinator | Lacee Franks and Sonja Durham for Haus of Gaga |
| Interscope Records marketing | Dyana Kass |
| Interscope Records international | Jurgen Grebner, Tomoko Itoki and Brett Bracy |
| Publicity | Amanda Silverman for 42 West Dennis Dennehy for Interscope |
| Production coordinator | Lisa Einhorn-Gilder for Streamline Records |
| Production | Gretchen Anderson |
| A&R Administration | Jennifer Paola Tees, Marta Navas and Jeanne Venton |
| Legal | Kenneth R. Meiselas for Grubman Indursky & Shire, P.C. |
| Business affairs | Erika Savage and Todd Douglas |
| Booklet Text layout | Julian Peploe Studio |
| Booklet Photo credits: "Gazing Ball (Diana)" courtesy of Jeff Koons. 2013 © Jeff Koons. "5 Minutes After the Philadelphia Experiment, 2010" courtesy of Tautvydas Davainis. | |