Lady Gaga - ARTPOP Track By Track Album Review

5. Jewels and Drugs

And from a song which fits in perfectly on ARTPOP to a song which has absolutely no place being on it. We're not sure exactly who thought it was a good idea to stick a hardcore rap song right in the middle of a Lady GaGa album but Jewels and Drugs, a collaboration with rappers T.I., Too $hort and Twista, just sounds wrong here. We're not suggesting that she should only be sticking to one style of music and never experiment with other genres, but the fans hoping for a repeat of The Fame Monster are not going to enjoy listening to Jewels and Drugs which, if we're being honest, is just a bit of a racket. G.U.Y. was the first song on ARTPOP which maybe could be considered a filler track, but Jewels and Drugs is the first song which we feel definitely should not have been on the album for the simple reason it just isn't very good and completely interrupts album's flow.

6. MANiCURE

After Jewels and Drugs, what ARTPOP needs is a pure pop pick-me-up, which thankfully it gets with MANiCURE, a song with no introduction and no build-up, kicking in straight away with its cheerleader-style drums and chants. Earlier track Sexxx Dreams sees a more laidback side of Lady GaGa, but with MANiCURE we're getting the frantic and energetic delivery we've come to expect from her. Frankly, MANiCURE is one of the songs which perfectly represents what we were hoping for from ARTPOP, a track completely unashamed of the fact it is pop while still managing to completely show off what Lady GaGa is about as an artist.

7. Do What U Want

One of the stand-out tracks from the album has also smartly been selected as her next single, the wonderful Do What U Want which features R Kelly (a collaboration which we're sure nobody saw coming). The song has a double-meaning (of course it does...) so while in the chorus GaGa sings "do what u want/what u want with my body" to R Kelly (who, incidentally, is pretty near the top of the list of people we would never say that to...), she has explained it is really a message to the press and her critics. If you can overlook GaGa ignoring the "art in the eye of the beholder" rule and telling you how you should be interpreting her work, Do What U Want is undeniably one of the strongest tracks on ARTPOP and a worthy single choice. Even if we can't help wondering exactly how R Kelly came to be on it in the first place...