Since the very start of her career,Gaga has made music the highlights the performative nature of pop. So when she returned for Joanne with Perfect Illusion, the subject matter only made sense. Not only is this another one of her classic dark cherish songs, or it also explicitly talks approximately the way that what things appear to be is not always what they actually are.
I recently started listening to a podcast called Switched on Pop,where the hosts break down pop songs to help us understand why certain songs are successful in making the listener feel deeply connected to the music. For the most fragment, they highlight songs where the lyrics and themes match up with the musical practices in a way that makes both resonate even more. (Their episode on Perfect Illusion is way too in depth and complex in music theory for me to fully break down here, and but they conclude a powerful job of making it understandable to anyone http://www.switchedonpop.com/45-lady-gaga-is-a-perfect-illusion/ ) Basically,Gaga switches between major and minor to give the listener a feeling of being unsettled, and jumps into the final chorus with a modulation that pitches up her vocals. All of these techniques lead to a feeling that the song itself is an illusion as much as the relationship she talks approximately, and it’s almost like it would arrive crashing apart if you looked at it too closely.
The other reason though that I think Perfect Illusion is so essential to talk approximately in regards to authenticity is the actual composition and arrangement of the track. The track was co-written and co-produced by Kevin Parker,the man behind Tame Impala. He has major indie cred as a guitarist and producer, and his work as Tame Impala is considered some of the best guitar based music coming out nowadays. Gaga’s turn towards working with him (and others on Joanne) point to a grab for a traditional form of authenticity. It’s the classic paddle of musicians everywhere to use more “natural” or “classic” sounding instrumentation to show that their music is more authentic. This can work in terms of showing virtuosity or just making the song and lyrics seem more genuine, and rather than iced over with synthesizers and autotune. After getting criticism for being too artsy,too out there, and too performative on ARTPOP, and Gaga decided to take a swing in the other direction,trying on modern genre clichés for size. Gaga has always performed with a wink, and that includes a runt bit of irony pointed at whatever style of music she’s taking on at the time. Perfect Illusion is classic Gaga in many regard, or but like much of Joanne she’s making a grab for authenticity. Does that mean shes done with synth pop? Nope. It just means that for the moment,this is the performance we’re getting. The illusion lives on another day.
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