搬運(yùn)自：微信公眾號(hào)【評(píng)論搬一堆】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語原文與排版調(diào)整）

原作者：Katherine St. Asaph

翻譯：Joonly EC/Ryan-Chopin/Will Lin

審譯：Ryan-Chopin

排版：Ryan-Chopin

With incomparable flair, the pop diva returns to her dance-pop days with a fabulously fun and deeply personal album that is at turns bizarre, theatrical, and ambitious.

憑借著無與倫比的天賦，這位流行天后用一張華麗有趣且不失深度的私人專輯，回歸到了曾經(jīng)的舞曲年代，怪異、夸張且野心勃勃的Gaga回來了。

Lady Gaga has?canceled Earth. She lives on planetChromatica?now. Yes, this is Stefani Germanotta’s return to all that is Lady Gaga: bizarre and theatrical and ambitious,swathed in electrodes, operating with a ga-ga-galaxy brain, delivering dance bangers for us canceled Earthlings.?Chromatica?is her first?pop-pop album since 2011; unlike the non-“Why Did You Do That?” parts of the?A Star is Born?soundtrack?and the beige acoustica of 2016’s?Joanne,?there’s not a ballad to be found. Specifically, according to Gaga lore, “Chromatica” is some kind of far-flung pink-prism?Mad Max?planet where “ballads are illegal.”?Who doesn’t love world-building?

Lady Gaga已經(jīng)廢除了地球。她如今在Chromatica星球定居。沒錯(cuò)，這就代表著曾經(jīng)的史蒂芬妮全面回歸為L(zhǎng)ady Gaga了：怪異、夸張且野心勃勃，在電極之間旋轉(zhuǎn)跳躍，用來自嘎子銀河系（ga-ga-galaxy）的大腦掌控全局，向我們這些被廢除了的地球人傳輸著躍動(dòng)的音符。《Chromatica》是她自2011年之后的第一張、地地道道的流行專輯；不像《一個(gè)明星的誕生》原聲帶里面的“Why Did You Do That"，也不像2016年那張毫無特色的《Joanne》，新專輯里面一首抒情曲都找不到。特別是，根據(jù)Gaga所說，Chromatica星球上，廣泛分布著《瘋狂麥克斯》般的粉色棱鏡，“情歌在這兒不合法”。誰會(huì)不喜歡這種世界構(gòu)建呢？

But while?Chromatica?is a return to Gaga’s dance-pop days, that doesn’t mean quite the same thing now. It’s been 12 years since her debut album?The Fame, released when “EDM” was just corporate jargon and “dance” meant?stompy electroclash. In 2020, a Lady Gaga dance album comes out as an unabashed revival of ’90s house music. But if anyone’s earned a trip to the house, it’s Lady Gaga, who is among the few big pop stars today who can legitimately be called a diva. When Gaga sings, she sings?out: not chill, not?Idol-pretty, but unafraid to go there, whether there be throaty rasps or sotto-voice commands or feral desperation. It’s why her hard-rock dalliances largely worked, and why?Chromatica?feels more substantial than other artists’ throwaway dance turns. So much nu-house is producer-driven, its vocalists reduced to decorations if even credited; there is no risk of this with Gaga. Everything here would be unmistakably her even if self-reference didn’t abound. Lead single “Stupid Love” salvages the juddering sequencer of “Do What U Want,” kicks up the speed, and weaves Gaga’s past lead singles around it like Maypole streamers: the oncoming-juggernaut heft of “Bad Romance,” the melodic contour of “Born This Way,” the conceit of “Applause.”

《Chromatica》雖然標(biāo)志著嘎媽媽回歸流行舞曲，但并不和以前的舞曲一樣。距她發(fā)行首?！禩he Fame》已經(jīng)有12年了，當(dāng)時(shí)的"EDM"還只是行家間的術(shù)語，舞曲也只局限于"人們?nèi)滩蛔《迥_"的電音。2020年，Lady Gaga新專輯發(fā)行，這是一張無所畏懼的九十年代復(fù)古浩室風(fēng)格唱片。如果說是誰贏得了通往浩室音樂殿堂的旅游券，那就是Lady Gaga，她是如今少有的、夠格被稱為Diva（女歌唱家）的流行巨星。當(dāng)Gaga唱歌的時(shí)候，她歌聲嘹亮，即便會(huì)需要粗糙、低沉、陰郁的嗓音，她也不會(huì)有一絲冷漠和一點(diǎn)偶像包袱，只有一顆毫無畏懼的心。這正是她成功玩弄重?fù)u滾的原因，也是《Chromatica》比其它漫不經(jīng)心的舞曲聽起來更沉穩(wěn)有力的原因。很多浩室音樂都是看制作人的功夫，就算署了名的人聲都只能算是裝飾；不過對(duì)于Gaga，這就不是冒險(xiǎn)當(dāng)裝飾了。盡管專輯中自我創(chuàng)作的東西不夠豐富，但它的每一處，仍然無可挑剔。首支單曲"Stupid Love”的震顫感像是“Do What You Want"的續(xù)集，快速地節(jié)奏和Gaga以前的首單編織在一起就像是節(jié)日里的彩色紙帶：迎面而來的是“Bad Romance”般的破壞力，主體是“Born This Way”的旋律輪廓，同時(shí)還富有“Applause”的狂妄自大。

The other line about?Chromatica?is that it’s Gaga’s most personal album. You may recall that?Joanne?was also called Gaga’s “most personal album.” That time, it was “personal” in the same way all pop stars’ unplugged albums get called that: the arrangements had acoustic guitar, and the AutoTune was kept to a tasteful touch-up.Chromatica?loses the guitars but certainly handles heavy subject matter: PTSD triggers, antipsychotic meds, sexual assault. In fact, most of Lady Gaga’s music since?The Fame?has been very personal. For every shiny, poppy song like “Telephone” or “Hair,” Gaga’s recorded three more with wounds at the core: the personified fears ofThe Fame,?the parts of?Born This Way?that are more?darkwave?orWarcraft?than bubblegum; the bitter mess of 2013’s?Artpop. Themes recur: fragmented identity,?soldiers to emptiness,?drinking tears,dying a little?when being touched. The art is often messy, the specific mess of art written from trauma. Even when Gaga dons freaky costumes or writes high-concept songs about Judas or swine, the artifice cracks. It’s why her albums hold up surprisingly well. It’s telling which Gaga moments have resurfaced from the early 2010s into current cultural memory: the deadpan, panting intro to “Monster,” or the sludgy-gothy “Bloody Mary,” which TikTok madeeven sludgier and gothier.

還有人認(rèn)為，《Chromatica》是Gaga最私人化的專輯。你可能還記得《Joanne》當(dāng)時(shí)也被稱為Gaga“最私人化的專輯”。所有流行歌手的不插電專輯都被稱為很“私人化”，那時(shí)候的《Joanne》的“私人化”也是如此而已：所有歌曲都帶有原聲吉他，自動(dòng)調(diào)音也被認(rèn)為算是有品味的潤(rùn)色物。《Chromatica》里就沒那么多吉他音了，但又突出了其沉重的主題：創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)激障礙(PTSD)的觸發(fā)因素、抗精神病藥物和性侵。事實(shí)上，Lady Gaga自發(fā)行《The Fame》以來的大部分音樂都是非常私人化的。對(duì)于每一首像“Telephone”或“Hair”般出色的流行歌曲，Gaga都滿懷創(chuàng)傷地又錄制了更多:《The Fame Monster》中擬人化的恐懼感、《Born This Way》中黑化的魔獸世界般景象和2013年發(fā)行的《Artpop》中的艱苦歲月。相同主題反復(fù)出現(xiàn)：個(gè)人身份支離破碎，士氣磅礴的過去變得空虛疲軟，常常以淚洗面，更是懼怕親熱。藝術(shù)常常是混亂的，是由創(chuàng)傷造成的某種特定的混亂。即使Gaga穿上奇裝異服，或者寫一些關(guān)于“Judas（猶大）”或“Swine（白豬）”的高級(jí)概念歌曲，其表面的偽裝終會(huì)褪下。這就是為什么她的專輯質(zhì)量保持得出奇的好。我們得以知曉，從2010年代初開始，哪些屬于Gaga的高光時(shí)刻又會(huì)重新出現(xiàn)在當(dāng)下的文化記憶中:是歌曲“Monster”里那面無表情、喘著粗氣的怪獸前奏曲，還是更加血腥的哥特式歌曲“Bloody Mary”，當(dāng)然抖音還讓這首歌變得更有內(nèi)味了。

Chromatica?reverses this effect. This is house music at its most shiny and immaculate, a genre made from?ache and escapism, high strings and numbing throbs. But Gaga’s lyrics are plainspoken, mostly free of religious metaphors and pretense; of the two high-concept songs on?Chromatica,?one is deliberately silly (“Babylon”) and the other (“Alice”) immediately yanks the metaphor back into reality: The first words are “my name isn’t Alice” and the song is inhabited not with white rabbits but the more terrifying creatures inside one’s mind. The emergency in “911” refers to olanzapine, a fast-acting antipsychotic that Gaga says?saved her life. The track begins with a cold, stark beat, her vocals affectless and vocoded. The whole thing sounds off, and when the sweet, singsong chorus arrives, it just sounds off even more. The counterpoint never quite resolves with the melody, and the most painful lines (“Wish I laughed and kept the good friendships”) are tossed off, almost missable. But these are wonderful details, ones you can dance through now, then catch later.

《Chromatica》逆轉(zhuǎn)了這一效果。這次是最無暇耀眼的浩室音樂，該流派融合了情感創(chuàng)傷和逃避主義，高音弦樂和鬼畜律動(dòng)。但是Gaga的歌詞直言不諱，幾乎沒有宗教隱喻和偽裝在里面;《Chromatica》中有兩首概念高級(jí)的歌曲，一首(“Babylon”)有些故作愚蠢，另一首(“Alice”)則快速將隱喻拉回現(xiàn)實(shí)：開篇便唱到“我的名字不是愛麗絲”（注：愛麗絲是《愛麗絲夢(mèng)游仙境》中的主人公，此處想表達(dá)她并非是生活在仙境的主人公），這首歌里住著的生物也不再是小白兔，而是Gaga構(gòu)思的更駭人的妖魔鬼怪。“911”歌詞中的緊急情況指的是她急需奧氮平，這是一種快速起效的抗精神病藥物，Gaga說它救了她的命。這首歌以一種冰冷、僵硬的節(jié)奏開始，利用了聲音編碼來體現(xiàn)她那冷冰冰的毫無感情的聲音。整首歌聽起來很不協(xié)調(diào)，當(dāng)甜美而單調(diào)的副歌到來之時(shí)，這歌聽起來就更不對(duì)勁了。其多重聲部永遠(yuǎn)沒有完全融入旋律，最痛苦的那一句詞(“希望我能笑著，留住那場(chǎng)美好的友誼”)就像一顆隨意發(fā)射的高爾夫球，幾乎不可能進(jìn)洞。但這些細(xì)節(jié)依舊美好，你現(xiàn)在跟著音樂蹦迪，可能會(huì)錯(cuò)過這些細(xì)節(jié)，那就盡情舞蹈去吧，過后再去慢慢捕捉。

For all Gaga’s emphasis on?Chromatica?being an album meant to be heard start-to-finish with no skips, the sequencing is a bit off. The string interludes, composed with?Morgan Kibby?(M83, White Sea), separate the albums into three acts, each with its own filler. The climactic redemption of?Ariana Grande?collab “Rain On Me” comes about ten tracks too early, and “Free Woman” and “Fun Tonight” lose energy so close together. In act two, “Plastic Doll”—the basic idea of which you can guess just by reading the title—would have been too on-the-nose on?The Fame.?“Sour Candy,” the break-the-internet collaboration with K-pop superstars?BLACKPINK, is sassy enough, but on a Lady Gaga album, and particularly this album, it feels out of place. That’s partly because there’s no Gaga until over a minute in, partly because we’ve literally heard it before: “Sour Candy” is at least the?fourth?pop?song?built on a sample of Maya Jane Coles’ “What They Say.” Then there’s the unavoidable fact that?Chromatica?is an album explicitly made for big communal dancefloors, released just before Pride month, a big celebratory mood, in a year when none of those things quite exist like they used to.

盡管Gaga強(qiáng)調(diào)聽《Chromatica》得從頭按順序聽到尾，但它的曲序卻安排得不是很恰當(dāng)。由M83/White Sea的Morgan Kibby創(chuàng)作的弦樂插曲把整張專輯分成三段，每一段里面都有充數(shù)的曲目。與Ariana Grande合作的“Rain On Me”副歌部分的救贖之情來得太早了，至少提前了十首歌，“Free Woman”和“Fun Tonight”兩首歌挨得太近，削弱了各自的強(qiáng)大能量。在第二段中，“Plastic Doll”——你一看歌名就能猜出它的基本概念——和《The Fame》的概念太像了?！?strong>Sour Candy”是一首與韓國(guó)流行音樂女子組合BLACKPINK的跨網(wǎng)線合作，這首歌足夠活潑和時(shí)髦，但在Lady Gaga的專輯中，尤其是在這張專輯中，它顯得格格不入。部分原因是因?yàn)镚aga在一分多鐘內(nèi)都沒開口唱,還因?yàn)槲覀兇_實(shí)有此般聽聞：“Sour Candy”至少是第四首采樣Maya Jane Coles的“What They Say”的歌了。還有一個(gè)不可避免的事實(shí)就是，《Chromatica》這張專輯明確是為大型舞池所作的舞曲專輯，在驕傲月前夕發(fā)行，人們本該本著狂歡之態(tài)來享受這些日子，但在這忐忑不安的一年里，這些念想已經(jīng)不如從前了。

Chromatica’s two strongest tracks are near-total opposites. Imagine an axis from bizarro transcendence to pure transcendence; “Sine From Above” is all the way at the left. Each individual part of it makes sense, kind of. Lady Gaga and?Elton John? Sure;?they’re godfamily, after all, and he’s a livelier duet partner than Tony Bennett or Bradley Cooper. Elton John with two-thirds of Swedish House Mafia? That was the idea,?back in 2013. An ode to a literal sine wave, dropping decibels from the heavens? If anyone would write that, it’d be Gaga. Attacking that theme with zero-irony gusto that Eurovision would co-sign,?going for it and never looking back? Chopping everything up for a drum-and-bass tangent at the end? To borrow the theater-kid saying, it’s big and wrong—yet so big, it’s hard to call it wrong at all.

《Chromatica》兩支令人印象最深刻的單曲幾乎具有完全不同的風(fēng)格。想象一條從奇異穿越到純粹的軸線。“Sine From Above”整首歌都很激進(jìn)。歌曲的每個(gè)細(xì)節(jié)都有含義，確實(shí)像Lady Gaga和Elton John合作曲，畢竟他們是上帝家族。相比Tony Bennett或Bradley Cooper這樣的合作對(duì)象，Elton John更具活力。他帶有濃厚的瑞典浩室黑手黨（瑞典電子舞曲樂隊(duì)）風(fēng)格。這種想法帶我們回到2013年。那是對(duì)正弦波的贊歌，分貝從天而降。假如有人能寫出這種歌曲，那一定是Gaga。以真切熱情抨擊主題，這正是歐洲歌唱大賽所追求的，一往直前，永不回頭。歌曲結(jié)尾切分節(jié)奏，伴有鼓打貝司。借用年輕的極端戲劇愛好者的名言，框架很大，錯(cuò)誤也有——然而正因如此大的框架，很難全盤否定。

If “Sine From Above” runs on WTF, “Enigma” runs on familiarity: Every musical and emotional beat arrives precisely on cue, as if the club had muscle memory. It’s massive, it has a gravitational pull. Uncoincidentally, the chorus recalls a?certain other song?about being heroic lovers, just for one night. It slots right into Gaga canon:Enigma?is the name of her recent Vegas residency, and the snippets of sax that crest above the choruses recall the late E Street Band member Clarence Clemons on?Born This Way.?And, crucially, it nails the desire of meeting someone in all its urgency. On planetChromatica, “Enigma” is otherworldly: the atmospheres light up violet, dragon’s eyes and phantoms abounding. It’s the same drive that’s powered dance music, from disco to house to Gaga—turning a moment heightened, more fantastic, and, even at its most strobe-lit and artificial, somehow entirely human.

如果“Sine From Above”讓人驚艷閉嘴，那么“Enigma”就感覺更熟悉親近了些。每個(gè)音樂和情感的節(jié)奏恰到好處，就好像俱樂部也有肌肉記憶。歌曲強(qiáng)大，具有引力。不巧，副歌令人回想起另一首寫的風(fēng)塵俠侶一夜情的歌曲。這首歌剛達(dá)到Gaga的個(gè)人標(biāo)準(zhǔn)：Enigma是她此前在維加斯駐唱的演出名，副歌中一小段薩克斯令人回想起已故的E Street Band成員Clarence Clemons在專輯《Born This Way》中的演奏。重要的是，這首歌將遇見某人的愿望深深釘刻在其緊迫性上。在Chromatica這個(gè)星球上，“Enigma”是異世界：其氛圍照亮了大量的紫羅蘭、龍的眼睛和鬼魂。從迪斯科到浩室再到Gaga，這賦予舞曲能量的魄力也使得當(dāng)下時(shí)刻的情感更為充沛，更加奇妙，甚至在搭建的最閃亮的舞臺(tái)燈光下和滿是人海的現(xiàn)場(chǎng)演出中也有此效果。