搬運自：微信公眾號【評論搬一堆】（在原文基礎上添加了英語原文與排版調(diào)整）

原作者：Amanda Petrusich

翻譯：Alice Song/Ryan-Chopin

校正：Cyana Lu/Ryan-Chopin

Now that her peers have caught up to her visual?provocations, Lady Gaga seems?less like an audacious pioneer than one among many, and?Joanne?feels tentative, an affront to the Gaga of yesteryear.

如今，當其他歌手也費盡心思想對觀眾造成視覺沖擊時，Lady Gaga在同時代歌手中大膽的先鋒形象似乎已不那么明顯。這也使得專輯《Joanne》有些底氣不足，彷佛是對Gaga昔日的嘲諷。

At the start of the decade, Lady Gaga worked hard to reposition pop as a high art or vice-versa—both absorbing and extending a lineage that included oddball visionaries like Andy Warhol, Klaus Nomi, Prince, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Elton John, Madonna, and Missy Elliott. Most of her avant-garde gestures were extra-musical, a string of cheeky, absurdist visions realized entirely outside of the studio and only tangentially in conversation with her bloodless dance jams (Gaga herself has referred to that early work as “soulless electronic pop”). It’s not hard, now, to recall these stunts from memory: she was sewn into a dress fashioned from slabs of flank steak for the VMAs. She hatched herself from a semi-translucent egg at the Grammys. She hired a self-described “vomit artist” to puke a steady stream of syrupy green liquid onto her bosom during a SXSW performance. Her repeated and earnest disavowal of anything remotely normative was (and remains) plainly empowering for anyone sitting at home alone in her room, feeling like a true weirdo. The idea was always to fracture and reestablish a hierarchy. Only Gaga could turn “monster” into a term of endearment.

在本世紀初，?Lady Gaga為把流行樂變?yōu)橐豁椄鼮楦哐诺乃囆g付出了不懈努力，另一方面，她吸收并擴大了一個專屬古怪而超前之人的譜系，其中有Andy Warhol，Klaus Nomi，Prince，David Bowie，Grace Jones，Elton John，Madonna和Missy Elliott。音樂范圍之外的Gaga似乎更加前衛(wèi)，只有在錄音室外談及她的舞蹈困境時（Gaga本人稱其早年作品為“沒有靈魂的電子舞蹈”），她才會收起一連串的放肆、荒誕的幻想。以前她“雷人”的樣子歷歷在目：穿一條縫滿了大塊牛腩排的裙子參加MTV音樂錄影帶大獎；她在格萊美頒獎禮上藏身半透明“巨蛋”，在舞臺中央被“孵化”出來；在SXSW音樂節(jié)的表演上，她雇用了一個自稱“嘔吐藝術家”的人朝她的胸部吐出糖漿狀的綠色液體。她過去習慣于否認所有的主流，這也讓任何在屏幕前看她表演的人認為她是個怪胎，并且這種印象一直不變。她的想法總是在打破以往的等級制度，并試圖建立一個新的制度。所以對于Gaga來說，“怪物”是一句贊美。

And regardless of whether you find those moves electrifying or tedious, it's hard to overstate the value of that work as a public service—every generation’s freaks elect a champion, and Gaga was tireless, proud, and wholly devoted to the job. Her commercial success also meant that her chart peers were, for better or worse, free to get stranger, artier, and less predictable; Gaga helped usher?in an era of pop in which hardly anything is too far-out (or pretentious) to play. Visual provocations of one sort or another are expected now: Sia performed “Chandelier” at the Grammys with her back to the audience, wearing a bobbed, platinum wig, while Kristen Wiig and the then-twelve-year old dancer Maddie Ziegler frolicked around her in nude bodysuits. Miley Cyrus gyrates among furries as a matter of routine.

不管你覺得她的舉動是激動人心還是單調(diào)乏味，都很難被夸大成為公共服務。每代奇葩都會爭個第一第二，而Gaga便是那個驕傲而不知疲倦地搶奪王位的人。她商業(yè)上的成功使得她的同行們無論好壞，都能隨心所欲地瞬息萬變，附庸風雅，也更加難以預料，而Gaga助力開啟了一個做任何事都不為過的流行樂時代。任何樣式的視覺沖擊都有可能出現(xiàn)：Sia在格萊美上不露臉，戴著銀白色假發(fā)，演唱其大熱單曲“Chandelier”，同時還有Kristen Wiig和未滿十二歲的舞蹈演員Maddie Ziegler穿著裸色緊身衣在她身邊跳來跳去；Miley Cyrus也和平常一樣，穿著咣咣當當?shù)钠げ荨?/p>

But now that her peers have caught up, Gaga is starting to feel less like an audacious pioneer and more like one among many. ?Joanne, which is named after her late aunt—a Sexual assault survivor who died of lupus at nineteen—experiments with rootsier idioms like country and folk, maybe as a kind of goofy gesture toward authenticity, or maybe just to distance herself further from 2013’s overblown and gloppy?ARTPOP. Gaga has always sounded most comfortable belting out rich, brawny pop songs while wiggling around a piano bench, and her best tracks, like the deeply irresistible “Yoü and I,” from 2011’s?Born This Way, are reminiscent of the more virtuosic fringes of glam-Rock (“You and I” features inimitable Queen guitarist Brian May, a drumbeat that nods directly to “We Will Rock You,” and harmonies that very nearly recall “Bohemian Rhapsody”).

但是現(xiàn)在，大家都在追求新奇，Gaga似乎不再是大膽的先鋒，而回歸普通了?！禞oanne》這張專輯，以她過世的姨母（性侵受害者，在十九歲時因狼瘡去世）命名，嘗試了像鄉(xiāng)村、西部音樂和民謠那樣更樸實的語言?！禞oanne》也許是Gaga在以滑稽的姿態(tài)表達真實，又可能只是想與她2013年浮夸又混亂的《ARTPOP》劃清界限。Gaga總是一邊大聲高唱前衛(wèi)又動感的流行歌曲，一邊在鋼琴椅上舞動，而她最好的單曲，比如2011年的專輯《Born This Way》中魅惑十足的“Yoü and I”，更是為處于藝術邊緣的迷惑搖滾風，演繹一出懷舊好戲。（“Yoü and I”中的吉他由皇后樂隊的吉他手Brian May彈奏，鼓點神似“We Will Rock You”，和聲也極易令人聯(lián)想起“Bohemian Rhapsody（波西米亞狂想曲）”）

Glam—its blatant preoccupation with fame and stardom, its mischievous and inelegant tendencies, its emphasis on the theatrical, the visual, the decadent, the garish—made sense for Gaga, both for her voice (while robust and often lovely, it is not exactly nuanced; the little fissures and breaks that typically animate folk songs aren’t instinctive to her) and for her fantastical, psychedelic-leaning visual taste. A move toward singer-songwriter earnestness now—especially following?Cheek to Cheek, the collection of jazz standards she recorded with Tony Bennett, itself a purposeful expression of seriousness, maturity—feels unnecessary.

Glam曾發(fā)文稱，唱片中調(diào)皮又不雅的風格對于名氣和地位的執(zhí)著，以及對于戲劇性、視覺那頹廢、艷俗的強調(diào)，都是Gaga的代表——這一切都因為她有著獨特的嗓音（既強勁又俏皮，并無太大差別；而民謠顯然不是她本身的風格）和她空洞迷幻的視覺審美，而變得和諧起來。對于Gaga來說，轉型為創(chuàng)作型歌手似乎不那么要緊了，尤其是在她與Tony Bennett合作推出了《Cheek to Cheek》之后——該專輯收錄了11首美國經(jīng)典爵士歌曲，Gaga用成熟的心態(tài)，堅定了她對于此次合作的認真態(tài)度。

Gaga has repeated Warhol’s claim that “art should be meaningful in the most shallow way,” but Warhol also insisted on a kind of surreal detachment from flesh—“Sex is so abstract,” he once said. Gaga’s disembodiment feels less deliberate.?Joanne?never reveals much of a narrative or stylistic through-line, and even her brief dips into indie-Rock—her collaborations with Father John Misty on “Sinner’s Prayer” and “Come to Mama” (Misty is also credited as a writer on Beyoncé’s?Lemonade), and Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker on “Perfect Illusion” (Rihanna covered Parker’s “New Person, Same Old Mistakes”?on?Anti)—feel familiar.

Gaga非常欣賞Warhol的一句話：“藝術應該以最淺顯易懂的方式展示其蘊含的意義”，但同時，對于肉體，Warhol又保持著一種奇怪的冷漠，他曾說“性真是個抽象的東西”。Gaga對此信條的偏愛看起來并非是故意為之。無論抒情上還是風格上，《Joanne》從未表現(xiàn)出一個貫穿全專輯的線索，而從她與Father John Misty（也叫Josh Tillman，曾參與創(chuàng)作Beyonce的專輯《Lemonade》廣受好評）的合作曲“Sinner’s Prayer” 和?“Come to Mama”，以及與Tame Impala樂隊吉他手Kevin Parker（Rihanna曾在專輯《Anti》中翻唱他的“New Person, Same Old Mistakes”?）合作的“Perfect Illusion”中又可以發(fā)現(xiàn)，她對獨立搖滾的淺嘗輒止是那么似曾相識。

Joanne?is rife with visitors, though none make themselves especially known: Mark Ronson (who co-produces), Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. “Dancin’ in Circles,” a song she co-wrote with Beck, is a clubby paean to self-love with a grody pre-chorus: “Up all night, tryna’ rub the pain out,” she chants. In 2016, masturbation-as-engine-of-escape isn’t a particularly titillating topic (in the decades since “She Bop,” Hailee Steinfeld, Nicki Minaj, Pink, the Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears, and plenty of others have recorded tracks about getting themselves off), nor the instance of Beck-Gaga collusion anyone was hoping for (imagine, for a moment, if he had brought her “Debra”).

《Joanne》有一些小眾合作者：Mark Ronson（聯(lián)合制作人），英國獨立搖滾樂隊Florence + the Machine主唱Florence Welch，美國搖滾樂隊Queens of the Stone Age（石器時代女王）主唱Josh Homme。她和Beck合作編曲的“Dancin’ in Circles”是首有點自我又自戀的歌，副歌前一遍遍重復的“Up all night, tryna’ rub the pain out（整夜未眠，嘗試取樂，擺脫痛苦）”顯得有些多余。2016年，“通過自慰來逃避”已不再是一個令人興奮的話題（十年間，從“She Bop”開始，?Hailee Steinfeld, Nicki Minaj, P!nk, the Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears以及許多歌手都曾提及這種放松方式），更非源自Gaga和Beck合作時的摩擦，盡管許多人都有所期待（稍微設想一下，如果他已經(jīng)發(fā)行了“Debra”，又會是什么情況呢）。

Though Gaga addresses a?handful of serious concerns here, some topical, some personal—the murder of Trayvon Martin; what happens to a person after she dies—her treatment of them often feels clumsy if not performative (in “Angel Down,” an ode to the Black Lives Matter movement, she sings, “Angel down / Why do people just stand around?” while Ronson sadly plays a Mellotron).

Gaga已經(jīng)多次在單曲“Angel Down”中表達出擔心和憂慮，一些源于她個人，一些源于這個大環(huán)境——Trayvon Martin槍擊案?！耙粋€人死后會發(fā)生什么事？”——她對此的看法和表述方式還欠點考慮（在對“黑命貴”運動表達贊美的單曲《Angel Down》中，伴著Ronson憂傷的電子琴聲，她唱到：“Angel down / Why do people just stand around?（天使就此墜落，但為何人們坐視不管？）”）

Elsewhere, there are hints of a smaller, more personal arc: Gaga’s got it for someone she knows is bad news, but she’s not sure if she can walk away just yet. “Perfect Illusion,” the record’s first single, struggled to chart (it debuted at number fifteen on the Hot 100), but has a propulsive, dizzying quality that feels like a pretty good analogue for the pRocess of completely losing your mind over someone, only to realize later you’ve been hoodwinked: “Mistaken for love, it wasn’t love, it was a perfect illusion,” Gaga bellows, her fire-hose voice big, unchecked, wild. She sounds indignant but also vaguely unhinged—like she’s figured out she’s playing a rigged game, but still refuses to fold her hand. Opener “Diamond Heart” has Homme on guitar, but the best moments are Gaga’s: “Young wild American / C’mon, baby, do you have a girlfriend?” she wonders in the chorus.

還有一些對于她自我內(nèi)心的感情暗示：Gaga和一個她早知是渣男的人相愛了，但她不知自己是否能解脫出來?！癙erfect Illusion”作為專輯中的第一支單曲，艱難地登上了排行榜（它僅空降the Hot 100第15名），但是其音質迷離，給人一種“為某人丟了魂兒，直到最后你才反應過來是被蒙了”的感覺：“Mistaken for love, it wasn’t love, it was a perfect illusion（錯以為這是愛，但這并不是，這是一種完美的幻覺）”。一絲義憤填膺，一絲精神失常，好似她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己被卷入了一場被人暗中操控的比賽，但拒絕袖手旁觀。盡管專輯第一首曲目“Diamond Heart”的吉他伴奏是Homme，且十分精彩，但是最出色的部分是當Gaga在副歌中大聲發(fā)問：“Young wild American / C’mon, baby, do you have a girlfriend?（年輕狂野的美國人啊，你有女友嗎？）”

It’s the same story on “Million Reasons,” co-written with Hillary Lindsey (who collaborated with Carrie Underwood on?“Jesus, Take the Wheel”), an undeniable power ballad Poison would’ve murdered in 1988: “I bow down to pray,” Gaga sings at her piano. “I try to make the worse seem better.” This kind of semi-desperate negotiating will be uncomfortably?familiar to anyone who has tried to will a doomed situation into something viable. Her man’s already given her a million reasons to split. “But baby, I just need one good one to stay.”

“Million Reasons”也是如此，這首歌由Lady Gaga和Hillary Lindsey （曾與Carrie Underwood一同創(chuàng)作過“Jesus,Take the Wheel”）一同創(chuàng)作，一首能讓人上癮的抒情曲。Gaga在歌中唱到：“I bow down to pray,I try to make the worse seem better.（我虔誠祈禱，試圖扭轉這糟糕的局面）” 這幾近絕望的語氣會給那些試圖扭轉糟糕局面的人帶來一種不安的熟悉感。她的愛人有無數(shù)分手的理由，但Gaga說：“But baby, I just need one good one to stay.（但是寶貝，我需要一個讓你留下的理由）”

Sartorially, Gaga has recently come to favor civilian get-ups; just last week, she returned to the Bitter End, the tiny, Greenwich Village venue where she got her start, wearing short-shorts and a sheer, Bud Light-branded tank top (Bud Light sponsored her Dive Bar tour). In the video for "Perfect Illusion," she wears denim cutoffs, black combat boots, a black t-shirt, and a blonde ponytail. I sported a similar look—though with far less success—nearly every school day between 1995 and 1997. But nobody wants to immediately recognize herself in Gaga’s aesthetic; we want her to suggest a path we hadn’t thought of before, to nurture and clarify a beauty we didn’t even realize was there.?Joanne?feels too self-conscious, an affront to the Gaga of yesteryear—the truest self, after all, isn’t always the quietest.

在服裝設計方面，Gaga最近開始青睞普通裝扮。就在上周，她回到了Greenwich Village的一個小酒吧“Bitter End”。她的生涯就始于此地。在“Perfect Illusion”的mv中，她穿著牛仔短褲、黑色戰(zhàn)斗靴、黑色t恤，扎著金色馬尾辮。從1995年到1997年，我?guī)缀趺刻於荚趯W校上課，但沒人想在Gaga的美學中立刻認出過去的自己，我們希望她能開拓一條我們從未涉足的道路，締造一種我們甚至從未意識到的美。《Joanne》給人一種不太真實的感覺，這是對Lady Gaga的一種侮辱——畢竟，最真實的自己不一定安心恬蕩。