Live from the Calvary that is Coachella, welcome to this Pop Communion that is The Cure …
Feels, on, reals.
So it is and, again, here we are… and #againagain I don’t really know where to begin or end with this one as again again again there is no beginning or end to the perpetual Pascha that is “The Cure.” I still haven’t figured it out yet, but I enjoy musing in the meantime… #fortherecord #noneofthisisbinding #itsalljustmakebelieve #dontciteme
On the seventh day, Gaga had finished this work of creation, so she put to rest this Famous curse…
The Pretense
So, “The Cure.” I guess, broadly, briefly, it feels like… surrendering into the unknown abyss after a forty-day desert trek, only to find… that the hard-fought rock bottom was but a bridge, all along, before that luminous cloud rocket number nine.
The Past Tense Rewind
So, in this going-on seventh (eighth?) annual progressive cycle in literary association with a one said aforementioned Lady, I’ve learned something (just one something, no need for greed), “This” in all its “Thisness” has always, is always, and will always be happening in increasing measure well into the foreseeable future. While I have yet to identify the source of this odd compulsion to narrate creative works which are, by definition, already complete narratives; I exist with the knowledge that said compulsion will kick-in upon each and every Gaga release –– so why fight it? #hookahsnotbazookas I don’t always have the time, energy, or resources to make proper sense of existing narratives which, again, were published with enough existing sensibility to render any further commentary moot, unnecessary, and quite frankly, distracting; but again, the music marketplace didn’t ask Gallop to poll me on my feelings, and the internet doesn’t recognize expression or human existence unless translated into code and content; so, that said: *gestures toward face* this is me caring, and *sets fingers back on keys* this is me continuing.
#imaginaryreadersayswhat “Oh, wow:” #translation ▼
#SWIPERMAKEAFXXKINGPOINT
Now then, where were we supposed to be… right, so, “The Cure” within the historical literary context of Lady Gaga’s existing zeitgeist anthology / pop biography. So, Catholics and Pop acolytes have much in common #shockofallshocks, not the least of which being a fervent allegiance to the magnanimity of ritual, the experiential translation of alchemical mystery; and that fundamentally –– beyond mere Genesis, Nativity and Passion –– we (yes, I am a part and parcel of all both within said “we”) are natural-born Easter People. And “This” in all its “Thisness,” that is The Cure, is nothing more and never anything less than the Paschal Gospel’s Contemporary Record
#WELCOMEBACKTOTHENEWTESTAMENT #OHTHISOLDNEWTESTAMENT
#gottaremembertoreadthememos #literallytheonlyfeaturedreference
In a nutshell, The Cure’s world release reads like whatever Easter means to a displaced group of Millennial anybodies who happened to follow a certain frequency to the California desert by way of caravan scene or computer screen.
#SWIPERCOMMALITERALLYNOONEHASTHETIMEORUNLIMITEDDATA
Brass Tacks: So, what seemed like The Nativity was actually a Genesis (Born This Way), and before that was like, the pre-dawn (The Fame, The Fame Monster), and then what could be considered The Passion (Joanne) was actually like a Lenten desert, but it all kind of culminates into a lovely, lovely Easter celebration; but also, like, “buckle-up Buttercup,” because Easter was a revolution that the known world (yes, everyone, regardless of religious affiliation or lack thereof who references their lifetime around AD annual cycles –– yes, all of you –– are living in this Resurrected world #yourbankstatementssay2017 #annodominididntstutter). So, par for the *gestures broadly at everything* pop course said Lady dictates since she felt like it, Gaga brought the Gospel to a heretofore widely-assumed Godless strip of generational scape, to once again, soundtrack the performance art of human salvation by way of unconditional love’s living sacrifice –– which is a long-winded way of saying: The Goddess of Love just led you to her planet, now put your palms up. #PLOTPIVOT #ITSALLARTPOP #PAWSUPFORPASCHALRASCALS
So, without further ado:
(for real this time: the other “it” was all pretense)
The Nativity, The Passion, and The Pascha of ARTPOP Soul That is Lady Gaga’s The Cure
So, this one scribes like… stellar sapient Saturday night headliners ushering weathered-and-worn Westward-found desert tribes into the sonic illumination of Easter Sunday pre-dawn…
If I can’t find the cure, I’ll
I’ll fix you with my love
No matter what you know, I’ll
I’ll fix you with my love
And if you say you’re okay
I’m gonna heal you anyway
Promise I’ll always be there
Promise I’ll be the cure
The sheer simplicity of a promise, and yet contextual complexity of making good on said pact, is nothing more and never anything less than the new and never-ending truth manifest in the definitive absence of former illusion — the unyielding fervor of an authority’s established allegiance to love supreme amidst a war-torn world: thus is the mission of the pop missionary, thus is the purpose of pop musicianship, and so goes the narrative of human salvation in this material world… if it sounds melodramatic, ’tis only because this pop world is nothing more and never anything less than a soundstage altar offering living displays of immortality’s ever-open pathways #Godislove #belikeGod
The Nativity
Some people are about Genesis, others are about Easter; both are fine, both are well-and-good, but Millennial Pop kids are Easter People; it’s who we are, it’s what we believe, we were born into it, didn’t need to sign up, we just needed to witness the slain rise up, and bop, and record, and bop, and record, and post, receipts.
So, how in the good green Earth does this bring us to “The Cure”’s Paschal claim? Welp, let’s start just after the Genesis of Born This Way, with The Nativity that is ARTPOP.
Lady Gaga: Pretense: Lady Gaga as we know her was created – not born – in 2006. Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” depicted the goddess’ epic emanation from the ocean. Zephyrs, symbols of spiritual passions, blew the goddess of love, sexuality, and beauty onto the shore. Lady Gaga emanated from Stefani Germanotta. Bowie, Warhol, Queen, and Lady Starlight – symbols of pure Pop Glam passions, blew the modern iconography of love, art, sexuality, and beauty onto the world’s greatest stage: New York. Gaga is only three years old, but her creator was as integral to Pop Art – within this or any decade – as her creation – if only because of the masterpiece she made. … As Gaga’s destiny was seemingly hand-written by the Pop Art gods, her birthday, March 28th, is the day De Pascha Computus credits with The Nativity, and the creation of the sun and moon. (January 2, 2010)
… then a few years later …
It’s really the center of the record, I really wanted there to be a more infinite tone to this concept of ARTPOP; that we can put art in the front, and not have the corporate world controlling art anymore. How can we the artists beckon for our ideas and for our visions to be the most important thing the thing that’s driving, driving culture that’s driving these corporations? I didn’t really want it to grow too much, I wanted it to kind of hypnotize people and kind of become like a mantra, and I say, “We could belong together, ARTPOP.” So, it’s really a metaphor for love, between me and my fans. If we can belong together, so maybe Art and Pop can belong together, in that order.
It was a whole philosophy, the album; something I really spent a lot of time gazing at, really thinking about what it is I want to say with this record. And one of the things I wanted to do, was sort of express my creative process –– but through the music. But I feel that I’ve always been making ARTPOP, actually in a way –– mostly on my first two records. The third album, Born This Way, it was more conceptual –– a different thing –– but ARTPOP is something I’ve always been creating; and it’s actually not something I’ve created. I feel that it’s like an inferno in culture: that Pop Art was moving like this (clockwise), and all of a sudden it reverses –– like it turns the shirt inside out. And I’m really just sort of picking up on my art, and what I do –– being a part of that inferno, changing, and acknowledging it. So, I actually think other people have made ARTPOP, and it already existed before we made the album; it’s just we’re defining it now –– and we’re celebrating it. It doesn’t have to be mine; I actually don’t care who takes credit for it, I just think it’s beautiful.
The principle message, I want them to feel that their creativity is an important part of them, no matter who they are. I want them to feel that they don’t need to prove anything in order to be artistic, or to be creative. I want them to feel a sense of ownership over their talents, and cherish those things about themselves, and know that that part of them is what is going to be dictating pop culture in the future. You are the future of what we will see, because commercialism now is so big –– it’s trash. It’s everywhere, it’s like fast food, because Warhol put the fast food on the canvas; but now it’s time for the canvas to be more important than the fast food: and I want them to take that message with them. I want them to remember that being themselves, and making what they love is more important than anything: more important than proving yourself, more important than validation from other people about yourself, your success –– your success belongs to you.
I realized that culture was now in a place for [Warholian Pop Art] to flip, and that it had almost come so full circle that it was having a rebirth; and this rebirth is now that art culture is coming into pop culture. As opposed to Marilyn being the subject of the canvas, Marilyn herself is now the canvas. So, this is what ARTPOP is all about; it’s about making artists the muse, and the musician, and the canvas, and the work itself.
… then you go to ARTPOP, and I wanted to celebrate the victory of Born This Way; the victory for me of, the fans’ lives that it did touch, in a very deep way, and intimate way. So I made them a record to dance to, I made them a record to wipe their tears from Born This Way, and throw confetti, and kiss one another, and applaud one another. In an age where a lot of people are cynical, and want to tear each other down, I want my fans to cheer each other on –– that’s what ARTPOP is about… ‘Now let’s go into the future, we’ve left the drift…’
Oh, wow: that old New Testament. What, did happen to, that old New Testament? I seem to remember a litany of industrial crucifixions informally paraded before the marketplace #hypermasculinityrobbedyouoftheVenusmusicvideo #Volantiswasmisunderstood #noteveryAuraismadefortheAppStoreorGooglePlay #thecollectivebroadgesturingofDWUW #theycalleditARTFLOP #thatsunfair #butweareEasterPeople #itsaboutlearning #PaschalRascalsNeverReallyDie #likeNERDs #ORNOSTALGICGEEKS but, I digress; this Pascha, in a nutshell, is the second coming of that old New Testament, that could be anything, could be everything, could just be the living reality and manifest dream of divine humanity by way of… Artistic Revolution Through the Potential Of Pop ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Passion
So, the Catholic x Pop acolyte communal camaraderie of natural-born Easter tribe identity… For those who forgot what that means, for those who never knew, for those who were destined to wake here-and-now amidst collective cultural and social slumber, “The Cure” is here to remind, revive, and rehabilitate you; to soundtrack the journey of a living sacrifice… it’s not melodrama, just that timeless narrative of stellar evolution and eternal life in love supreme… #dontjudgeme #icantmakethisupalone
In Christianity, the Passion (from Late Latin: passionem “suffering, enduring”) is the short final period in the life of Jesus covering his entrance visit to Jerusalem and leading to his crucifixion on Mount Calvary, defining the climactic event central to Christian doctrine of Salvation History. The commemoration begins with the portent grievance of the Blessed Virgin Mary, followed by Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his anger and outburst at the Cleansing of the Temple, his bleeding and Agony in the Garden followed by his arrest by the Sanhedrin priests and ultimate trial before Pontius Pilate. Those parts of the four Gospels that describe these events, as well as the non-canonical Gospel of Peter, are known as the “Passion narratives:” … Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his anger and outburst at the Cleansing of the Temple. A meal a few days before Passover. A woman anoints Jesus. He says that for this she will always be remembered. In Jerusalem, the Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples. Jesus gives final instructions, predicts his betrayal, and tells them all to remember him.
Here, it would seem as if the projected Passion of Gaga unfolds with the portent grievance of a once Bloody Mary… triumphal entry into the desert of this capstone-era, Joanne, on the wings of a Perfect Illusion…
… guiding said messenger through the one-in-a-Million Reasons woman’s anointing …
… before a final John Wayne bacchanal with one’s closest brigade, before prophesied mortal death …
The Pascha
Easter, also called Pascha (Greek, Latin) or Resurrection Sunday, is a festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial after his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD. It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.
… all culminating on the other side of that desert route, in a most spectacular rise and living testament to The Cure of paschal reality cast upon a festival stage …
… if only to realize one’s appointed purpose to exist as record of unconditional love’s immortality in this terrestrial space, if only for your monstrous tribe’s creative rebellious grace #itsallalchemy #itsallartpop
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It’s all been ARTPOP, Pt. II; but, true to form, “The Cure” feels like ARTPOP, Vol. Fourever and Always… because that’s ARTPOP, because she had literally just said ARTPOP’s always been around #likethatfriendwhoisnevernotslumberpartying #bubbledreambuddies It vibes like mid-tempo, pop, soul. Pop is power, Soul is love: that unabashed, unashamed, unironic, pure, subliminal, ebbing, flowing, never-knowing, just dancing through a finger-snap, clap, and aquatic bass marvel of the most precise mid-tempo. “I’ll, fix, you, with, my love:” not with bombs, not with legislative red-tape, not with corporate corruption, market manipulation, cultivation of a youth culture addicted to only the most disposable, not with big pharma, nor puritanical patriarchal false authority: with, love. #ANDNOTEVENTHEFANCYKIND
But, for the sake of, “This is technically a song review, and I, as an imaginary reader, still have no idea what the song sounds like based on your CatholiPop gnostic origin story;” just take a moment to appreciate the exponential reality of The Cure’s grooves, that tempo, that production quality, that three real pop-soul, rhythmic blues, with that signature adolescent ambition underscored by butterfly-in-the-stomach uncertainty maintaining the unyielding question… “I wonder if this could be love?” THAT, IS, THE, POP, YOU, NOSTALGIA, AND, LOVE, because nothing’s too cool –– because, it’s real now #its #all #artpop #because #bornthisway #justhashtaggingthefameandthefamemonsterinheresonobodyfeelslonely #cheektocheek #joanne #redandblue #allfamilyvibesforEastertide
True to glorious form, again we have the everything and anything representing on behalf of that illustrious TRL Generation. A girl born on the Day of Empowered Innocence
March 28 people display great concentration when doing their work. In fact, bombs could be exploding around them and they would remain focused on their objective.
… swallowing the darkness, in the belly of the beast, that barren wild Westworld desert, only to emerge just past the twilight of midnight –– between two evenings –– to release The Cure, live, from the main-stage pulpit, before those privileged masses of the contemporary world’s imperial Pop republic.
Just as De Pascha Computus calculates The Nativity at March 28, aligned with the Roman day of celebration commemorating the birth of the sun and moon, here again we see that most prolific constellation of modern Pop’s stratosphere –– Gaga Hausa –– emerging from the heretofore desolate plane, to ascend and maintain that cultivation of this time and space void of twain, again again, and yet, again as always, entirely new, entirely foreshadowed, entirely executed with resurrection in mind… and because the mental is all and the all is mental, and live pop sonic is proximal mind control; and because again she rode into the desert on this fifth Arabella of the pop apocalypse, namesake in tow, because she rode into the desert Joanne, before releasing said soul beneath that limelit glow, because she emerged Gaga once more, back around the sun just an eclipsed shade beyond that thirty-first rotational time. It’s all just a festival holiday celebrating the return of Gaga and/or Stef, and/or the Gagas in us all, and/or whoever it is that remains, well-beyond the shell of that prominent monstrosity of mortality’s material ego, now freshly slain.
So, what does this mean for the kids of the TRL Generation? It could mean anything; it does mean ARTPOP. It means a kid from audience pit of that very brink-and-break of the Millennium’s Pop flagship, placed a video on the countdown before the program’s close, and nearly a decade from said series finale, released a track that resurrects the very sound, scope, and sensory scene of said era’s platinum age of teen pop. The fan artist literally became the foremost art, muse, and canvas of said own inherent creative’s original artistic creation, who outlasted their own defining platform, on the record, live on stage. Moreover, it means that said release made primary contact directly with the audience, in a live and globally broadcast experience, even if just for one moment, before hitting the commercial point of sale. #bam #itsallpartynauseous #onetimeforthenostalgicgeeksinthenosebleeds #bookmarkme
Circa the “Hi, I, still want to come and make peace with you,” S/S ’14 Collection…
… “but since they didn’t let me, Asia handled the gatekeeper, and we came on through,” #SOTHATYOUCANTOO #passedclosedcaskets
Pop Knots: Tied up, unfolded
So, I guess it just comes down to this sonic sense of the emerging feminine, the divine feminine, inverse to the masculine, and yet using his own resources to free herself from him… I think it’s just a gospel in-and-of itself, and to work through it –– as a recognized public figure, whose purpose is, quite simply, to translate truth to the masses –– is that defining challenge… if for nothing else, if only for those key elements of this New Testament established, transcendent, and made real, the projected human capacity and calling to release the poison without poisoning yourself, this collective self; the cure of an assumed Godless culture as nothing more, and never anything less, than the Paschal sacrifice’s return to that source spirit, that divine human love supreme, no longer bound by mortal flesh. #goodmusicistheimmortalelixir
So, I think I might be getting sleepy, my brain just called for an extended Brubeck #takefivedays, but I think at some point in the aforementioned slate of syllables, a notion I recognized as the Good Word (during some moment of collective clarity) was presented for the record; so, this brief exit notwithstanding, I think … the work of this work is complete.
#LOVEANDART
(The) Epochauserie 