It's official: Cheek to Cheek is number one

It looks like the deep discount and constant promotion of Cheek to Cheek really helped its sales for its opening week, because it (un)offically hit the coveted number one spot on the Billboard top 200, according to Hits Daily Double.

Kenny Chesney and Barbra Streisand were close behind - and it's a good thing for Gaga that Streisand didn't release her album a week later than she did, because Streisand almost took the number one spot again in her second week!

I guess when you have a devoted small army working for you (for free) doing more than some actual paid promoters do, you have a huge advantage over your competition! Check out the task list she gave to her fans!

How nice, Gaga only says she loves them in the postscript and doesn't even thank them for helping her out! Remind me never to help Gaga move!

Would Cheek to Cheek have made it to number one without the discount, the legion of fans working for free, and literal shit-ton of promotion? Who knows! Either way, Cheek to Cheek seems to be doing remarkably well worldwide, despite the mediocre reviews:

Billboard - 3/5 Stars
Allmusic - 3/5 Stars
The Daily Telegraph - 3/5 Stars
Rolling Stone - 3/5 Stars
Slant Magazine - 2/5 Stars
LA Times - 1/4 Stars

And by the way, Gaga's still trying to play up the whole 'I don't care about the numbers' thing. I guess it's easy to say that the charts don't mean anything when you've got a number one album, but of course her twitter is telling a different story... with promo tweet, after promo tweet, after promo tweet...

Does this look like the tweet of someone that doesn't care about chart positions, numbers, or sales?

Later today, Billboard should update and officially show Cheek to Cheek as number one. When the album drops down into oblivion in the coming weeks, at least Gaga will sleep better knowing she managed to squeak past her competition into the number one spot.

"Cheek to Cheek" already being discounted

Lady Gaga's newest album Cheek to Cheek has only been out 4 days, and already she's offering it at a discounted price.

Maybe the news that Kenny Chesney is currently being seen as the best contender for the number one spot on the Billboard Top 200 is what inspired her to tweet out this "limited" deal.  Current estimates show Chesney's album The Big Revival at 125-135,000 copies sold, and Cheek to Cheek at 115-125,000.

Will she manage to push over 10,000 more copies before the week is done? Will Gaga take the number one spot?

Happy first day of fall!

                     
                     
                                 
                                 

The big news of the day: Cheek to Cheek is out now worldwide. Is it going to make it to number one, or will it fall flat on its ass?

Billboard, one of Gaga's biggest sources of hype, has given the album a decent review but only 3/5 stars. They love Bennett's performance, but of course, the whole article is about Gaga. Although they hype her quite a bit, they do throw a few digs at her too. Right at the beginning they state that the Great American Songbook "just might save her career", which is interesting because, like Gaga, they usually spend quite a lot of time and effort trying to deny that her career is struggling.

Billboard also admits that "Gaga definitely needed Bennett more than he needed her", but suggest that both will benefit from the pairing because, get this, they had fun recording together. Seriously. There was no other mention of how this duet benefits Tony Bennett at all aside from "they had a blast". Odd, right? Not really - the whole world knew she needed him, not the other way around, but it's interesting to see that even Billboard is admitting it.

As for the actual music, they go on to say, nicely, that she completely overdoes it on most of the album. Their words exactly are "Gaga thrives on spectacle", though if you actually read through the review you'll also see things like Gaga "verges on overpowering", has a "mighty vocal surge", she's "singing right over poor Tony"... they even call her "histrionic" at one point.

Read the review HERE.

From what I have heard so far, there's an awful lot of yelling going on in this album. I don't think Billboard is too far off the mark when they give the album 3/5 stars, but I feel like the only reason it even ranked that high was due to Bennett's voice, the music, and the fact that all of the songs included on the album are jazz standards and not anything Gaga wrote herself.


What are your thoughts on the album?


UPDATE:
It seems Billboard lowered their review from 3.5 stars to 3 stars on the day of release. Wonder what that means?

How a fading pop star promotes an album

Lady Gaga shows the world just how desperate she is for a number one album.

Stop pretending to be "indie", Gaga. No one's falling for it.

Millions of dollars and months of promotion (a string of public appearances, the new tattoo reveal, the "surprise" duet performance at the Montreal Jazz Festival, a retail commercial for H&M, New York Fashion Week performance, an HSN special broadcast, a live concert special which will air on PBS on October 24, three songs used by ESPN for the advertisement of the 2014 Tennis US Open, the "surprise" duet during the artRAVE at Tel Aviv, two official singles ("Anything Goes" and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love") and one streaming single ("Nature Boy"), numerous interviews both separately and together -- did I forget anything?), just don't seem to be enough for Gaga as she tapes a homemade Cheek to Cheek poster to a shop window before leaving Athens this weekend.

Does this look like desperation to anyone else?

As of today, Cheek to Cheek has been officially released in two markets (Germany and Australia) and it appears to be struggling.

It's only been a couple of days, but should Lady Gaga and her people be worried by the performance of the album so far? Could these two markets be representative of how Cheek to Cheek will do around the world? Do you think it's too early for them to be planning a follow-up album?

What are your predictions for the album?

(Cheek to Cheek will be out worldwide on September 23rd.)

The first Cheek to Cheek album review

 

The first review of Cheek to Cheek is out from Slant Magazine: and it's a very sad TWO STAR rating. There seems to be some disagreement as to whether it should be classified as Jazz or Pop (iTunes changed it from Pop to Jazz and Amazon still has it classified as Pop), but either way - it doesn't look like it's going to impress fans of either genre.

HERE is Slant Magazine's review of the album, and what less-than-perfect review of Lady Gaga would be complete without little monsters whining in the comment section? You should read the review for yourselves, but the short of it is: she hated it.

My favorite quotes from the review:

"Despite her claims that she grew up listening to the jazz greats, Gaga comes off more as a dilettante than an aficionado..."

"...Gaga sounds like what she thinks a jazz singer should sound like; her performances are blatantly affected, marred by shouting and clichéd phrasing."

"The pair's solo efforts, particularly Gaga's clumsy interpretation of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" and Bennett's surprisingly pitchy rendition of Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady," only serve to spotlight their shortcomings."

"...Gaga's voice is shockingly rough-hewn, especially on "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "I Won't Dance.""

"... her persistent vocal fry is insufferable."

"If not for the session musicians' top-notch work ... Cheek to Cheek, which drags at an economical 45 minutes, would sound like glorified karaoke."

The tracks on the album (bolded songs have been released) are:
1. Anything Goes
2. Cheek To Cheek
3. Don't Wait Too Long
4. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
5. Nature Boy
6. Goody Goody
7. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
8. Firefly
9. I Won't Dance
10. They All Laughed
11. Lush Life
12. Sophisticated Lady
13. Let's Face The Music And Dance
14. But Beautiful
15. It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

Where's "Paradise" you may ask? The original song that Lady Gaga wrote that was supposed to be included on the album? Probably in the same place ARTPOP II is - the recycling bin on someone's laptop somewhere. Just another broken promise to her fans.