Chromatica | Know Your Meme

About

Chromatica is the sixth studio album by Lady Gaga. It features singles “Stupid Love”, “Rain On Me” featuring Ariana Grande and “Sour Candy” featuring Blackpink. The album features a return to dance-pop, which she had mostly eschewed on her previous album, Joanne. Its release created a large impact online, particularly due to the release’s timing coinciding with the coronavirus outbreak and the 2020 George Floyd Protests.

History

Lady Gaga began recording Chromatica in 2018. The first single, “Stupid Love,” was released on February 27th, 2020.

Chromatica was originally planned for an April 2020 release but that was pushed back to May 29th due to the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to release, Lady Gaga released the album’s second single “Rain On Me” featuring Ariana Grande on May 22nd, 2020. She also released her collaboration with K-pop girl group Blackpink, “Sour Candy,” on May 28th (shown below, right).

Reception

The album was mostly received favorably by critics, netting a score of 79/100 on Metacritic within a week of its release. A positive review from Variety said it was “possibly, song for song, her best yet.” In a less positive review, The New York Times wrote that the album missed the trademark audacity and eccentricity that defined earlier, similarly dance-heavy Gaga albums The Fame Monster and Born This Way.

Online Presence

Online, the album generated a large amount of memes, particularly in response to Lady Gaga requesting fans create Rick & Morty memes based on the album (shown below).

Twitter users were quick to make photoshops about the album. For example, Twitter user @fkanico posted a Rick and Morty photoshop that gained over 14,000 retweets and 65,000 likes (shown below, left). User @TheHausNews posted a Pickle Rick meme that gained over 200 retweets and 2,500 likes (shown below, right).

Search Interest

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External References