Lady Gaga performs onstage during The ARTPOP Ball tour opener. (Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
Lady Gaga addressed a fan-led petition signed by tens of thousands Tuesday (13 April) for her to drop “volume II” of ARTPOP.
The viciously underrated 2013 album was the successor to Born This Way. So, safe to say it had a lot of hype to live up to.
Which it didn’t. It critically flopped. But, in the years since, Gaga’s third album has entered its redemption arc with fans now calling for the singer to drop ARTPOP‘s B-sides – and Gaga might be budging in the wake of a fan petition.
“The petition to #buyARTPOPoniTunes for a volume II has inspired such a tremendous warmth in my heart,” Gaga tweeted.
The petition to #buyARTPOPoniTunes for a volume II has inspired such a tremendous warmth in my heart. Making this album was like heart surgery, I was desperate, in pain, and poured my heart into electronic music that slammed harder than any drug I could find.
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) April 13, 2021
“Making this album was like heart surgery, I was desperate, in pain, and poured my heart into electronic music that slammed harder than any drug I could find.
She added in a second tweet: “I fell apart after I released this album.
I fell apart after I released this album. Thank you for celebrating something that once felt like destruction. We always believed it was ahead of its time. Years later turns out, sometimes, artists know. And so do little monsters. Paws up 🙌❤️❤️❤️
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) April 13, 2021
“Thank you for celebrating something that once felt like destruction. We always believed it was ahead of its time.
“Years later turns out, sometimes, artists know. And so do little monsters. Paws up.”
ARTPOP has, at the time of writing, soared up to number three on the US iTunes chart.
Meanwhile, some 40,000 little monsters have signed a Change.org petition demanding that, eight years later, she release the long-sought ARTPOP: Act II.
Lady Gaga first said there was an “ACT TWO” to ARTPOP even before the album itself even came out, revealing in a Twitter Q&A in 2013 that there are “lots of songs” planned for it.
@chanelfucker yes, lots of songs for ACT TWO!
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) October 14, 2013
Then, silence. The planned album was only hinted at by Gaga across sparing social media posts and talks, saying that the second volume of ARTPOP was complete but not ready for release as early as 2014.
But the possibility of an ARTPOP sequel was revived when the album’s producer, DJ White Shadow, teased about a song known as “Tea” which, he claimed, was from “ARTPOP: Act II” on 1 April.
On Instagram, he then “responded to a fan asking if we’ll ever be able to hear the infamous ACT II“, according to the petition.
“DJWS responded with, ‘Gotta petition Gaga on that one.’ So, we did.”
The music producer, who also worked on Born This Way, tweeted on Tuesday: “NUMBER ONE, HERE WE COME.”
NUMBER ONE HERE WE COME
— W/S (@DJWS) April 13, 2021
It comes after the musician revealed on Instagram earlier this month that he texted Lady Gaga about the petition.
He is “pushing” for Gaga to drop the unreleased tunes, which he crafted with Gaga during a “particularly difficult” time, he said.
The DJ has long teased fans with what are believed to be instrumentals from ARTPOP: Act II.
He played “Tea” at a gig in Boston for Gaga’s 2017Joanne World Tour.
Other rumoured tracks include “Onion Girl“, “Temple” and “Tinnitus“.