They say too many cooks spoil the broth and that might just be the case with the latest single from Lady Gaga, which had a helping hand from a roster of superstar songwriters and producers, including Mark Ronson and our very own Kevin Parker.
As Gaga recently revealed, Parker, whom the pop superstar called a “musical genius”, came up with the original concept for ‘Perfect Illusion’, which was then given the pop machine treatment by Ronson and BloodPop, with guitar courtesy of QOTSA’s Josh Homme.
Ronson has of course manned the boards for the likes of Amy Winehouse and for his own string of star collaborations, such as ‘Uptown Funk’, which was a smash around the world, whilst BloodPop is perhaps best known for producing for the likes of Justin Bieber.
With all of this musical muscle, you’d think ‘Perfect Illusion’ would be breaking chart records around the world, but reception to Gaga’s comeback single has been relatively lukewarm on the critical front and even more so on the charts.
As critics continue to ponder that strange affected accent the singer puts on in the chorus, which turns ‘love’ into ‘la-a-a-v’, the song has failed to make much of an impact on the international pop charts.
It’s done alright in France, where it debuted at the top of the French Singles Chart. But it’s probably worth noting that the French have relatively low standards for a Number 1 single – ‘Perfect Illusion’ sold just 2,820 copies there.
Meanwhile, despite the Tame Impala link, the single only managed to hit Number 14 on the Australian singles chart and debuted at Number 31 on Billboard’s Mainstream Top 40, despite previously being Twitter’s most talked-about song.
It’s also Number 32 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Songs chart and can’t actually be found on the Hot 100 chart. If we spin the globe a little, ‘Perfect Illusion’ is Number 31 in New Zealand and Number 12 on the UK singles chart, Number 4 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart, and 28 on the Official Audio Streaming Chart.
All things charts considered, Gaga’s new single is kind of a flop, especially once you remind yourself that it’s the long-awaited new single from one of the world’s biggest pop singers. Too many cooks indeed.
