Although the planned release was August 19th, in order to combat a 12 second leak, Gaga and her label shipped Applause to United States radio less than an hour ago. Applause shall also hit US iTunes tonight, according to Gaga's Twitter. The song, in essence, is everything we have to come to expect from Gaga: sticky, gooey, pop gold.
The song starts off with some singular Electronic notes like an 8-Bit Nintendo, before Gaga shows off her quivering lower register and a drum beat crashes in. There's some heavy auto-tune here, for Gaga at least, Kesha would scoff if we compared the amount to her. But then, the chorus kicks in. The claps, the production, the harmonies, it's everything we could've imagined ARTPOP would sound like. If you're not tapping along at any point during the chorus, check your pulse and send your self to your local ER. Soon following, the piano led bridge moves in with Gaga showing off, surprisingly, her falsetto(!) She then sends the song into the atmosphere with some standard high notes.
Lyrically, the verses are pretty weak sadly. Gaga has some interesting concepts and ideas that are not fully understood with her choice of lyrics. Comparatively, the chorus and bridge aren't genius nor terrible, its pretty standard pop lyricism. However, where the song really shines is the production. Zedd has out done himself this time, after sending Clarity into the US top 10 this week, Zedd has managed to produce another EDM, radio friendly hit. While this isn't something that will have Ellie Goulding clutching her EDM tiara over (lets face it, this song is still pretty pop), it's hard to deny that this song is far more club ready than anything else on Pop radio at the moment.
Vocals: B+
Lyrics: C+
Production: A+
Overall: A-