After suffering some serious leg injuries and being out of the public eye for many months, the lady herself has returned. Lady Gaga is ready for the world to hear her comeback. But is the world ready for her?

With a new album due November 8^th, entitled Artpop, and the radio hit “Applause” making waves, it seems as if the pop icon is putting on her sirloin hat and filet mignon pumps and is ready to give us some juicy music, pushing aside current pop sensation, Miley Cyrus, and giving us what she has been calling “the album of the millennium.”

The timeline started when “Applause” was released. It was a departure from the songs on her previous album, Born This Way, with a definite club beat and David Bowie-like vocals. When it first came out I was not a fan of its generic sound and beats. However, the singer proved she is still got zeal with her VMA performance, starting inside of a white cube, and going through the stages of Gaga, from platinum blonde bob of The Fame era to her Botticelli inspired outfit of Artpop.  However, the spectacle was largely overshadowed by Miley Cyrus’ twerking with teddy bears spectacle, and it seemed as if the ex-Disney star’s dance was the only thing talked about the day after.

A couple of weeks later, after performing at the iTunes festival and at various other venues, Gaga starred in the Robert Rodriguez film Machete Kills, which received lukewarm reviews at best. Accompanying the film was the song “Aura” which also received mixed reviews much like the movie. I listened to it, and though I am not so sure I like the melody, the lyrics were very interesting and risqué (Gaga received criticism for her use of the word burqa), definitely grabbing my attention, something she is no amateur at doing.

Afterwards, the singer started tweeting heavily about her new song (and defending herself against the criticism she is received since day one of being Lady Gaga), with messages such as, “LADY GAGA IS ON DRUGS! HER CAREER IS OVER! (been an addict for 10years) #WriteWhatUWant My recovery is a daily battle.” She then released “Do What U Want,” a song featuring R&B star R. Kelly. The song was released to great acclaim, and I agree with this praise. To begin with, her vocals are phenomenal, reminiscent of Christina Aguilera’s, with a great club feel to make the song an entertaining listen. Gaga also released the cover art for the album, an image of her (fully nude) with a collage of art references and a blue orb “concealing” selected portions of her nether regions with Artpop splashed across the cover in a white, edged font.

And how can we forget the music videos? Lady Gaga, probably most famous for her artsy, edgy, and exotic music videos, released the tape to “Applause” to help promote the single. It is very Gaga, very outrageous, and pretty fantastic.  She incorporates many different artistic symbols and relevant pop culture allusions. In some ways, she can be discreet with her message, and in others, she forces it in your face – something you just cannot refuse.

So for all the Little Monsters who have been anxiously awaiting the singer’s return to the limelight, I think we should expect Artpop to be very flamboyant, very shocking, and very, very Lady Gaga.