Lady Gaga/Chromatica Oreos

Welcome to Chromatica. (Chromatica Oreos, that is.)  

Back in 2020, Lady Gaga Oreos were announced. But there was a contest to win them with something like one thousand winners, and it made me wonder if the cookies would be limited to the contest winners. I didn't allow myself to look forward to them. 

In January, there was an announcement that they would be released soon, but when they weren't on store shelves, I doubted that I'd be able to find them. I remember when Supreme Oreos came out and they were nowhere to be found. The same happened with the multi-colored Pride Oreos released in October 2020. 

However... I was at the grocery store February 6, and there was a cardboard display stand with all of the new flavors from my last post... along with some pink Oreo packages in the middle. 

This kind of collaboration is new for Oreo. All the way back in 2019, there were Game of Thrones-themed Oreos with symbols for each family/house on the design. In 2020, there were Trolls World Tour-themed Oreos. But this is the first collaboration I can think of with a singer/musician. (I almost said "real person," though with the way musicians refer to their personas as characters, it's a blurry line.) 

But yes, Lady Gaga Oreos are here, and they're available in stores. The packaging is pretty cool. There is a claw mark making it look like someone couldn't hold themselves back and tore the package open (though disappointingly, when you open the package, the Oreo rows are vertical, not horizontal). There is a message on the front of the package saying "This is a cookie inspired by Chromatica," the Lady Gaga album that was released in 2020. The side of the package says "A cookie inspired by Lady Gaga" and "In Chromatica no one thing is greater than another." 

The cookie itself is described as a "pink colored golden cookie with green creme." The cookies say "Oreo" on one side and have designs on the other side. While the flavor isn't much to speak of, as it's the typical Golden Oreo flavor, the colors used are well-timed, appropriate for Valentine's Day and Easter. At this time of year, with endless snow on the ground, the green creme making me think of spring. 

There is also an interesting tie-in with this cookie. The website Sing it with OREO was set up as a promotional sweepstakes with an interesting musical feature. You can sign up to enter the contest to win prizes like tickets to a Lady Gaga concert, a (possibly virtual) meet and greet, and merch. But if you're enterprising, you can create an OREOgram that you can post on social media and send to friends. 

I created an OREOgram, and it was a cool experience. Once you acknowledge the official rules, you are taken to a page where you can choose between recording your own OREOgram using a backing track, or using a pre-recorded message from Lady Gaga. The Lady Gaga messages are simple, like "Inside, we are really made the same" and "Kindness rules all." The messages are spoken by Lady Gaga over instrumentals from Chromatica songs.

I wanted to create my own, so I chose the "Sing it from the heart" option. Step one is to "choose a vibe," with different backing tracks ranging from "Hip-Hop Oreo Drop" and "Latin Twist" to "Kookie Pop" and the country-tinged "Milk & Cookies Remix." I chose "Cookie JaR&B," which sounded like an R&B slow jam.

Once you choose your vibe, you are taken to a screen where it asks who the OREOgram is for, with a 15-character limit. Since I was posting it on social media, I typed "Friends" into the box. On the next screen, you can type a message of up to 85 characters to include with your OREOgram. Finally, it's time to record. A preview screen shows how the 2-second intro countdown will work, then you'll have 8 seconds to sing as the backing music plays and a time bar fills up. After you record, you can preview the recording and redo it if it didn't turn out right. 

I didn't know what to sing or say, but the backing track reminded me of Barry White and Shaft, so I ad-libbed something along those lines. My recording was a little distorted at times, but it still happened when I tried again, so I figured it was either my equipment/connection or the website. After my second time recording it, I decided I couldn't get it any better, so I shared it to my Facebook page and entered my name and email into the contest (you also need to provide your birthday). 

Overall, while the cookie itself wasn't a new flavor, there was some cool promotional activity built up around it. I look forward to more collaborations like this which take Oreo to new levels. 

Oreos, Oreos, and Oreos Galore

2020 was a low point for Oreo. The year started off strong, but with the pandemic, new flavors became few and far between. 

2021 is a different story: in January, Oreo lovers hit the mother lode. 

Not one, not two, but three new flavors were released in January, along with gluten free versions of regular and Double Stuf Oreos. 

What? 

I had heard these were going to be released in early January, and it took a few weeks until they arrived on my grocery store shelves. But they arrived, and it was a good day for the beginning of 2021. 

Brookie-O Oreos are cookies with three layers of creme: brownie, original, and cookie dough between chocolate Oreo cookies. In the past, I've wondered if there would ever be Triple Stuf cookies (my idea was a Bomb Pop flavor for summer). There were the Red, White & Blue Oreos from 2020 as well as the Most Stuf Oreos from previous years. This is the first Oreo I can remember with different flavors for each layer. 

Three flavors seems like it would work in theory, but... I really felt like this cookie was trying to do too much, pack too much into one cookie. Based on the package, I thought they were trying to aim for a brookie, which is a cookie bar that is half-brownie and half-chocolate chip cookie. The chocolate creme didn't taste enough like brownie, and the chocolate Oreo cookies and the regular Oreo creme seemed out of place. 

Now, perhaps a Brookie-O was meant to be a mash-up between a brookie and an Oreo? But four different flavors is too much. If I could go back to the drawing board on this cookie, I would stick with the brownie and chocolate chip cookie flavors, whether that is a brownie-flavored cookie with chocolate chip cookie creme, or a regular Oreo cookie with half-brownie/half-cookie creme. 

Java Chip was an interesting idea in my view. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I could see what they were going for, with coffee-flavored creme with chocolate chips and chocolate cookies. It reminded me of a dessert coffee drink like you would get at Starbucks or Dunkin'. 

Even though I'm not a coffee drinker, I had to take one for the team and try this out, and it was good for what it was. The coffee scent is very strong upon opening the package; if you have a plate with different Oreos on it, the Java Chip Oreo will overpower the scent of the other ones. I did hear from one coffee drinker that it wasn't their favorite, but I think it's worth a shot. 

Chocolate Hazelnut seemed like a repeat to me at first. Not that I minded; I don't love Nutella, but it's a nice flavor to have every now and then. But I recently checked my personal archives and saw that the previous Chocolate Hazelnut flavor was made with Golden cookies. This 2021 version had the same type of creme but with Chocolate cookies. 

I have to say, I like this cookie. This is probably my favorite of the new batch. How much you might like it would probably depend on how much you like Nutella. But if you do, I think this is worth trying. I think I liked this one a little bit better with Golden cookies, but this version was still pretty good.

I don't have a lot to say about gluten free Oreos. I thought they tasted pretty good. I wish I would have been able to try them in a blind taste test with original Oreos to see if I could tell the difference. But I thought they were pretty close. Perhaps a bit drier in the cookie than a regular Oreo, but that could be my own bias. I've been told by a good friend that they work well with baking. This seems like a good choice for those who can't consume any products with gluten.