“Sine from Above” by Lady Gaga ft. Elton John, Tuesday, January 17, 2023 (updated repost)

We've been through several emanations of Lady Gaga. Her debut album, The Fame,  was both a satire and a full embrace of the decadence of pop music. Critics were quick to draw comparisons to Madonna--though Gaga despises this comparison--: both singers celebrate female sexuality and both artists are of Catholic Italian-American families which cause several similarities in themes throughout their discographies, and hence, both singers faced a hell of a lot of controversy. But just when critics said "enough" to Gaga's avant-garde Artpop, the singer switched things up. She recorded a Country-inspired album Joanne. She recorded with musical legend Tony Bennett, singing mid-twentieth century standards. She won an Oscar for the song "Shallow" from the movie she also received a nomination for her acting, A Star Is Born.

I LOST MY LOVE AND NO ONE CARED. Lady Gaga's 2020 record, Chromatica, was originally planned for April, but delayed due to the pandemic. It is the return to Lady Gaga house music that her earliest fans had been waiting for. The album was well reviewed, holding a 79% on Metacritic. It debuted at #1 on Billboard's 200 album charts. While the album did release singles, Gaga's intention was to make a cohesive collection of songs that were meant to be listened to in the sequence they were released. The three "Chromatica" interludes divide the album into three distinctive parts. The album was received by many LGBTQ+ fans as the album they hoped to hear in the clubs and at Pride, though lockdowns made gathering impossible. The podcast  Switched On Pop points out the lyrical content of the record hinting at Gaga's personal life, dancing to distract herself from the tears. The album also makes allusions to earlier Lady Gaga albums, but the critics at Switched On Pop argue that Chromatica is in stark contrast to The Fame in that early in Gaga's career, the singer merely wanted fame but now she is craving "Stupid Love" from someone special. Fame now means little without love.

Sine wavelength measurement
source: Wikipedia Commons.

WHEN I WAS YOUNG, I PRAYED FOR LIGHTNING. Chromatica begins its final act with Lady Gaga's duet with Elton John in the song "Sine from Above." This is the third feature on the record, the others being Ariana Grande on the second single "Rain On Me" and K-pop group BLACKPINK on "Sour Candy." Elton John's contribution to the record seems perfect to me. It reminds us that Gaga is an heir to the pop-rock extravagance started in the '60s and '70s by singers like David Bowie, Elton John, and Freddie Mercury. The inclusion also celebrate the queer energy of decadent pop stars. "Sine from Above" is a pun, playing on the mathematical term for the measurement of the opposite divided by the hypotenuse of a right triangle, if high school math still serves me well. The image on the cover art of Chromatica has a "sine wave." Someone who receives a "sign from above" receives confirmation that they are on the right path. Gaga prays for "lightning," which is something that most people want to avoid. Nobody wants to be struck by Zeus's bolt. Many also attribute lighting to the Judaeo-Christian God, though the Old Testament usually depicts other methods of God exacting vengeance. Some critics have said that Gaga really means to call the song "Sin from Above" meaning that she questions her existence outside of what she has been told is God's will for humanity. In some ways the song is campy and laughable. Elton John and Lady Gaga can sometimes be a meme of themselves, and Elton John's over-the-top vocals make some listeners cringe. But I find this song compelling. I was certainly not in the mood from Chromatica when it dropped. I was getting chubby and not thinking at all about getting ready for a "hot boy summer." I was dealing with depression and existential dread. I didn't want to dance. I wanted to process my life and my decisions. Now that things feel a little more normal, dance music is okay again. But an introspective dance song potentially about religious trauma from childhood? Sine me up! 

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Read “Sine from Above” by Lady Gaga & Elton John on Genius