NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Lady Gaga has been hyping her seventh album starting this summer with a promise that it will be “nothing like Chromatica .” After releasing the Bruno Mars duet “ Die with a Smile ,” L7 seemed to pick up where Joanne and A Star Is Born left off--a stripped-back organic singer-songwriter songbook. But “Die with a Smile” was a stand-alone single. To make matters even more confusing, Gaga released what she called album 6.5, called Harlequin , on September 27. The album of jazz standards was produced after Lady Gaga finished filming Joker: Folie à Deux . While critics mostly panned the jukebox musical approach to the Batman villain’s sequel, the persona of Harley Quinn impressed Gaga so much that she said after filming that she “wasn’t done with the character” of Quinn. While it’s a Lady Gaga album, it is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta’s persona Lady Gaga taking on another persona--Harley Quinn. Harlequin was not the album that Gaga’s fans were waiting for. Its quick release with li

At this point, we can’t really say what we can expect from Lady Gaga besides good music. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta has given us almost every major musical genre from Dance music to Country Western. Gaga is gearing up for her seventh studio album to be released next year. The count in the singer’s discography, however, is confusing with two collaborative albums with the late crooner Tony Bennett and the soundtrack of A Star Is Born and now Joker: Folie à Deux causing an album inspired by the film Harlequin . After several years busy with acting and touring Chromatica , Lady Gaga is almost ready to unveil her latest era, which she says will be nothing like her signature dance-pop. I JUST WOKE UP FROM A DREAM. Collaboration is key for Lady Gaga. Her debut hit featured singer Colby O'Donis . The lead single from her release of The Fame , The Fame Monster , “ Telephone ” featured Beyoncé . Having collaborated with everyone from Marilyn Manson to The Rolling Stones , the

When Lady Gaga returned to dance-pop on 2020’s Chromatica , she didn’t shake off substance from her lyrics. The music of Lady Gaga’s fifth album seems carefree, but on a deeper listen, the singer bears her sole, revealing aspects of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , who lies beneath the surface of the persona. The album is divided into three acts, separated by three instrumental string interludes. As listeners get deeper into the sixteen-track album, Gaga gets more and more honest. One of her most personal moments on the album is “ 911 ,” a song that details the singer’s struggles with substances, medicine, and mental health. MY BIGGEST ENEMY IS ME. In “911,” Lady Gaga examines her mental state when she uses the antipsychotic Olanzapine . In a similar way that Americans can dial 9-1-1 to receive emergency services, Gaga refers to the drug as her means to escape her “biggest enemy.” When speaking with Zane Lowe for an Apple Music interview promoting Chromatica, Gaga said of “911,

Ten years ago, Lady Gaga released her most avant-garde record, Artpop , an album that polarized both fans and critics alike. To be fair, the album was a statement of a pop star’s artistic vision. To illustrate that vision, Lady Gaga channels ‘60s pastiche in the way that Andy Warhol blended the popular and the artistic. But with the critical pushback of Artpop, Lady Gaga took note and didn’t make another dance-pop record until Chromatica in 2020, instead venturing into acting, singing standards with Tony Bennett , a folk-rock album Joanne , and the Oscar-winning soundtrack to the film she starred in A Star Is Born . In 2020, the Lady Gaga persona could have done anything, and yet she graced fans with a return trip to the dance floor.  LIFT ME UP, GIVE ME A START. I’ve been thinking a lot about pop music lately. When I was a  hipster high school and college student, I thought of pop music as a kind of opioid. It puts you into a trance, makes you dance, and makes you not think about t

  Maybe you started bobbing your head thirty years ago when Trinidadian-German singer Haddaway released " What Is Love ." The 1993 infectious hit escaped the discotheque and reached number 1 in 13 countries-- though peaking at number 11 in America--and spawned cultural memes before there were memes were on dial-up Internet, most notably appearing in a recurring Saturday Night Live sketch-turned feature film as Will Ferrell , Chris Kattan , and the guest of the week danced at The Roxbury.  WHAT WE DO BEHIND DOORS IS OUR BUSINESS. Fast forward to 2023 and we're in the middle of a '90s revival. Maybe Lady Gaga started the early '90s revival in 2020 with tracks like " Babylon " on Chromatica , but we could hear it also on Tove Lo 's " Grapefruit " last year. Last August  French DJ   David Guetta   released the on-the-nose club hit " I'm Good " (Blue) featuring vocals by Bebe Rexha . The song interpolated what I thought was an