Why Lady Gaga’s comeback hits the spot

The pop star is back with a bombastic new song, the first single from her upcoming sixth album. It reminds her of her origins. But it’s also consistent with the current music climate.

Generally, great pop stars set trends, and lesser pop stars chase trends. but lady gaga’s The hugely satisfying new single ‘Dizzy’, released today as the first taster of her upcoming sixth album, highlights a notable exception to his rule. Sometimes great pop stars ignore trends and focus on doing what made them great in the first place. guardian welcomed the disease As a “return to form and her classic sound” independent person declared it Gaga’s “best in a while” offers “a potent dose of dungeon-like dark electro-pop.”

“Disease” is 3 minutes and 51 seconds long, which is unfashionably long for a pop single in the age of TikTok and streaming. Today’s professional songwriters know that shorter tracks are less likely to be skipped on Spotify and are more likely to be synced with TikTok’s polished video content, as the platform’s algorithms are primed to recognize this. I am keenly aware of how expensive it is. So “Illness,” a song that makes no attempt at self-restraint, feels like a real shrug of confidence. Really, who would want Lady Gaga, an artist who built her name on avant-garde fashion choices and truly daring performances? , how to behave like others?

In fact, the appeal of Disease is that it recalls the dark, dazzling maximalist singles that made her famous in the late 2000s and early 2010s. With a bombastic chorus, a simple but effective vocal hook (aaah!), and melodramatic lyrics about love’s healing potential, Gaga sings in the chorus, “I can smell your sickness. , I can cure you, I can cure your illness,” he sings. This is welcome. It’s a reminder that she took the mainstream by storm by making music that was both catchy and quirky.

More specifically, it’s reminiscent of the infectiously intense dance-pop interpretation she created on 2008’s The Fame Monster. The album is a reissue of her debut album, The Fame, which was released as a standalone 8-track EP in certain territories. Longtime fans who loved The Fame Monster’s slightly erratic lead single, “Bad Romance,” will no doubt be immune to this sick, apocalyptic stomp.

Gaga co-wrote “Illness” with Henry “Circuit” Bell and Andrew Watt, two Grammy-winning songwriters and producers who have worked individually with everyone from The Weeknd to the Rolling Stones. Fiance. September cover interview vogue magazineGaga revealed that Polanski shaped the musical direction of her next album, telling her clearly, “Baby, I love you. You need to make pop music.”

Based on this evidence, Polanski’s advice was spot on. Although Disease is something of a musical throwback, its dramatic, devil-may-care attitude doesn’t feel out of place in the current musical climate. This year’s hottest pop star – queer anthem maker Chappell Lorne, punchline merchant to the core sabrina carpenter And edgy agenda-setter Charli XCX has risen to the top by prioritizing personality as much as pop hooks. Gaga is a playful performer whose 2008 chart-topping song “Poker Face” featured the lyric “bluffing with a muffin,” and she’s continued to do so throughout her career.

At 38 years old, Gaga has moved beyond the stage where female artists have their opportunities limited by a toxic combination of misogyny and ageism. This is definitely prevalent during the summer katy perry’s Although her attempts to regain chart dominance in the early 2010s failed, Perry’s comeback was largely due to her substandard material and an unconvincing feminist message on the album’s disastrous lead single, “Woman’s World.” sunk by a clumsy attempt to fuse.

But considering she’s currently topping the charts with her duet with Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile,” it seems traditional artist status hasn’t beckoned yet. . Importantly, Gaga never bases her appeal on being “relatable,” so Gen Z music fans, along with her older followers who have been invested in her from the beginning, have embraced her bold, brilliant pop music. There’s no reason why you can’t support a brand of maximalism. When she sings, “Tonight could be your antidote,” on “Sick,” it feels like a declaration that Gaga is back and that the blandness is over.

‘Disease’ is out now and the new album is scheduled for release in February