5 Takeaways From Lady Gaga’s New Album, Chromatica

In the last few years, Lady Gaga has found new ways to show us the human inside of the fame monster. She offered her equivalent of rootsy singer-songwriter fare on Joanne, opened up about her private pain and trauma in the press, and delivered a moving (and meta) performance in A Star Is Born. But we all knew a time would come when Gaga would return to her high-camp dance-pop theatrics.

In March 2019, amid gossip that she was expecting, Gaga revealed that new music was on the way. “Rumors I’m pregnant?” she tweeted. “Yeah, I’m pregnant with #LG6.” The road from there to Chromatica has been fraught: songs leaked, Target accidentally shared the tracklist early, and the album was pushed back nearly two months, following the coronavirus. But Chromatica has finally arrived. Led by the joyously dumb single “Stupid Love,” Gaga’s sixth album more or less returns to her electropop roots, with 16 tracks of dancefloor catharsis.

“Friendship ended with Earth. Now Chromatica is my best friend.”

“Earth is cancelled. I live on Chromatica,” Gaga told Zane Lowe. OK, cool, but what the hell is Chromatica? According to Gaga, it is neither a fantasy nor fictional planet, but a perspective, an opportunity to reframe pain into positivity. That said, the imagery of Chromatica is undeniably futuristic. The video for “Stupid Love” begins with a post-apocalyptic prologue: “The world rots in conflict. Many tribes battle for dominance. While the Spiritual ones pray and sleep for peace, the Kindness punks fight for Chromatica.” Then, while sporting various hot pink outfits, Gaga unites colorful crews of dance warriors—in the name of peace and love, of course.

On the album cover, Gaga is trapped beneath a massive metal sine wave, the mathematical symbol for sound, which recurs across the album’s imagery. “Sound is what healed me in my life period, and it healed me again making this record, and that is really what Chromatica is all about,” Gaga also told Lowe. And ...now we know why she lives on Chromatica?

Visitors to Chromatica

While Gaga has occasionally welcomed other artists into her world, Chromatica features one of the more extensive guest lists among her albums. “Rain on Me,” a show-stopping duet with her sister in pasta and pain, Ariana Grande, makes emotional catharsis feel effortless. K-pop girl group BLACKPINK joins her on the less-appealing “Sour Candy,” which also samples the modern deep-house classic “What They Say” (as previously heard on Nicki Minaj’s “Truffle Butter” and recalled on Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish”). And Gaga reunites with close friend and mentor Elton John on “Sine From Above,” where the kooky kindred spirits bring their stadium-sized voices to big-tent EDM.

The Sound

Last week, Gaga shared a seven-hour “Welcome to Chromatica” playlist full of house, hi-NRG, and techno bangers (which she’s since replaced with the album). It sent a clear message: Chromatica wants—no, needs—you to dance. Executive produced by Gaga and BloodPop® (who worked on Joanne), the album evokes Gaga’s disco-stick days of yore with pulsating house anthems, bubblegum hooks, and frantic electropop synths. She enlisted an arsenal of dance-pop and EDM producers (including Axwell, Skrillex, BURNS), and divided the album into three sections separated by brief, dramatic instrumentals. The final track, “Babylon,” is a dead ringer for Madonna circa “Vogue.” It also samples a loon!

Still Far From the Shallow

While Gaga has long represented empowerment in pop, she often acknowledges that healing can be an uphill battle, especially when faced with physical or emotional trauma. Several songs on Chromatica seem to address her ongoing struggles with depression and PTSD. “My biggest enemy is me, ever since day one,” she sings, almost robotically, in the chorus of “911.” “Every single day, I dig a grave/Then I sit inside it, wondering if I’ll behave,” she coos on the booming “Replay.” But Gaga loves a triumph-over-hardship narrative, which Chromatica offers on songs like “Rain on Me,” “Plastic Doll,” and “Free Woman.” While the record often sounds like a cooler, clubbier take on early Gaga, the vulnerability in her new songs raises the stakes.

Gaga-isms

As per tradition, there are some wild lyrical clunkers. But Gaga is campier than your average pop star, so these kind of come with the territory. Occasionally they linger in the “so bad they might be good?” zone, or just straight-up WTF.

  • “Strut it out, walk a mile/Serve it, ancient-city style” (“Babylon”)

  • “Who’s that girl, Malibu Gaga” (“Plastic Doll”)

  • “Turning up emotional faders” (“911”)

  • “Maestro, play me your symphony/I will listen to anything/Take me on a trip, DJ, free my mind” (“Alice”)

  • “Dragon’s eyes watch, goddess breathing” (“Enigma”)

Originally Appeared on Pitchfork