Lady Gaga has released her fifth studio album, Joanne, through Interscope Records. This follows her 2014 duets album with Tony Bennett, and 2013 album Artpop.
The deluxe album edition features 14 tracks covering 47 minutes. The LP was produced by Mark Ronson and includes a number of special guests, including Beck, Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stoned Age), Kevin Parker (Tame Impala), Father John Misty, Sean Lennon, and Hillary Lindsey.
While mostly known for her infectious dance songs and pop hooks, Lady Gaga explores her more personal side on Joanne. She explained this in a 2015 interview with The Inquirer:
I am finding a million new things about myself, what I want and who I want to be but most importantly, I have actually found a place to put so much pain and anguish that I have nowhere to put. You can put it in your music but that’s not always what people want from me in my music. They want a sweet, delightful, "Just Dance" kind of girl or they want "Bad Romance" and that's fine. I am happy to give people that but maybe with my song "Dope" or some of the things I did on Artpop, you saw a kind of dark side, wrapped up in colors. But maybe that was not always what people want to see.
There is a lot of variety on Joanne, and overall the creative risks pay off. Gaga has always been a fearless artist, and this album shows she's still got the talent and drive to keep things interesting. Songs we recommend are "A-YO," "Joanne," "Perfect Illusion," "Million Reasons," and "Come To Mama."
Pick up Joanne on Amazon. You can also stream the full album above, via Spotify.
For more about Lady Gaga, check out her Zumic artist page.
