Lady Gaga can do everything and she can do it well: the playlist
In “Harlequin”, the “compaion album” of “Joker 2: Folie à deux”, in which she plays Harley Quinn, the extravagant partner in crime of the character played by Joaquin Phoenix, she took a series of classics from the American musical and reinterpreted them, paying homage to Broadway and the golden age of Hollywood with an ensemble of 85 (!) elements, including strings and wind instruments. The result was a jazz-inspired album, which saw Lady Gaga dust off the teachings of her friend Tony Bennett, with whom in 2014 and 2021 she recorded the beautiful “Cheek to cheek” and “Love for sale”: just listen pieces like “Good morning” (reinterpretation of the classic by Nacio Herb Brown with lyrics by Arthur Freed proposed in “Singin’ in the rain” of 1952 by Betty Noyes, Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor).
The album – which .can be purchased on the official Universal store – confirmed, if ever there was a need, the talent and uniqueness of unever banal, multifaceted, versatile, chameleonic artist. Lady Gaga is capable of doing everything and doing it well. When he made his debut with “The fame” in 2008, it immediately became clear to everyone that behind ultra-radio hits such as “Just dance”, “Poker face”, “Eh, eh (Nothing else I can say)”, “LoveGame” and “Paparazzi” there was a world waiting to be discovered. Fascinating and evocative. The facts have confirmed it: over the years Gaga has been able to build a very solid career, focusing precisely on her versatility. He crossed genres making them his own: pop, rock (remember “You and I”, the classic rock ballad contained in “Born this way”, with Brian May on guitar? And the sax of Clarence Clemons, the historic saxophonist of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, in “The edge of glory ”?), jazz, folk. Not only that: she has conquered showbiz completely, reinventing herself – successfully – as an actress too. There playlist which you find below is a way to enter the world of an extraordinary artist.
From the debut with “The hunger” – is the album with the longest tenure at number one on the Billboard Dance/Electronic chart of all time, with over 175 non-consecutive weeks; not only that, it’s also the longest-running album by a female singer on the Billboard 200 chart, with 319 weeks in total – more than fifteen years have passed, but Lady Gaga’s centrality in pop is not in question. He faltered a bit in the “Artpop” era, when he challenged fans: “Use good headphones when listening to “Artpop”: it’s electronic candy. PC speakers are not acceptable.” But to them the album sounded too pretentious and cerebral. But then Gaga took everything back. “Die with a smile”, the duet with Bruno Mars released in August, for eight weeks it has been at the top of the weekly chart of the most listened to songs worldwide on Spotify: in the last week alone it has achieved 74.3 million plays on the popular streaming platform.
His latest album, “Chromatica”, was his sixth consecutive album to go to number one on the Billboard 200 chartallowing her to become the first female artist to do so in the span of a decade (2011-2020). His collaboration with Ariana Grande in “Rain On Me” he scored the biggest Spotify debut of 2020reaching #1 on the Spotify Global and Spotify US charts and becoming one of his many hits. The Oscar for “Best Original Song” won with Shallow in 2018, from the soundtrack of “A star is Born”, sealed his rebirth after “Joanne”, the folk breakthrough album.
And now the wait grows for “LG7”, provisional title of the ideal successor to “Chromatica”. It will arrive next February, Stefani Germanotta promised, this is the pop star’s real name. It will be his first unpublished work in five years: “I wrote many songs, I produced many songs. Let’s say it’s something I’ve never done before. I love exploring music and experimenting with different genres. This industry can isolate you, but I never feel alone thanks to my fans”.