From delivering yet another flawless performance at the Oscars to dropping her fifth studio album Joanne, Gaga showed no signs of slowing down in 2016. The album was inspired by Gaga's aunt Joanne, who died of lupus in 1974, and was one of her most emotional projects to date.
"Returning to your family and where you came from, and your history . . . this is what makes you strong. It's not looking out that's going to do that — it's looking in," Gaga explained to People. "Joanne is a progression for me. It was about going into the studio and forgetting that I was famous."
"It's not a sad album. It's an album that is very revealing of me as a woman," she added. "I really wanted to reach that girl in the crowd who's got a kid in her hand and two kids running around her and a glass of beer in the other and she's crying her eyes out with heirloom jewelry on from her grandma."
Joanne became Gaga's fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, making her the first woman to reach the US chart's summit four times in the 2010s. It also scored a Grammy nomination for best pop vocal album.
