POPSUGAR

Big "Crying in the Club" Energy: Presenting Our Favorite Songs on Lady Gaga's Chromatica

May 31 2020 - 6:35am

Lady Gaga is longing for another world. The venerable pop icon has tried to make this one work — establishing a fandom, influencing her peers, picking up accolades — since first making contact over a decade ago, but she's outgrown our realm. It's time for Gaga to go exploring.

On May 29, Gaga released Chromatica [1], her sixth studio album and her first in four years. A severe departure from 2016's folksy Joanne, the dance album offers a collection of upbeat electro beats as its lyrics grapple with themes of identity, mental health, medication, and fame. It has big "crying in the club" energy. Chromatica isn't just a musical offering, however, it's also a place.

"Earth is cancelled."

The day she released lead single "Stupid Love" and its Zenon-meets-Mad Max music video [2], Gaga tweeted, "Earth is cancelled." [3] She would go on to continually refer to Chromatica as a utopic pop planet, and she even outlined a manifesto in a special playlist for Spotify. "Love is an element on Chromatica — like earth, wind, fire, water. It's a natural force, and it's the only way that I can organize this superorganism . . . It's the only way that I can make things simple, and why shouldn't it be simple?" Gaga said. "No one thing is greater than another. Kindness rules all things. It simply is, and it's mine. You can have it too though."

The timing is worth noting. Gaga had originally planned on releasing the album on April 10 [4], but with the coronavirus starting to spread within the United States, she decided to delay the date [5]. "It just doesn't feel right to me to release this album with all that is going on during this global pandemic," she wrote at the time on Instagram. As the pandemic continued, however, Gaga ultimately decided to release the album ahead of the summer. "The journey continues," she wrote in her revised release-date announcement [6].

By the time the album was indeed released, the coronavirus had claimed over 100,000 lives in the United States [7], in what The New York Times described as "an incalculable loss." Protests have been sparked across the nation in response to police brutality and the senseless death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The president has waged war with Twitter, issuing an executive order [8] limiting legal protections for social media platforms. It's hard to know if this is the worst or best time for an album of this kind: dance music won't save the nation, kindness sometimes doesn't seem to exist in abundance, and Chromatica isn't an actual geographical place wherein we can take up residence. But we can't knock Gaga for trying.

Try, she certainly does. Despite personal and collective despair, Gaga offers furious earworms like "Alice," liberating bangers like "Free Woman," and truly unexpected, so-weird-it-works songs like "Sine From Above," featuring Elton John. If the world is falling apart, Gaga will go out voguing.

Ahead, POPSUGAR editors write about their favorite songs on Chromatica.

"Alice"

"I might put on a fashion show in my apartment just to play this song. Thanks to this track, I'll also be voguing everywhere — to my kitchen, to the living room, to the grocery store. I hope my roommate is ready for the extraness!" — Brea Cubit, celebrity and entertainment assistant editor

"911"

"I astral projected the first time I heard the transition between 'Chromatica II' and '911.' The Fame Monster is quaking." — Samantha Sasso, associate native beauty editor and content strategist

"The transition from 'Chromatica II' to '911' is so epic, I played it three times in a row. It's like a dramatic blastoff to an extraterrestrial dance party, and it almost makes me feel like I'm not cooped up inside." — BC

"Stupid Love"

"Phew, 'Stupid Love' wastes absolutely no time in introducing that catchy, dancey beat, and I'm here for it! I can't help but head bob for all three minutes and 13 seconds, and it's pretty much impossible to resist belting out 'I want your stupid love!' when the chorus drops. This one's an instant mood booster." — Victoria Messina, trending and viral features associate editor

"Plastic Doll"

"This song does not let up on the metaphor, and I love the lyrical commitment! 'I'm state of art, I'm microchipped' might be one of my favorite Gaga lines of all time. Not unlike the album in its entirety, 'Plastic Doll' is wonderfully campy and deeply saddening at the same damn time." — Kelsey Garcia, trending and viral features editor

"Fun Tonight"

"My favorite after my first (of many) listens is 'Fun Tonight.' Gaga's voice is so full of emotion and power, and her vulnerability is something I really connected to. It's one of the more low-key tracks (but still super danceable), but Gaga is still back in her truest form with this one. I will be listening on repeat, no doubt." — Charisandra Perez, social media and partnerships coordinator

"Free Woman"

"When I heard the chorus line 'I'm still something if I don't got a man' for the first time, I literally rewound the song just to hear Lady Gaga [10] say it again, because YES. This song's electronic beat makes me want to call up all of my single friends and hit the dance floor, and I intend to do just that whenever it's safe to do so." — VM

"Enigma"

"The prechorus of 'Enigma' gives me Dua Lipa 'Hallucinate' [11] vibes, and I'm only comparing the two because of recency bias. But both of them have that '80s synth sound and emotive passaggio that I absolutely love." — BC

"Sine From Above" feat. Elton John

"Elton John really hopped on an electronic dance bop, huh? This was not the sound I anticipated when I saw him credited on Chromatica's tracklist, but I love how unexpected it is. The accelerando at the end especially adds to the track's unpredictability. The only thing that doesn't catch me off guard is how amazing Gaga and John sound together — I knew they'd be an iconic duo." — BC

"Rain on Me" feat. Ariana Grande

"What would this list even be without 'Rain on Me'? The blending of two distinct vocals, the impossibly catchy chorus, the music video choreography [12]: this is a perfect pop song." — KG

"I want to preface this by admitting that I'm not the electro-pop, dance-album kind of gal. My bones are weary, and I'm genuinely here to sway to the ballads on Joanne and the like. But the vocal dynamite that is a Gaga and Grande duet is too much for even me to resist! Maybe it's staying at home getting to me, but 'Rain on Me' feels particularly cathartic for me to listen to nowadays. It does make me long for the late summer nights of yesteryear, spent sandwiched between sweaty bodies of other people as we all dance our worries away, but I can throw my solo dance parties until it's safe to get back to those times. Gaga and Grande will keep my spirits high." — Mekishana Pierre, entertainment assistant editor


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