Lady Gaga – Joanne review: ‘a collection of serious, well-crafted songs’

Gaga drops the strangeness for an album that could win her mainstream attention again
All about the music: Lady Gaga edges towards rock, country and latin influences on her latest LP Joanne
David Smyth2 December 2016

After telling the critics that she wasn’t going to let them hear her fifth album in advance, Lady Gaga finally permitted access to the superstar’s latest alter-ego, Joanne, just before its release.

Her last solo album, the high concept Artpop in 2013, felt like the point where the strangeness slipped towards desperation.

Now, the woman whose obituaries will one day talk about her meat dress before they mention any of her songs, is sporting a smart pink hat on the new cover and declaring that it’s all about the music.

Joanne is both Gaga’s middle name and her father’s sister, who died from lupus aged 19. Such a sad, personal inspiration means that there’s not much fun to be had here, aside from A-Yo’s handclaps and funk bass. This is where the influence of producer and main co-writer Mark Ronson can be heard most clearly.

In contrast, the title track which follows is lovely and plain, an acoustic guitar meandering over a fine chorus on which her voice shows rare restraint.

It’s not strictly a rock album – the Latin awkwardness of the pretty dreadful Dancin’ in Circles, written with Beck, puts paid to that idea. But there are echoes of Springsteen in the saxophone swing of Come to Mama and the pounding chorus of Diamond Heart. On Sinner’s Prayer, she even edges towards country music.

Her falling album sales as her career goes on aren’t that surprising. The former Stefani Germanotta was a stick of dynamite thrown into the pop world in the beginning but as a certified freak, more Marilyn Manson than Madonna, she was always going to find her true level a few steps over from the mainstream.

This could be the point where she wins vanilla America back with a collection of serious, well-crafted songs that contain the DNA of past greats. Or with the lobster hat removed to reveal someone more straightforward, it could be the moment where we lose interest altogether.

Lady Gaga - In pictures

LADY GAGA JAZZ & PIANO at Park Theater at Park MGM in Las Vegas
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(Polydor)

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