'Joanne' by Lady Gaga - Album Review

This month Lady Gaga released her highly anticipated fifth album. Since her last album ARTPOP was released, everyone started speculating what ‘LG5’ would be like. Unlike the lead up to previous new music, Gaga kept the theme of the album (and the title) secret until only a few weeks before the release date. Once Gaga announced the name of the album, I knew it would be her most personal album to date. Named after her late aunt, Joanne, the album explores a side to Gaga that hasn’t been properly seen in her pervious work.
As the release date was getting closer and closer, all over Twitter I read tweets saying that this new album was going to have a more country theme, and I did honestly get a bit worried. Don’t get me wrong, I feel like Gaga’s talent means that she would be able to pull off any genre of music, but it just wasn’t what I wanted for her new album.
When the lead single Perfect Illusion was released, all of the worries I had vanished. The mix of both pop and rock together meant that there was something new and unique in the charts, and I loved it.
When the day finally arrived that Joanne was out, I was both excited and nervous to hear what Gaga had been working on for the past three years. The opening track, Diamond Heart, automatically sets the tone that this album will be one of her best, as it draws you in with a strong beat and strong lyrics, preparing you for the masterpiece of an album that you’re about to hear. The second track on the album is the promo track A-YO, a song that makes you want to grab a guitar and sing along with Gaga. This song is upbeat, but not in a typical Gaga way that would have a dance routine attached to it. While some people might not like this song because it’s quite different to her old work, I find it refreshing to hear Gaga create diverse music. The third song on the album is the title track Joanne about her late aunt, with the lyrics being all about grief. When I first heard this song I genuinely cried because I felt that the lyrics really spoke to me (as I have lost loved ones before as well). After listening to this song I felt like I had some kind of connection with Gaga, as we have both been through the same pain of grief before. This is probably one of my favourite songs, not just by Gaga, but ever. It’s not my favourite because I love to make myself sad or cry, but because it’s a song with such meaning and love, not just random lyrics that don’t mean anything.
As the album progressed, each song was different, which kept me hooked wanting to know what the next song would sound like. Towards the end of the album, the song Just Another Day really stood out to me because it sounds like something that would have been on Gaga’s debut album The Fame, as it makes me think of her song Brown Eyes. Although this song is only available on the deluxe edition of Joanne, it is definitely worth listening to if you want a song that will just make you smile.

Overall, Joanne definitely didn’t disappoint, and I would urge anyone reading this to give it a listen!