Joanne is the fourth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga and her fifth overall. It was released on October 21, 2016, by Streamline and Interscope Records. Gaga, Mark Ronson and BloodPop handled its production. Other collaborators include Kevin Parker, Emile Haynie, Jeff Bhasker and Josh Homme. Musically, Joanne is a stripped-down, dance-pop, soft rock and Americana record with country elements, with a focus on Gaga's vocals. Lyrically, the album delves into the theme of family and life's emotions; the death of her aunt, Joanne Stefani Germanotta, deeply influenced the record. The singer's experience acting on the television series American Horror Story also influenced its creative process.
Joanne topped the album charts in Brazil, Mexico, and the United States while reaching the top five in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Three singles were released: "Perfect Illusion", "Million Reasons" and the title track. "Perfect Illusion" was released as the album's lead single on September 9, 2016, and reached number one in France, while "Million Reasons" reached number four in the United States. A piano version of the title track was released to radio in selected territories as the album's third single. The album received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised Gaga's musical direction, vocals, production and lyrical content. However, some critics found that the album lacked cohesiveness. Joanne was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. "Million Reasons" and "Joanne" were nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance in separate years, for which the latter won the award.
The release and promotion of the album marked a softening of Gaga's image, who took on a more singer-songwriter oriented look in promotional materials, wearing a pink, wide-brimmed cowgirl hat, vintage denim and pastel colors, evoking the 1970s. She promoted the album with her Dive Bar Tour, a promotional concert in dive bars in the United States, and the Joanne World Tour, which began in August 2017 and ended in February 2018. Gaga also did some television appearances, and headlined the Super Bowl LI halftime show and the 2017 Coachella Festival. That same year, she released a documentary film, titled Gaga: Five Foot Two, showing the production of the album and her halftime performance.
Joanne is the fourth album by pop singer Lady Gaga. As the album suggests the center piece of the album is the song Joanne. It’s a personal tale of her aunt that died young and a great song in composition and lyrics. Too bad the rest of the album contains more straightforward generic pop songs.
I stopped paying much attention to Lady Gaga around the second album (at the same time how I generally consumed media was changing such that I was less exposed to to whatever was hot in current mainstream pop). A long way around to saying this was all new to me, and I was surprised by how much gained maturity and confidence in musical perspective she shows by just her 4th album. I thought this was an extremely deft presentation of a style of softer side rock that keeps its spirit intact while bringing its sound up to date in a way that's actually quite difficult. The performance and mix also avoid that overly superficial hitmaker pop sheen that marred some of her earlier work for me.
This was definitely a different sound from what I expected in a Lady Gaga album. I liked it although I think I might need more listens to decide how much I like it. As it was, it was pretty good.
An album I didn’t pay much attention to when it came out, listening back now this is better than I expected,and different enough from last gaga’s early work it probably deserves a place on the list.
Decent listen, if somewhat non-eventful and subdued compared to Gaga's earlier works that have featured on the list. I have appreciated these adds as a means of reflection – Germanotta's project faced a great deal of ridicule when she first emerged on the music scene, but has gone on to define teens-era pop with its prescient electronica elements and bombastic songwriting. It's been nice to return to her albums (both well-known and new to me, like this LP) and realize just how talented and creative she is as an artist.
Now this is better Gaga than that last Pop one (Was that what it was called?)
Catchy, thoughtful, mix of styles. I can imagine teenage me being obsessed with the million reasons song.
Before she made an alternate persona and created her debut album which has sold millions, there was a web page titled, “Stefani Germanotta, you will never be famous”. While this was cyber bullying, it was not incorrect. Stefani Germanotta is not, in fact, famous. Lady Gaga is. While this may feel like a distinction without a difference, it is one hundred percent true that Stefani will never be famous if she never allows herself to come through in her art. Yes, she is a fantastic singer, yes the production is great, yes the songwriting feels fresh and original. Yes this is, on the surface, a great album. However, my one complaint, and it’s a big one, is that Lady Gaga’s lack of dedication to any style and lack of any emotion in her execution brings the enjoyment for down immensely. She’s a chameleon and can do pop or country or even those old Great American Songbook classics with Tony Bennet, but who the fuck is she really. We may never know and it’s a little frustrating because, maybe she wasn’t a very interesting person before, but you can’t live a life that she’s lives and not have an interesting perspective. This point of view has never been shared and I just feel as though she is a phony because of it. I can enjoy this album. I don’t have much trouble doing so. It’s really solid, but the foundation isn’t. 3/5
Far superior to her earlier work, but still not really my kind of thing. Feels too considered and deliberate, and perhaps slightly over-produced - not a surprise when Mark Ronson was behind the desk!
Apparently her most mature work, as you can tell by the fact that the song dedicated to her dead aunt is immediately followed up by a song where she talks about how she's attracted to buff cowboys and then a song about jacking off.
Not her best. Boring and trying too hard at the same time.
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