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Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars Could Have Gone Stratospheric
The pop duo known for creative curveballs plays it elegantly straight.
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars fans occupy similar stations: It’s been a minute since the last big drop — a full length collaboration with another artist whose skills tugged the pop star away from the usual sonic vectors — and longer still since a collection of new songs embodied the trademark sound, her bustling electronics and his nondenominational funk. While the Johnny Cash Show aesthetic-apparent in the music video and at the live premiere at L.A.’s newly rechristened Intuit Dome tap into the western airs percolating in a year run by Morgan Wallen, Beyoncé, Shaboozey, and Post Malone releases (at least, between fresh Tortured Poets deluxe editions), “Die With a Smile” doesn’t take quite the same plunge. Just as Silk Sonic saw two versatile artists locking into a very specific loadout of historical reference points, “Smile” identifies doomerism, countrypolitan stye, and the timeless tug of the adult-contemporary torch song as major themes alongside Amazon Prime’s Emmy-nominated Fallout, the Tony-winning Stereophonic, and mega-viral singer Chappell Roan.
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