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Lady Gaga: Disease review – a return to form, and to her classic sound
After a run of power ballads and jazz standards – plus the mega-flop Joker sequel – this synthpop single is a reminder of the Gaga of old, while still fitting into Brat-era pop
Gaga has done an impressive job of carrying her audience along with her throughout an eclectic approach to pop in which arty synthpop coexists alongside stadium-sized soft-rock, country-infused Americana and vocal jazz – but she seemed finally to have lost them: a third album of standards, this time without her late duet partner Tony Bennett, and allied to one of the year’s biggest box office bombs, apparently proved a step too far. It involves fizzing, distorted synths playing dark minor chords; a pounding, slightly industrial four-to-the-floor beat; vocals in the strident, imperious mode of Poker Face or The Cure; and lyrics that, if they don’t bear much resemblance to the work of the Metaphysical poets, do seem a bit dominatrix-y: “Screaming for me baby, like you’re gonna die.” It’s very well produced, and if the song doesn’t have the undeniable, head-turning, instant-classic quality of Bad Romance – it lacks the element of surprise found in that track’s brilliant melodic and tonal shift from dark-hued verses to sunlit Abba-esque chorus – its excessive, more-is-more sound and mood manage to evoke memories of late 00s Gaga and still fit with the messy, post- Brat pop climate.
Or read this on The Guardian
