page_title: Joanne (album)
section_title: Music and lyrics
hierarchical_section_title: Joanne (album) / Music and lyrics
caption_attribution_description: English: Lady Gaga performing "Joanne" on the Joanne World Tour
context_page_description: Joanne is the fifth studio album by American singer Lady Gaga. It was released on October 21, 2016, by Streamline and Interscope Records. Gaga, Mark Ronson and BloodPop handled its production with a variety of collaborators including Kevin Parker, Emile Haynie, Jeff Bhasker and Josh Homme. Musically, Joanne features "stripped-down" country, soft rock and dance-pop genres, which emphasize the singer's vocal abilities. Lyrically, the album delves into the theme of family and life's emotions; the death of Gaga's aunt Joanne Stefani Germanotta deeply influenced the record.
  The release and promotion of the album marked a softening of Gaga's image, who took on a more stripped-down, singer-songwriter-oriented look, consisting mainly of a pink, wide-brimmed cowgirl hat, vintage denim and pastel colors, evoking the 1970s. The singer's experience working on the television series American Horror Story influenced Joanne's creative process. To promote the album, three singles were released: "Perfect Illusion", "Million Reasons" and the title track.
context_section_description: Since Gaga did not want to restrict the music on Joanne to any particular genre, the album includes styles from dance-rock to introspective country music. The singer professed a fascination with all aspects of country music, which in turn influenced the album's music. In terms of production and composition, Joanne continued the "stripped-down" approach to music Gaga had taken following Artpop, emphasizing her vocals and the songwriting. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gaga said the tracks consisted of "stories about my family, my sister, my father and his sister. My mom's family. My relationships with men, my failures".
  Joe Lynch of Billboard described Joanne as "a stylistically eclectic of collection of swaggering rock, introspective ballads and soulful, danceable grooves". It opens with the track "Diamond Heart" which sets the album's tone. Hearkening back to her earlier works, this autobiographical song talks about Gaga's time as a go-go dancer in New York. "Diamond Heart" varies from a moody vibe in the verses, to a drum-oriented pre-chorus, and finally a rock-EDM chorus, with Homme playing guitar. The second track, "A-Yo", has touches of country music and is reminiscent of the music played in dive bars, with double hand claps and brass-accentuated beats. Lyrically it is a metaphor for having sex. The country music, achieved through the repetition of the same two chords, is complemented by BloodPop's background shouting vocals and synth addition. As the title track starts, the general tempo drops. Accompanied by just an acoustic guitar and minimal percussion, Gaga sings "heartfelt" lyrics about her late aunt Joanne. The singer described the track as "the true heart and soul of the record".
  The electronic "John Wayne" is more tongue-in-cheek lyrically, with Gaga including cowboy references in the lyrics: "I just love a cowboy, I know it's bad, but I'm, like, can I just hang off the back of your horse and can you go a little faster?". Gaga's vocals are accompanied by Homme's guitar, and the track alludes to her previous relationships, with comparisons to actor John Wayne. The Beck-composed track "Dancin' in Circles" is a pop song, consisting of a dance beat, a spoken-word middle 8 section, and lyrics about having a good time by oneself. It was described by Nicholas Mojica of the International Business Times as an "ode to masturbation". It has influences of reggae and ska, hearkening back to Gaga's own "Alejandro" (2010), as well as the music of Gwen Stefani. The lyrics find Gaga, dancing alone late at night, fantasizing about a past lover and masturbating: "I lay around, touch myself to pass the time / I feel down, I wish you were mine".
  According to Mark Savage of BBC Music, "Perfect Illusion" is a disco-rock song, composed around a building chord sequence, which he felt leads to a "compelling sense of urgency". The singer's vocals are kept raw and "untreated", eschewing Auto-Tune. The composition consists of "pulsing verses" and a guitar-and-vocal breakdown before the final chorus, where Gaga sings the title multiple times. Around the two-minute mark, there is a key change for the final chorus. In "Million Reasons" Gaga talks about love which does not last, uttering several variations of the title in the verses. The composition consists of a simple, country-oriented piano and guitar instrumentation. In the chorus Gaga sings, "You're giving me a million reasons to let you go / You're giving me a million reasons to quit the show". Tom Rasmussen of Vice feels "Million Reasons" has the strongest country music influence of all the songs on Joanne.
  "Sinner's Prayer" consists of instrumentation from bells and whistles, and is a mixture of country music, R&B and pop. The Father John Misty-assisted track finds a vulnerable Gaga wanting her man to love her true self. The lyric, "Her love for him ain't cheap / But it breaks just like a knockoff piece from Fulton Street" references the street in Manhattan, New York, where cheap trinkets are available. For the ninth track "Come to Mama", Gaga sings in an affected voice, elong
caption: Gaga performing the title track on the Joanne World Tour. The song marks the first time the general tempo of the album drops. The singer called it the "true heart and soul of the record".[47]
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