Lady Gaga holds a special place in my heart as a musical artist. I love most of her work, but especially her album, Joanne.
(Before you read any further, order Joanne from our collection or stream/download the album from hoopla.)
Once you’ve listened to it, you won’t be able to stop. You’ll listen to it during your morning shower, in the car on your way to work (and on the way home) and before it’s time to sleep at night. Joanne may be a clear departure from the usual Gaga style of her previous albums, but it’s no less powerful. Songs such as the title track Joanne and Come to Mama will keep you coming back again and again. They still hit me as hard in 2020 as they did 2016, when it first came out.
I think my favorite song on the whole album is Hey Girl, her duet with Florence Welch. (Side note: Florence Welch also does an absolutely amazing cover of Stand By Me for Final Fantasy XV.) Hey Girl is about women supporting women, which is something that means a lot to me. (I sing this song to my cat, Kairi, all the time while holding her.) We’re all in this world together, so there’s no point in fighting; let’s help each other where we can instead. Its theme is especially present in the chorus when Welch and Gaga sing:
“Hey girl, hey girl/
We can make it easy if we lift each other/
Hey girl, hey girl/
We don’t need to keep on one-in’ up another/
Hey girl, hey girl/
Hey girl, hey girl/
If you lose your way/
Just know that I got you”
– Hey Girl by Lady Gaga and Florence Welch
The stylistic change in Joanne from her other albums also especially makes far more sense and has far more meaning for me after watching the Netflix Documentary, Gaga: Five Foot Two. As viewers, we get to experience a year in the life of not Lady Gaga, but Stefani Germonatta.
Five Foot Two follows the time when Gaga was releasing Joanne, up until her performance at the 2017 Superbowl Halftime Show. You will live, love, laugh and cry with her up until the very end. You learn so much about her (that I won’t spoil here) and what she goes through. It was really cool seeing her as just another person instead of her larger-than-life persona, Lady Gaga.
Don’t have a Netflix subscription to watch Gaga: Five Foot Two? Thanks to our new Roku Ultras, you can check it out too even if you don’t have a Netflix subscription of your own!
Check out a Roku Ultra and the album Joanne, today. It’ll make me so happy to share something I love with you.