Heartbreak, Loss, Lust and Illusion: Decoding Lady Gaga's Emotional Lyrics From Joanne

The Grammy winner just dropped her fifth studio album named after her late aunt

By Samantha Schnurr Oct 21, 2016 4:00 AMTags
Lady Gaga Joanne Album

Mother Monster's newest music has finally arrived, so hold on to your cowboy hats. 

After months of mounting anticipating, Lady Gaga's fifth studio album, Joanne, has officially dropped and just like that, we're all carefully combing through the lyrics of her 13 tracks. 

While songs are often up to broad interpretation, the Grammy winner told E! News she had a particular person in mind when she began crafting her newest sounds. 

"I kept envisioning this girl in the middle of the country somewhere crying her eyes out in the field with a drink in her hand and her kid in the other, going, 'I can't believe that Lady Gaga understands how I feel. I never thought that someone like her could ever get me,'" she explained. "The point of this record was to find that human connection with the world in a deeper way."

However, the music is not focused on solely one kind of sound.

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The album "crosses between country and funk, pop, dance, rock, electronic music, folk," she told E! of her fresh work. "It really covers a lot of different areas."

And a lot of different emotions. At its core, the album is inspired by the singer's late aunt Joanne Stefani Germanotta, who tragically passed away at 19 years old after suffering complications from Lupus.

"This is something that a lot of people have experienced—that someone they loved is gone or that someone that they love is possibly going to be gone in the future" she told E! News. While Gaga never got to meet her father's sister, she feels a spiritual kinship with her. "I've always used the fact that she didn't get to live the rest of her life as a sense of strength and power within me that I have to go out and live the rest for her," she explained. 

Loss is just one of the handful of emotions contained in Joanne, which—judging by the lyrics—touches on feelings of heartbreak, identity, frustration, desire and nostalgia. 

"This album is sort of me going out into the world and bringing with me its deepest stories that I have of my life and turning them into songs that I hope will touch people in a deep and meaningful way about their own lives and their own stories."

Without further ado, let's take a look at the lyrics:  

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  • Diamond Heart: "Some asshole broke me in/ Wrecked all my innocence"

Could this be a reference to her past sexual assault? 

  • A-YO: "Hey, I can't wait to cast my spell/ Which one you'll never tell"

Sounds like Gaga is on the prowl. 

  • Joanne: "Heaven's not ready for you/ Every part of my aching heart needs you more than the angels do"

The track is clearly in tribute to her late aunt, for whom the song and album are named. 

  • John Wayne: "He called/ I cried/ we broke"

Did she just give us a brief play-by-play of her breakup with Taylor Kinney?

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  • Dancin' in Circles: "Call out loud for you/Oh can you hear me singin'?"

It sounds like Gaga is making a musical plea. 

  • Perfect Illusion: "It wasn't love, it wasn't love/ It was a perfect illusion/ Mistaken for love, it wasn't love/ It was a perfect illusion/ You were a perfect illusion"

As she previously explained to E! News, this song is a reflection of how she, Kinney and many others can feel at times during a relationship. 

  • Million Reasons: "I've got a hundred million reasons to walk away/ But baby, I just need one good one to stay"

The songstress is stuck in a head and heart tug-of-war. 

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  • Sinner's Prayer: "Hear my sinner's prayer/I am what I am and I don't wanna break the heart of any other man"

Is guilt creeping up on Gaga?

  • Come to Mama: "So why do we gotta tell each other how to live?/ The only prisons that exist are ones we put each other in"

 As one of the album's social chants, Gaga encourages everyone to live without judgement. 

  • Hey Girl:  "Everyday a heartache/ I'm just tryin' to keep it sane"

In a duet with Florence Welch, the song reads like an homage to friendship between ladies while recalling spontaneous times. 

  • Angel Down: "I confess I am lost in the age of the social"

In the opening line of this track, Gaga notes her rift with social media before diving into a track about the death of Trayvon Martin

  • Grigio Girls: "So when I'm feeling small/ I toss that cork and call/All the Pinot, Pinot Grigio girl

This song is about her good friend Sonja, who has Stage 4 cancer. The songstress describes gathering her gal pals to drink and cope with their friend's illness. 

  • Just Another Day: "We both know I could learn a thing or two/ About relaxing, hey, I love you"

This lady needs a personal day.