Lady Gaga is 'Joanne' on her re-inventive fifth studio album

Lady Gaga is back – again. After an unusually long absence on pop radio, the former dance pop queen known for thrilling hits such as “Just Dance” (2008) and “Bad Romance” (2009) has returned with her fifth studio album and taken the eponymous moniker of her deceased aunt Joanne, which is as bizarre as it sounds. The album, which was released on Oct. 21, finds Gaga at an interesting point in her pop career. While radio has clearly moved on from her, the question lies in whether or not she has moved on from it.

The answer is somewhat of a mixed bag. “Joanne” travels much of the same sonic terrain that she explored on her blockbuster sophomore release “Born This Way” (2011) — namely its rock and disco inspired elements — but strips it down to a reflect a more acoustic, country-based sound. In pursuing this new musical direction, Gaga has largely abandoned her previous collaborators to write and produce most of the album with Mark Ronson and BloodPop, who played instrumental roles in shaping the careers of Amy Winehouse and Justin Bieber respectively.

This time, however, her comeback feels less assured. Perhaps this can be attributed to the oversaturation of the Gaga brand around the release of her fourth studio album “Artpop” (2013), when the public simply began to grow tired of her wearing meat dresses, hatching out of an egg or vomiting on stage. Whatever the reason, “Joanne” reflects Gaga’s attempt to gain back the relevance she has slowly lost over the years by billing this as her most emotional, raw record to date. Its efforts almost succeed, but don't quite make it all the way.

“Perfect Illusion,” the lead single to her fifth LP, is indicative of this crux. While the song is more thrilling than anything she has done since “Edge of Glory” (2011), it ultimately falls victim to an unfinished quality that comes off as sloppy and inauthentic, which can be seen in the song’s reluctance to fully commit to its 1980s-dance heritage. Moreover, its chorus is as towering as one would expect from a huge Lady Gaga anthem, yet the song moves too quickly in getting to that explosion, making the moment of release not very satisfying.

Much of “Joanne” suffers from this tendency to reach for elements that are great in theory, but never quite get there in execution. “A-YO,” which was theoretically supposed to be the second single off the record until someone clearly realized this was not going to get any radio play whatsoever, is a stomping country-pop anthem that feels almost like a parody when she sings “I can't wait to blaze for real / Track burns like a road rail.” Similarly, “Hey Girl” seems like an outstanding idea on paper with Gaga evoking Prince-esque grooves and collaborating with British songstress Florence Welch, yet the track sees Welch overwhelm Gaga with the sheer soulfulness of her voice.

The rest of the LP, however, is by no means a tragedy. The album opener “Diamond Heart” is an excellent midtempo anthem, juxtaposing the sexual assault Gaga experienced in her early career days with the refrain “I'm not flawless, but I got a diamond heart.” While “John Wayne” contains cowboy-referencing lyrics that do not indicate that Gaga knows what role he plays in American pop-culture, the track contains the best breakdown on the album as she wails, “I'm strung out on John Wayne,” before the guitars come crashing in for a truly head-bopping experience. Back in more traditional Gaga territory, “Dancin’ in Circles” makes use of collaborator Beck to great effect as the reggae-influenced ode to masturbation has never made loneliness seem so sexy, especially as she yelps “Dancin' in circles, feels good to be lonely.”

Yet it is on the ballads of “Joanne” that the album truly shines and finds its purpose. The title track is a heartbreaking remembrance to her aunt who died before Gaga was born. The result is a vulnerability not felt across most of the record as she pleads “Girl / Where do you think you're goin'?” “Million Reasons” also evokes a similar sorrow, though it is for a dying relationship. The simple country ballad is built around repeated references to this idea of “million reasons” as Gaga looks for signs why she should stay or leave this relationship behind. Whether or not the subject of the song is her ex-fiancée Taylor Kinney, the emotional potency of the track is reflected in its understated nature, never letting the listener forget the pain and sorrow of a break-up.

Though there’s nothing overtly offensive on “Joanne,” except for the way too Christmassy-sounding “Come to Mama,” the record is a good pop album but not the triumphant record Gaga truly needed. While there are enough high-quality songs to keep the public paying attention to her, Gaga is still at a crossroads in her career, and her fifth album has merely delayed this decision between relevance and true authenticity. Here is to album six finally revealing her answer.