Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande make sense together. Not only because they’re big, probably-visible-from-space pop queens, but because they’re also loudly melodramatic with it. Both feel like New York, Gaga starting out in the dying days of its avant-garde club scene, Grande a musical-loving child of Broadway. Meshed together, on a new single from Gaga’s forthcoming album Chromatica (out next week), they’re pure theatre. They’re Lea Michele caterwauling in Glee Club, or a spectacular meltdown over the smallest of inconveniences.
“Rain on Me”, a tight three minutes of house euphoria, is about singing through the pain and dancing like nobody’s watching. It’s traditionally Gaga in many respects, full of broad vocal runs and camp spoken word (“Rain on me / Tsunami”, she insists, as if she’s a cyborg with a British accent). It also feels new for her. There’s a heavy dose of early Nineties dance-pop here, shades of “Rhythm Is a Dancer” or Crystal Waters, the track’s production (credited to BloodPop and BURNS) bubbling and flexing beneath her.
Musically speaking, it’s great to see Grande back in a strictly pop space. It’s a genre she’s always expressed slight ambivalence towards, finding greater creative satisfaction in R&B. Yet she’s well suited to it, her airy vocals complementing Gaga wonderfully.
With much of the world still confined to their bedrooms, there’s an inescapable melancholy to the fact that something so club-ready won’t get to live out its destiny for a while. It feels appropriate, though, at least in terms of its lyrics. “I’d rather be dry, but at least I’m alive,” Gaga wails, finding joy in small victories.
“Stupid Love”, Chromatica’s first single, was written about as a return to form for Gaga, a glittery respite from the downbeat earnestness of her most recent albums. It was also entry-level Gaga, a track that rested comfortably rather than shooting its way into the stratosphere.
“Rain on Me” feels like a step up or at least a course correction – a cool breeze, like Clean Bandit but good, and a celebration of powering through the misery. No one especially thrives in the rain, but we can at least try and make the most of it while it’s here.
