Lady Gaga’s ‘Joanne’: Everything You Need To Know About Her Most Personal Album Yet

Lady Gaga’s fans have been waiting for the details of her highly anticipated new pop album. The Mother Monster just dropped the lead single, “Perfect Illusion,” on Friday, September 9. Gaga made an appearance on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 radio show on Thursday, September 15 to give details about her fifth studio album, Joanne.

The album is the name of her father’s sister who passed away at a young age from lupus. Gaga’s new album also has a release date for October 21. In addition, she has taken to her social media accounts to share the album’s cover artwork and release date, reports E! Online.

Gaga has spoken out in the past about her own struggles with lupus, which explains why she would name her album after her aunt. Back in 2010, Gaga revealed that she tested borderline positive for the autoimmune disorder. However, she only tested positive for the symptoms of lupus, reports Health.com.

“When Mark [Ronson] and I wrote it, the decision to name the album that was in tribute to my father’s sister who died when she was 19. He was younger than her. She was very sick with Lupus. The death of her in his family and life left a scar that never healed. As I returned to my home life and spending time with my friends and family and getting out of the mainstream limelight for a minute, the experiences of our family and our challenges that make us who we are.

“[The album is] everything about Joanne, which also happens to be my middle name. It’s all the toughness of the pain of losing her that made us all strong and made us who we are. She is the woman of my past who is becoming and helping me bring more of my honest woman self into the future.”

Gaga also revealed on Thursday that this album will mark a new chapter in both her personal life and music career.

“[It] will be such a day of healing for me and my family. It’s such a wonderful way to feel like she’s getting to live the rest of her life she never got to.”

The album also gets a personal touch by incorporating Joanne’s handwriting on the album art. Inside the packaging for the physical copy of the album, there will be clippings and papers from her aunt and her father growing up. There will be old photos and letters, along with her high school ID and driver’s license, which will also be incorporated into the lyrics and chords, Gaga said.

Although Gaga has given very little details about the album, she’s already namedropped a few of the collaborators, such as Ronson, Bloodpop, Beck, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Father Misty John, and Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine. According to Entertainment Weekly, Gaga has also worked with Hillary Lindsey, who wrote Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” and Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take The Wheel,” so expect a different sound on this album in contrast with her previous pop albums, reports Pitchfork.

Lady Gaga is touching upon personal emotions on this new album. She has revealed that she has also been betrayed by those closest to her and that those experiences will be reflected on the new album. In another interview with Wired, cited by the Daily Star, Gaga said that there will be “a lot of rage on the album.” In fact, it’s her most personal album to date, even though she’s had some personal tracks like “Speechless” (2009’s Fame Monster) and “Swine” off (2013’s ArtPop). Gaga has said that working on the set of AHS: Hotel has reawakened the “art of darkness” inside of her.

“There’s going to be a lot of personal things on that record that are written through the lyrics and the music. Perfect Illusion is also about relationships being in love and so high and intoxicated with someone that you are unable to see that the relationship was not what you thought it was.”

Gaga has previously insisted that the song is not about her split with her former fiancé, Taylor Kinney. She just had a lot of feelings stirring around in her that she decided to write and record the song. Gaga’s fans have called “Perfect Illusion” everything from rock to disco and a little ’80s synth. Gaga says none of those genres fit the song since various producers and musicians worked on its sound. Expect Joanne to sound a bit like “Perfect Illusion,” along with some other influences thrown in.

What are your thoughts on Lady Gaga’s new album? Are you excited to hear her most personal works yet? Sound off below in the comments section.

[Featured Image by photographer Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images]