Just today, Lady Gaga allowed us to venture into Chromatica, and to revel amidst an entirely foreign sonic atmosphere. Such has become the Gaga-esque routine: constantly experimenting, an ongoing metamorphosis, one refusing to become complacent with any sense of normalcy. For those familiar with her work, the unknown becomes strangely familiar, a form of acquaintance with the ‘alien’. Any definitions become entirely inadequate, ceasing to function in a realm spanning entire chromatic spectrums. 

At the same time, Chromatica seems to echo earlier house records, a return to the dancefloors of years prior. The sound, while experimental, remains her own—only increasingly vulnerable. The artist’s mythology carves out space for intimacy with no bounds, embodied in the track ‘Sine From Above’ with Elton John. 

Sine refers to the functions behind the acoustics, a nod to the process of breaking down and reconfiguring sound in all its complexities. Perhaps, that’s what Chromatica does best. In the words of Gaga herself, “I open a portal to the other realm whenever I write a song, a portal that is a conduit for sound and language.”

Allowing another artist into her inner psyche is undoubtedly exhaustive, though Elton John might qualify as an exception. Gaga made her Grammys debut alongside John, became a godmother to both his sons (both), and has performed numerous homages to his own innovation within the industry. 

“He is so, so uniquely special,” Gaga told Zane Lowe. “And I cannot tell you how instrumental in my life he’s been to showing me that you can go all the way in life and… be authentic and be you and do good things in the world and take care of yourself and be there. He’s such an inspiration.”

The two, together, foster a creative dynamic that repeatedly defines the avant-garde, driven by alias’ ‘Mother Monster’ and ‘Rocket Man’. Their work, as Gaga mentions, is far from a lackluster pop pursuit; rather, their collaboration places the abstract into tangible terms, a journey through “the root of all [Gaga’s] revelations”. Those revelations are profound and spiritual, a means of survival (as Gaga previously told Spotify). 

This Elton John not only visits Chromatica, he manifests its visions into a reality, allowing ‘Alice’ (a previous track) to attempt to reach Wonderland. 

The two, together, voice an evocative bridge towards the track’s end: “The sound created stars like me and you / Before there was love, there was silence / I heard one sine and it healed my heart.”

Listen in full here: