What is the best song on Joanne?

[loveandpeace 1,889]

Jolene 

[Apec 355]

Too difficult imho. It's an album very much focused on personal tidbits with fantasy mixed in but at the root of it all there's generational trauma, female bonds, female self-loathing manifesting in life and relationships and how to possibly cure it, female family dynamics etc. I think she needed this after Troy, Kinney and Goddess knows what with her father. But instead of going the err... Swift route she examines herself and her place in the world as a woman. It's not polished dance-pop but maybe this first element might've put this fanbase off even more, completely unconsciously I mean, idk. Not saying this is a perfect album.  But it's overhated. 

She's always had a female POV of course but here it is unrelenting in examining herself and her ties to others, she doesn't let us forget. The tired "Why'd she put a mastur****** song on an album about her dead aunt?" is moot since some people here forget the album is in its entirety about Stefani Joanne, not Joanne Stefani, her aunt.

Diamond Heart is a rare peek into her mindset in her go-go past (and really raw but amazingly written and sung), I'm one of the few who gets pumped up by A-YO (love how she's playfully confessing to witchcraft to get her lover as a metaphor - again an almost uniquely prescribed/accused female angle - yet she flips it on its head by having fun with it), John Wayne is pure adrenaline yet it's about always picking the wrong guys, Dancin' in Circles is how she copes with pain, physically - yep, certain chronic muscle/joint pain gets a bit of relief that way, scientific fact alert! - as well as psychologically, and is more emancipatory than at first glance. Those sitars though!  Love the playfulness, yet the longing for more is obvious so most of the rest of the album dives not only into the relationship with the self or romantic relationships but with friends and family especially.

Sinner's Prayer (that husky voice!) is so deeply personal - like a distorted family portrait, it's not 1-1 to her life of course, but man I disagree that it "tries to be country", it is it's own unique thing like 99.9% of Gaga's endeavors and it's something to be studied.    I could do a whole essay but I'll spare you. Angel Down brings me to tears sometimes still - A true protest song, her first since Americano - yet self-reflective ("Has our young courage faded?").  

As does the raw Joanne on the record, I mean, you feel the longing so deeply and basically come to understand why she feels there's an important piece missing in her family life without singing about it explicitly (generational trauma). Hey Girl and Grigio Girls - the latter rather sadly, dressed up in how to cope with more coming loss - underline one of the themes of female bonds running through the album (her "baby sister" in Sinner's Prayer, Joanne, Diamond Heart being about her goal of escaping male servitude as it were, Dancin' in Circles being about self-liberation, Hey Girl about women lifting each other up/timeless bonds, Grigio Girls about the closest of female friendships etc. etc.).

Million Reasons isn't my favorite but it is a universal experience to feel you're half out the door but need a reason not to step away - whether it's healthy or not. Again, very female-focused imho (also in her own words - Howard Stern interview). Even studies show women are conditioned to overlook many more bad aspects in what even seem like ordinary, stable relationships and stay much longer than men do - they ruminate on the "good thing(s)" aka the "one reason to stay". That desperate plea makes the song work imo, and she's sung it beautifully in many different arrangements. Perfect Illusion is the perfect companion piece in a way, following MR in my head, coming to the realization that one reason is not enough. The anger is PALPABLE, explosive, raw.

Love the warm hug of Come to Mama, the 60's-70's throwback atmosphere of say, The Mama's and the Papa's (California Dreamin', Monday, Monday, Dedicated To The One I Love) and Mama Cass Elliot's Make Your Own Kind of Music vibe, so sad Father John Misty wrote it, I almost wish I didn't know but anyway...

Just Another Day is a fun, uplifting finale of self-knowledge and self-acceptance - it should have been the official final song! 

I'm torn between Diamond Heart for the personal angle and great song, JAD, Sinner's Prayer, and Angel Down. 

Edited 6 hours ago by Apec

[Bronco 26,987]

On 9/1/2026 at 3:41 PM, Ziggy said:

sureeee but beyonce also did daddy lessons in 2016. Miley did Younger Now a year after. i feel like it came at the right time, it just didn't commit to its vision enough. CC doesn't need to be a totally "country album" because the album is less about that than it is about creative limitations people try to impose on you, which gives her the leeway to add in some other sounds. Related to Ga, I think she needed to either more fully commit to the acoustic sound or make it a "Gaga record" with those sounds like Bey did with CC. That's why a song like Sinner's Prayer works really well because it is "Gaga" in it being earnest but camp, too. The contrast of her severe earnestness and commitment to the bit and this kind of high noon spaghetti western schtick is soooo her. A lot of the record doesn't quite distinguish itself enough as "GAGA" music imo. Just Another Day was another good example of Ga but acoustic. Tbh i wish instead of Ronson, she worked mostly with Father John Misty because even though she basically just bought CTM and it was kinda whatever, he's a really good acoustic camp storyteller and would have helped her realize a more unique vision for the album if they'd collabed more closely.

Father John Misty is the best part of the Joanne sessions tbh

[Cherry Blues 484]

On 9/1/2026 at 4:41 PM, Ziggy said:

sureeee but beyonce also did daddy lessons in 2016. Miley did Younger Now a year after. i feel like it came at the right time, it just didn't commit to its vision enough. CC doesn't need to be a totally "country album" because the album is less about that than it is about creative limitations people try to impose on you, which gives her the leeway to add in some other sounds. Related to Ga, I think she needed to either more fully commit to the acoustic sound or make it a "Gaga record" with those sounds like Bey did with CC. That's why a song like Sinner's Prayer works really well because it is "Gaga" in it being earnest but camp, too. The contrast of her severe earnestness and commitment to the bit and this kind of high noon spaghetti western schtick is soooo her. A lot of the record doesn't quite distinguish itself enough as "GAGA" music imo. Just Another Day was another good example of Ga but acoustic. Tbh i wish instead of Ronson, she worked mostly with Father John Misty because even though she basically just bought CTM and it was kinda whatever, he's a really good acoustic camp storyteller and would have helped her realize a more unique vision for the album if they'd collabed more closely.

I loved that she worked with Ronson, without him maybe Million Reasons and Angel Down had another sound - but i love how the Instrumentals of these songs sounds. I also find that there is enough Gaga in Joanne 🩷 

[Ziggy 14,215]

2 hours ago, Cherry Blues said:

I loved that she worked with Ronson, without him maybe Million Reasons and Angel Down had another sound - but i love how the Instrumentals of these songs sounds. I also find that there is enough Gaga in Joanne 🩷 

I’m glad you like it