Sometimes a remix comes along that completely changes how you see the original track, like an incredible sequel you didn't know you needed to shake your brain cells loose from the single version you'd been spamming repeat on. These perfectly crafted mixes are rare, and that's why they stand out — as purely new imaginings of that song you love. Chew Fu is one of the best pop re-imaginers we have in the business today, and it was a pure delight to sit down and chat with him about his past and future Gaga releases and solo projects.

This is a such a great opportunity, we love your work, Chew. Thanks for making awesome remixes of Lady Gaga for us over the years.
Thank you so much, I love to hear it. I just make those remixes because I like making remixes. So it's always for me, awesome, to hear feedback from anyone that appreciates it, so thanks for that!

You just dropped "Shallow" (The Chew Fu Refix) in celebration of Gaga winning the Oscar for Best Original Song.
I am really excited about that. I figured that when she wins the Oscar I want to release a remix. I've been playing my remix in my own sets for the last couple of weeks, and it went over really well. I am excited to share it! That's always what it comes to down to, you know? I just want my friends to like it. Then I'm totally fine with it.

Tell me about yourself. How did you get started in the music industry?
Well, I'm actually a jazz musician. So I started as an alto-saxophone player, I loved jazz music. That's how I ended up in New York, because a lot of my heroes made their music in New York. I met my current business partner, John Fraiser, and he hooked me up, working for Bad Boy Records. And that's how I got my start in production in the United States. Hip-hop is very related to funk music, which I was already doing as a musician, it was a logical step for me to do that. That's how I started. A lot of hip-hop! And in Europe, simultaneously, I was releasing a lot of dance records. At the time it was like two different worlds.

That's how I got started as a musician. For me, as a musician, you are always waiting for a call from a music producer, because I wanted to play on records! I wanted to be a saxophone player, so for me it was also logical for me to become a music producer, just so I could put myself on records, basically! 

Starting out as a jazz musician, you probably couldn't have dreamed it would have led to all this?
No, absolutely not. I always just wanted to make cool music. That's how I've been throughout my career, I justed wanted to make stuff that was interesting, you know? That is how I got into remixes. I was doing a lot of hip hop mixes, and house music, in two different continents. I felt with remixes, you know, sometimes, without permission from the artist—I could create a new style, that would be really inspiring. I could just take a vocal from a rap artist and create a house beat under it.

What is a "refix"? I know you prefer to use the title "refix" instead of "remix."
Well I started calling my music remixes, when I started to do them as remixes. And that was based on the fact that I was using some of the original music, that I would then manipulate into another track. I would bring it from a pop track, and use a baseline, I would use the drums... But at one point, I started to only use acapellas. All the music under it, I composed by myself. Organically. And at the time I was actually only downloading acapellas, because I didn't even want to hear the original first! I was like, I am just going to do what I think this acapella should have. So that's how that started.

That's flipping awesome. I think hands down, if you were to ask any Lady Gaga fan who's even been somewhat hardcore over the last decade, "What is the best remix of Lady Gaga?," they are going to say, "The Chew Fu Bad Romance Remix."
Ohhh yeah. That was awesome.

That was epic.
I love all my remixes, but I feel "Bad Romance" has a different impact than my "LoveGame," or "Paparazzi," or any other remix. That's also how I like to produce every track. Like I said, I go from the acapella and then I'll create the music under it. Why I call some of them refixes was, I started to make all the music from scratch. So I felt like, "I'm gonna call it a refix, if I make the music completely different." Like I did with "LoveGame." I just used the acapella, and I wrote the baseline, and then I wrote the remix. That's why I called it "Refix." And I also started noticing, if I called stuff a "Fix," often the artist would be at least responding to it. Which could be in a negative way, but it would turn positive if the artist then would hear, "Oh, this is actually really fun." Because their first reaction was, "Hey, my music doesn't need fixing." And then they would hear it, and be like, "Oh, this is actually really good! I understand. This is cool." So it went hand in hand.

When I did Bad Romance, I was actually really sick that week! So I got the acapella in from Cherrytree Records, I believe at the time, and they were like, "Hey, we need this remix, and we need it in three days."

Oh my god!
Sometimes that's how it goes, you know? So I was like, "Okay, let's do this!" And I was in bed, but I set up my studio with my laptop, and whatever, and I worked in my "studio" on the remix for 18 hours a day. But from the get-go I kind of knew that it would be cool. That's the feeling I had from the beginning. I had the vocal, then I made the baseline, I started cutting it up a little bit, and then I added a little hookline that I made in the beginning, with "Walk, Walk, Fashion, Baby". And I thought to myself, "This is gonna be cool." So I finished it. But often, when I finish something, I completely doubt myself when I listen back to it. Probably a lot of people have that. You're like, "Oh my God, this is really bad." Right? I have that often. So with Bad Romance, there was that feeling. So I sent it to the label, after three days. And I didn't hear back from them, for like two more days. And I went back to my mix and thought, "Oh my God, this was really bad. They must hate my music!" So I called Cherrytree Records, I'll never forget; I started off, "Hey, I'm really sorry about the remix, I'm gonna do it again, I promise you next week it will be really good!" And then, they were like: "No, we really loved your remix!" And we talked about it. It was really like that. And a weight fell off my shoulders.

But it's often like that. I guess you know, I always put a lot of pressure on myself to make something super good. Always in those last minutes you start to doubt, like, "Wait a minute, because I did something so completely different, did I do the right thing?"

You knocked it out of the park with that one.
Thank you.

What was it like working with Lady Gaga and Marilyn Manson on "LoveGame"? That turned into a really big one, that they ending up using on The Remix album.
That really set it all off. It was so special by itself. I was at the time then where I was already releasing a lot of remixes, but I was just releasing them on blogs or whatever, and I was really starting to build up a name for myself. And how "LoveGame" started was me getting an acapella from my friend who worked at a radio station called Ghettohouse Radio. That may explain the name a little bit! So I got Gaga's acapella, I started to do the music, and the demo leaked. And she apparently got that demo, she heard that. And I'll never forget how she called me that day.

I thought it was one of my friends in the Netherlands prank calling me. I knew "Poker Face" from her, and then "LoveGame," but she was huge already. Everyone was like, "Oh my God, where was this gonna end?" It was amazing. So I got this call, and it was Troy, who was her manager at the time. And I thought this was a prank. Troy was like, "Look, we heard the demo, do you think we can work something out?" And I was like, "Yeah, sure, we can work something out!" Because I though it was my friend from the Netherlands all this time. And then he was like, "Well, can we set up a call with you and Gaga? We have this idea where we want to record Gaga and Marilyn Manson on the mix that you have. And we could finish it all together." It was like in two minutes time, right? From the time someone calls me, and then someone tells me Lady Gaga really loves it, and then we have this great idea, Marilyn Manson on the track? I remember coming off that call, and I didn't have anyone around me to tell it to. So I called my manager, and said, "You are not gonna believe this. You're gonna get a call from Troy Carter." And my manager was like, "Wait a minute, I know Troy." So that really worked out well, because Troy already knew my manager. So it was just spectacular how it all went down. I was so excited when they started using that for the live show, had the whole band play it... That was just huge for me.

Speaking of bands, are you going to do another album with Breedlove?
Yes. Actually, after Magic Monday, we worked on a new album that's called Tragic Tuesday, and we have been performing with that in New York for the last year or so. And this year we recorded our first music video for our first single, so that should be something maybe in May, that we are going to release. That is a full album that we are really excited about! It's gonna be really cool. Breedlove is still busy writing his musical. But we get on stage like at least once a month together.

The tour we did with Gaga in Europe was awesome, of course. She has always been so supportive of that. There was a really magical time, when we did Magic Monday... So there was this little party that we threw, in a bar called St. Jerome's in New York. And it would literally only fit fifty people. I'll never forget the day when this enormous Bentley stopped in front of the door, and Gaga comes out, and she just starts partying with us! Really amazing vibes. And I remember everyone walking in, thinking like, this cannot be true. Because at one point, she was standing on the bar, with her band, singing jazz songs together with Breedlove. So if you'd walked in there, to that bar, it was just like an amazing sight, you know? So from that point, she's really been supporting us in a really great way. She's always trying to motivate us. So I can only be thankful for that.

As an artist, to be on the tour, to see her action really blew my mind. The amount of energy, she's such a professional. It's like, when you are around someone like that, the level is set so high, you can achieve more yourself. So I am really grateful for that.

Where can we see you live?
I'm doing mainly gigs in New York at the moment, at Club Cumming, Three Dollar Bill in Brooklyn, and St. Jerome's. That's been my home base with Breedlove. Right now we are working on the tour for Tragic Tuesday. Dates aren't set yet—but we are working on that!

Are you going to remix more tracks from A Star Is Born?
I've actually done one more that I want to release. I actually want to tell you about it—this remix has actually set off my releases for 2019. I'm doing this new thing called Project X. The basis of it is that I am releasing one single a month, and one official remix per month. So the first month is "Shallow," and the the second song I remixed is "Is That Alright?" The first remix I'm releasing is Shallow, and the first single I'm releasing is called "Judy." And I'm doing it together with my friend Timothe, called Chew Fu X Timothe. And then the next release will be "Is That Alright?" together with a saxophone track that I'm releasing. It's gonna be really interesting!

I am talking with the label about officially releasing them. This is the first step of that. Because I just want to share, you know? And be like, "Hey, listen to this! This is cool!" That's where it starts. Every month there will be a new release of the Chew Fu Project X.

We all thank you very much.
Thank you! It's all about having fun releasing music. I'm always on the look out for the coolest stuff to remix. It's all so inspiring, it really gives me a kick. I can just release it [on my own] and go, "Okay, this is what WE love!" and there's no label in between it, it's all like, these songs are just cool. And also, if anyone has a request for me, if you ever hear anyone say, "Chew Fu should remix this track," I also like that challenge. You guys really have the finger on the pulse of what you want. It's always really interesting for me to hear because I'm in my bubble, so if you say, "Chew, you should really listen to this Gaga song, " I'll definitely give it a shot.

That is such a nice offer for the fans, thank you! 
I'm just really grateful for people just liking my music. It inspires me enormously, I'm grateful for that energy. It gives me the fuel to keep going. A really big part of all the remixes, are the fans, it's this continuous energy that keeps going. Thank you, guys!

Be sure to follow Chew Fu on Spotify, Instagram, and Twitter.

by Katharine Styles-Burroughs

Lady Gaga's performance as Ally in Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born has been generating Oscar buzz ever since its massive premiere at the 2018 Venice Film Festival. The singer-turned-actress is currently a strong favorite to take home the award for Best Actress at the 2019 ceremony, while the film, which marks Cooper's directorial debut, is predicted to win the night's main award for Best Picture. We spoke with some of the industry's top experts about just how strong Gaga's chances to win Best Actress are, and how many nominations and wins can A Star Is Born reap overall. Here's what they had to say...

Kristopher Tapley, Variety:
Lady Gaga is in the driver's seat for Best Actress right now. There are strong performances in the mix, like Olivia Colman's in The Favorite or Glenn Close's in The Wife, but none has the sparkle Gaga does. She's drawn raves for her debut feature performance, one that included, of course, singing on top of carving out a fresh rendition of a character that dates back some eight decades. That's no small feat, and if the movie can keep up the momentum it currently has, I see little reason to think Gaga can't win one of many prizes for A Star Is Born on Oscar night.

Kevin Polowy, Yahoo!:
I think Gaga has an excellent chance of being nominated. She's probably as close as there is to a shoo-in at this early point. Winning the Oscar will be a taller order, but she's got a seriously legit chance at doing that, too. She's got a lot going for her. First, and most importantly: The performance is freaking revelatory. It's a transformative portrayal, and I think everyone's appreciating what a stripped-down, authentic, soul-baring performance it is–albeit one buoyed by some crazy otherwordly pipes. There's some precedence to pop singers winning Oscars, most notably Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls. And what could be really crucial is if A Star is Born emerges as the all-around favorite. We haven't seen one film dominate the major Oscar categories in years, but ASIB could be that movie; it's a critically acclaimed box office hit, the perfect one-two punch, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that it could pull a near-sweep (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor). What stands against her: Glenn Close, who could get sentimental bonus points for The Wife since she's previously 0-for-6 at the Oscars, and Olivia Colman, who's getting a lot of love for The Favourite, as well as a few performances we haven't yet seen (Felicity Jones in On the Basis of Sex, Margot Robbie and/or Saoirse Ronan in Mary Queen of Scots).

Grace Randolph, Behind the Trailer:
I'd say Gaga is a shoo-in for a Best Original Song nomination, simply because The Academy will want her to perform at the Oscars-especially after she wowed everyone with her rendition of The Sound of Music in 2015! I also think Best Original Song is her strongest chance at a win across the board. As for Best Actress, the Golden Globes love her so expect a nomination there for sure and maybe even a win. Plus their split acting and picture categories (and therefore double slots) help there too. But at the more competitive Oscars, it's too early to tell if she'll earn a nomination, and I think a win is unlikely here.

Jason Guerrasio, Business Insider:
Gaga's chances to get a Best Actress nomination are very good. She delivers one of the best performances of the year. It will be interesting to see if the momentum the movie has carries her all the way through award season to get the Oscar. The biggest challenge Warner Bros. has is to convince Oscar voters that she is playing a character and not some form of her real-life self. Outside of her performance, the movie is looking at nominations for all the main categories: Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director. And it's definitely a lock for winning an Oscar for Best Original Song. 

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian:
I think the Best Actress Oscar will be a head-to-head between Lady Gaga and Glenn Close. I've got to admit—my favourite is Glenn, but it would be really fun to see Lady Gaga win. Maybe Bradley could scramble onstage as she's making her speech and recreate his agonising moment of humiliation from the movie. I think it's a lock for Best Song—and I think it has a very real shot at Best Picture. As for Best Director and Best Actor it could be Bradley's night, I'm not sure! 

Robbie Collin, The Telegraph:
The path from recording star to A-list actress is fraught with peril—you only need to look at the previous version of A Star Is Born to see that—so for Gaga to have been quite as brilliant in the role as she is already feels like a real achievement. And her performance is raw, direct and unmannered: exactly the opposite of what you might expect from someone who is well known for playing with alter egos in her musical career. So taken together, I suspect both of those factors will mean Oscar voters see her as a no-brainer when it comes to choosing the 2019 Best Actress nominees. As for the film in general, we already know Bradley Cooper is well-liked by the Academy, with his three acting nominations in as many years–so I think a Best Actor nomination for him is a certainty. And nods for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (for Sam Elliott), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song (for "Shallow") and Best Sound Mixing are extremely likely too (Best Cinematography and Best Sound Editing are also very possible, along with a second Best Song nomination, depending on Warner Bros' campaign plan in that category). At the moment I'm leaning towards the film winning Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Song—so Gaga almost certainly has at least one Oscar in the bag for her work on "Shallow." As for Best Actress, it's incredibly hard to say: "very possible" is about as far as I'd go at the moment, but that could easily change over the coming awards season. 

Ben Zauzmer, The Hollywood Reporter:
My actual Oscar predictions are based primarily on the results of previous awards shows, and since those haven't happened yet, I don't yet have a percentage on the chance Lady Gaga wins Best Actress. So, at this point in the year, I tend to believe that the wisdom of the crowd of critics is better than any one expert predictor. GoldDerby aggregates expert predictions, and currently lists Lady Gaga as the early favorite. It's tough to win Best Actress for a musical role—since Sissy Spacek won for Coal Miner's Daughter in 1980, there has only been one other actress to accomplish that: Emma Stone for La La Land in 2016. There is precedent for winning Best Actress on one's first Oscar acting nomination -- in this century, six actresses have done it: Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon, Marion Cotillard, Brie Larson, and Sandra Bullock. At this point, I would call Lady Gaga the favorite, but caution that favorite status isn't very predictive until the calendar flips to 2019.

The 91st Academy Awards will take place on February 24 in Los Angeles.

For Lady Gaga's 31st birthday this year, we here at team Gaga Daily faced a challenge. How do we pull together something she'd like, something she didn't already have, and something we hadn't already made for her? What do you get for the woman who has everything? Well, we decided to make it something unforgettable — something that would have strong meaning to her history as an artist and her journey with us.

We teamed up with our friends at Anima Jewels to create this gold and diamond bracelet featuring ten charms, each with engraved symbols that we feel mean a lot to Gaga. The charms fold up into a little gold dangle, affixed with a chic clasp, and are accented by two morganites and a diamond.

The charms display: a pink hat representing Gaga's late aunt Joanne and the new album, a trumpet as a symbol Gaga's friendship with Tony Bennett, a football representing the biggest performance of Gaga’s career, the survivor sign, the peace sign, a bottle of Pinot Grigio representing Gaga's best friend Sonja, a portrait of her dog Asia, the monster paw sign — the international symbol of Little Monsters everywhere, a disco ball representing Gaga’s career beginnings, and a replica of Gaga’s mouse tattoo symbolizing her little sister "mouse" Natali and her family.

We hope LG will wear it and open it whenever she needs a reminder of her favorite things!

Be sure to follow @animajewels and @gagadaily on Instagram.

Even as a Southern California native, nothing quite prepares you for Coachella heat. 

"Coachella heat." 

I say it like the phrase is a thing people say — but judging by the number of times I heard people complain about the darn "Coachella heat" on set, it seems alright to use here. But being an extra on a production as large as this remake of A Star Is Born is, you don't get much say: you just take the hot water bottles and acknowledge how lucky you are to be there. 

In the beginning we're led, amusingly, through a field of cool sprinklers towards the Main Stage, where Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's characters will be "performing," the production shooting a concert montage for the movie using Coachella stages. Cooper is also directing, tackling the expensive project as his directorial debut. I'm an extra in the crowd, a friend and several hundred more fans joining. (The rest of the crowd of thousands will be filled in with CG.)

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The sprinklers are a dash of false hope in the rising heat. 

Gaga, going as her birth-given name, Stefani Germanotta, is Ally, the young talent whom Bradley Cooper's Jackson Maine takes under his wing. For the (very vocal) fans worried about Germanotta's acting or the music: don't. The music is top-notch, as far away from the dance-pop that Gaga once called her signature sound as possible, but in a nice rock/ballad/country league all its own. Think Fleetwo—actually, just wait and see. It sounded awesome.

Germanotta herself appeared to be everything you'd want someone like her to be: she was confident, assured, and strode around set as if every step was a pre-calculated beat. She snapped into the Ally character as easily as she slides through musical genres, her posture and attitude turning into Ally's nervous, overwhelmed ticks so fast that for the first half-hour I simply thought Gaga was nervous herself to be there. She wasn't: she was always in complete control of Ally's character. "You've been out all night," Ally belts out, "diggin' my grave!" Jackson looks at her like the lyrics are true. The level of character commitment is apparent when they'd shout "Cut!" and Ally would become Germanotta again, her posture straightening, her voice suddenly telling, not asking. 

The main issue: at more than one point in the day, both Germanotta and Cooper and the Assistant Director had to tell crowd members to stop holding signs either promoting "The Cure" (the superstar's latest hit single) or with "Gaga" written on them; fans cut lines, were rude to staff and crew and others, and generally did their best to try to break Germanotta's concentration. If anything, the "super-fans" were the biggest annoyance, putting their need for Gaga's attention over the fact that, you know, trying to sneak Gaga signs into a fake crowd of what is supposed to be Ally fans is just rude and wastes everyone's time. Or, as the Assistant Director sighed, "We can see the signs on the monitors." (Aka "the signs are in-frame so these takes are useless.")  

Gaga's weary missive to the crowd at one point: "Don't get mad at me, but please don't hold up 'The Cure' signs during filming." You can tell it's a constant for her — it must be tough to see that kind of behavior from fans you know mean well, and even tougher to have to criticize people who treat your words as gospel. She slips back into character, going through long takes of "Diggin' My Grave" with Cooper. 

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Still, the few aren't the many, and the majority of people there were genuine, dedicated fans who just wanted to see their hero at work. Spontaneously around two p.m., we break out into an acapella of “Million Reasons”, the crew pausing to stare at the strange fans sitting in the sun just to see their favorite person. The level of commitment was incredible — not only were the long breaks between takes and shots increasingly tough in the pounding sun, but people had come from San Francisco, from Wichita, from Seattle — one woman had even flown in from New York.

By the time nightfall blissfully took over, over half the crowd had given up and gone home. There was a mini-exodus in the beginning as people realized Germanotta wouldn't be performing with a live mic and the temperature rose over ninety degrees with no shade in sight; as the day wore on and lunch was delayed multiple times, people left in chunks, peeling off from the crowd between takes. (How people actually go to Coachella and drink and dance all day in that heat, I'll never understand — and I'm a hipster too!) A one-hour setup stretched into two. Shots continued on past eight, nine, ten o' clock. We were in a hazed-up tent in the middle of the desert, exhausted, sunburned, most of us with hellishly-long drives back home. 

And then Ally gives her encore performance. Germanotta on piano, Cooper's character drunkenly introducing her. He knows the crowd loves her more than they love him. You begin to wonder if Cooper sees the irony of the same thing playing out in real life — for every fan shouting Cooper's name, twenty screamed for Gaga. 

Eleven p.m., Germanotta's final take. Makeup artists scrambling to adjust the fake sweat in her hair. Extras in the crowd fighting to stay awake, real sweat staining their clothes. 

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Ally breaks down on stage, Germanotta singing her heart out, her vocal taking over the room even without a proper mic. Several assigned extras wave fake phones in the audience, the modern counterpart to old-school, analog lighters in a crowd. (It's not a period piece.) Cooper, who is supposed to be in character onstage, stops his fake guitar-playing to stare in awe at his lead actress. A smile spreads across his face. 

The song ends. The crowd of extras goes wild, all of us knowing we just witnessed something special. A once-in-a-lifetime performance. Germanotta becomes Gaga for the briefest of moments, mouthing a broken "thank you" into the crowd. The actors take a bow for us. 

In the crowd, previous strangers hug new friends. We all long-ago acknowledged how bad we smell, and hug each other with no shame. 

On stage, Bradley looks at Stefani and gives her a bear hug, grinning from ear-to-ear. He looks incredibly proud of his friend. 

They walk off-stage with the band, their faces lit up in ecstatic conversation.  

You asked… she answered! Lady Gaga took time out of her busy schedule to answer ten questions from fans at Gaga Daily. Read them below!

What is the one thing that you would like monsters to take away from the Cheek to Cheek experience?

I would love simply to just introduce you to jazz, if you've not experienced it before. I fell in love with Jazz at a young age, and monsters and I are so similar; our life stories, outlook on the world, view of love and community. I thought perhaps you would have the same feeling that I felt when I first heard Billie Holiday as my mom played her in the kitchen. I want you to feel fearless to take any approach in life, and be yourself no matter what happens. That's what I like about Jazz, although the recordings are forever, its different everytime Tony and Me sing together with our players. Improvisation is key to being great at jazz. I think also to be great at life. Anyway that was a long answer, but you know how I ramble on!

How has working with Tony on Cheek to Cheek influenced how you will write/record/produce your future albums?

I think so. Which will only be a positive thing. Jazz is the most complicated musically to master, very unlike classical music or rock 'n' roll, it requires broad understanding of how to paint with the colors of music, and quickly. For example if Tony sings a note differently during a performance, I have to then move around him to compliment his choice, same for the instruments, they are constantly speaking to each other, and just like human conversation is never the same. I think now that I'm studying jazz again, that sense of freedom, joy, and spontaneity will work its way into my growth as an artist. Also, the composers on this album, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin etc. they are in my opinion the greatest of all American song writers. Like with "Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye," I hope to write lyrics as meaningful and beautiful as these in the future. I stand by all the music I've made, but I'm growing up and with Bobby (my manager). I have more time to creatively grow up. I think this is all a perfect storm.

What can we expect from the Cheek to Cheek tour? Will it be in theaters or arenas?

Tony loves to play theatres, and to be honest after singing with him I understand why. While theatres are not as great for perhaps for big parties like our monster artRave, the sound quality in theatres is just exquisite, and you can then hear all the subtle nuances in the music. I also sing much quieter on many of these songs and it helps to be able to hear myself over your wild monster screams! But I know we are planning to play a mixture of different sized venues, to accommodate demand and spread Jazz as far and wide as possible. Just wanted to give you my opinion on what rooms Jazz music sounds best in acoustically.

What happened to "Paradise"... will we get to hear it?

I hope so! It’s almost finished, Its my first jazz composition so I was nervous to put it on the album although Tony loves it so much. I just didn't want to rush it, wanted to spend some more time and keep sinking back into my jazz roots so it can be the best it can be. I will tell you, it's inspired by my father's sister and him, and the phrases as they are traded, are meant to be their words to each other right before she died. She died very young, but she wrote a poem about Heaven right before it happened. That's why the song is called "Paradise."

Did Cheek to Cheek really heal your soul? If so, can you explain more about it?

Cheek to Cheek and Tony both did. I used to lay sad listening to music, jazz and pop like Whitney Houston. I didn't know why I was so sad. But I realized then that my life had become a money making machine, and I knew I had the talent within me to evolve more, show more of my abilities. I have studied many different genres of music for a very long time. My schedule was too hard, I became too tired, and then your talent suffers and you stop growing. Tony helped me to me make some important life decisions and so did the music. It reminded me why I started to begin with. So now, everyone around me has the same goal. To make great records, foster and nourish my raw talent, keep me healthy so I can push myself to become greater, and of course to spread that music as far and wide as possible. We’re a team again. Together, hand in hand supporting each other.

Was there anything you’ve wanted to prove with Cheek to Cheek?

No actually, I think Tony was more concerned people knew I could sing than I was! He said that to me everyday, "With this album I want the world to hear how natural and beautiful you sing." For me, I was just so happy to be singing like that again. Every song you hear on the album is me in a state of utter bliss, even when the songs were sad and I was emotional. I love deeply all my previous albums, and don't think they are unauthentic because they were auto-tuned and electronic. That was the point of them: to make art of artifice. I just didn't like when I started to get treated like a brand, like there was nothing more I can do when there is so much more I can do. The only thing that was important for me to "prove" I guess, I prefer the word "show," is that I'm an honest Jazz singer, not a pop singer doing jazz for a one-off. Especially since I've been singing Jazz longer than I've been singing pop. I wanted to do proper justice to the records. I was more worried what Tony thought of how I sounded more than anyone else.

If you could stand on stage with any other jazz icon, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

Ella all the way! I'm obsessed with her. Her voice is just so interesting and beautiful, and tragic, she was a fortress! And her scatting is the best in the business. Also Duke Ellington, or Louis Armstrong, they are my favorites too.

What is the number one piece of advice Tony Bennett gave to you that you will take with you throughout your career as you embark on new albums and other projects? Has working with such a legend in the jazz realm impacted your life in a certain way? Is there a particular instrument of jazz that you are especially drawn to when you hear it?

He passed on some advice to me that his best friend Duke Ellington gave him. #1 Don't Quit. #2 Listen to #1. I'm drawn to jazz instrumentation in general. I don't know if I can choose because its when they all play together that the music become more complex. But I do love the trumpet and piano. With Brian solo's on "Bang Bang" and he laments the loss of our friend, my ex, as I lament the loss as well. We haven't heard from him in years. That trumpet solo is so honest and painful. He is a magnificent trumpeter.

How does it make you feel to have Cher’s seal of approval over your mind-blowing rendition of Bang Bang? And how did you feel when you received that standing ovation?

It really means a lot to me that Cher supported me, as that has not always been the case. I believe in artists supporting one another, that is how you keep music and art alive. Once we start tearing each other down we become like clowns to the public, and the meaning behind our work fades into a noisy cloud. It's not to say an artist isn't in the right to defend their work, or have opinions about other artists, I just think Cher is a true example of someone to look up to. She has it all, had it all, will continue to and is satisfied with the blessings of her life. That is how I wish to be. Grateful. Tony and I have been overwhelmed with the rave reviews and standing ovations over this project. Especially after the last year, for me, I sort of assumed the worst. But the music really spoke for itself. It's been really nice, and I'm happy to see you all happy. I hated when I saw you being bullied for being a fans of mine at that time, thanks for sticking by me. At the artRave I see the success of the album, in your eyes, and that's where the truth is. People just like to tear you down when you have a lot, but I can always sew that couture dress back together, with the help of all my monsters. Love you.

How easy has it been balancing Cheek to Cheek and ARTPOP recently and can we expect any more Jazz albums?

I love balancing the two, I basically have multiple personalities anyway (Haha! Shocking reveal!) so that rebellious and extreme side of me loves to go back and forth, I never get bored. I'm always doing what I love and I get to have both. Somedays I feel quiet, others I need to rage. Those parts of me will always be there its my two-toned soul.

This will not be my last jazz album, and ARTPOP was not my last pop album. I have many years ahead of me to make music and I feel stronger than ever, like I did when I first moved to Hollywood to make it. I'm a fighter again. Put me in the ring. Ring the bell, I'm ready life!