“Chromatica represents, in its simplest form, a spectrum of people that all shared the same perspective and always believed in kindness over war,” says Lady Gaga.
Lady Gaga has had a truly diverse career in terms of style and consistency within each of her musical era’s. Her most recent endeavour, A Star Is Born, earned Gaga an Oscar for the original track “Shallow,” and gave her some serious standing as an experienced actor. Now, Gaga wants to take the world to an entirely new dimension. Chromatica is more than just Gaga’s fifth studio solo album, it’s a metaphor for diversity, unity, and color among darkness, taking the form of up-beat dance music that the world needs now more than ever.
The first track off the new album is titled “Stupid Love” and as most of the world already knows, the song leaked in January, long before the video was shot or Gaga had originally planned to have anyone hear it. Gaga mentioned in a recent interview that once the song was leaked her and her manager had a long discussion about whether or not to change what the first single would be. However, the concept behind the video and release of the track in contingency with the album and it’s art just made too much sense. Gaga said that once the song was “mixed, mastered and finished with the visuals, and everything [she had] to say about it — when all those things came together at once, that’s the art piece [she’s] making. Not a leak.”
The final product gave fans an iPhone-shot music video that involved 50 dancers in the California desert divided into different groups dressed in different monochromatic colors. Gaga was in the “Kindness Punks” group, who were all dressed in bubblegum pink. Gaga represents a warrior leader, the symbol for Chromatica molded to her forehead, as she attempts to bring together all the other battling colors, all of which have their own apocalyptic group names.
“There are the ‘Freedom Fighters’ in blue, ‘Junkyard Scavengers’ in black, ‘Government Officials’ in red, ‘Eco Warriors’ in green and ‘Cyber Kids’ in yellow. By the end, they all ultimately find mutual peace and dance together as a full spectrum,” Gaga said to PAPER Magazine.
Talking about BloodPop®, the hit producer who Gaga describes as the center of the new album; “He’d be like, ‘Come on, let’s go. We’re going to make music.’ And I’d be maybe crying or venting about something that was happening in my life over some pain or depression I was feeling. I’d start out the day so down and I’d end up dancing, looking in the mirror, practicing my moves, singing along. Every day was an enlightening experience, but it had to happen every day.”
Gaga went on to discuss the “radical acceptance” she had to endure to accept not only her past trauma from a sexual assault by someone within the music industry, but also her experience with fibromyalgia, which leaves her with chronic full-body pain as a trauma response, which recreates the same illness she said she felt after being assaulted.
“I know what it’s like to be in pain. And I know what it’s like to also not let it ruin your life.” Gaga claims that her “radical acceptance” over these physically and mentally debilitating issues out of her control is what drove her to create Chromatica. The album has been described as songs that allow you to “dance through the pain” of life and embrace the same euphoric synth-pop sound that fans have always loved from Gaga. While, lyrically, she describes the album as having moments that reflect the more emotional personal experiences in life, sonically, the music is a celebration of life and happiness, regardless of lyrical content.
The message behind Chromatica is being able to see the joy in life even in times of sorrow and pain. Gaga has always been a huge advocate for equality and inclusivity in the music world. Her music has always been about facing the realities of the world, but focusing on the positive aspects of it, and dancing through the pain.
“I want to put out a record that forces people to rejoice even in their saddest moments. I still work on myself constantly. I have bad days, I have good days. Yeah, I live in Chromatica, it took a minute to get here, but that doesn’t mean I don’t remember what happened. So if you’re in pain and listening to this music, just know that I know what it’s like to be in pain. And I know what it’s like to also not let it ruin your life.”
Chromatica conceptualizes a future dimension that brings together the elements of our present world within a new context, a more positive one. With BloodPop®, Gaga was able to make this dimension which includes “a spectrum of people that all shared the same perspective and always believed in kindness over war.”
The color scale aspects of Chromatica don’t simply represent the fact that the world is made up of groups of diverse individuals, in fact, Gaga wanted to emphasize that there are even more colors than the average person can ever imagine, the diversity lies in those unknown colors that we all possess.
Gaga also claims that she has a collaboration on the album with another fellow female pop star who has also endured immense trauma within the public eye. She describes the track as a monstrous dance tune, but the message is about fully submitting yourself into devastation in order to really feel and process what you’ve been through. Like she said, the overall album is about taking the more serious and hurtful parts of life and embracing them to create something truly positive; like an upbeat dance track.
Gaga hopes that this album offers openness, honesty, and positive affirmations to her fans and the world, especially in the state that it’s in currently. History has proven that human beings are resilient, it’s just up to us to embrace the multitude of colors the world has to offer, and ignore the darkness that continues to persist.
“The human spirit is more fucking powerful than anything. I think Chromatica is the most honest thing I could’ve ever created, and I’ll never forget making this record. It’s been one of the most special and hard times in my life.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
