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Joanne is Lady Gaga's fifth studio album. It was released on October 21, 2016.

The lead single, "Perfect Illusion", was released on September 9, 2016. The second single, "Million Reasons", was released on November 2, 2016. "A-Yo" was released as a promotional single on October 18, 2016. "Joanne" was released as a single in Italy on December 22, 2017.

The album was certified Platinum on October 23, 2017.

Writing and Development

The writing of the album has been ongoing since wrapping the ArtRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball in 2014. Longtime producer and friend, RedOne, posted pictures and teasers about his work with Lady Gaga. For this record, Gaga called in new collaborators like Diane Warren, Beck, Florence Welch, Mark Ronson, songwriter Hillary Lindsey, Father John Misty and Tame Impala's Kevin Parker. During sessions for the album, Gaga and Warren wrote "Til it Happens to You" for the documentary, The Hunting Ground. Gaga has also teased that her alter ego, Jo Calderone, may appear. On October 2, 2015, Lady Gaga released the song "I Want Your Love" for the 2016 Tom Ford Spring/Summer Womenswear Collection. Gaga also announced the lead single "Perfect Illusion" on Twitter on Wednesday morning, August 17th.

Billboard reported on September 12th Gaga stopped by Elvis Duran's Z100 show to talk about the songs recorded with Ronson: "Every song on this album is completely autobiographical... these songs are implicitly related to things relating to my life." The album is named after her late aunt Joanne, who Gaga herself is also named after.

The album booklet features Aunt Joanne's student ID card, a letter to her brother Joe, along with behind the scenes photos of the making the album process.

An Online mini series called Making Joanne was released online as part of a documentary which features the background and development of the songs featured on the album.

Background

In an interview for CBS News Sunday Morning (recorded on October 24th, 2016), Lady Gaga said the following:

I'm very acutely aware that once I cross that property line I'm not free anymore. As soon as I go out into the world, I belong in the way to everyone else. It's legal to follow me. It's legal to stalk me at the beach. I can't call the police or ask them to leave. And I took a long hard look at that property line, and I said 'Well, you know, if I can't be free out there, I'm gonna be free in here' [Lady Gaga points to her heart].

—Lady Gaga on CBS News Sunday Morning

Right after that, Lee Cowan, the interviewer, asked Lady Gaga, "And that's what this album Joanne is? Getting to do whatever you want to do?", and she answered, "Yes, sir!" and tears started to appear on her eyes. She excused and said she missed people and having normal conversations with them. Then Lady Gaga added, "I miss, you know, going anywhere and meeting a random person and saying 'Hi,' and having a conversation about life. I love people."

In an interview for On Demand Entertainment (recorded on December 1st, 2016), Lady Gaga talked about what she considers important to show with this album:

I think over the past ten years now that I've been in the music industry, I've been watching not only what's happening in music but what's happening in culture and society. And I see that money has been put on this tremendous pedestal. I seen that being wealthy and being beautiful has been put on this tremendous pedestal. And with Joanne I wanted to create a record that was about putting family on a pedestal, and kindness on a pedestal, and friendship on a pedestal. This is a record about being vulnerable. I'm not better than anyone else, and I'm not less than anyone else. We are all here together. We're all human. And we're walking on the same Earth. And that is what Joanne is.

—Lady Gaga on On Demand Entertainment

Release and leaks

At the Golden Globes Awards, Gaga confirmed that the album would be released in 2016, but did not give a specific date. On September 15, 2016, Gaga, during a live interview on Beats1, confirmed that the album would be released on October 21, 2016 and have both a standard and deluxe version. Gaga later confirmed the album track list through Twitter on September 23, 2016. She also confirmed that within the next 48 hours, the recording would be finished. Gaga confessed that finally announcing the album name and release date was a bittersweet moment for her, acknowledging that "this isn't the end just the end of this moment. It's also the beginning of this moment."

During the same interview, the singer confirmed that the album will not be an exclusive release under streaming services like Apple Music or Tidal, unlike recent releases. "I told my label that if they signed those contracts with Apple Music and Tidal, I'd leak all my own new music," she explained to host Zane Lowe. Gaga's stance was due to debate among the streaming service providers regarding exclusive streaming rights of artist's releases. Prior to its release, the album faced a number of leaks. On Amazon.com, the album was listed for pre-order and the songs were to be available as and when released. However, on Amazon's Echo speakers, fans found that if they instructed it to "Play Joanne by Lady Gaga", it previewed 30 second snippets of each track. Amazon later disabled previews for the whole album. Three days prior to the official release date of October 21, the album was mistakenly put up for sale in shops in Belgium, resulting in people posting it on the Internet.

In July of 2022, the digital release of Joanne received a Dolby Atmos version on Apple Music and Tidal.

Singles

  1. "Perfect Illusion" (September 9, 2016), cover by Lobster Eye.
  2. "A-Yo" (October 18, 2016), cover by Collier Schorr.
  3. "Million Reasons" (November 8, 2016), cover by Collier Schorr.
  4. "Joanne" (December 22, 2017), cover by Collier Schorr.
NOTES
  • "Million Reasons" was made available as a promotional digital download to those who pre-ordered Joanne through iTunes on October 6, 2016. However, following the song's commercial surge was selected as the second single from Joanne. It was released to American contemporary hit radio stations on November 8, 2016.
  • "A-YO" was originally planned as the album's second single, but due to popular demand, "Million Reasons" was chosen instead.
  • "Joanne" was released as a promotional single in Italy on December 22, 2017 and a piano version "Joanne (Where Do You Think You're Goin'?)" was released on January 26, 2018.

Promotion

Promotional activities for Joanne began with the announcement of "Perfect Illusion" as the lead single from the album. Gaga performed it live for the first time at Moth Club in London, on September 10, 2016. She featured "Perfect Illusion" in a trailer for American Horror Story: Roanoke, adding to the anonymous nature around the theme of the season. Gaga released a number of commercials for Apple Music featuring the track, went to give interviews with Good Morning America and The New York Times, and appeared at Manhattan's Best Buy shop to purchase Joanne for unsuspecting customers. She also performed "Perfect Illusion" on On Air with Ryan Seacrest.

Gaga performed "A-YO" and "Million Reasons" on Saturday Night Live on October 22, 2016, assisted by Ronson and Lindsey respectively. On October 25, 2016, Gaga appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden in his Carpool Karaoke segment, where she sang her previous singles, along with "Perfect Illusion" and "Million Reasons". During the journey Gaga chatted about her songwriting process, her acquired collection of Michael Jackson's clothing and tried driving the car. Later she appeared on the main stage of The Late Late Show for performing "A-YO".

Following week after the performance, Gaga headed over to Japan to promote Joanne. She performed a piano version of "Perfect Illusion" on Sukkiri!! "Joanne" on News Zero and a combination of "Million Reasons", "Perfect Illusion" and "A-YO" on SMAP×SMAP. At the American Music Awards of 2016 she sang "Million Reasons" while playing a guitar, with the set resembling a camp ground. The song was performed a few days later at the Ali Forney LGBT community centre with the singer wearing a T-shirt that read "Be Brave". Gaga sang "Come to Mama" and "Angel Down" at presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's final campaign stop in Raleigh, North Carolina. During the performance, she donned the same black and red ensemble that Michael Jackson wore for his 1990 White House meeting.

Gaga traveled to Paris where she performed "Million Reasons", "A-YO" and "John Wayne" at the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. In the United Kingdom, Gaga began her promotion of Joanne with a surprise intimate gig at London's Shepherd's Bush Westfield shopping center, and later performed "Million Reasons" on the semi-final of the 13th season of The X Factor. After two days, she performed the track at the 2016 Royal Variety Performance—attended by Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall—and on Alan Carr's Happy Hour. In Paris, France, Gaga performed a piano version of "Just Another Day" on the radio show C'Cauet Sur NRJ.

Gaga was also a main headliner at the 2017 Coachella. The setlist included "John Wayne", "A-YO", and "Million Reasons" from the album; "Perfect Illusion", along with "Marry the Night", was rehearsed, but was cut from the set-list due to time restraints.

Gaga was the headliner of the Super Bowl LI halftime show, where besides her biggest hits, she performed "Million Reasons" on the piano. In 2018, Gaga performed "Joanne" and "Million Reasons" on the piano at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, where she was joined on stage by Mark Ronson, who played on a guitar.

Gaga announced the Dive Bar Tour, sponsored by Bud Light. The 3-date tour, which visited dive bars in the United States, had dates on October 5, October 20 and October 27. 2016. All performances were live streamed on Bud Light's Facebook page, as well as Gaga's. In a statement, Gaga said: "My first performances were in dive bars in New York City and around the country, so working with Bud Light to go back to my roots to perform songs from my new album Joanne is such an exciting way to connect with my fans and share this music with them for the first time", and added that the venues would accentuate the "raw Americana vibe" of her then-upcoming album. During the tour, Gaga premiered "A-YO" and "Million Reasons", the latter being also released for streaming on Gaga's Vevo channel.

On February 5, 2017, Gaga announced that she would embark on the Joanne World Tour in support of the album. It began on August 1, 2017 and ended on February 1, 2018.

During the tour, only 9 of the 12 original songs from Joanne were part of the original set-list: "Diamond Heart", "A-YO", "Perfect Illusion" (Act I), "John Wayne" (Act II), "Come to Mama" (Act IV), "Dancin' in Circles" (Act V), "Angel Down", "Joanne" (Act VI), and "Million Reasons" (encore). "Grigio Girls" was performed as part of the encore during the Houston performance, as tribute to Sonja Durham; and during the Denver performance, Gaga sang a snippet of "Hey Girl" to a fan. "Sinner's Prayer" and "Just Another Day" were not performed at all.

Tracklist and editions

No. Title Length
1. "Diamond Heart" (Explicit) 3:30
2. "A-YO" 3:27
3. "Joanne" 3:16
4. "John Wayne" 2:56
5. "Dancin' in Circles" 3:27
6. "Perfect Illusion" 3:02
7. "Million Reasons" 3:25
8. "Sinner's Prayer" 3:43
9. "Come to Mama" (Explicit) 4:14
10. "Hey Girl" (feat. Florence Welch) 4:15
11. "Angel Down" 3:49
12. "Grigio Girls" (Deluxe version) [Explicit] 3:00
13. "Just Another Day" (Deluxe version) 2:58
14. "Angel Down" (Work tape) (Deluxe version) 2:19
15. "Million Reasons" (Work tape) (Japanese CD) 2:23

Standard edition

Joanne Album Cover Label: Interscope, Streamline
Format: CD, digital download
Released: October 21, 2016
Barcode: 602557186437
Photography: Collier Schorr
Design: An Yen and Brian Roettinger
   

602557186437

Deluxe edition

Joanne Album Cover Label: Interscope, Streamline
Format: CD, digital download, LP
Released: October 21, 2016
Barcode: 602557186444
Photography: Collier Schorr
Design: An Yen and Brian Roettinger
   

602557186444

Japanese CD Edition

Joanne Album Cover Label: Interscope, Streamline
Format: CD
Released: October 21, 2016
Barcode: 4988031192078
Photography: Collier Schorr
Design: An Yen and Brian Roettinger

Vinyl edition

Joanne Vinyl Label: Interscope, Streamline
Format: 2XLP
Released: December 16, 2016
Barcode: 602557205152
Photography: Collier Schorr
Design: An Yen and Brian Roettinger
   

602557205152

Joanne UO Pink Vinyl 001 Label: Interscope, Streamline
Format: 2XLP
Released: May 19, 2017 (Urban Outfitters Us)
Catalog #: B0025845-01
Barcode: 602557205152
Photography: Collier Schorr
Design: An Yen and Brian Roettinger

Joanne UO Limited Pink 2021 2XLP Label: Interscope, Streamline
Format: 2XLP
Released: May 19, 2021 (Urban Outfitters Us)
Photography: Collier Schorr
Design: An Yen and Brian Roettinger

Limited reinterpreted artwork

In 2022, Interscope Records released alternative artworks of their greatest albums reimagined by famous artists for its 30th anniversary. The artworks was display in an exhibition called Artists Inspired by Music: Interscope Reimagined at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Interscope also reissued artworks with limited vinyls in editions of 100 priced at $2,500. Swiss-born artist Nicolas Party reinterpreted Joanne artwork with his signature colour-saturated painting.

Joanne LP with reinterpreted artwork 001 Label: Interscope
Format: Limited 2XLP
Released: January 27, 2022
Design: Nicolas Party

Release history

Region Date Edition Format Catalog # Barcode
Worldwide Oct 21, 2016 Standard CD
digital download
602557186437
Deluxe 602557186444
Japan Japanese CD CD UICS-1316 4988031192078
Us Dec 16, 2016 Deluxe Vinyl B0025845-01 602557205152
May 19, 2017 UO exclusive pink 2xLP
May 19, 2021 UO exclusive pink brush 2xLP N/A N/A

Booklet and credits


Executive Producers: Mark Ronson and Lady Gaga
Management: Bobby Campbell
A&R: John Janick
Creative Direction: Lady Gaga, Andrea Gelardin, Ruth Hogben & Brandon Maxwell
Vocal Instruction: Don Lawrence
Graphic Design: An Yen and Brian Roettinger
Photography: Collier Schorr, Andrea Gelardin, Ruth Hogben, Lady Gaga & Florence Welch
Fashion Direction: Brandon Maxwell
Styling: Sandra Amador
Hair: Frederic Aspiras
Makeup: Sarah Nicole Tanno
Assistant to Lady Gaga: Ashley Gutierrez
Production Coordination: Lisa Einhorn-Gilder
Discography
Studio albums
Collaborative albums
Soundtracks
EPs
Compilation
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