Music & Concerts
Gaga goes low key for ‘Joanne’
Pop return is more subtle, reflective than previous efforts


Lady Gaga’s new album ‘Joanne’ is a stylistic change of pace. (Photo courtesy Interscope)
Three years have passed since Lady Gaga released her last pop album, “Artpop.” It was received tepidly by fans and critics and sold a fraction of her meteorically successful first pair of albums, “The Fame” (2008) and “Born This Way” (2011).
“Artpop” yielded only one Top 10 hit, “Applause,” along with a Top 20 duet with R. Kelly, “Do What U Want.” Gaga was still getting plenty of attention but the novelty factor seemed to be wearing thin and the album’s relatively lukewarm reception was widely noted in the press. Was Gaga mania fading?
There’s no question that the stakes were high and the pressure intense leading into “Artpop.” The situation is quite different now as she unleashes her fourth pop album, the surprisingly low-key “Joanne” (named for her late aunt). The last couple years have been good for Gaga’s career. Perhaps sensing that it was time to shake things up with some fresh projects and ideas, Gaga veered in some surprising but highly successful directions. Her duets album with legendary crooner Tony Bennett, “Cheek to Cheek” (2014), was a no. 1 hit and earned the duo a Grammy.
Gaga recorded “Til it Happens to You” (2015), a dramatic ballad with a powerful video that explores the horrors of violence and sexual assault against women, for the film “The Hunting Ground.” The song was widely acclaimed and earned Gaga an Emmy along with an Oscar nomination. She also successfully tried acting, winning a Golden Globe for her role in “American Horror Story: Hotel.” Now that Gaga has expanded her career successfully in other directions, she clearly feels she has has less to prove. She’s drifted off into less overtly commercial territory with her quirky new album “Joanne,” an entertaining and smart collection of fresh and idiosyncratic Gagaisms that opens a new chapter in her musical catalog.
This is clearly not an album where Gaga and Ronson tried to come up with a dozen of the most Top 40 radio-friendly tunes they could. The album is certainly melodic and accessible, but it’s also deeper and more compelling than almost anything found on the vast wasteland that today’s Top 40 has become. “Joanne” isn’t going to yield multiple Top 10 singles, but it seems clear that isn’t chief among Gaga’s list of priorities (although the album itself is certain to land at the top).
“Joanne,” was largely co-written and produced by the singer and arguably the decade’s most accomplished studio ace Mark Ronson, along with extensive contributions by dance/pop guru BloodPop. “Joanne” finds Gaga’s sound maturing with a confidence and sense of experimentation that is very different than anything she’s done before. Her voice has never sounded better and “Joanne” is by far her most stylistically diverse collection. First single “Perfect Illusion” is a bold slice of electro-rock with beaming synths and Gaga belting out like she’s been flipping through her Pat Benatar collection.
There’s a genuine feeling of personal investment in “Joanne” that seems far more real than “Artpop,” in which she seemed to be trying too hard and often missed the mark. Fans are going to be delighted, although it may take a few listens to fully sink in.
“Million Reasons” is a stunning ballad featuring a terrific vocal over a sparse acoustic guitar and piano accompaniment. The fun and funky upbeat country/dance concoction “A-YO,” a modern update on Shania Twain’s successful ‘90s pop/country hybrid formula, might be the most infectious earworm on the album.
The sweetly soulful duet with Florence Welch, “Hey Girl,” is a gleaming retro delight. There are flashes of big synths and electrifying dance-club kinetics as one would expect from Gaga, but then there are quiet moments like the reflective title track, a mid-tempo gem built on acoustic guitar that seems deceptively simple but put it on good headphones and check out the beautifully layered sounds and textures that speak to the careful attention to detail and thoughtfulness that went into every moment of this album.
“Joanne” closes with the haunting “Angel Down,” a chilling and gorgeously produced expression of sorrow over yet another victim of senseless violence.
“Joanne” is not just another mass-produced pop music product. While “Artpop” was a misstep, Gaga seems to be making all the right moves since then and that continues with “Joanne.” Is there any anthem as unforgettable as “Bad Romance”? No. Is there a pop delight as glistening as “Poker Face” or “Paparazzi”? Not even close.
Yet “Joanne” has more more heart than all of those songs combined, less glitz but more substance. It’s the most complete, accomplished, mature, and consistently powerful album of Lady Gaga’s career thus far.
Music & Concerts
Underdog glorious: a personal remembrance of Jill Sobule
Talented singer, songwriter died in house fire on May 1

I’ve always prided myself on being the kind of music consumer who purchased music on impulse. When I stumbled across “Things Here Are Different,” Jill Sobule’s 1990 MCA Records debut album on vinyl in a favorite Chicago record store, I bought it without knowing anything about her. This was at a time when we didn’t have our phones in our pockets to search for information about the artist on the internet. The LP stayed in my collection until, as vinyl was falling out of fashion, I replaced it with a CD a few years later.
Early in my career as an entertainment journalist, I received a promo copy of Jill’s eponymous 1995 Atlantic Records album. That year, Atlantic Records was one of the labels at the forefront of signing and heavily promoting queer artists, including Melissa Ferrick and Extra Fancy, and its roster included the self-titled album by Jill. It was a smart move, as the single “I Kissed A Girl” became a hit on radio and its accompanying video (featuring Fabio!) was in heavy rotation on MTV (when they still played videos).
Unfortunately for Jill, she was a victim of record label missteps. When 1997’s wonderful “Happy Town” failed to repeat the success, Atlantic dumped her. That was Atlantic’s loss, because her next album, the superb “Pink Pearl” contained “Heroes” and “Mexican Wrestler,” two of her most beloved songs. Sadly, Beyond Music, the label that released that album ceased to exist after just a few years. To her credit, the savvy Jill had also started independently releasing music (2004’s “The Folk Years”). That was a smart move because her next major-label release, the brilliant “Underdog Victorious” on Artemis Records, met a similar fate when that label folded.
With her 2009 album “California Years,” Jill launched her own indie label, Pinko Records, on which she would release two more outstanding full-length discs, 2014’s “Dottie’s Charms” (on which she collaborated with some of her favorite writers, including David Hadju, Rick Moody, Mary Jo Salter, and Jonathan Lethem), and 2018’s stunning “Nostalgia Kills.” Jill’s cover of the late Warren Zevon’s “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” on “Nostalgia Kills” was particularly poignant as she had toured with him as an opening act.
Jill was a road warrior, constantly on tour, and her live shows were something to behold. My first interview with Jill took place at the Double Door in Chicago in early August of 1995, when she was the opening act for legendary punk band X. She had thrown her back out the previous day and was diagnosed with a herniated disc. To be comfortable, she was lying down on a fabulous-‘50s sofa. “I feel like I’m at my shrink’s,” she said to me, “Do you want me to talk about my mother?”
That sense of humor, which permeated and enriched her music, was one of many reasons to love Jill. I was privileged to interview her for seven of her albums. Everything you would want to know about her was right there in her honest lyrics, in which she balanced her distinctive brand of humor with serious subject matter. Drawing on her life experiences in songs such as “Bitter,” “Underachiever,” “One of These Days,” “Freshman,” “Jetpack,” “Nothing To Prove,” “Forbidden Thoughts of Youth,” “Island of Lost Things,” “Where Do I Begin,” “Almost Great,” and “Big Shoes,” made her songs as personal as they were universal, elicited genuine affection and concern from her devoted fans.
While she was a consummate songwriter, Jill also felt equally comfortable covering songs made famous by others, including “Just A Little Lovin’” (on the 2000 Dusty Springfield tribute album “Forever Dusty”) and “Stoned Soul Picnic” (from the 1997 Laura Nyro tribute album “Time and Love”). Jill also didn’t shy away from political subject matter in her music with “Resistance Song,” “Soldiers of Christ,” “Attic,” “Heroes,” “Under the Disco Ball,” and the incredible “America Back” as prime examples.
Here’s something else worth mentioning about Jill. She was known for collaboration skills. As a songwriter, she maintained a multi-year creative partnership with Robin Eaton (“I Kissed A Girl” and many others), as well as Richard Barone, the gay frontman of the renowned band The Bongos. Jill’s history with Barone includes performing together at a queer Octoberfest event in Chicago in 1996. Writer and comedian Julie Sweeney, of “SNL” and “Work in Progress” fame was another Chicago collaborator with Sobule (Sweeney lives in a Chicago suburb), where they frequently performed their delightful “The Jill and Julia Show.” John Doe, of the aforementioned band X, also collaborated with Jill in the studio (“Tomorrow Is Breaking” from “Nostalgia Kills”), as well as in live performances.
On a very personal note, in 2019, when I was in the process of arranging a reading at the fabulous NYC gay bookstore Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, I reached out to Jill and asked her if she would like to be on the bill with me. We alternated performing; I would read a couple of poems, and Jill would sing a couple of songs. She even set one of my poems to music, on the spot.
Jill had an abundance of talent, and when she turned her attention to musical theater, it paid off in a big way. Her stage musical “F*ck 7th Grade,” a theatrical piece that seemed like the next logical step in her career, had its premiere at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre in the fall of 2020, during the height of the pandemic. The unique staging (an outdoor drive-in stage at which audience members watched from their cars) was truly inspired. “F*ck 7th Grade” went on to become a New York Times Critic’s pick, as well as earning a Drama Desk nomination.
In honor of the 30th anniversary of Jill’s eponymous 1995 album, reissue label Rhino Records is re-releasing it on red vinyl. Jill and I had been emailing each other to arrange a time for an interview. We even had a date on the books for the third week of May.
When she died in a house fire in Minnesota on May 1 at age 66, Jill received mentions on network and cable news shows. She was showered with attention from major news outlets, including obits in the New York Times and Rolling Stone (but not Pitchfork, who couldn’t be bothered to review her music when she was alive). Is it wrong to think that if she’d gotten this much attention when she was alive she could have been as big as Taylor Swift? I don’t think so.
Music & Concerts
Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’
Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co.
Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.
For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.

Aussie pop icon Kylie Minogue brings her acclaimed “Tension” world tour to D.C. next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Capital One Arena. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster.
The show features songs spanning her long career, from 1987 debut single, “The Loco-Motion,” to “Padam, Padam” from her album, “Tension.”