Rain On Me (with Ariana Grande)

this is top of every major Spotify playlist including Today's Top Hits, the biggest, so they are going ALL OUT for that huge first week - anything less than top 5 (minimum) on the Hot 100 would be a huge disappointment. Let's see the first day streams in a few hours
 
Look it’s pretty good isn’t it? I do feel something is slightly missing in the chorus, could be a bit meatier.

It’s really highlighted for me just how fabulous Ariana is when she does dance rather than plinky plonky tat.
 
Debuts at 10.2m on Spotify, one of the biggest first days (and overall days) of any song, the biggest for a female collab, Gaga's biggest ever by far, Ari's 2nd biggest and various other accolades. Tomorrow's drop will demonstrate how much people are into it but around 6m would be a great hold. If it does it's looking at a #1 Hot 100 debut :o
 
I mean despite a few bitter queens whinging about this online :eyes:, the reaction elsewhere seems to be universally RAVING.

I wish it had more of a SONG in the mix, but delighted if/that Gags has delivered a streamlined video with iconic imagery AND smash hit (probably for one week only) to boot :disco:
 
Sometimes I can't even at how my duets queen just keeps scoring those record-breaking hits over the last few years, when she was all but left for DEAD by most people in 13-14.

And meanwhile Rain On Me continues to grow and grow. I have stanned Stupid Love since Day 1, but now it sounds incredibly flat and basic in comparison.

I particularly love the extended mixes that are popping up on YouTube, giving the song more space to breathe. It really needs a 7-minute mix.

 
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almost all streams are missing for yesterday, but with sales, YouTube and Friday streams this is #1 in the early mids - I reckon she can do it. It would be the sixth #1 for each of them.
 
I don't think this is re-inventing the wheel or anything but it's fun enough and Ariana's softer vocals add quite a lot to the song. I wish they had done something different instead of the "Rain On Me" post-"chorus" instrumental breakdown because the production sounds a bit cluttered. Probably not something I'd listen to on repeat but if it ends up being a big hit for both, I'm not gonna be mad. We could be doing a lot worse - and maybe it'll drag Ariana back into putting out pop songs with actual choruses again but I'm highly doubtful there.
 
8m second day on Spotify which is an amazing hold. I think the girls are getting that #1
 
If she goes #1, it really closes the circle on the decade. The stratospheric rise during the worst recession in generations, the subsequent career implosion, the slow-burn rebuild, the genre-bucking Oscar-winning #1 comeback, and then another #1 smash as she returns to pop in the middle of global pandemic.

I don't know where she goes from here, to be honest. As much as I am enjoying her return to dance-pop, I think another album of bangers would feel unnecessary, as would another turn at honky-tonk piano ballads. I would quite like a slow, dark, quiet-storm album, but I'm not sure she would know how.
 
I'm not sure she has the inate artistry for a super introspective, Ray of Light type record. Maybe she'll pop a kid out in the meantime though :o
 
It's odd. She's super talented - she can sing, play and clearly write a hook no problem - but her catalogue is largely very loud and in-your-face, regardless of whether it's sledgehammering beats (à la Government Hooker, Bad Romance), stadium pop (TEOG, Gypsy) or honky-tonk ballads (You & I, and most of A Star Is Born's "serious" music).

I think the closest she has come to quiet introspection is Sinner's Prayer and the piano version of Joanne, two of my favourites from that album. Everything from A Star Is Born was far more overblown.
 
I don't think you could say Gaga doesn't have the artistry. I think so much of her 'vulnerability' is managed and controlled and created in excess, so it doesn't feel like vulnerability. I know that feeling. It's me. But fundamentally, I'm not sure if she is as compelling as Madonna, if she has as much to say. I'm interested though.
 
I don’t know what she's capable of, either. But considering she's only 34 she's given me enough already to be optimistic and want to find out.
 
Is comparing her to Madonna an accurate way of determining "what she has to say" though?

And if it is, what was Madonna "saying" at 34?
 
Madonna was radically objecting to narrow feminism and restricted female sexuality at the age of exactly 34. Gaga has typically kept her music more universal or typical in its focus (being a star, being in love etc). She hasn't had the same thematic ambition, to date.
 
Yes, Marge was knee-deep in her Erotica/Girlie Show/Sex Book era at 34 wasn't she? She was saying PLENTY.
 
Agreed - much of Gaga's early themes were translated into high octane concepts e.g. The Fame Monster reflecting her various 'monsters' aka 'demons'. Even the most explicitly political of Gaga's work - Born This Way or Angel Down can't really compare
 
I would add that I think Gaga's work is very personal, in the sense that her music, especially from ARTPOP onwards very much reflects where she is emotionally. ARTPOP was the sound of her falling apart in an act of uproarious sonic rebellion; Joanne was a healing process. Chromatica seems to be her making peace with the early part of her career, and particularly healing the wounds of the ARTPOP era. I don't particularly need her to SAY more; I was referring more to the fact that sonically she has always been quite in-your-face. I would love to see if she could show a softer, quieter side.
 
her catalogue is largely very loud and in-your-face
Yes and she excels at it which is why Rain On Me is a bit underwhelming with its quite pedestrian production. The studio version of ARTPOP is also very boring. Nu metal album next please (100% serious).
 
The studio version of Artpop is as Grace Jones as she’s ever gotten.

And believe me when I tell you, that’s HIGH PRAISE INDEED.
 
I find it more Sophie Ellis-Bextor to be honest :D and it is indeed one of her very finest works. Perhaps even my second favourite just behind Alejandro these days.
 
And I absolutely adore the mix that's used in the opening scenes of the G.U.Y. video. That "fallen rat angel" look remains one of my absolute faves in her entire career. From that moment on, I stanned her revenge.
 
Sometimes I can't even at how my duets queen just keeps scoring those record-breaking hits over the last few years, when she was all but left for DEAD by most people in 13-14.

And meanwhile Rain On Me continues to grow and grow. I have stanned Stupid Love since Day 1, but now it sounds incredibly flat and basic in comparison.

I particularly love the extended mixes that are popping up on YouTube, giving the song more space to breathe. It really needs a 7-minute mix.



This is the version I NEEDED in my life!!
 
It was until she took the hee’s and LIFE out of it.:argh:

you see, it's the small unnoticeable details from her demos that really mean so much when they're taken away in final form. (See also the "oooohhhs" in the Bad Romance demo chorus)
 
This is song TWO out of TWO so far in this campaign where the verses slowly build onto a banging chorus that NEVER ARRIVES and instead you get some PLINKY-PLONKY NOISES. Is this a NEW THING in music that I've missed or what?!
 

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