A deep dive into a star who almost single-handedly raised the bar for pop music.
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This article was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated to include subsequent releases.
Were republishing ahead of Lady Gaga unleashingMayhemat Coachella.
Each release became an event; her every move was dissected by social media.
Looking back on her first four albums, her sheer ambition was dizzying.
No pop star of the 2010s was more committed to achieving transcendence through her art.
She almost single-handedlyraised the barfor pop music, videos, fashion, and live performances.
In this decade, Gaga has been whichever version of herself shes needed in the moment.
2020sChromaticareached for collective healing through the liberating power of house music.
She led Bennett through 2022sLove for Sale, his final album, recorded while the icon was battling Alzheimers.
Mayhem, her hotly anticipated seventh album, arrived in 2025.
This list is less aboutjudgingLady Gagas work than finding the throughlines within her formidable catalogue.
It includes every commercially released studio track and her more significant featured credits.
Christmas Tree, non-album single (2008)
The great Christmas songs balance joy and melancholy.
Christmas Tree, on the other hand, is so tongue-in-cheek that it immediately collapses under its own weight.
Our vanity is a positive thing.
Its made me the woman I am today.
With cliche lyrics drenched in bad auto-tune Would you make me number one on your playlist?
/ Got your Dre headphones with the left side on Starstruck felt dated almost immediately upon its release.
Surprisingly, Flo Ridas guest verse over-delivers.
Fashion,Confessions of a Shopaholicsoundtrack (2009)
Gagas fourth-best song withfashionin its title actually suitsHeidi Montagbetter.
Gaga playacts at the songs narcissism, but Montag lives it.
Its worth a laugh, but their rendition of this old standard is too fast, lacking anythingexcepthumor.
Everyone from Frankie Lymon to Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Rosemary Clooney has recorded more definitive versions.
Reidhimself, who dropped Gaga after hearing her early studio recordings.
To be fair, Paper Gangsta inspires little confidence.
This was nearlyThe Fames sixth single, until Bad Romance was released earlier instead.
Tony Bennett already recorded better solo versions in both1957and 87.
So its ironic that the album closes with this Duke Ellington classic, perhapsthesong that embodies jazzs big-band era.
Gaga and Bennett are fine, yet a spectacular tenor sax solo outshines them both.
While its not an easy vocal line to sing, Gaga matches Bennett note for note.
Bennett and Gaga are charming enough, even if the song doesnt lend itself especially well to duets.
Why wouldnt you go out shredding?
To be sure, Gagas vocals are impressive here.
Still, the songs too underwritten to linger in the memory, and its barely featured in the film.
Brief yet grandiose, its a perfect intro to the robotic synthpop of 911.
I wont dance!!
Its De-Lovely is a delightful, rollicking way to kick off the set.
Could almost pass for Robyn or Goldfrapp.
In Gagas oeuvre, its just her eighth-best disco track.
Black Jesus Amen Fashion,Born This Way: Deluxe Edition(2011)
Jesus is the new black!
The answer is … yes.
For the haters, its an accurate portrayal of how repetitive modern pop sounds to their ears.
But for pop fans, Why Did You Do That?
Why do you look so good in those jeans?
/ Whyd you come around me with an ass like that?
Who needs answers when you have rhetorical questions like that?
But Beyonce and Gaga clearly had chemistry, and the futuristic video was adventurous new territory for them both.
Coopers a natural blues singer, but Gagas belt dominates the mix.
It only really gets going halfway through, once Gaga leans into her higher register.
As on much of the album, Bennett plays the straight man as Gaga cheekily vamps around him.
Hair Body Face could plausibly have fit onThe Fame, though 2008 Gaga wouldve cranked up the irony.
Except these are Cole Porter lyrics from the perspective of a sex worker advertising her wares!
Youd never sing an original jazz composition this way, but standards were made to be reinterpreted.
Again Again is one of this eras true hidden gems.
Cole Porter would be proud.
On Gagas2013 Thanksgiving special, she performed the song with the supergroup it deserves: RuPaul and the Muppets.
Funnily enough,Cheek to Cheeks most original reading isnt of a standard at all.
She mostly leans away from the songs natural melodrama until she belts the final verse with full diva theatrics.
Gaga revisitsThe Fames hedonism with a tad more sophistication and, via Zedd, upgraded production.
Donatella isnt exactly deep, but Gaga makes high fashions possibilities feel endless, accessible to anyone.
plays during the films end credits, a tragic ode to future dreams thatll go unfulfilled.
Her rendition on theTonight Showis even gentler, and utterly mesmerizing.
But aside from its production, Eh, Eh could pass for a 60s girl-group song.
Dancin in Circles,Joanne(2016)
Joanneisnt the album you think it is its groovier, wittier.
Its a small shift in emphasis that pushes the big-band arrangement from upbeat to manic.
At the time, Gaga was far from rich but that was her motivation.
Like in the world of ballroom culture, she portrayed herself as an outcast indulging in tongue-in-cheek hedonism.
Zombieboy,Mayhem(2025)
OnChromatica, Gaga was seeking heavenly transcendence above the dance floor.
OnMayhem, shes a club kid again, feet firmly on the ground.
Compared to the most famous recording by the Carpenters, neither approach is essential.
But it carries an important message: to not turn away from suffering.
Its as sumptuous and beguiling as any versions ever been.
As hetold herthe night they met, Lady, you are a jazz singer.
In the film version, shes completely vulnerable and about to commit arson.
Both are magnificent vocal acting showcases.
Gaga even began wielding aliteraldisco stickin live performances.
Looking serial killer, man is a goner.
But its the music video that truly elevates the song.
It was shot in the California desert, and Gagas physical contortions take on a mesmerizing beauty.
Ten years later, she finally delivered an entire record of covers as moving as Lush Life withHarlequin.
Its infectious, but it arguably suffers the most for being cut from the same cloth asMayhemsother disco-funk tracks.
Even the chorus itself is a twist.
The title track is the halfway point.
A psychedelic synth journey through time and space.
A question without an answer.
My artpop could mean anything, sings Gaga signifying what exactly?
Diamond Heart,Joanne(2016)
Young, wild, American / …
The only problem is that the deconstructed rock-band arrangement is too stiff where are the high hats?
and it never feels live enough to truly soar.
Diamond Heart isnt quite the mythological Thunder Road Gaga intended, but its still an exciting, necessary reboot.
The video shows off her rebranding as a country singer, clothed in that beautifulJoanneshade of pink.
If youre still confused about the albums infamousbionic motorbike cover, Electric Chapel should make you a believer.
Taken less literally, its Gaga learning to accept herself through the eyes of her partner.
Its not quite the wonderland shes searching for on Alice, but itll do.
But this is a magnificent reading.
Most of the albums 4/4 kick drums pulse with a sense of liberation these ones pound with urgency.
We confront our despair alone, but we conquer it together.
Completely earnest in composition and production, this is one of her only pop songs with zero subversive elements.
That has never been her modus operandi, which seemingly makes Hold My Hand an outlier in Gagas catalogue.
Ally succeeds spectacularly the crowd even chants her name!
The songs slinky modern house beat is destined to soundtrack catwalks for years to come.
Bassy synths grind like metal guitars, buzzing with desire.
The price of fame is steep, but she makes it sound so much more seductive than romance.
Co-composed with Morgan Kibby, its as much of a Lady Gaga song as any vocal track.
Its impossible to hear this and not want to strut down a catwalk in oversizeplatform heels.
Gaga delivered a heartbreaking performance at the2016 Academy Awards, accompanied onstage by over 50 sexual-assault survivors.
Shes never beensocharming while doing so little the audience hangs on every word.
Though it may all sound like jazz to some, Gagas approach has shifted.
With Bennett, her role was to honor the greats with faithful big-band arrangements.
But now, shes found a new gear, one thats looser and wilder.
Its simple, familiar, but it says everything.
But surprisingly, Gaga doesnt overpower this blockbuster remake of Chics classic 1978 single.
She fits right in, even elevating the song to new heights in all the right moments.
Their version first premiered in 2015, soundtracking Tom FordsSS16 womenswear collection.
It took three years for the full recording to get an official release, but so what?
Its every bit as timeless as the original.
Gaga depicts popping a pill as a mostly positive, necessary act but every day remains a struggle.
IfBorn This Waywas about learning to love yourself,ARTPOPimagined the Gaga-ified utopia wecouldlive in.
Why cant all pop be this unapologetically freaky?
Gaga debuted it with an unforgettableSNLperformance, skulking through the Studio 8H hallways like a woman possessed.
Its the silliest shes let herself be since Applause.
Its a celebration of life, and a warning of what wed lose without love.
But the songspiano version, recorded earlier in 2018, is sparser and even more haunting.
Gaga croons gently, letting the lyric speak for itself.
Bloody Marycouldbe sacrilegious, but, likeThe Last Temptation of Christ, humanizing icons only makes them more relatable.
Oh, and it helps that the tracks ruthlessly danceable, too.
Doomed as they may be, its impossible not to believe it in the moment.
She enlists her friend and mentor (a very game Elton John) to lay out her spiritual worldview.
Nothing until she heard a sine wave (the purest form of sound) from above.
Connected to that universal life force, shes no longer afraid or unloved.
Garden of Eden,Mayhem(2025)
Pure musical hedonism.
Its no surprise that she and Mick Jagger had chemistry, but the magic is palpable.
Ill hate myself until I die, drawls Gaga haunted by her demons, trapped by her addictions.
But whenever she played Dopelive, it became a celebration between every other fucked-up misfit in the room.
G.U.Y.ARTPOP(2013)
Short for Girl Under You, G.U.Y.
is a power-bottom anthem fueled by Zedds vicious, stuttering groove.
Gaga only made two music videos forARTPOP, but the seven-minuteG.U.Y.
Her most sonically aggressive opening track, Aura blends mariachi guitars with growling, inhuman synths.
… / Do you wanna see the girl behind the aura?
It should have been a powerful message … but how do we reconcile that with R. Kellys involvement?
In 2013, we should have known enough about his transgressions.
By 2018,there was no excuse.
Its uncomfortable yet undeniable that Gaga and Kelly had musical chemistry.
A2014 remixswapped out R. Kelly for Christina Aguilera, but wasnt nearly as compelling.
Even watching from afar, there was a cognitive dissonance to the period that felt inexplicable until years later.
She soon had the song removed from digital, streaming, and subsequent physical editions ofARTPOP.
Theres nothing else like Do What U Want in Gagas discography, and there never will be.
Sinners Prayer,Joanne(2016)
Joannes most cinematic song plays out like an intimate Western family drama.
Its no motivational anthem, just a simple ode to women supporting women.
Hey Girl is an astonishing record, a gift of pure emotional generosity.
Ill Never Love Again sounded like nothing on the 2018 charts, but thats why it was so powerful.
It showed that Gaga couldve been a star in any era on a record or the silver screen.
In 2008, Just Dance seemed wildly ambitious, the first shot and Billboard No.
1 fired by a star in the making.
A decade later, it almost sounds … humble?
Gaga hides her weirdness in plain sight here.
It shows how faceless Just Dance could have been if Gaga werent such a compelling narrator.
Even more than The Lady Is a Tramp, I Concentrate on You is Gaga and Bennetts definitive duet.
Rejection has rarely sounded so sweet.
The Steven Kleindirected video, however, combines German expressionist cinema with religious and militaristic imagery.
Gaga begins by mourning her dead lover, but the narrative gets increasingly inscrutable from there.
It was almosttooprovocative few couldmake senseof it all.
Who was the real woman behind the poker face?
Gaga refused to be pigeonholed as an artist, or objectified as a woman in pop.
But the Gaga of 2020 has nothing left to prove.
Her mission is simply to uplift.
Its a classic disco-pop theme: Dont think.
Give in to the healing power of music.
Even the video, while flamboyant, aims more for fun than ambition.
But thats not a bad thing.
Stupid Love is a reawakening.
A rebirth in technicolor.
Gaga inverts her most iconic song title, Bad Romance.
This time as joy.
If theres any justice in the world, Folie a Deux deserves to outlive the film that inspired it.
Gaga is magical, channeling three women at once: Ally, herself, and Edith Piaf.
La Vie en Rose life in rosy hues has always been more than a mere love song.
Its a tribute to the transformative power of art itself.
And yet, the song does have one flaw: Mutt Langes production.
Her voice used to wrestle with her instrumentals, each pushing the other to an extreme.
She uses her lyrics to question, not to preach.
Its euphoric melodies, crafted alongside her lead collaborator BloodPop are often tinged with sadness and minor chords.
A pop song can have many layers, but its ultimately something that can be understood through its surface.
Perhaps its the moment where Harley Quinn dissolves into Lady Gaga and, further, into Stefani Germanotta.
Wonder no more: LeadMayhemsingle Disease hits with the force of an electropop sledgehammer.
Gagas channelling the themes of sex and sickness that made Do What U Want and Swine so uncomfortably compelling.
But this time, her muse has changed shes no longer consumed by darkness but in control of it.
Telephone didnt just elevate Gaga as a pop star it made her a newAmerican icon.
It demands nothing of the listener it just gives and radiates love.
But shes never written a witchy house symphony quite like this.
In pop music, the person in the spotlight is both subject and object.
Driven by endless variations on six looping chords, Applause is Gagas grandest moment of meta-commentary.
Her androgynous, Bowie-esque verses.
That unforgettable accelerating drum fill.
The uniquely offbeat chorus.
The highest note shes hit on record.
These were all things wed never heard from Gaga before or since.
This is my way of getting to Oz.
To have all my dreams come true … Dorothy was able to transform to get to survive.
Behind every great pop song is a real well of emotion, and Speechless lays it all bare.
Its no wonder Shallow struck a chord.
On Spotify, its by far Gagas most streamed song with more than 2.5 billion plays.
On the radio in 2009, it sounded alluring and dangerous there was nothing else like it.
The year after Britney Spearss public breakdown was a strange time to want to become a pop star.
But as Gaga hung from the ceiling, dripping with stage blood, she refused to be anobjectof fame.
Shed do it on her own terms, or not at all.
The power of Born This Way lies in its directness.
It pulls no punches.
Even if you dont believe in yourself, Gaga believes in you.
Her vocals, inspired by Whitney Houston, channel the higher power of gospel music.
Born This Way feels like a single collective organism: spiritual, mechanical,alive.
Perhaps no pop song of the 2010s provoked so much debate even from sympathetic listeners.
But more than a decade later, its inarguable that Born This Way kicked down doors.
Or at least opened the minds of many of the queer youths who needed to hear its message.
In a beautiful act of serendipity, Born This Way was the Billboard Hot 100 charts1,000th No.
In the first half of the 2010s, there were many pop songs written with a purpose in mind.
Born This Way is the one well remember.
Time has proven its truth.
Gaga makes you a believer.
Just three years after her debut, she was already thinking about the legacy shed leave behind.
Compared to her past music videos, The Edge of Glory is eerily empty but no less magical.
Theres nothing to draw your eye away from her.
You couldnt imagine a more poetic way to ride off into the sunset.
Bad Romance,The Fame Monster(2009)
Could there be any other choice?
Released in October 2009, Bad Romance not only defined the end of the 2000s.
Its shadow still hangs over pop music today.
Despite its title, the song isnt just about love or even a toxic relationship.
Its about confronting the darkness that lies both within and outside of everyone.
RedOnes signature sound becomes nightmarish: His four-on-the-floor drums are explosive.
The dissonanthoover synthsseethe likeBernard Herrmann strings echoing the lyrics references to HitchcocksPsycho,Vertigo, andRear Window.
Gaga stamps her name on the Gaga, ooh-la-la hook which is both nonsensical and totally coherent.
A vocalization of pure mania.
Over one of the most powerful bridges in pop history, tension builds as Gagas vocals cascade around you.
Its all or nothing.
The clip begins with an electrified snippet of aBach fugueuntil Gaga and her dancers awaken.
Like a religious icon or asilent-film star, she weeps openly acknowledging the songs emotional turmoil.
So in the end, she burns her male captor alive.
Shell never be beholden to anyone again.
Bad Romance, in song and in video, is boundless.
It draws no distinctions between classical music, high fashion, avant-garde cinema, dance, or pop.
