Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande have arrived with their new single “Rain On Me” just in time for the weekend. Sure, you can’t actually go anywhere, but now you have some high-energy cathartic music to listen to on repeat as you dance out the state of the world.The video, which was released shortly after the song, continues Gaga’s return to her dance roots after she temporarily sidestepped during her
Joanne-era. “Rain On Me” opens with a battered Gaga laying on the ground as knives rain down on her, with one piercing Gaga in the thigh. The singer fights through the pain to pull herself out of the literal and metaphorical attack.
Much like
Chromatica’s “
Stupid Love” video, “Rain On Me” starts with Gaga and Ariana repping their own pink and purple crews before coming together to dance through the rain as a united front. Gaga and Grande are twinning for the second half of the video in matching eye makeup, even swapping hairstyles so that Gaga is sporting Grande’s trademark ponytail.The post-apocalyptic video was directed by Robert Rodriguez, who is best known for his feature films like
Once Upon A Time In Mexico and
Sin City. Rodriguez
tweeted about his involvement in the music video, writing “Had such a blast collaborating on the music video for #RAINONME with the extraordinarily creative @ladygaga and @ArianaGrande.”The two powerhouse vocalists have teamed up for the first time as part of Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated sixth studio album
Chromatica. A
longtime Gaga stan, Grande has been sharing her excitement over their pair’s duet and teasing the single and video for weeks.“One time ..... i met a woman who knew pain the same way i did... who cried as much as i did, drank as much wine as i did, ate as much pasta as i did and who’s heart was bigger than her whole body. she immediately felt like a sister to me,” Grande
tweeted the morning of the release. “She then held my hand and invited me into the beautiful world of chromatica and together, we got to express how beautiful and healing it feels to mothaf---innnn cry ! i hope this makes u all feel as uplifted as it does for us both. i love u @ladygaga, u stunning superwoman!”In an interview with
Apple Music’s Zane Lowe a few days earlier, Gaga explained how Grande pursued a friendship with Mother Monster for years, while Gaga tried to discourage it. "She was so persistent. She would try over and over again to be friends with me. And I was too ashamed to hang out with her, because I didn't want to project all of this negativity onto something that was healing and so beautiful,”
said Gaga. "Eventually she called me on my s--t. She was, 'You're hiding.' And I was like, 'I am hiding. I'm totally hiding.' And then this friendship blossomed."Gaga
said the pair’s relationship has been a “very healing process for me too, not necessarily having a female artist that mentored me as I came up. And being able to be with her and hold her and be like, ‘Anything that you feel chains you, any pop cultural construct that you feel you have to live up to... please forget about it and be yourself.'”[video_embed id='1942610']RELATED: These stars put on an unforgettable performance during One World: Together at Home [/video_embed]In addition to Grande, the new
Chromatica album also includes an appearance by
K-Pop group Blackpink and Gaga’s close friend Elton John. It will also feature the previously-leaked song “Free Woman,” which Gaga said was inspired by her experience of sexual assault at the hands of a music producer early in her career. The singer told Lowe that John has been instrumental in helping her deal with her trauma through her work.“Elton’s always really challenged me to take care of my artistry and to really take care of myself. And I really, really honor that about him. He is so, so uniquely special,” Gaga said. “And I cannot tell you how instrumental in my life he’s been to showing me that you can go all the way in life and… be authentic and be you and do good things in the world and take care of yourself and be there.”Initially scheduled to drop at the beginning of April,
Gaga delayed the release of
Chromatica, telling fans that she hoped to unveil the new album once the COVID-19 pandemic had begun to subside. A lot has changed since April and unfortunately the pandemic is ever-evolving. Knowing that her little monsters need an album they can dance and cry and feel to now more than ever, Gaga revised her release date to May 29.“I was just talking to my friends, and I was saying, ‘I can’t wait to dance with people to this music. I can’t wait to just go into any space with a whole bunch of people, and blast this as loud as possible to show them how much I love them,’” Gaga told Lowe. “Until then, I hope that they listen to this record, and go on not only my personal journey with me, and dance through all the pain, but also go through their own journey, and dance through all their pain.”[video_embed id='-1']BEFORE YOU GO: This kitten begs for a bite in the cutest possible way [/video_embed]
