Chromatica may be Gaga’s best album yet

CHROMATICA

LADY GAGA | Streamline/Interscope

LOS ANGELES — For all the reinvention and rejuvenation Lady Gaga has shown the past few years — her acclaimed acting debut in A Star is Born, her duets with Tony Bennett, her show-stopping concerts — it’s hard to escape the fact that her last few albums have been wildly uneven. Artpop was a musically anemic debacle; Joanne was a hesitant move into singer-songwriter terrain; and although the Star Is Born soundtrack and its hit Shallow brought her an Oscar and Grammys the songs essentially are performed by her character in the film.

Her status as a world-class singer and Olympic-level performer is beyond question — but can she still make an album filled with songs that measure up to that talent?

Let’s just say that Gaga has doubled down on the answer to that question, returning to the dance floor that spawned her and emerging with her best album since Born This Way — and possibly, song for song, her best yet.

Nearly every song on Chromatica has a four-on-the-floor, thumping beat, and the songs themselves are remarkably varied in many other ways.

It’s pure, joyous dance floor pop, with a melodic sophistication and emotional depth that her more recent songs have lacked.

The album has consistency and sonic unity, even as the songs wander thematically and melodically all over the map, with cameos from Ariana Grande, Blackpink and even Elton John. But Chromatica is Gaga’s show all the way.