For Lady Gaga—pop provocateur, jazz aficionado, and country crooner—releasing music has never been the sole focus of a career. In fact, the nexus of paraphernalia surrounding Lady Gaga’s work has, over the past few years, taken on monstrous proportions: meat dresses, pink hats, monster claws, and rainbow-colored wigs have elicited the same type of think-piece attention as her song lyrics and music videos.
It comes as a relief, then, that Lady Gaga’s latest single is a straightforward treatment of electropop. “The Cure” preserves the tropical flair commanding pop radio (re-pitched vocals abound), while continuing the velvety R&B themes present on her last straight pop hit, “Do What U Want.” And although Gaga may be conceding to trends in some ways, the power pop chorus keeps our attention on that voice—after softly flitting through the verses she reminds us that she can hit those same notes full-on, unlike many of her contemporaries. “The Cure” is a welcome return to the sound Gaga evoked on ARTPOP, and its breezy beats should keep her radio career going throughout the summer.
Listen to “The Cure” below.