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• 1 2025-07-06T21:54:00-04:00 “Joanne" by Lady Gaga, contributed by Susie Long (2025) 1 plain 2025-07-06T21:54:00-04:00 Lady Gaga’s song, “Joanne,” is written from Gaga’s grandmother’s perspective, speaking to her daughter, Joanne, who died at age 19 after complications with lupus. The song is powerful from beginning to end. In the first verse, her grandmother begs for her daughter to stay with her: “Heaven’s not/Ready for you” and “Every part/Of my aching heart/Needs you more/Than the angels do.” This represents the first stage of grief, which is denial. Joanne’s mother is bargaining with the daughter she feels left her behind. The choruses all include “Girl/Where do you think you’re going?” repeating over and over, signifying a sense of disbelieving despair, almost as if Joanne could choose where she was going, and her mother is asking her to choose to stay. She acknowledges in the second verse that she knows it wasn’t by choice that Joanne left. Over the course of the song, Joanne’s mother seems to come to terms with the loss, even as it pains her: in the bridge, she comes to understand that Joanne is gone, but in heaven. She comforts herself by saying that she “can’t wait” to see her “soar,” implying that, even after death, Joanne is still alive in a different way. The song ends with the same chorus as sung throughout. “Joanne” represents the stages of grief, and how it’s cyclical—the stages can be experienced over and over again after being felt for the first time. The initial disbelief never quite goes away. Death is not something that can be entirely understood or rationally comprehended. How is it fair that a mother can outlive daughter? Even if you get to a point where you can accept the loss, and understand that your loved one is gone, it doesn’t get any easier to remember, as the song ending with the chorus conveys. While Joanne’s mother seems to make meaning of her loss, the loss still leaves a hole in her heart that can only be filled by her daughter. This song captures grief in its repetition and frustration and attempts at making meaning and finding hope.
  
  

  [Verse 1]
  Take my hand, stay Joanne
  Heaven's not
  Ready for you
  Every part
  Of my aching heart
  Needs you more
  Than the angels do
  
  [Chorus]
  Girl
  Where do you think you’re goin’?
  Where do you think you’re goin’
  Goin’, girl?
  Girl
  Where do you think you’re goin’?
  Where do you think you’re goin’
  Goin’, girl?
  
  [Verse 2]
  If you could
  I know that you’d stay
  We both know
  Things don’t work that way
  
  I promised I
  Wouldn’t say goodbye
  So I grin
  And my voice gets thin
  
  [Chorus]
  
  [Bridge]
  Honestly, I know where you’re goin’
  And baby, you're just movin’ on
  
  And I’ll still love you even if I can’t
  See you anymore
  Can’t wait to see you soar
  
  [Chorus]