Which Lady Gaga Album Cut Should Be Her Next Single?
Here are 6 Lady Gaga songs – one from each of her albums – that were never pushed as singles, but which all deserve to be.
Lady Gaga isn’t in album mode at the moment, but she does have a single she’s promoting.
Just a few weeks ago, the singer-songwriter’s “Bloody Mary” debuted on the Hot 100 a decade after it was first released.
The cut went viral after someone on TikTok used it to soundtrack a clip from the Netflix show Wednesday, and it didn’t take long to become a standout smash.
If one of Gaga’s older album cuts can go on to reach a new audience years after its debut and perform well enough to warrant her record label revisiting it and finally putting money behind it, why can’t another?
Here are six Gaga songs – one from each of her albums – that were never pushed as singles, but which all deserve to be.
“The Fame” from The Fame
The title track from Gaga’s debut album is clearly very special to her, as she named her first full-length after it.
The tune encompasses so many of the ideas that permeate the rest of the tracklist – wealth, success, sex, and, of course, fame. Compared to what she produces these days, it’s a bit amateur-sounding, but fans who have been with the singer from the outset of her career still press play regularly, and it would be wonderful to see a much older cut resurface.
“Speechless” from The Fame Monster
While it was never released as a single, two versions of “Speechless” have already reached the Billboard charts, which seems to suggest there is huge interest from fans – or at least there was at one point.
The original take broke onto the Hot 100 at No. 94, which at the time was impressive for non-singles. Gaga performed the tune as part of a medley at the Grammys alongside longtime friend Elton John, blending it with “Poker Face” and his own “Your Song.
That recording was released as well, and it missed out on the Hot 100 by only a few spots, landing on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 at No. 13.
“Hair” from Born This Way
As Gaga was gearing up to release her album Born This Way, she first doled out two proper singles, then took to some promotional cuts just before the full-length dropped.
One of those tunes was “Hair,” an ode to a person’s hair being a part of their identity. “Edge of Glory” was selected as the first promo cut, but it performed so well, she stopped pushing “Judas” and switched to that title, which made “Hair” the new first promotional release.
It narrowly missed the top 10 on the Hot 100, stopping at No. 12. Clearly, fans loved it and they still do, so why not put some muscle behind it and see how much higher it can climb?
“Gypsy” from Artpop
Rumors about “Gypsy” have swirled ever since fans first heard it a decade ago. Some have suggested that it was supposed to be the first single from Artpop, but that Gaga changed her mind at the last minute, opting instead for “Applause.”
Interscope uploaded it to a SoundCloud page, and eagle-eyed listeners noticed that meant it had been chosen as the third single from the set — only the label also switched things up later in favor of “G.U.Y.”
Basically, it appears there were several moments when “Gypsy” almost became a single, so perhaps the time has come for the tune to earn that status.
“John Wayne” from Joanne
The fact that “John Wayne” was never released as an actual single is somewhat bewildering. The song received a video – one which looks like it required a fair amount of resources to create. So, if both lead cut “Perfect Illusion,” and third and final release, “Joanne,” underperformed, why not turn the attention to the more upbeat track that fans enjoy and which already has a visual?
“John Wayne” also sounds like it could easily go viral on TikTok as well with a little help, so let’s hope Mother Monster and her team make this happen.
“Alice” from Chromatica
When Chromatica debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, it was joined on the Hot 100 by “Alice,” which stands out as the only tune from the dance-pop album to not be promoted as a single to perform well enough to hit the main songs chart in the U.S.
This may be due to the fact that it’s the first non-orchestral tune on the title, which means it likely earned more streams than many other options on the full-length, but isn’t that enough to show that the public likes it?
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