As expected, the latest song to be unveiled from Lady Gaga’s upcoming album is the bubbly “A-Yo,” and if you weren’t looking forward to Joanne at this point, this track’s got what it takes to sway opinions in the other direction.
The final version of “A-Yo” is miles better than the live rendition that she played at her dive bar performance earlier this month, proving that her best work is definitely done within a studio’s walls despite having such a great stage presence. With hand claps galore and your signature Lady Gaga pop hooks, there’s no doubt that she’s giving it her all with each track released thus far.
With such a large time gap in between ARTPOP and Joanne, it’s impressive that Gaga can switch things up so much stylistically but gain an even stronger response to her new material than before. You aren’t going to find a “Just Dance” or a “Bad Romance” embedded somewhere on this record’s track listing, but what you will find is a record with eleven tracks of pure artistic integrity.
“A-Yo,” in all its infectious country pop glory, fits right there alongside Joanne’s lead single “Perfect Illusion” and the somber “Million Reasons” to help create Lady Gaga’s most promising outing so far.