“One time, I met a woman who knew pain the same way I did.”
That’s Ariana Grande tweeting about Lady Gaga, her collaborator on the incredibly vibrant new dance-floor number “Rain on Me.” The song, which dropped today (May 22), pulsates with joyful energy through its shimmering house production. But as the lyrics tell, it’s a pure release — using the motion of music to process pain.
Grande continued with her journey alongside Gaga: “…who cried as much as I did, drank as much wine as I did, ate as much pasta as I did and [whose] heart was bigger than her whole body. She immediately felt like a sister to me.”
As Gaga revealed in an interview about her forthcoming album Chromatica earlier this year, the pair connected over their shared traumas and used that energy to create “Rain on Me.” “I sat with her and we talked about our lives,” Gaga said to Paper magazine. “It’s two women having a conversation about how to keep going and how to be grateful for what you do.”
Grande’s thanks continued: “She then held my hand and invited me into the beautiful world of Chromatica and together, we got to express how beautiful and healing it feels to mothafuckinnnn cry! I hope this makes u all feel as uplifted as it does for us both. i love u @ladygaga, u stunning superwoman!”
Gaga, meanwhile, took to social media to address Grande and thank her for being with her. “One time I felt like I was crying so much it would never stop. Instead of fighting it, I thought bring it on, I can do hard things,” she wrote. “@arianagrande I love you for your strength and friendship.” She also shouted out the album’s executive producer, Bloodpop, for his support. “Now when I cry instead of fighting it I say ‘I’m ready rain on me,'” Gaga wrote. “@bloodpop thank u for encouraging me to keep going when I was sad. Turns out even if you don’t feel good enough you still can be. I heard my joy back when we wrote this song. It was there, I just needed to find it.”
Experience the pure catharsis of “Rain on Me” above, and sing along when the time comes: “I’d rather be dry, but at least I’m alive.”
