A rebellious act of liberation through the Great American Songbook
In short: For Lady Gaga, a jazz collaboration wasn't just a career move; it was a vocal rebellion. Moving away from high-gloss pop production, she sought to strip back her sound to find an authentic voice—finding a timeless home in the standards of Gershwin and Porter alongside Tony Bennett.
The collaboration between Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga began in 2011 at a New York City gala. After recording "The Lady Is a Tramp" for Bennett's Duets II, the pair discussed a full jazz project inspired by a desire to introduce classic standards to younger generations. Gaga's hip operation plus the scrapped Born This Way Ball tour caused major delays, despite a January 2013 official announcement.
Jazz players from both stars' networks joined a live band for a New York City session spanning more than one year. For Gaga, the project was "rebellious" because it allowed her to sing without radio-focused engineering. She felt her previous pop albums limited her vocal potential and sought to prove she possessed an authentic jazz voice. During sessions, she was often emotionally affected by personal conflicts during the Artpop era, with Bennett providing guidance through the process.
The album features a curated selection of Great American Songbook tracks, including works by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and Irving Berlin. Notably, "Anything Goes" features swapped lyrics between the two stars, while "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" includes custom lines referring to each other. The work achieved commercial triumph, topping the Billboard 200 with 131,000 first-week sales and later securing a Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy.
The duo's chemistry was central to the album's critical reception. Gaga drew inspiration from the late Amy Winehouse, whom she thought of daily during the recording. The project also served as a milestone for both artists: it was Bennett's second number-one album and his record as the oldest artist to achieve such a feat, while Gaga became the first female artist to have three consecutive number-one albums in the 2010s.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Cheek to Cheek (album)
- Also: Cheek to Cheek | album by Bennett and Gaga | Britannica
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