Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Remix Album: A Blend of the Best Queer Artists of the Moment

By Laurine Payet, Music Journalist

Last year saw the release of Lady Gaga’s latest record Chromatica. The concept album, which was the revival of her dance-pop debut and a bold choice in her career, created debates within the fanbase. The original record already featured icons such as Ariana Grande for the single ‘Rain on Me’, BLACKPINK on ‘Sour Candy’ and even Elton John for ‘Sine from Above’.

After months of rumors regarding the existence of a remix album, the pop star has recently confirmed it was happening by writing in a tweet “the Chromatica remix album is so f*cking fuego”. A few artists have announced their involvement in the remix album over the past few weeks, and the full tracklist is finally available. Gaga is gathering the most influential queer artists for the alternative version of Chromatica, and we are introducing them to you.

The second track of Chromatica ‘Alice’ will be a remix by the American DJ and Producer LSDXOXO. Now based in Berlin, Raushaan Glasgow – also known as LSDXOXO - has, for years, had a massive impact in the underground New York City club scene. The DJ brought his NYC touch to the Berlin culture. In a city where every artist is put into boxes of different and specific genres, LSDXOXO had learnt to write and perform combining influences from a vast number of scenes. In the city where DJing is mostly accessible to white cisgender and heterosexual men, LSDXOXO has decided to put on his own event called Floorgasm, where every gender and genres are welcome.

The next song ‘Stupid Love’, which was the first single of the Chromatica era to be released, is being reworked by English musician Planningtorock. With four studio albums since 2004, the electropop artist is far from being new in the industry. Jam Rostron is not afraid to talk about politics, and especially gender politics in disco tunes that are made to be danced to in clubs. Tracks such as ‘Let’s Talk About Gender Baby’ and ‘Misogyny Drop Dead’ are good examples.

For ‘Rain on Me’, Lady Gaga brings in the sensational Arca, that we have presented in the past. Her sharp sound clashing with the mainstream pop vibes of the original song is something to be excited about. With more of a reggeaton type of sound, Pabllo Vittar will be making ‘Fun Tonight’ hers in the remix album. She was featured in our top Latinx artists. We don’t need to introduce Charli XCX and A. G. Cook anymore. The two legends collaborated for the remix of one of the fans’ favorites: ‘911’. The following track ‘Plastic Doll’ will be remixed by the blue icon Ashnikko. Hyperpop queen Shygirl - that we presented in our electronic music playlist - will be featuring on ‘Sour Candy’, remixed by Mura Masa.

After releasing her successful album ‘Sawayama’ last year, Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama will be featuring on ‘Free Woman’. Compared to a lot of genres, the pansexual popstar mainly finds inspiration for her sound in 2000s mainstream pop, R&B and dance-pop. As well as being open about her pansexuality, Rina’s lyrics are politically and socially charged. In her hit song ‘XS’, Rina Sawayama addresses the issues of capitalism and consumerism in today’s society.

‘Replay’ is set to be including a featuring with American hyperpop icon Dorian Electra, who will also add a featuring to the song. The non-binary artist is famous for having been part of a range of projects on the side of their two albums. From 100 gecs’ ‘Gec 2 Ü’ to Charli XCX’s ‘Femmebot’ and Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’, Dorian Electra has already featured in a lot of major singles.

Remixed by Jimmy Edgar, the album version of ‘Babylon’ will feature Bree Runway. The English artist who is rumoured to be dating Doja Cat had a major breakthrough after releasing her hit ‘ATM’ featuring Missy Elliott. Rejecting labelling herself as an R&B singer, a thing that she is used to getting due to the cliché as a Black woman, Bree Runway prefers to say she is “genre-bending”. Mixing pop, hyperpop, trap and even rock, her powerful tracks have been part of every queer summer party playlist.

The early version of ‘Babylon’ had leaked a while before the album releasing and had caught the attention of the whole fanbase. Pleasing the fans, Gaga will be releasing this version, remixed by the co-writer and co-producer of Chromatica, BloodPop®. The producer is also the one to have hinted in a tweet that the record should be out by the end of September.

By bringing together so many queer artists, Lady Gaga is giving exposure to a community that is too often neglected. The mainstream platform of the pop icon will be a good way for those talents to reach a much wider audience. We made a playlist with every featured artist on the Chromatica remix album.

Check out the album: