“Sine from Above” is the fourteenth track on Lady Gaga’s sixth studio album ‘Chromatica’ released on May 29, 2020. This track is a collaboration with the legendary artist Sir Elton John on their second time working together. The song resonates with Gaga’s music and its roots in divine intervention.
Lady Gaga’s ‘Chromatica’ album was initially to be released in April but was pushed to May due to the ongoing Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic around the world. The album spawned two singles “Stupid Love” and “Rain On Me” in February and May respectively.
The word ‘sine’ in the title of the song has been reviewed in several ways to give different meanings. The obvious play on words is its similarity to ‘sign’ which would line perfectly with the phrase ‘sign from above’ alluding to religion. The other interpretation is that ‘sine’ means ‘a sound’ which would connect her music to the spiritual aspect of her personal life. Watch Lady Gaga talk about the track with Zane Lowe;
Listen to “Sine from Above” by Lady Gaga and Elton John
In the first verse of the song, Gaga says that she prayed for lightning. Although this bears little meaning on the surface, it tells us a lot from within. As children lightning is one of the most terrifying occurrences in nature. So the singer could be alluding that her faith in religion was purely out of her fear for God when she was a child. It makes sense, as parents tend to scare children by saying “you will go to a bad place if you miss church on Sundays” etc.
Hence, this kind of faith does not last long. Gaga experienced that her faith was getting shattered as she grew up–as she grew out of her fear of lightning. When life gets hard as an adult, you often look up to your last ray of hope–higher power. And it usually does not answer back.
In the chorus, Lady Gaga tells us how she was actually saved: from a sine or a sound or her music. The signs she expected from ‘above’ split into two; faith and music. And she picked up music. It worked marvellously for her. It healed her soul and saved her from destruction.
In the second verse by Elton John, he perceives a different point of view than to Lady Gaga. Trodding on the evening of his life, he reflects back to the times when he had no care for anything other than living. He felt immortal back then, a superstar of earthly proportions and a living icon. He calls is ‘loosing’ his way under the bright lights of fame and fortune. Is he looking to reconcile with the man above?
It is clear that Lady Gaga and Elton John have two perspectives of the theme of the song; which is salvation. Maybe, different phases in life, give birth to different opinions about life.
Let us hear what you think about this song by dropping a comment below. Check out the complete lyrics on Genius.