Sine from Above

"Sine from Above" marks the second studio based collaboration between Gaga and John, following their duet "Hello, Hello", which appeared in the 2011 animated film Gnomeo & Juliet.[1] The duo also performed together on numerous occasions, including the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, where they performed a medley of Gaga's "Speechless" and John's "Your Song", and the Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular television special, where they performed "Bennie and the Jets" and "Artpop".[1] Gaga later professionally recorded John's "Your Song" for the 2018 tribute album Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin.[2]

Gaga and John developed a long-time friendship, and Gaga referred to him as her "mentor for a long time".[1] In an interview with Beats 1's Zane Lowe, Gaga talked about her work with John on "Sine from Above", and explained how he played a significant role in her road to recovery:

"Elton's always really challenged me to take care of my artistry and to really take care of myself. And I really, really honour that about him. He is so, so uniquely special. And I cannot tell you how instrumental in my life he's been to showing me that you can go all the way in life and… be authentic and be you and do good things in the world and take care of yourself and be there."[3]

Lady Gaga and Elton John in 2010. Co-producer Axwell came up with the idea of creating the song as a duet between the two.

Producer Axwell later talked about how the song came about in an interview for Rolling Stone, stating: "I had this old song we worked on, like, seven years ago with Elton John. We tried working on it and we couldn't really get it where we wanted it. It was also kind of hard to get ahold of Elton John. I had this on my computer and was like, 'Wait a minute. Lady Gaga and Elton John are buddies.'" Axwell then sent the demo to Gaga and co-producer BloodPop who loved the track and decided to record it for Gaga's Chromatica album as a collaboration with John.[3] He later added that the song was initially "a more chilled out, piano, acoustic thing. You can still hear that in the verses, and [the final version has] the same chord progression."[4] Talking about the recording of the song, co-producer Burns also explained that Elton was on tour in Australia when they were in the process of finishing the song. As they had a close deadline to finish everything, the recording sessions took place via Skype, with Elton in a studio in Australia and the rest of them in Los Angeles.[4]

"Sine from Above" is an electronica-influenced electropop track which includes trance synths and a drum n' bass breakdown at the end of the song.[5][6][7][8][9] Burns said that the ending was the singer's idea: "Originally, my first version had an 'Amen'-style break beat throughout it, but in the end, we opted for a four-to-the-floor rhythm. At the last minute, Gaga thought there should be some kind of crazy, jarring outro. She mentioned speeding it up, so I figured why not bring back the 'Amen' break, but in classic Jungle form."[4]

Lyrically, the song talks about the healing power of music and Gaga's relationship with a higher power.[5][10] Gaga explained the wordplay in the title as a reference to how music was an escape for her when she was in pain.[11] She said: "S-I-N-E, because it's a sound wave. That sound, sine, from above is what healed me to be able to dance my way out of this album... That was later in the recording process that I actually was like, 'And now let me pay tribute to the very thing that has revived me, and that is music."[5] The sine wave also appears on the cover art for Chromatica,[12] and based on its lyrics Billboard considered "Sine from Above" to be "Gaga's mission statement for the album".[13]

"Sine from Above" received a polarized reception from critics. Nick Smith of musicOMH thought that the collaboration was "rather inspired" and "perhaps the album’s highlight".[15] Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone complimented the production as well as John's vocals saying "John's smooth, deep voice make him a perfect fit, making it sound like he's been gunning to become a disco vocalist for the entirety of his career."[9] Hannah Mylrea from NME called the song "brilliantly bizarre" saying it "is basically what a heady night out at Glastonbury’s Shangri La with Elton and Gaga would sound like".[16] Writing for Pitchfork, Katherine St. Asaph found it one of the two strongest songs on the Chromatica album, that "runs on WTF", and described it this way: "Imagine an axis from bizarro transcendence to pure transcendence; 'Sine from Above' is all the way at the left."[17] Jem Aswad Variety thought that Elton gives a "stately vocal performance" as the sole male voice on the otherwise "very female and feminine" album.[18] Michael Cragg from The Guardian called the song "ludicrous", and opined that it "would win Eurovision on any given year." He highlighted the "unexpected shift into cranium-rattling drum'n'bass, a fleeting taste of experimentation that feels oddly missing elsewhere [on the album]."[19]

Stephen Daw of Billboard thought that the song "feels special", but called the final 30 seconds of the song "confusing" and "unnecessary", and said that "the effects laid over [Elton John's] voice falter as it slips into an uncanny valley."[13] Patrick Gomez from The A. V. Club found the song an "odd inclusion" on the album, saying that "[Elton's] vocals are unfortunately jarring when he comes in on the second verse, and there’s something unharmonious about how their voices come together here."[14] Chuck Arnold of the New York Post compared the song unfavorably to Gaga's other collaborations on the album, saying that it "fails to reach the heights that you want from it", and criticized the vocal effects on John's voice.[20] Simon K. from Sputnikmusic while complimented the production in the song, thought that the "track which once displayed real potential [is] completely stained by fundamental, asinine errors", and called John's contribution "godawful".[21] Caryn Ganz of The New York Times called it "a shapeless E.D.M. disaster".[22]

Credits adapted from Tidal.[23]