When I first saw this week’s Song Lyric Sunday prompt, I had a small problem.
Segue?
I had to look up what the word actually meant. 😂
Then I read the explanation — a piece of music that creates a seamless, uninterrupted transition into another — and thought:
Oh. I know exactly what that is.
I was a DJ in the 1990s.
Apparently, I spent years doing segues without knowing the fancy word for them.
Back then, the whole point was to keep the music moving. You didn’t want everyone happily dancing and then suddenly…
SILENCE.
That tends to murder a dance floor rather efficiently.
Once I understood the prompt, I started looking through some of the artists I love. Queen was originally going to be my choice, because they created some wonderful transitions between songs.
But then I remembered someone else.
And anyone who has followed my blog for a while probably won’t be surprised.
Lady Gaga. 💜
Welcome to Chromatica
In 2020, Lady Gaga released her sixth studio album, Chromatica.
The album contains three short orchestral interludes — Chromatica I, Chromatica II and Chromatica III — which help connect different sections of the album.
But there is one transition that became particularly famous:
Chromatica II → 911.
And if you listen to them separately, you’re missing half the fun.
Chromatica II begins dramatically with strings and orchestration. The tension gradually builds. The music becomes bigger and more urgent until it feels as though something simply has to happen.
And then…
💥 911 begins.
There is virtually no breathing room between them.
The orchestral world disappears beneath your feet and suddenly you’re inside an electronic dance track.
That, I discovered, is a segue.
And it’s a rather spectacular one.
It Was Created That Way
What makes Chromatica II such a good answer for this particular challenge is that the transition wasn’t an accident created by clever album sequencing.
It was intentional.
Lady Gaga worked with composer and arranger Morgan Kibby on the orchestral interludes. 911 already existed when they worked on Chromatica II, and the interlude was developed to build toward the track that followed it.
So the dramatic crescendo isn’t simply the ending of Chromatica II.
It’s also the beginning of our journey into 911.
That’s exactly what a good segue should do.
One piece doesn’t really finish before the next begins.
The music simply changes shape.
The People Behind the Music
Chromatica II was composed by Lady Gaga and Morgan Kibby, while 911 was written by Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Madeon and Justin Tranter.
BloodPop and Madeon produced 911.
And beneath the infectious electronic production is a considerably more serious song than its dance beat might initially suggest.
Gaga has explained that 911 relates to her antipsychotic medication and the relationship between her mind, body and medication.
That’s something I have always admired about Gaga’s music.
You can dance to it.
You can sing along with it.
And then you stop and actually listen to what she is saying and discover another layer underneath.
Sometimes several.
From Orchestra to the Dance Floor
The transition became so popular that Chromatica II → 911 became an internet meme.
People began taking that enormous orchestral build-up and attaching the transition to scenes from films, television and other videos where something dramatic suddenly happens.
I can understand why.
There is something ridiculously satisfying about it.
You know the drop is coming.
You wait for it.
The orchestra climbs…
and climbs…
and climbs…
BOOM.
🎧 911.
Somewhere inside me, my old DJ self is extremely happy.
What Happened on the Charts?
Chromatica II wasn’t released as a conventional single, so it doesn’t have a singles-chart story of its own.
911, however, became one of the album’s recognised tracks and performed particularly well in dance/electronic music.
It reached No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in the United States and No. 1 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100, just below the main Billboard Hot 100.
During Chromatica’s release week, Gaga also achieved something rather remarkable: she placed five songs simultaneously in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.
So perhaps the dance floor wasn’t quite ready to let Gaga leave either. 💜
Music Doesn’t Like Boxes
Over the past few Song Lyric Sundays, I’ve been gradually exposing everyone to another side of my musical taste.
We’ve had Culture Beat.
Infinity.
Loona.
Avicii.
And now Lady Gaga.
I promise I do listen to other things. 😂
My musical taste has never stayed comfortably inside one genre. I can go from rock and metal to pop, Eurodance, house, techno and EDM — and then happily sit down and paint while listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
Music doesn’t need a box.
And Chromatica II → 911 is actually a lovely example of why.
It takes orchestral music and electronic dance-pop and connects them so naturally that the boundary between the two almost disappears.
One moment we’re somewhere inside a dramatic film score.
Seconds later we’re on the dance floor.
Apparently, I Knew All Along
So I learned a new word this week.
Segue.
Except perhaps I didn’t learn something entirely new.
I simply discovered the name for something I’d understood through music for decades.
As a DJ, you learned to feel when one song should give way to another.
When to bring the next beat in.
When to keep people moving.
When not to break the spell.
And that’s really what a segue does.
It keeps the musical story moving without allowing the listener to fall out of it.
Lady Gaga and Morgan Kibby just did it with considerably more orchestra than I ever had available in my DJ booth.
So for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, my choice is not really one song.
It’s the moment between two pieces of music.
Lady Gaga — Chromatica II
Lady Gaga — 911
And because the transition itself is the star this week, I’m embedding a version containing both tracks together.
Don’t skip from one to the other.
Let it play.
You’ll understand why. 💜🎧
And Jim…
After Culture Beat, Infinity, Loona and Avicii, you may have thought the dance-music phase was finally over.
I nearly chose Queen this week.
Nearly.
Then Lady Gaga turned up.
Sorry.
The glow sticks remain in circulation. 🤣
Turning up emotional faders
Keep repeating self-hating phrases
I have heard enough of these voices
Almost like I have no choice
This is biological stasis
My mood's shifting to manic places
Wish I laughed and kept the good friendships
Watch life,
here I go again
I can't see me cry
Can't see me cry ever again (ooh)
I can't see me cry
Can't see me cry
This is the end (ooh)
My biggest enemy is me,
pop a 911
My biggest enemy is me,
pop a 911
My biggest enemy is me
Ever since day one
Pop a 911,
then pop another one
Keep my dolls inside diamond boxes
Save them 'til I know I'm gon' drop this front
I've built around me,
oasis
Paradise is in my hand
Holding on so tight to this status
It's not real but I'll try to grab it
Keep myself in beautiful places
Paradise is in my hands
I can't see me cry
Can't see me cry ever again (ooh)
I can't see me cry
Can't see me cry
This is the end (ooh)
My biggest enemy is me,
pop a 911
My biggest enemy is me,
pop a 911
My biggest enemy is me
Ever since day one
Pop a 911 then pop another one
P-pop another one (ooh)
Pop a 911 then pop another one (ooh)
I can't see me cry
Can't see me cry ever again (ooh)
I can't see me cry
Can't see me cry
This is the end (ooh)
My biggest enemy is me,
pop a 911
My biggest enemy is me,
pop a 911
My biggest enemy is me
Ever since day one
Pop a 911 then pop another one
Please patch the line
Please patch the line
Need a 911,
can you patch the line?
Please patch the line
Please patch the line
Need a 911,
can you patch the line?
_________________
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Michael Tucker / Justin Tranter / Hugo Pierre Leclercq / Stefani J. Germanotta
The Transition Follows What Was Built Before It
With love, coffee, poetry, and stardust,
— Maggie The Afterlove Voice 💫
My new song “Silenced,But not broken ” is on all streaming platforms.
Lyrics video :
https://ditto.fm/silenced-but-not-broken
If you want a reading, send me an email:
Leave a comment