Cheek to Cheek

After "ARTPOP", Gaga suffered large critical scrutiny from the press and critics who wondered if she really was able to produce good material as her previous albums "The Fame", "The Fame Monster" and "Born This Way". ARTPOP hadn't sold as many copies as her previous albums and tabloids had reported that her record label lost money on the album, but that was proven to be a fake rumor that was blown out of proportion. To put the cherry on top, Gaga's long time manager, who had mismanaged the promotional campaign for the album, had left her in the middle of the album cycle. For this reason, she stepped away from pop music for a moment to take a break.

In need of a career and image rehabilitation, she was contacted by her long time friend and jazz icon Tony Bennett. Tony and Gaga had previously sang a cover of "The Lady is a Tramp" for one of his albums, which was the catalyst for their eventual duet cover album of jazz classics. For their album "Cheek to Cheek", they recorded covers of a collection of "songs from the great American songbook" as she said in a 2014 Rolling Stone interview.

The album was largely praised by many jazz music reviewers and was a complete 180-degree turn from her last album cycle. The album was even nominated at the 2015 Grammy Awards for "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album" and won the award. At the same award show, Gaga and Tony performed the title track of the project, "Cheek to Cheek."