Joanne

Coming off of the success and critical praise of "Cheek to Cheek", Gaga began recording her fifth album, which came out on October 21st, 2016. For "Joanne", her inspiration for the album came with the story of her father's sister who died at the age of 19. She died of lupus, a disease that the Mayo Clinic describes as "a systemic autoimmune disease that occurs when your body's immune system attacks your own tissues and organs." The album explored themes of loss and celebration of life, with the title track being a direct message from Gaga to the aunt that she never knew.

Although the album didn't sell as many copies as her previous albums, critics praised it for showing the versatility in Gaga's artistry and songwriting and the album was rewarded with nominations for "Best Pop Vocal Album" and "Best Pop Solo Performance" for the song "Million Reasons" at the 2018 Grammy Awards. Gaga did not win the awards that night, but the title track "Joanne" is nominated for "Best Pop Solo Performance" at the 2019 Grammy Awards, which have not yet taken place.

She promoted the album while headlining the "2018 Superbowl Half Time Show" where she sang "Million Reasons". She made history being the first woman to headline the show without any guest performers. Later that year, Gaga toured the globe to promote the album with the "Joanne World Tour", which was sadly cut short because of chronic pain and fibromyalgia. Her struggles with the disease were featured in "Gaga: Five Foot Two", a Netflix documentary that chronicled her process of creating Joanne as well the lead-up to her Half Time Show.

Lady Gaga at the 2017 Half Time Show	Poster for "Gaga: Five Foot Two"