Lady Gaga's New Single 'Million Reasons' Is the Palate Cleanser We Needed After 'Perfect Illusion'

By Bobby Finger | October 6, 2016 | 3:05pm

Entertainment

As the kind of person whose favorite Lady Gaga songs are “Speechless” and the Mutt Lange-produced, country-tinged power ballad “You and I,” it should be no surprise that “Million Reasons” is really doing it for me. The song, co-written by frequent collaborator Hillary Lindsey, is mournful and montage-ready, the story of a tumultuous love worth saving (so… not about Taylor Kinney?) that features a gut-punch of a chorus—one that’s begging to be heard live.

I bow down to pray

(I try to make the worst seem better)

Lord, show me the way

(To cut through all this worn out leather)

I’ve got a hundred million reasons to walk away,

But baby I just need one good one to say

Like “Speechless” and “You and I,” it’s Gaga putting her vocals and songwriting first, and the production—dare I call it “simple”—is a sigh of relief after the screeching cacophony of her lead single from Joanne, “Perfect Illusion.”