On Jan. 30, celebrities united for the FireAid benefit concert, held at the Intuit Dome and Kia Forum simultaneously, to raise crucial funds for the communities devastated by the wildfires that scorched thousands of acres and destroyed homes and businesses across Southern California.
Among those who performed were Jelly Roll, Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder, and Billie Eilish, with Lady Gaga closing out the concert at Intuit Dome with a three-song set. Playing the piano, Lady Gaga performed two of the songs from her movie A Star Is Born — “Shallow” and “Always Remember Us This Way” — before ending with a surprise for the audience.
Before beginning the song, Lady Gaga said that she thought about which song to close with but found it difficult to choose one from her repertoire. In light of the event’s purpose, she couldn’t find a track that conveyed the sense of hope she wanted to leave the audience with. “When I was thinking about what to sing tonight, I thought I wanted to do something hopeful for you. And I was thinking about my songs, and there wasn’t anything that seemed quite right,” she explained.
Her solution? To write a new song altogether “just for tonight, just for you.” Lady Gaga revealed that she wrote it with her entrepreneur fiancé Michael Polansky exclusively for the benefit concert, adding, “I think we all need a lot of things right now, but I think something we may also need is time. Time is a healer.”
The song features an upbeat melody, bringing a sense of optimism and energy. Its lyrics deliver a hopeful message, emphasizing the idea that despite the weight of tragedy, healing and renewal are possible with time. “All I need is time to heal my broken wings, and then I’ll soar / All I need is time to leave it all behind and keep moving forward,” she sings in the chorus.
The new song isn’t the first time Lady Gaga has collaborated with Polansky. The couple also worked together on Harlequin, which she released as a companion album to her movie Joker: Folie à Deux. Her fiancé was credited as a co-writer for four songs and also listed as a co-executive producer of the album.
Polansky has shown unwavering support for his fiancée’s music career. As Lady Gaga shared in a 2024 Vogue interview, it was his encouragement that motivated her to work on her seventh studio album. “I encouraged her to lean in to othe joy of it. On the Chromatica tour, I saw a fire in her; I wanted to help her keep that alive all the time and just start making music that made her happy,” Polansky said.
Lady Gaga shared that her upcoming album, Mayhem, marks a return to her pop music roots — the genre that resonated with her earliest fans. The album’s lead single, “Disease,” debuted in Oct. 2024. Another single is “Die With a Smile,” a duet with Bruno Mars. The third single, along with its music video, will be unveiled during a commercial break at the Grammy Awards on Feb. 2. Mayhem is set to be released on Mar. 7, 2025.
Published: Feb 1, 2025 09:33 am