Sour never tasted so sweet on Lady Gaga’s new pop confection with the megapopular K-pop girl group Blackpink.
The next taste of the singer’s forthcoming sixth studio album “Chromatica” arrived ahead of schedule on Thursday morning and, in case her last Ariana-Grande-assisted track hadn’t made it clear, it’s a pop emergency.
Fusing Gaga and Blackpink’s distinct sounds into one dance-floor-primed, ’90s-house-inspired bop, “Sour Candy” lives up to the hype surrounding the long in the works collaboration that fans have been filling up their mentions about for years.
The track’s title is a play on how the group demands to be seen as more than just one thing: Yes, they may be “hard on the outside,” but if you give them time to unwrap, then sweetness abounds.
“I’m sour candy, so sweet then I get a little angry,” Blackpink’s Jennie and Lisa sing both in English and Korean to kick off the song. “I’m super psycho, make you crazy when I turn the lights low.”
Then Gaga takes a bite of the track, speak-singing her way through various candy-themed double entendres.
“I might be messed up, but I know what’s up,” she sings. “You want a real taste? At least I’m not a fake. Come unwrap me.”
In a recent interview, Gaga revealed that she approached the girl group about coming aboard the album.
“I wanted to celebrate them because they love powerful women like us, and they also wanted to celebrate me, and we had a great time together with this song,” she told the Japanese outlet TV Groove, according to Rolling Stone. “I was excited to hear them interpret the song in Korean, and told them that the part was so creative and fun. I was impressed when I heard their singing voice. I’m a woman, really talented and proud to be the fifth member of Blackpink (in this song).”
“Chromatica,” which arrives on Friday after an initial delay due to the coronavirus, also features a yet-to-be-heard collaboration with Elton John titled “Sine From Above.”
Listen to “Sour Candy” in full below.