I am yours mother!
Photo illustration: Vulture; Photos: Monica Schipper/Getty Images, Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

When Addison Rae ARE The EP came out in 2023, one track in particular stood out for Little Monsters across the country. Rae’s song “Nothing On (But the Radio)” was originally Lady Gaga’s song – a demo track of Gaga’s version had leaked out years earlier and had become an online Gaga standom staple. Now this TikToker bought the song, and suddenly it was finally streaming? Incredible! From Rae, it signaled exactly the kind of fans she wanted to attract: the obsessive, the gay, the Ph.D. in pop music candidates. Now, on October 25, the mother and daughter share a release date. Gaga released the first single of a new era, “Disease,” and Addison Rae has one “Diet Pepsi” follow-up in “Aquamarine”. In an earlier era, we might have made it a contest — “Roar” versus “Applause” flashbacks — but in 2024, we’re bigger than that. It’s a mother-daughter release day and a mother-daughter release kill!

Gaga’s “Disease” ushers in a new era, and thankfully not one of the stinkers Joker 2the flop seems to have stuck to her. The electroclash, eerie “Disease” is a throwback to Gaga’s past: it has a stomping tempo that “Bloody Mary”; the syllable “ah” is used prominently, just like on tracks like “Government Hooker”; and the line “Lay you down like one, two, three, eyes roll back in ecstasy” has the same kind of glorious, memorable silliness that defines her best work, from “Poker Face” By “GUY” Yet this is only scratching the surface of nonsense for a woman who has constituted entire languages in earlier pop songs. There’s a lot to come in this era for Gaga (we don’t even have the music video for this yet), but if there’s one thing we’re specifically hoping for, it’s a doubling down on that sense of serious silliness. Her name is Lady Gaga. That’s what she does.

And while we’re on the subject of serious silliness… Addison Rae has all that on lock. “Aquamarine” is a play through ridiculousness performed without a hint of a knowing smile, which is what makes it satisfying. “The world’s my oyster, baby, come touch the pearl,” Rae purrs in the song’s first verse. “The world is my oyster, and I’m the only girl.” In the music video, she smokes two cigarettes and dances as if she has no legs. The song has an addictive, hypnotic quality and a central vacancy (what is this really about?) that dares you to take it too seriously. And ultimately, that has been her greatest strength: Rae, the Charli XCX protégéis both a cool kid and a populist TikToker, to the point where you’re never quite sure where her loyalties lie. “Aquamarine” is both cryptic, “Bunny Is a Rider”-esque pop fan bait and actual nonsense. Like her mother, she doesn’t choose sides.