After a full week of excitement, the wait is over: Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars' duet “Die With a Smile” was released on Thursday night and it's as great a song as one would expect from this mega-team.
While the video's theme is 70s country, the song itself is a soulful ballad in the vein of Mars' 2021 Soul Sonic project — soaring vocals, a big chorus, gently slurred guitar and a soaring climax in the final chorus. He takes the first verse and Gaga the second, and from there the two play off each other's powerful vocals.
But the video feels more like a 1970s Nashville TV appearance, with all the cast dressed in matching light blue suits and red shirts — Gaga's hair is piled up in a Dolly Parton-esque style while Mars wears a white cowboy hat and plays a handsome old-school electric guitar. Gaga sings the final verse while holding a cigarette between her teeth, and the clips end with the duo inside a moving heart.
Indeed, according to the press release, the song begins with Mars. “Bruno and I have a lot of respect for each other and we were talking about collaborating,” Gaga said. “I was finishing my own album in Malibu and one night after a long day he asked me to come over to his studio to hear something he was working on. It was around midnight when I got there and I was blown away when I heard what he had started to make. We stayed up all night and finished writing and recording the song. Bruno’s talent is inexplicable.”
“His musical talent and vision are of the highest order. There is no one like him.”
“It has been an honor to work with Gaga,” Mars added. “She is an icon and makes this song magical. I am so excited for everyone to hear it.”
The song was produced in collaboration between the artists with D'Mille (who also co-produced and co-wrote most of Silk Sonic) and 20221 Grammy Award-winning producer Andrew Watt (Elton John, Miley Cyrus, The Rolling Stones' latest album); D'Mille also played guitar and bass and Watt played lead guitar. Gaga, Mars, D'Mille and Watt wrote the song in collaboration with James Fauntleroy.
