Lady Gaga and Doechii Strut, but for Whom?

The sun is shining. The streets are vibrating. The girls are collaborating. So, the new Lady Gaga and Doechii song. It’s called “Runway.” It is effectively the theme song from “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” Maybe unsurprisingly, it’s a spiritual inheritor of RuPaul’s “Supermodel,” one of the essential club records of the early 1990s. What was “Supermodel” in its day? It was the high fashion theme song. But it came about organically. It didn’t just get dropped into the scene. Something about “Runway” feels a tiny bit more disingenuous. It’s almost like they’re working from montages in the film backwards into the final record. As far as lyrics go, you ever see those videos where someone’s freestyling and they give them five random words to put in the song? Your words are tour, flamingo and makeshift. It’s kind of how this feels. Tea. Kiki. Paparazzi. Front row. Facecard. It’s not that this isn’t a fun record. It just feels like corporate enforced fun. You will strut. This is also more or less a hip-house record, which is a great sound for Doechii. A little less so for Gaga. As we told you last year, Hip-house is back. So there’s actually a surge of female collaborations right now. Here’s three more that are popping off. A surprisingly dark and despair-filled — and slightly static — updating of Madonna’s “Vogue.” It’s hard to think of a more fun, more sensual and more ambitiously playful song than this electric pairing. You want smoke? You can have it two times. 00:03:27.266 —> 00:03:30.266 00:03:35.933 —> 00:03:37.700 00:03:37.700 —> 00:03:40.700 00:03:46.000 —> 00:03:47.100 00:03:47.100 —> 00:03:48.466