Lady Gaga. You insanely talented woman. I will not belittle you by saying that you should have been doing this since 2008, because you changed the pop landscape for decades to come, and pushed artistic boundaries and stood by your work in good times and bad. Throughout your career, you have seen ups and more recently your downs. However, you just send the pendulum back on an upward sing.
First off, what a voice. This was your best vocal performance, period, hands down. The six months of vocal training have been showing not only in this performance, but in your work with Tony Bennett and your live performances since. The vibrato: magnificent and effortless. The placement: semi-operatic, excellent and strain free. The texture, the timbre: lush. When we look back at videos from 2009 up to even 2013, we see some characteristics that have been erased. You have answered your critics, and you have politely smacked them in the face.
Not only did you surpass yourself, you put yourself in elite vocal company. No, you didn't do Mariah's whistles, Beyoncé's runs or Kelly's belts: you were all Gaga. For seven years the Madonna comparisons have been running rampant. Madonna wishes she could deliver a vocal like this. You now have the artistic capability of Madonna, and the vocal craft of a true professional. It has been a dirty little secret that you can actually sing, but now the entire public can lavish in its truth, and your truth.
Masterful. Keep up the phenomenal work.