Lady Gaga has always had a powerful voice both literally and figuratively. She recently penned an essay for Harper’s Bazaar on being a modern woman. She also opened up about the women who made her strong, according to Entertainment Weekly. Lady Gaga’s new album Joanne was inspired by and named after one of these women: her late aunt Joanne Stefani Germanotta. Gaga’s aunt, a sexual assault survivor, passed away from lupus before Gaga was born.
“I called my album Joanne because Joanne’s presence was always important to me,” Gaga writes. “The best way to describe my relationship with her is that it’s like the relationship someone might have with an angel or a spirit guide or whatever you think of as a higher power.”
In her essay Gaga writes about growing up with guilt, being “rebellious,” and how she learned to experience music again by taking some time off. She relates all of this to what the modern woman has to deal with today.
Gaga has been outspoken with her feelings on President-elect Donald Trump’s comments and actions towards women, which reminded her of her aunt.
“Here we were, in 2016, and the fact that the sort of language that was being used to talk about women was everywhere—on TV, in politics—was eye-opening,” Gaga writes. “I felt depressed and hurt by it because that’s what that kind of language does.”
Gaga’s language in her essay, however, show how powerful women can be as fighters and survivors. She mentions a trifecta of strength which is represented by the female figures in her life: health, happiness and love; three things every fighter should remember.