Lady Gaga says her new song Rain On Me is a metaphor for how she was using alcohol to ‘numb’ herself

Lady Gaga’s upcoming collaboration with Ariana Grande doubles as a metaphor for when she used to ‘numb’ herself with alcohol.

The pop diva spoke about the inspiration for her song Rain On Me during a sit down with Zane Lowe on his Beats 1 radio show.

Explaining how her new album Chromatica is about ‘radical acceptation,’ the Star Is Born actress, 34, told Lowe: ‘[Rain ON Me] is also a metaphor for tears and for the amount of alcohol I was taking to numb myself. I’d rather be dry but at least I’m alive, rain on me.’

Gaga – born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta – said that working with Ariana was a ‘very healing process,’ going on to say how refreshing it was for her to collaborate with a female artist who didn’t  ‘mentor’ during her early days.

The pair processed some deep emotions together, as the Born This Way singer explained: ‘That woman has been through some really tough, really hard life testing stuff, undoubtedly. And her ability to move on…’ 

In the past few years Ariana has gone through several high-profile break-ups, in addition to the tragic death of ex Mac Miller and being on stage during the 2017 Manchester Arena attack. 

‘…To be with her and hold her and be like, “Anything that you feel chains you, any pop cultural construct that you feel you have to live up to, I’d you to please forget about it and be yourself.’ 

Though Gaga was wary, they forged a true friendship through their collaboration.

It still took time for the star to open up to her new friend because of all the shame and fear she was dealing with amid her mental health struggles.

‘When she came into the studio, I was still crying and she was not. And she was like, “You’re going to be OK. Call me; here’s my number,”‘ said Gaga.

‘And she was so persistent. She would try over and over again to be friends with me. And I was too ashamed to hang out with her because I didn’t want to project all of this negativity onto something that was healing and so beautiful. And eventually she called me on my s***. She was, “You’re hiding.” And I was … and then this friendship blossomed.’

Despite the theme of the song, Gaga hasn’t cut alcohol out of her life completely.

‘I’ve flirted with the idea of sobriety. I’m not there yet, but I flirted with it throughout the album,’ she said. ‘It’s something that came up as a result of me trying to work through the pain that I was feeling.’

‘But part of my healing process was going, ‘Well, I can either lash the hell out of myself every day for continuing to drink, or I can just be happy that I’m still alive and keep going and feel good enough,’ she continued. ‘I am good enough… I’m perfectly imperfect.’

While she counts Ariana as a new friend, the singer also explained how lucky she was to have mentor Sir Elton John there to help her ‘keep [her] head above water.’

The Stupid Love hitmaker said Elton always ‘knows when [she’s] down,’ and ‘challenges’ her to ‘take care’ of herself.

‘He’s been my mentor for a longtime. I mean, he’s always challenged me to keep my head above water and it’s something that I always appreciate is that he knows when I’m down. He just does. And he knows because I hide, because I never want anyone to see me when I’m like that. 

‘But Elton’s always really challenged me to take care of my artistry and to really take care of myself. And I really, really honor that about him. He is so, so uniquely special. He’s such an inspiration. For me, it’s been so important because, I have also a very close relationship with his husband, David [Furnish].’  

Lady Gaga’s sixth studio album, Chromatica, is due out May 29 2020.