When two of today’s biggest pop stars join forces for a dancefloor-ready single, it’s sure to be a hit. That’s exactly what happened when Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande teamed up for their collaboartive track “Rain On Me,” which arrived ahead of Gaga’s sixth studio record Chromatica. The song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and the duo won VMAs for Best Collaboration and Song Of The Year. Now, the two singers have once again come together to share a lively rendition of the track for the 2020 VMAs.
For Gaga’s first VMAs performance since 2013, the singer opened with a snippet of another revved-up track. After an expedient outfit change, Gaga and Grande’s thunderous performance lived up to the single’s energetic nature. The two singers show-stopped, sporting futuristic outfits as they harmonized their feel-good lyrics under the shimmering beat.
But their collective performance wasn’t the end of the show. After yet another outfit change, Gaga also danced along to a snippet of her hit track “Stupid Love.”
Ahead of their VMAs performance, Gaga revealed she was undergoing a turbulent time when she recorded Chromatica and although they weren’t close friends, Grande offered the singer emotional support while they were in the studio. Gaga was so vulnerable that she was even “too ashamed” to hang out with Grande afterwards: “She was like, ‘You’re going to be OK. Call me, here’s my number.’ 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 sh*t. She was, ‘You’re hiding.’ And I was like, ‘I am hiding. I’m totally hiding.’ And then this friendship blossomed.”
Watch Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga perform “Rain On Me” at the 2020 VMAs above.
Chromatica is out now via Interscope. Get it here.