If Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars are known for anything, it is not their subtlety. Even when she is at her most vulnerable, Gaga expresses her pain with a loud howl, while Mars has spent the last decade shamelessly but effectively recreating the aesthetics of the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Both make Hitsthe kind of songs you can listen to in the supermarket as well as in a packed bar on a night out. Their new team-up, “Die With A Smile,” released at midnight, makes sense – there’s hardly anyone out there who can match their track record right now, so it’s a bit disappointing that there isn’t more going on here.

In 2024, pop music is largely divided into two camps: (fake) country and big, silly, gloriously stupid, almost novelty songs (think “Espresso,” “Guess,” “HOT TO GO!”). For some reason, Gaga and Mars decided not to make a track in the latter category. But they didn’t make one for the former either; although “Die With A Smile” contains some visual nods to ’70s country kitsch, they land on a big, dramatic rock ballad somewhere in the middle of Unorthodox jukebox, A star is bornAnd Joanne(The last album, of course, was the last time Gaga wore a cowboy hat – for reasons unclear, since she grew up in New York City.)

“Die With A Smile” is certainly competent—it would be almost impossible for it not to be. But the track seems destined to fade into the background: of a TikTok, a car ride, a supermarket aisle. Gaga herself plays much more of a supporting role to Mars’ opening melody. Even the four-minute clip, in which the two sing the song to each other and not much else, is hard to get through without something else grabbing your attention before it ends. (Though Gaga does provide some pretty hilarious prop work with her cigarette.) Of course, the release of the clip Now serves a different purpose; the backdrop of the video is reminiscent of the few glimpses we have seen of Gaga’s Harleen Quinzel in the Joker: Foil A Deux Trailer. It’s unclear, however, if this song has anything to do with the film or if it will even be on their elusive upcoming album. Maybe it will end up on one of his albums. Or maybe we’ll forget all about this in a week.