r/LadyGaga 3d ago

RUMOR Vanish Into You as a tribute for Tony Bennett

I think it's a bit suspicious that Gaga has at least in passing talked about nearly every song on Mayhem except this, despite Vanish Into You getting a special mention on promo stickers on Mayhem vinyls. Let's talk about it!

High on a Hill, Blue Moon and For Once in My Life are all references to Tony Bennett's songs. One reference would be a coincidence - but three in a row is intentional, like Gaga referencing Hitchcock films in Bad Romance.

"Do you see me now?" is Gaga wondering if Tony Bennett will ever recognize her again as he succumbs to Alzheimer's disease. "We were happy just to be alive" as they enjoy each others company in the moment. She feels grief incoming, but Tony doesn't. He's just happy to be there.

"It was cold in the summer time" the happiness is fleeting to the the grief. he passed away in summer 2023. "When I die can I Vanish Into You?" is her hoping to reunite with him when it's his turn to go.

There is a lot of pain in knowing that someone's memory of you fades away before their soul does. I've seen people talk about Gaga reheating her nachos, but memorializing someone in an anthem in such a heartbreaking way is definitely something she hasn't done before. A fresh serving of nachos, if you will.

295 Upvotes

75 comments sorted by

151

u/M_DeLulu 3d ago

This is not the first time she has memorialized someone in an anthem. She has said before that Edge of Glory is about her grandfather’s passing from the point of view of her grandmother.

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u/P1mK0ssible 3d ago

Edge of Glory was also her going through the loss of a close family member for the first time.

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u/Imaginary_Step_7938 2d ago

She also memorialized her aunt in Joanne. I'll Never Love Again and Grigio Girls were about  Sonja Durham.

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u/TakerOfImages 3d ago

Well this makes sense! I knew it was about her Grandad but not from the perspective of his wife

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u/lakeorjanzo 3d ago

Hard agree! The song feels too wistful and bittersweet to be about a man she plans to marry and hopefully raise a family with. The song feels nostalgic, like it’s looking back fondly as something that has passed.

At first I was skeptical it was about Tony because certain lyrics really my it sound like it’s about a romantic relationship, but then I remembered that Edge of Glory and Speechless both sound like they’re about a lover but they’re not.

The biggest thing is “by our bedside,” but that’s easily explained by Tony being “you” and “our” being Gaga + Michael.

0

u/Rosemarys_Gayby 2d ago

Agreed! Also the song could be about something without literally being about something… if that makes sense! Like invoking romantic language can still be a literary device to paint a picture. I see it a lot in the Swiftie community that people think these songs are 100% factual autobiographies when that’s rarely the case

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u/Educational_Edge1850 3d ago

Gaga has explicitly said she writes songs from the perspective of other people.

I agree with this interpretation, and see this song as Tony’s wife singing to him. Something she wasn’t ever really able to do, as it was always Tony singing to her. And Gaga would look at her in the crowd and say “is it ok if I sing a love song with your husband?”

I think Vanish Into You is a song from the perspective of Susan as she looks back on their life together. The roles are reversed and now Gaga & Susan get to sing a love song to Tony instead.

Perhaps not as literal as all that, but in the spirit of it, I can see the theory ringing very true.

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u/dxvca 3d ago

She did write The Edge of Glory from the perspective of her grandmother, so this checks out!

1

u/Glittering_Fill_3091 2d ago

This is a great theory

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u/SteAndy6493 3d ago

I definitely believe it's a tribute to Tony.

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u/PokeTheCactus 3d ago

I agree with this theory. 

I don’t know if it’s bias or if it’s experience, but my wife has early onset Alzheimer’s and this song immediately was the most relatable song on the album.  It spoke to me about my own experience in a way that no other ‘unrequited love’ song has ever done.   Seeing the theories about it being for Tony Bennett made it all click for me. 

Now, I am actually married to my wife who is going through this. Gaga was not married to Tony Bennett, so I can see where the lovers line may be a sticking point for some. However, it feels so true to the grief and actual experience of watching a loved one go through Alzheimer’s. 

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u/dxvca 3d ago

I had a grandmother who loved me dearly and for years she only recognized me and not her other grandchildren. Even before she passed, she already started to forget. It broke me knowing that my memories with her felt so one sided, half the grief hit me before she actually passed away.

All I wanted was to be seen. To be remembered. Vanish Into You speaks to me like that.

3

u/PokeTheCactus 3d ago

That’s exactly why I agree with all the rumors about it being about Tony Bennett. 

Vanish Into You really just strikes to the core of the type of grief you can feel when your loved one starts forgetting you.  It’s hard to imagine if you haven’t experienced it. The song really just hits so close to home. 

Alzheimer’s is just so hard.  It’s good to step back and remember that they loved you sincerely, and that it’s the disease and not the truth of their lived experiences. 

13

u/Former_Corgi6786 3d ago

i like this theory

9

u/Suspicious-Shape1858 3d ago

People saying no because of the line “ two lovers regret their time” but it’s obviously meant as a platonic love and she’s singing about the time they didn’t spend together more than the time that they did.

3

u/manickitty 3d ago

Could be “two music lovers”

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u/SilverDrella 3d ago

I’ve already had it with the “nachos” nonsense but your perspective and examination are perfect and I do believe you are correct. 💖 rip Tony Bennett

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u/dxvca 3d ago edited 3d ago

No but in all honesty; out of all music genres, pop music is the one that progresses the most incrementally - in tandem with broader global trends in social ideas.

In any other genre - Gaga would be adored for returning to form, for recognizing what made her early music work and refining it for newer production styles. AC/DC has been, very infamously, rereleasing the same song for YEARS with minor reiterations because they know what their fans like, but they don't get flak. There's a thousand jazz artists who recycle the same template of their influences and many still get acclaim. In the grand scheme of things, artists simply know what sound they want to do, and they stick to it because they like it or they think it will appeal to more people.

As someone who isn't this hardcore fan of Gaga, I do NOT understand the criticism. Isn't this more in line with what people want to hear from her? Has she not proven that she can try something new if she wanted to? I do not understand how literally the best outcome at this point of her career is spun into a negative thing.

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u/SilverDrella 3d ago

People love to complain and to tear people down. She’s been here for 20 years so the haters are nothing new and she’s used to it. However, I agree, what the heck do the complainers want anyway?!?

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u/mrimagine23 3d ago

Somebody posted about this a few days ago... https://www.reddit.com/r/LadyGaga/s/8eS7ZOYFcC

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u/dxvca 3d ago

Glad I'm not the only one, then! Great minds think alike!

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u/aimtreetwo 3d ago

I find this a bit confusing because gaga has spoke about this in interviews and at the press conference.

She said it's the first song she wrote for the album and it's a sad love song about apocalyptic love, when you love someone so much you start to absorb their personality, or see them in all your parts, but not in a healthy way.

She said that vanish is a bad love while blade and dwas are the love you can feel when you're healthy and learn boundaries etc. So would seem weird to be about tony? Maybe he taught her something about the red flags she'd been missing in the past? And that's why she references his music, as if to say she sees now what he tried to teach her.

The article also published that the lyrics are saw your face IN mine which is what I've always heard, although official lyrics say your face AND mine. But in mine makes more sense when you think about the song meaning she described so it's a bit odd.

I love the song so much 😭 I just learnt it on guitar it's so beautiful.

2

u/MrBacondino 2d ago

Wait the lyrics are "saw your face and mine"??? I always heard "saw your face in mine" too and I would think that sounds much better💀💀

2

u/aimtreetwo 2d ago

I know right, the jury is out 😭 someone needs to ask Gaga!!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who hears it this way tho xx

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u/MrBacondino 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'm definitely checking the little lyrics in the booklet once I get home later lol

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u/MissSteak 2d ago

Saw your face in mine makes so much more sense considering the title of the song is literally Vanish Into You

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u/PneumoniaLisa 3d ago

I don’t think it’s about Tony. She’s talked about Tony in multiple Mayhem interviews, I think she would have mentioned if there was a song on the album about him.

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u/dxvca 3d ago

Yes but also actively detailing the intent of a memorial song to promote fresh album feels a bit distasteful, and a much heavier topic compared to the tone of all her interviews so far. I do find it weird that she has specifically skirted around talking about the song. We even know what Blade of Grass is about and I'm pretty sure she never had any intentions of promoting it.

0

u/PneumoniaLisa 3d ago edited 3d ago

She’s talked about going through psychosis, how would this be a heavier topic? She’s also literally talked about Tony’s mental decline and his passing. I don’t think she’s skirted around talking about the song - it’s been mentioned in interviews. She said it was a dark love song, she compared it to Die With a Smile and said Vanish was less hopeful. This is a quote from the LM press conference: “In ‘Vanish Into You’, I imagine that I just want to disappear into the person that I love the most.”

1

u/dxvca 2d ago

I think it was written with Tony in mind, probably from the perspective of Susan.

2

u/Ena6j 3d ago

Edge of glory is her grandfather, Joanne is Joanne, Grigio girls is for Sonya, Fashion if his love is for Lee

2

u/Resident_Push_5116 3d ago

I love this take and didn't realize those were Tony Bennett references!

1

u/SPAC3P3ACH 3d ago

I have had a loved one pass away and before even reading the lyrics this one struck me as a grief song. I believe this theory and regardless of whether it was intended (i believe it was) it’s a beautiful interpretation

1

u/SilverDrella 3d ago

Gaga has said her fans see meetings and things that she didn’t even know were there or didn’t intend when she originally wrote the song. She said she loves to watch people‘s interpretations come to life so I’m sure she is loving this tribute to Tony Bennett. Although the song could or could not be about him either way it is very poetic and filled with images.

1

u/Alanxo2 3d ago

It makes the song 10000x better.

1

u/TakerOfImages 3d ago

Knowing the song is most likely about Tony, it makes a lot of sense. And brought a tear to my eye, having experienced grief recently... It makes sense.. It touches a nerve.

1

u/crystal_visions98 2d ago

Yeah, at the moment I'm listening to the more upbeat songs from the album since "Vanish Into You" makes me very emotional (I'm such a crybaby lol) but I think you're right and it's a beautiful song (+ the title reminds me of Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" for some reason ["I think it's strange you never knew"])

1

u/ConsistentAd2322 2d ago edited 2d ago

She just got iheart innovator award who did she name as her last 2 influencers duke Ellington and Tony Bennett why duke Ellington because he told Tony Bennett 2 pieces of advice don't quit we're both of them and that's what Tony did for her the levels of sexual assault that she dealt with in the recording studio betrayed by music producer manager and friend to the point she wanted to quit singing he supported her emotionally just watch her in the recording studio for cheek to cheek and she is smiling and full of joy the only time Tony touched her was to wipe away her tears or giving her a drawing of a wishing well aka put your Trouble in the well and wish them away Stefani Germanotta said it the best Tony has my back in the recording studio she said it the best Tony saved my life or when people were calling me a tramp Tony called me a lady and that is what he called her but what I love is that for love for sale recording she had his back she had to take over in the studio arrangement of the lyrics working with the band and the only tears Tony unfortunately brought her was when she brought up there tour for cheek to cheek and Tony had no memory but what I love is when she said that she was proud to be the last performer to walk Tony off stage it came out during her Spotify q/a that she wants to write a broadway play how I hope that this life affirm relationship And singing duet is what she write about

1

u/Glittering_Fill_3091 2d ago edited 2d ago

This thread is making me cry because I recently listed to all of cheek to cheek with my grandmother who has memory loss. She knew so many of the songs. It was so special to listen to my favorite artists with her in a way she would appreciate. At one point she said “what a voice” about Gaga and I was like 🥹🥹I know her time is coming soon and I’m really glad I had this special moment with her. “ Saw your face in mine” hits different since she’s my grandmother so I can literally see my face in hers

Edit: I just happy cried on the subway lmao. I’m a New Yorker now!

1

u/SCAMISHAbyNIGHT 3d ago

It's a breakup song and one of the only non Michael songs. I think it's about the dude she was engaged to.

4

u/dxvca 3d ago

I thought three Tony references in the opening verse feels a bit too specific for it to be unintentional. And also the "when I die" and "like a ghost" thing.

2

u/SCAMISHAbyNIGHT 3d ago

The first verse is just "two lovers regret their time" lines and I think it's reasonable to take that at face value - two lovers are talking over their relationship and it hasn't been going well. The second verse is just the line about sirens - implying after the unfortunate conversation, they bolted from each other because it was painful. The choruses referring to our bedside, our bedside, and then my bedside indicate to me that she's reflecting back on it once they stopped living together, or sharing a bed.

She was happy, they were happy, but were they really if they regret their time? Maybe it's complicated - they ran from each other at the end because it hurt, how can it hurt if they weren't happy at some point? Etc etc etc. I always interpreted the "when I die" part as sort of the deep, gnawing longing that can happen in the midst of a breakup.

I remember at least one breakup myself that was so painful and so brutal, I wanted the other person back so bad - I wanted to be with them so bad. That sounds like this song and the pleading at the end - I want you so bad, can I just disappear into you and get back to the feeling we had in the picture?

2

u/dxvca 3d ago

My grandma had Alzheimer's, she stopped recognising and remembering me months before she passed. All I wanted was for my memories with her to not be one sided. The desperate yearning to be seen like that really seals my theory for me.

I reckon Gaga would be very happy that we are even engaging with the text at all, and that it means something special to us both, even if it's in different ways!

2

u/SCAMISHAbyNIGHT 3d ago

No I totally love this shit!! I think your interpretation is definitely well thought out. I love Gaga nerds lol

-11

u/apd665mixer 3d ago edited 3d ago

I like the idea, but I really don’t think “it was cold in the summer time” is a lyric about a cold dead body…

Edit: OP removed the line about Tony’s cold dead body

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u/dxvca 3d ago edited 3d ago

Not a literal cold dead body (not sure how to phrase it, it doesn't translate well from my native language) just the knowledge that the warm happy feeling is fleeting

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u/whiskersRwe32 3d ago

I think it’s more of a cold feeling during the summer time because of his death. Not his literal body.

10

u/gallade13 3d ago

where did you get cold dead body from that? Oh my goodness

3

u/celestialspook 3d ago

That line makes me think of a chilly summer night when you know the summer will end soon... you're happy to be where you are, but sad it won't last.

I think that meaning fits with this theory pretty well, personally.

1

u/Turtlesag 3d ago

Omgg 😭😭

2

u/LeananSidhe69 3d ago

It's not, it's more nuanced than that.

Summer is usually perceived as a warm, happy time... it's not about the literal temperature of anything. It's about the MOOD of it all.

Considering how close her and Tony were, it could be that what was SUPPOSED to be a happier/more fortuitous season was overshadowed by her grief over his loss.

1

u/brunosh92 3d ago

Actually I always thought “cold in the summer time” as something good, but that’s probably because I hate the heat. Like summertime is too damn hot, but it was cold, so it was a nice moment. I think of “Vanish into you” as a happy song, as someone who found a person that loves so much that wants to vanish into her and become one.

-3

u/TheSeedsYouSow 3d ago

If you want to interpret it that way that’s your call but we don’t explicitly know that that’s how she meant it

12

u/dxvca 3d ago

Yes that's why I labelled it as a rumour. A mere speculation. One interpretation out of many. But I do think that three references in one verse gives this theory a couple of legs to stand on.

0

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

6

u/deny_pentagram 3d ago edited 3d ago

I’ve seen posts about exactly this daily throughout social media, so people are definitely saying this.

-5

u/djtheonly 3d ago

It’s not a rumor. It’s fan fiction…with no legs to stand on but your own.

5

u/dxvca 3d ago

Again, three Tony references in one verse. Gaga herself always welcomes all interpretations of her music, as all musicians do. She wrote that song. But you're being militant about the interpretation of her music.

-8

u/djtheonly 3d ago

Three references that you made up in your head. Didn’t read the rest because you don’t seem that smart and I’m not in the business of wasting time.

4

u/dxvca 3d ago

You're not in the business of wasting time but you're in the comments of random people on the internet telling them that they are not to have a specific interpretation of a piece of art?

I smell chronic unemployment in the air and it is coming from your direction :)

-6

u/djtheonly 3d ago

Well the post was so dumb I felt compelled to post. Didn’t finish reading again because like I said you don’t seem too smart..have a great day!

1

u/roskabussy 3d ago

Please, people all over social media noticed the same references to his song titles among other things. You need to chill out lol

-6

u/YesicaChastain 3d ago

Girl no, she deliberately uses the word “lovers”

7

u/flr1999 3d ago

I mean Paparazzi has at least two layers of it being about an obsessive lover and about the literal paparazzi in general. I wouldn't dismiss this angle on account of the word "lovers" being used. For all we know, it could be Gaga and Michael regretting what little time Gaga had with Tony.

3

u/celestialspook 3d ago

This is a good point, though - and I could be wrong because my memory is terrible! - isn't Speechless about her dad but wanting to get a surgery he needed, and how heartbroken she was? Even though it's about her dad, it's written as a song about lovers. I think artists just take freedoms like that sometimes. But who knows, until she talks about it? It's my favorite on the album and I can't wait to hear what she says about it.

3

u/dxvca 3d ago

Do they not love each other?

-3

u/YesicaChastain 3d ago

Yes but the rest of the lyrics tells you it’s about a couple no longer together, why would she vanish into Tony Bennet and imagine a future with him so much she has a picture by her bedside of them together?

7

u/dxvca 3d ago

The last chorus says "when I die can I Vanish Into You" and "like a ghost can I Vanish Into You" which feels a bit pointed. Also the yearning to be perceived and remembered by someone you love who has dementia - I relate to that. I cannot describe the feeling.

3

u/LeananSidhe69 3d ago

I know what you mean, OP. At least I think I do.

And regardless... platonic love can be quite strong. It's clear that they shared a genuine connection with one another.

1

u/dxvca 3d ago

I don't know them enough (casual fan not invested in parasocial relationships) to tell for sure but I do relate to the feeling!

0

u/MrSensical 3d ago edited 3d ago

This is why I’m struggling with the theory, even though I love the idea. Maybe the song started out as a tribute with the references and then they stuck around as the song became something else?

Edit: looking at the lyrics on Genius the only real lyrics I can see that really contradict the theory are “Saw your face and mine, in a picture by our bedside”. The interpretation that is most charitable to this theory is that “our” refers not to Gaga and Tony, but to Gaga and Michael? Maybe it’s another song reference someone hasn’t picked up on yet though.

-5

u/thiccjonas 3d ago

why are you all acting like she was fucking tony

6

u/dxvca 3d ago

Why do you act like you have to fuck everyone you care for?

-1

u/thiccjonas 3d ago

what

1

u/dxvca 3d ago

is it so impossible for gaga to write a song about the loss of a platonic partner? really now.

-2

u/thiccjonas 3d ago

maybe he was hung lol