The first song Lady Gaga wrote for Mayhem? That would be track No. 5, “Vanish Into You.” The last? “Die With a Smile,” the final song on the album. While speaking to her fans at Spotify’s Little Monster Press Conference, she described both tracks as “apocalyptic love songs,” but detailed the evolution of the project from one song to the other.
“In ‘Vanish Into You,’ I imagine that I just want to disappear into the person I love most,” she said, likely referencing her fiancé, Michael Polansky. Meanwhile on “Die With a Smile,” there’s “a sense of peace,” which is how she wanted to end the album.
Gaga explained, “I think we can all bear a personal chaos in our lives and then find a sense of peace and stability, and I’m really, really happy that I did. But I get to put all the instability into my artwork.”
Some of that inner chaos is reflected in the lyrics of “Vanish Into You,” with lines like, “Do you see me now? / I’ve been waitin’ for you, cryin’ out.” But other parts, like “We were happy just to be alive,” also depict the singer coming from a place of love.
Gaga even wrote a few Mayhem tracks with Polansky’s help. The venture capitalist told ELLE about working with his superstar fiancée: “It’s been one of the most incredible parts of this chapter of my life, to live with and coexist alongside someone making art and being creative in ways that very few people get to experience. I think of myself as really lucky to have been there for it.”
He added of her process, “This album was so much fun to watch her make. She recorded it right down the street from our house, so we could easily walk back and forth from the studio. I spent a lot of time with her, bringing my laptop to work while she was there. What surprised me most was how fast she is. I couldn’t believe how quickly a song would take shape. Within five minutes, 80 percent of the song would have come from nothing.”
Read the full lyrics to “Vanish Into You” below, courtesy of Genius.
[Intro]Saw your face and mineIn a picture by our bedsideIt was cold in the summertime[Verse 1]High on a hill, you calledTwo lovers regret their timeOnce in a blue moon, I forget youAnd once in your life, you’ll be mine[Pre-Chorus]Do you see me? Do you see me now?I’ve been waitin’ for you, cryin’ outDo you see me? Do you see me now?[Chorus]Saw your face and mineIn a picture by our bedsideIt was cold in the summertimeWe were happy just to be alive[Post-Chorus]Can I, I-I-I-I-I-I vanish into you?Can I vanish into you? (Yah)[Verse 2]Into the night, we flySirens blow by our heads (Yah)[Pre-Chorus]Do you see me? Do you see me now?I’ve been waitin’ for you, cryin’ outDo you see me? Do you see me now?[Chorus]Saw your face and mineIn a picture by our bedsideIt was cold in the summertimeWe were happy just to be alive[Post-Chorus]Can I, I-I-I-I-I-I vanish into you?Can I, I-I-I vanish into you?[Drop](Yah)(Yah, yah, yah)[Chorus]Saw your face and mi-i-i-i-ineIn a picture by, by, by, by my bedsideIt was cold in the summertimeWe were happy just to be alive[Post-Chorus]Can I, I vanish into you?Can I (Can I, can I) vanish into you?Like a ghost, I (Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh)Vanish into youCan I vanish into you?[Outro]
When I die, can I vanish into you?
