Love for Sale is the second and final collaborative album by American singers Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, released on September 30, 2021, by Columbia, Streamline and Interscope Records. It is the sixty-first and final studio album of Bennett's career, and Gaga's seventh. Following Cheek to Cheek (2014), the duo's first collaborative album, Love for Sale was recorded between 2018 and early 2020, consisting of their renditions of various jazz standards by American composer Cole Porter, to whom the record is a tribute.
Upon release, Love for Sale received generally favorable reviews from music critics, most of whom highlighted the vocal chemistry between Bennett and Gaga. The album charted inside the top 10 of albums charts in various countries. On the US Billboard 200, it debuted at number 8 as the duo's second top-10 entry, and garnered Bennett the individual record for the longest span of top-10 albums for any living artist; his first top-10 record was I Left My Heart in San Francisco in 1962. Bennett also broke the Guinness World Record for the oldest person to release an album of new material, at the age of 95 years and 60 days.
The album was preceded by the release of the single "I Get a Kick Out of You" and the title track. The duo gave a recorded performance at Radio City Music Hall on August 3 and 5, 2021, called One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, before Bennett retired from performing live. The special received four nominations at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards. The album's promotion also include the duo's appearance on MTV Unplugged, and solo performances by Gaga, such as her Jazz & Piano residency show and at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. At the Grammys, the album won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, and was nominated for Album of the Year, while the track "I Get a Kick Out of You" was nominated for Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video.
Background
Love for Sale is a follow-up to Cheek to Cheek (2014), Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga's first collaborative album. Bennett and Gaga first met in 2011 at the Robin Hood Foundation gala in New York City. After that, Bennett asked Gaga to sing a duet with him on his album Duets II, so they recorded the song "The Lady Is a Tramp". The next year, he confirmed to Rolling Stone that Gaga wanted to record a jazz album with him; he then recorded said album Cheek to Cheek between June 2013 and early 2014. After debuting atop of the US Billboard 200, with 131,000 copies sold in its first week, Bennett told Billboard that they were inspired by Porter's 1936 musical, Red, Hot and Blue, for a possible sequel to Cheek to Cheek. He also said: "we're gonna do two albums in a row with her [Gaga]. We'll have to try and do that as soon as possible, just as a follow-up for a second album." Upon the announcement of Love for Sale, on August 3, 2021, Gaga commented on Twitter:
Love for Sale was announced to be Bennett's final album, following his diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in 2016.
Development and composition Production
The recording and finalizing of Love for Sale saw numerous delays due to Gaga's other projects – such as the movie A Star Is Born (2018) and solo albums Joanne (2016) and Chromatica (2020) – and the COVID-19 pandemic. Recording sessions took place at Electric Lady Studios in New York, between 2018 and early 2020. All songs on the album are written by Cole Porter, to whom the record is a tribute. The Arts Desk Sebastian Scotney felt that Love for Sale is "a calmer, less histrionic album than its predecessor", Cheek to Cheek, indicative of how "the Bennett/Gaga partnership has also evolved", and furthermore he found it more cohesive as the "Cole Porter songs bring a unifying thread". After the record was finished, Gaga and Bennett went through all the songs to choose the album title, and decided to name it after the song "Love for Sale", which was Bennett's favorite.
According to Sebastian Scotney, "the arrangements mostly alternate between Basie-ish swing for quartet or small band, and a smoochier vibe with studio orchestra textures in which 'with strings', gloops of swoopy countermelody and reharmonisation are contrasted with flutes or oboes, vibes and piano." El Hunt from NME noted that "in Gaga's hands, certain lyrics take on a tongue in cheek contemporary meaning".
In an article at The Wall Street Journal, Marc Myers wrote that "Bennett appears a bit detached when he isn't singing" in behind-the-scenes videos of the album, but Gaga explained, "as soon as the music started, Tony knew exactly where he was".
Songs Love for Sale is primarily composed of old Broadway hits, reinvigorated by Gaga and Bennett with their own style and twist on these classics. The standard edition includes 10 tracks; the deluxe edition includes two additional tracks.
The album opens with Gaga and Bennett's version of "It's De-Lovely", accompanied by a "rattle of drums and blare of brass". The second song, "Night and Day" uses xylophones and flutes to add to the pair's duet. The title track "Love for Sale" involves a bebop saxophone solo. Ludovic Hunter-Tilney in the Financial Times noted that the song brings a "hearty helping of old-school Broadway razzle-dazzle" to the "grim scenario", the "sleazy world of sex work".
The fourth track, also the first solo song on the album is a melodramatic rendition of "Do I Love You" sang by Gaga, with orchestral accompaniment. It is followed by a swing song, "I've Got You Under My Skin". Gaga, who has a tattoo of a sketch that Bennett made of Miles Davis' trumpet on her arm, made a slight change to the lyrics, singing "like a tattoo under my skin", to which Bennett responds with delighted laughter.
The sixth track "I Concentrate on You" is a mid-tempo duet with the pair's flirtations addressed to one another. The seventh track is the duo's "campy" take on "I Get a Kick Out of You", which starts with a "jaunty piano", and Gaga slowly singing the first lines. Bennett then picks up, and when he sings the line "Then, I see your fabulous face", Gaga jokingly asks him, "Are you talking about me?" The big band arrangement subsequently accompanies the two for the rest of the song. According to Helen Brown in The Independent, Bennett "sounds genuinely desperate with devotion" in his solo rendition of "So in Love", while in her solo number of "Let's Do It", Gaga "goes full musical theatre, humming appreciatively as trumpeter Brian Newman lets rip with a solo," says NME El Hunt.
The tenth track "Dream Dancing" was described as a "swansong to [the duo's] partnership" by The Observer Cragg Michael. Bennett sings alone in bonus track "Just One of Those Things", a "nimble swing number" with a hot-club guitar solo. Mary Siroky of Consequence found the second and last bonus offering, "You're the Top" a "cheeky" track where the duo is "playfully bouncing back and forth".
Release Love for Sale was released on cassette format on September 30, 2021, with other formats following on October 1. The standard editions of the album contain ten songs, while the digital editions, the Target exclusive editions, and the international deluxe editions contain two additional songs, "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "You're the Top". The international deluxe CD includes two poster fold booklets, photos, and a bonus live album, Cheek to Cheek Live!, containing songs from the television special of the same name. Cassettes were released with differing artworks in pale pink and grey colors; apricot copies were sold exclusively in the United Kingdom. Besides the normal black iteration, the standard edition's vinyl records were also released in yellow color, an Amazon-exclusive cream color, and on 12" picture disc. The deluxe edition's vinyl is available as part of an international double vinyl box set, which also includes the duo's previous collaborative album, Cheek to Cheek, along with a turntable slipmat and a vinyl cleaning cloth, both with pictures of Bennett and Gaga printed on them. A limited edition collectible box set comprises the Love for Sale standard vinyl, a custom embossed sketchbook featuring sketches by Tony Bennett, a pencil/sharpener set, photos, lithographs, watercolor prints, concert poster reprints and a re-printed letter. With the release of Love for Sale, Bennett broke a Guinness World Records title for being the oldest person to release an album of new material at the age of 95 years and 60 days.
Artworks The album cover artwork of the standard and digital editions include a photo of Bennett holding a sketchbook that depicts a profile sketch of Gaga, while Gaga is leaning down fixing Bennett's bowtie. People who pre-ordered the album in any format from Lady Gaga's online store had a chance to win the cover art signed by Gaga and Bennett. The Target versions of the CD and vinyl feature an alternative artwork, showcasing Gaga wearing a black gown, with Bennett standing next to her in tuxedo, holding her arm. On September 14, they announced four limited alternate covers available in CD format. They were also released as a digital signature album specifically for the U.S. market.
Promotion Due to his health condition, Bennett was unable to participate in promotional interviews. On September 30, 2021, Gaga appeared solo on Apple Music's "First Listen" streaming event, where she discussed the making of Love for Sale with Zane Lowe, answered questions from fans and played songs from the album shortly before its release. In that same month, she released the Love for Sale Eyeshadow Palette through her makeup brand, Haus Laboratories, which was inspired by the creation of the album.
Singles and videos
"I Get a Kick Out of You" was released as the first single from the album on August 3, to digital retailers, and its accompanying music video premiered on MTV on August 6. The title track was released as a promotional single on September 17, while the video premiered the following day, also on MTV. On the album's debut day, they released three different music videos: "I Concentrate on You", "I've Got You Under My Skin", which premiered on MTV, and "Dream Dancing", released exclusively by the Italian radio station Radio Monte Carlo. A video for "Night and Day" premiered on MTV on October 29, 2021. All the released videos were shot at Electric Lady Studios during recording sessions of each song, with the exception of "I Concentrate On You", which shows the sketch session which resulted in Bennett's drawing appearing on the album cover of Love for Sale standard edition. The music videos had a positive critical reception, with journalists highlighting the duo's visible connection and mutual adoration for each other.
Two days before the release of Love for Sale, an album trailer video appeared on Gaga's YouTube channel with clips from the studio sessions, including performances of tracks from the album and an interview, in which Gaga and Bennett talk about working together, their friendship, and keeping jazz and the Great American Songbook alive for future generations.
Live performances and specials