Rolling Stones share long and jazzy new ballad with Lady Gaga

While a lot of us are packing away our swimsuits and beach umbrellas so we can replace them with skeleton suits and witch umbrellas for the advent of spooky season, the Rolling Stones have spent the month of September hyping up all of the big-name guest stars they have on their upcoming new album, Hackney Diamonds. Sydney Sweeney starred in the video for first single “Angry,” Paul McCartney plays bass, Stevie Wonder is featured on a track, Elton John plays piano for one song, and Lady Gaga also appears on one track.

Today, the Rolling Stones released that track, “Sweet Sounds Of Heaven,” and you’re going to need to clear out a chunk of your day if you want to listen to it. Not a huge chunk, mind you, but it is nearly eight minutes long. That’s not nothing, especially for a Rolling Stones song in 2023 featuring Lady Gaga. But if you’re all set, hopefully on a comfy seat and with something to drink, here you go:

As reported by Pitchfork, Mick Jagger told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 that Gaga is a “really great singer” who he’s never heard “sing quite that style before.” He said the two of them basically did the vocals together live, and then they cleaned it up together, working “really face-to-face” and getting the audio “really tight” while “being slightly competitive and screaming.”

So it sounds like they had fun. Gentle snottiness about the length of the song aside, that’s nice. Hackney Diamonds is the first Rolling Stones album that consists entirely of original songs in 18 years, and it will be available on October 20. That gives us almost a whole month of hearing about other famous people who will appear on it!