Ariana Grande praised "superwoman" Lady Gaga as the pop superstars released their highly awaited collaboration Rain On Me.
Ariana Grande praises ‘superwoman’ Lady Gaga as they release defiant new song
The song – the second single from Gaga's upcoming album Chromatica – is a defiant anthem about overcoming adversity.
It launched on Friday, hours before the accompanying music video. Explaining Rain On Me's title, Gaga wrote on Instagram: "One time I felt like I was crying so much it would never stop. Instead of fighting it, I thought bring it on, I can do hard things."
She added: "@arianagrande I love you for your strength and friendship. Let's show them what we've got."
Grande – who had been heavily teasing the song on social media in the hours before its release – paid a glowing tribute to Gaga, saying she "felt like a sister" the first time they met.
She said: "one time ….. i met a woman who knew pain the same way i did… who cried as much as i did, drank as much wine as i did, ate as much pasta as i did and who's heart was bigger than her whole body.
"she immediately felt like a sister to me. she then held my hand and invited me into the beautiful world of chromatica and together, we got to express how beautiful and healing it feels to mothaf***innnn cry !"
Grande added: "i hope this makes u all feel as uplifted as it does for us both. i love u @ladygaga, u stunning superwoman !"
Earlier, Gaga told Zane Lowe's Apple Music show that she had "flirted" with the idea of staying sober while making Chromatica.
She said: "I'm not there yet, but I flirted with it throughout the album. It's something that came up as a result of me trying to work through the pain that I was feeling.
"But part of my healing process was going, 'well, I can either lash the hell out of myself every day for continuing to drink, or I can just be happy that I'm still alive and keep going and feel good enough'. I am good enough. I'm perfectly imperfect."
Chromatica, which also features Sir Elton John and K-pop girl group Blackpink, will be released on May 29.