Though “Perfect Illusion” first seems like a straightforward song about a failed love affair, Lady Gaga actually wrote it about the pitfalls of living in the age of social media. In the song, she expresses her disillusionment with the glossy, highly constructed versions of themselves that social media users project to their followers, as well as the way that her own larger-than-life persona prevents her from having authentic interactions with her fans. This anthem presents a vision for people to steer away from that behavior in order to re-establish genuine human connections.

The song served as the lead single from Gaga’s fifth solo studio album. It’s her first pop single since the 2013-2014 ARTPOP album era. Gaga wrote it on a typewriter.

Lady Gaga announced “Perfect Illusion” on her Instagram on August 17, 2016, in a series of individual panels forming the words “LADY GAGA / PERFECT ILLUSION / NEW SINGLE / SEPTEMBER.”

Three months before the announcement, producer Mark Ronson shared a cryptic photo of Gaga with the other producers—Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker and BLOOD—captioned “Illusion.”