Mother Monster returns: Lady Gaga releases gothic new single ‘Disease’
Mother Monster is back!
By Alim Kheraj
Put your paws up Little Monsters because Lady Gaga is back!
After a week of teasers, the singer has released ‘Disease’, the first single from her upcoming seventh album, due for release in 2025.
The track was co-written by Gaga, her fiancé Michael Polansky, Andrew Watt and Cirkut, both of whom also act as producers.
Filled with haunting pianos, rumbling industrial synths and pounding EDM beats, the track sees Gaga lean into the gothic qualities of her 2011 album Born This Way, albeit with the growl and experimentalism seen on her later material. It is, we have to say, the perfect song for Halloween.
“I could play the doctor, I can cure your disease/If you were a sinner, I could make you believe,” she sings on the chorus. “Lay you down like one, two, three/Eyes roll back in ecstasy/I can smell your sickness, I can cure ya (Cure)/Cure your disease.”
Listen to ‘Disease’ below.
The release of ‘Disease’ comes a month after the 38-year-old released her companion album to the film Joker: Folie à Deux, in which she starred in alongside Joaquin Phoenix.
Titled Harlequin, the record featured covers of American jazz standards, some of which appeared in the film, along with an original song, ‘Happy Mistake’. Very different vibes from ‘Disease’, we’re sure you’ll agree.
Speaking to Attitude about the record at the film’s London premiere, she said: “You know, my experience with the character, Lee, was really, really personal. When we were making the movie, we were constantly discovering new things on set, through dance, through costumes, through make-up, through the story.
“When we were done with the movie, I wasn’t done with her. Because I’m not done with her, I made Harlequin.”
Meanwhile, Gaga has been teasing her upcoming new pop album, known among fans as LG7, for months. The singer previously played snippets of songs for fans outside of a hotel in Paris following her performance at the 2024 Olympic games opening ceremony.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Vogue, the singer said that it was her fiancé who encouraged her to return to pop music.
“Michael is the person who told me to make a new pop record,” she said. He was like, ‘Babe. I love you. You need to make pop music.’”
The singer went on to say that her last album, 2020’s Chromatica, was recorded at a time when she was really struggling.
“I feel like the last time [my fans] heard from me—in this way—was Chromatica, and that album was about an absolutely horrible time for me with my mental health,” she said.
Thankfully, it seems things improved for Gaga while recording LG7, in no small part because of Polansky.
“I feel like this new album, in a lot of ways, is about that time but from a place of happiness instead of misery,” she said.
It seems that there isn’t too long to wait until LG7 is in our hands. According to a press release, the album is due to come out in February.
Until then, you can stream or download ‘Disease’ now.