Lady Gaga’s new era begins with ‘Disease’: Here’s how fans are reacting
October 25 began with new music from Lady Gaga. She released her new song, “Disease,” the lead single from her next album, due in 2025. Watch the lyric video above.
Gaga hasn’t released a studio album of entirely new material since 2020’s platinum record “Chromatica,” which produced the number-one, Grammy-winning single “Rain on Me,” her duet with Ariana Grande. But fans have gotten their Gaga fix many times in-between albums. Since “Chromatica” she has had starring roles in the films “House of Gucci” (2021) and “Joker: Folie a Deux” (2024), and she even released a “Joker” companion album titled “Harlequin,” which includes mostly covers. She recorded the 2022 love ballad “Hold My Hand” for the blockbuster film “Top Gun: Maverick.” And this past August she came out with the single “Die with a Smile,” a collaboration with Bruno Mars that has been a fixture in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
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Written by Gaga with Andrew Watt, Cirkut, and Michael Polansky, “Disease” is already eliciting responses from journalists and fans alike. Critic Robin Murray (Clash) writes, “In tapping back into her roots, Lady Gaga seems to have found pop renewal, amid a clanking, mechanised, tech-fuelled landscape. Gazing beyond the culture bleakness of a pop-pandemic world, she might just be the chaotic cure.” Roisin O’Connor (Independent UK) adds, “It’s her best in a long while: a potent dose of dungeon-dark electro-pop.” India Block (The Standard) calls it a “full force return to her pop roots, coming as a high gothic blast that’s perfect for spooky season.” And Alexa Camp (Slant) says, “The track’s dungeon-deep production proves satisfying enough to withstand even a line like ‘I can smell your sickness.'”
As for fans, they’ve been sharing their reactions in our forums. “The chorus is glorious,” says Gold Derby user ejaru1810. “That’s her best first single since ‘Born This Way,’ comments Batmanforever. “Love it!!! I’ve been wanting Gaga to revisit the dark dancy pop sound she did so well on deeper cuts of ‘BTW’ like ‘Heavy Metal Lover’ and ‘Government Hooker.’ Thrilled,” raves Radiogagahead. And Huerco describes it as “her comeback to dark pop music in the best way.”
But listeners think this might be more of a gift to Gaga stans than a mainstream pop hit. Ejaru1810 cautions, “The chances of the song being a hit are not strong … but my god, this album will be one of her best.” Batmanforever agrees that “it’s not a song for the charts.” Huerco counters, however, “I don’t know why y’all convinced it’s not going to be a hit, LOL. The song is so catchy and it’s the same sound as ‘Bloody Mary’ and ‘Judas’ that were loved by the young public on TikTok. ‘Die With A Smile’ wasn’t like anything on the charts this year and it succeeded. Gaga starts trends, doesn’t follow them … Not everything has to be a ballad or basic pop to be a hit.” Daniel argues, “i don’t know if it will actually be a hit, but it’s clearly a very commercial song. She has released ‘riskier’ singles than this before.”
Wanda is one of the few outright naysayers: “Sounds like she is trying to recreate her glory days, but she just doesn’t have it anymore. She should focus on acting from now on, where she is not the main creative force behind her projects, I think.” But the prevailing opinion is that “she ate with this song.” We’ll have to wait until next week’s Hot 100 singles chart to find out its true commercial prospects.
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