Lady Gaga is opening up about the inspiration behind her Joker: Folie a Deux companion album titled Harlequin.
The actress-singer recently spoke with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 about finding a balance between herself and her character Lee, aka Harley Quinn, for the album, which drops Friday and includes 13 tracks.
“I think for me this idea of dual identity has always been something that has been part of the way I make music,” Gaga explained. “I've always created characters in my music, and when I created Lee Jokerit really had this profound effect on me. The film had so much music, so much music that I love, and I was able to discover the character through the story, through the music we did live every day, as well as the dancing, the costumes and the makeup. So I had this deep experience with the character and she just wouldn't let me down creatively, and I decided I wanted to make an entire album inspired by her.
The “Shallow” artist added it Joker: Folie a Deux The character is a “really complex woman and I think, particularly as a woman in music and as a producer, it was really fun to say, 'This album will be and I will be whatever I want, whenever I decide, whenever I feel like it.' . If I want it to be blues, it will be blues. I want it to be funk.'”
Gaga announced Harlequin earlier this week, after teasing fans for weeks about a surprise project. In a preview of the tracklist, Spotify also shared the names of the album's songs, including “Good Morning,” “Get Happy (2024),” “Oh, When the Saints,” “World on a String,” That's Entertainment”, “Smile”, “The Joker” and “Folie à Deux”, among others.
Lowe also noted that the album, which he described as LG 6.5, meaning “half Gaga and half Lee”, not only sounds “really, really fun”, but also “really free”.
“Yeah, it was really fun,” Gaga responded. “It was completely liberating because by calling it LG 6.5, it's not somehow tied to pop music or pop culture in the same way that some of my other releases might be. And it kind of gave him a freedom in that way.
The imminent arrival of Todd Phillips Joker The musical sequel, which stars Gaga alongside Joaquin Phoenix's Joker, will be released in cinemas on October 4.