Lady Gaga has released ‘Disease’, the first single from her seventh studio album. The rumors were true and Gaga uses in ‘Disease’ a synth-pop and industrial sound similar to that of her second work, ‘Born this Way’ (2011), especially the more electronic part. On ‘Disease’, the production sounds slightly refined compared to that album, but still dirty enough to seem designed in its image and likeness. In parallel, Gaga does not hold back vocally in ‘Disease’, using a wild and rough register that reminds us that she is the “Mother Monster.”
The proposal of ‘Disease’ is deliberately grotesque from its very title, and the lyrics include references to screaming, poison and illness. Gaga offers the “antidote” to her lover’s ills, who can be none other than her fiancé, Michael Polansky, who, by the way, appears in the songwriting credits. Along with him appear Andrew Watt, Cirkut and Gaga herself.
The proposal for ‘Disease’ arrives just in time for Halloween, and it is not unreasonable to think that its sound responds to the unexpected viral success of ‘Bloody Mary’ from a couple of years ago. So much so, that if anything negative can be said about ‘Disease’, it is that it offers precisely what its fans expected, with no room for surprise or confusion.
Charging …Gaga had advanced the title of ‘Disease’ through Spotify, modifying the titles of 7 songs from 7 of the artist’s albums. These appeared written with the first letter written in lower case and the rest written in capital letters. The songs chosen were ‘i LIKE IT ROUGH’, ‘dANCER IN THE DARK’, ‘eLECTRIC CHAPEL’, ‘aRTPOP’, ‘sINNER’S PRAYER’, ‘eNIGMA’ and ‘sMILE’. Together, the first lowercase letters of everything spelled only a single real word, “Disease.”
Gaga remains in position 2 overall on Spotify with ‘Die with a Smile’, her single with Bruno Mars, after adding 55 consecutive days at number 1: the longest in 2024. On a less positive side, the film ‘Joker : Folie à deux’ has collapsed at the box office.
