Lady Gaga has made headlines this week by announcing a new album by surprise during the presentation of ‘Joker: Folie à deux’. ‘Harlequin’ is an album that accompanies the release of the film, it is not Lady Gaga’s seventh studio album itself, since it will be released next February and, in fact, it is a work composed mainly of versions of standards from the pop and jazz, which Gaga interprets through her character, Harley Quinn.
The concept of ‘Harlequin’ is interesting. Gaga has released two albums of jazz covers, alongside Tony Bennett, but never playing a character other than herself. The problem came when Gaga announced that ‘Harlequin’ has an “interesting and original” production. An album full of different nuances, he has implied.
What we find, in reality, is a collection of very conventional and standard versions, a kind of third part of ‘Cheek to Cheek’ in which the dirt, disorder and stench suggested on the cover and promotional images are conspicuous by their absence. .
Gaga convinces again playing Andrews Sister in ‘Good Morning’ or Judy Garland in ‘That’s Entertainment’. The biggest novelty of ‘Harlequin’ is the garage guitar of ‘The Joker’, a version by Sergio Mendes, and the blues-rock air of ‘Oh When the Saints’ or the original ballad ‘Happy Mistake’. Even so, they continue to maintain their forms until they are completely harmless.
Perhaps the biggest offense of ‘Harlequin’ lies in its bizarre cover of the Carpenters’ ‘Close to You’. But, above all, it must be placed in the words of Lady Gaga, promising a surprising album that is not surprising at all. An exercise in false advertising that is leading some fans to cancel their pre-orders. Will it be that long?
Charging …
