The promotional machinery towards the premiere of ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ is already underway and today we know the lead single from the film’s soundtrack. ‘Runway’ is the advanced duet by Lady Gaga and Doechii, which proposes the expected 90s house style, although with some surprises.
The first is the apparent lack of prominence of Lady Gaga, who stays with the first spoken verse – in the style of her song ‘Babylon’ – and sings the chorus, but the mix makes it sound more like a sample than an original vocal take. It is Doechii who stomps on this “catwalk” with his sass and personality.
The second is the roster of collaborators, which includes, surprisingly, Bruno Mars in composition and production. It looks like the hook “Yes, got the front row screaming / Okay (Okay), okay (Okay)” is his. Although the most striking hook of the song is that “biiiitch” in the chorus, semi-out of tune: the typical one that at first bothers and then hooks.
Then, the credits actually take us to ‘Mayhem’, as we find two of its main creators in ‘Runway’, Andrew Watt and Cirkut. However, ‘Runway’ opts for a colorful, chic and French-style disco-house, in the vein of Kim Petras from ‘Problématique’ (2023), nothing dark. Cirkut’s signature is evident in the wrinkled synths at the end.
After the shock of discovering that Lady Gaga seems like a cameo or a guest artist in which we assumed her own song, ‘Runway’ turns out to be something more than it seems on a first listen. And perhaps Gaga’s lack of presence makes sense: Gaga is rumored to have contributed more than one song to the soundtrack, and more than two.
Charging …