Lady Gaga, the legendary pop star playing iconic DC villain Harley Quinn in the upcoming movie Joker: Folie à Deux, is releasing a tie-in album for the Joaquin Phoenix sequel. Considering the first movie was the kind of film that college-age (male) cinephiles tout as one of their faves, and that reviews for the sequel (which is also a musical) have been less-than-stellar, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Gaga’s upcoming album, titled Harlequin, will be the best thing to come out of this movie.
Lady Gaga had been teasing something on social media over the last few days, sharing text-based images on her Instagram account that read “I’m ready for my interview,” and “Don’t tell me what to wear” in scribbly font. The cryptic posts sent the Little Monsters into a frenzy, especially since they’ve known the Oscar- and Grammy-winning performer recently said LG7 (or “Lady Gaga 7,” referring to her seventh studio album) wouldn’t be out until next year.
Today, September 24, she announed Harlequin, her seventh studio album (but likely not the one she was hinting will drop in 2025), which she’s calling a “companion album” to Joker: Folie à Deux. You can pre-order a digital copy or the very nice-looking vinyl here.
From the tracklist, it appears the album will be a mix of covers and original music. Check it out below:
1. Good Morning
2. Get Happy
3. Oh, When The Saints
4. World On A String
5. If My Friends Could See Me Now
6. That’s Entertainment
7. Smile
8. The Joker
9. Folie à Deux
10. Gonna Build A Mountain
11. Close To You
12. Happy Mistake
13. That’s Life
For example, “World On A String” and “That’s Life” are references to/the exact names of iconic Frank Sinatra songs, “Oh When The Saints” is a shortening of the title of a Louis Armstrong tune, and “That’s Entertainment” is the name of a track written for the 1952 musical The Band Wagon. I have a feeling a lot of these songs are going to sound like showtunes, based on the trailers we’ve seen for the upcoming film, and Gaga’s penchant for old-school Hollywood songs and jazz (she’s done two albums of covers with icon Tony Bennet).
I could listen to Lady Gaga sing the damn phone book, and combine that with the really cool album art, which shows her standing in a shower, makeup running down her face, wearing a life vest, consider me sat. I don’t even need to see the movie, I believe in the empowerment of women, and I will be buying this album. Thanks, Mother Monster.