When Lady Gaga finished her third film – the upcoming Joker sequel, Folly Dukes – She realized she wasn't ready to move on from her character, Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, also known as Harley Quinn. “I had a deep connection with Lee,” she says. Rolling Stone. “And when I finished shooting the movie, I wasn’t done with her.”
With the help of her fiancé, Michael Polanski, the star recorded jokera companion record to the film that contains mostly scintillating renditions of standards — the first time she's done so since the death of her collaborator Tony Bennett. Across more than 13 songs, she interprets classic songs including “Get Happy” (popularized by Judy Garland) and “That's Life” (Frank Sinatra) while giving them a modern twist. Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler's 1932 hit “You've Got the World on a String” has been transformed into a seductive rocker—perfect for introducing to younger generations. On a Zoom call from London, Gaga talked to us about it jokerIt defies genres and what fans can expect from her upcoming pop album.
What are your goals for this album?
We decided we wanted to create an album that celebrated her complexities through the lens of much of the music in the film, as well as original songs, that would touch on her breadth as a woman — her darkness, her chaos, her vitality. and its obsessive nature – and created a modern twist on vintage pop music.
She described the album as “LG 6.5”. Do you consider this a Harley album or just a Gaga record?
I see this as both, actually. This is how I see it all. This is my record. It's a Lady Gaga record, but it's also inspired by my personality and my vision of what a woman can be. For this reason, the album does not adhere to one genre. I called it “6.5” because my next studio album is not a pop record, but it falls somewhere in between, and it blurs the lines of pop. You know, my collaborator Tony Bennett, who's no longer alive, was a kid singing this music. It was just pop music. And I thought it was interesting the songs that were chosen to create this movie. I wanted to explore what this music could mean today through its lens.
I have described joker As a modern meta, how can you not really tie it to one genre. That's how I see this album too. Jazz is at the forefront, but there are many different sounds.
Thank you. I would say that that meta-newness actually played a real role in how we approached this in the studio. I co-produced this album with Ben Rice. Michael also had a very heavy hand in the music. We've talked a lot about her being someone you can't explain, because she's so rare and unpredictable. [We] Genre is used as a way to express that something is rare – by not adhering to one genre and going strongly to the avant-garde. I'm basically saying: “As a woman, I choose to be whatever and wherever I want to be at any given moment, no matter how I feel. No matter what you want from me, I will be myself. Thank you. Love, Harlequin.” [laughs].
You basically had to give up singing and tone down your style while shooting the movie. How about here? Were you just Gaga and didn't hold back?
I did both on this record. There are moments where I definitely benefit from Lee's voice and her childish immaturity with the song. She has this naivety. She imagines that she heard the song twice while humming it alone, because she is uncomfortable and wants to calm herself down. That's what got him there. For example, the opening of “That's Entertainment” sounds like a 13-year-old in a school play. In the context of a 38-year-old woman, it seems somewhat alarming. But then, “That's Entertainment” begins with a softer, deeply nostalgic sound. And I worked on that too.
Vocally, I played with my voice in a way I never did with Tony. So this was part of Lee's sound, and a new sound for me with some jazz-inspired recordings. And then exploring – how am I going to sing while surfing punk? How am I going to sing the waltz? How can we create a version of “Smile” that feels rooted in the film? And then with “Happy Mistake,” there's this raw fragility that's very Gaga-like, but also maybe singing on a record in a way I've never done before. So I would say that although the album is genre-defying, so is the sound. The voice is schizophrenic, but it makes sense for Harley Quinn. And that was part of the fun of making it – the freedom in everything.
This is the first time the standards were recorded without Tony. Was it on your mind at all? I'm sure it was emotional.
Yes. This was my first time without Tony, and it probably wasn't emotional the way you're thinking. He wasn't sad. It was actually as if he was with us the whole time. Also, in a funny way, if I had put rock and roll strings over the production on a recording I did with Tony years ago, I don't know how he would have felt about it. Tony didn't like rock and roll. But he would say, “Wow, that's amazing.” He was someone who loved how risk-taking and different I was, and I always thought that was very cool. He was sixty years older than me, and he frequented less than the young men I met. People would be like, “Why does she dress like that? Why does she sing like that? Why is her stage performance so theatrical? Tony, he just never flinched. He was just a really compassionate, inclusive person. So he was definitely with us.” [in the studio]but it was mostly inside me.
As a producer and singer, I feel like I've gained the ability to show my way in this music. And that was exciting for me, because it's also something I love to share with young people who listen to these songs. Some of these songs date back to the 1930s. It's nice to be able to show how these things can be reimagined beyond just the notes and style of the way they were written. Rather…what if you tore the book apart, set it on fire, and did it in a whole new way? I wanted it to be fun.
The record will be really fun to listen to at home. I want to make her a nice meal.
I always say, Michael and I [here] For all the crazy dinner parties.
Your pop album will arrive in February. Can you tell me how it differs from ChromaticaAnd what can fans expect?
Not like a pop album Chromatica. It's a completely different record. I don't know if I'm ready to talk about it yet, but I know it's coming out soon, and I will. What I would say is that it's all for me. It's meant to be addressed as a time in my life. I'm also very passionate about this idea that I don't have to commit to an era if I don't want to. I can have a few going at a time. This feels unsettling [laughs] And more like me or Harley. Or from.
