Keith Montena is back this week breaking down "Disease" by Lady Gaga, the first taste of the singer's upcoming seventh album. After "Die With A Smile" with Bruno Mars and Joker: Folie á Duex, Lady Gaga returns with the biggest changes to her creative team in nearly 15 years, and an album modeling after dark soundscapes similar to Born This Way. Notably far from 2020's Chromatica. Vinyl Drop discusses pop music with an emphasis on new releases, the artists' creative process, collaborators, and their marketing strategy. I want to hear from you - do you like "Disease"? Did you like the rollout? What should be discussed next?
Keith Montena is back this week breaking down "Disease" by Lady Gaga, the first taste of the singer's upcoming seventh album. After "Die With A Smile" with Bruno Mars and Joker: Folie á Duex, Lady Gaga returns with the biggest changes to her creative team in nearly 15 years, and an album modeling after dark soundscapes similar to Born This Way. Notably far from 2020's Chromatica. Vinyl Drop discusses pop music with an emphasis on new releases, the artists' creative process, collaborators, and their marketing strategy. I want to hear from you - do you like "Disease"? Did you like the rollout? What should be discussed next?
Hi everyone, I'm Keith Montena, your host and today Vinyl Drop the Podcast is back. Really excited to be marking this first episode with a new Lady Gaga single, and very excited to be trying new things with this podcast. I did a bit of a rebrand and I'm just pretending like I've never had it before. So if you haven't listened, that's great. This is a brand new podcast. If you have already, this is nothing like it was before, so we can also pretend that it's a brand new show. I've been waiting a long time to launch this up again. And if you've ever clicked play on a previous podcast episode of mine or spoken to me for over five minutes, you probably know that I am a huge Lady Gaga fan. So what better way to kick off this new run of episodes than with a discussion on Lady Gaga's new single Disease? While it felt very quiet for the past year or so, 2024 very quickly became a busy time in Lady Gaga's career. Joker, fully Ado with Joaquin Phoenix, was always on the slate for October 4, but before any promotion kicked off there, Lady Gaga announced a collaboration with Bruno Mars while fans wait for the new album called Die With a Smile, which has since became this huge hit single for both of them. And as the Time of Me recording this, it's actually surpassed Miley Cyrus Flowers as the longest consecutive number one on global Spotify, which is a crazy stat considering where that song sits. And in hindsight, I do think it may have played a role in Disease's commercial performance, which we'll definitely get to later on. But with both the movie and this huge high profile collaboration on the slate, it initially felt very unlikely that fans would get a taste of this upcoming pop album in 2024. And yet, before her appearance at the Venice Film Festival for Joker in September, Gaga confirmed the highly anticipated lead single on the slate in October after Joker's premiere, which registered to me as a complete shock. And I think there's something interesting here about how these events played out. Because when you look at previous films that Lady Gaga has been involved in and how actors and actresses campaign when they are in Oscar contention, normally months are blocked off in that calendar to secure your nomination and really make your mark on Academy voters. But with how Joker now, as we know filming went over, it seems like Joker might not be in the running over there. And I can't help but feel like with the lead single so soon after and now this Harlequin companion jazz album to pair with the movie, it really feels like maybe Lady Gaga's team behind the scenes had a pulse that this film wasn't going to go down as one of her best moves and the real focus should go back to the album before Joker took all the conversation away. Looking at how it's all played out, if that is true, I think it did work out because if we were just sitting with this film that underperformed, still wondering about where the album would go, I don't necessarily know if it would get the same reception that it is, at least from her core fans. And touching on that, there is that Harley Quinn companion album which I do think is worth touching on before we get to disease, because Lady Gaga essentially dropped this jazz album with an original track and a waltz she wrote for the movie and I thought the marketing on this was hilarious. I am a longtime fan, as I've said, but it's essentially another jazz installment from her. But she announced it a few days before with these teasers and clips that did not signify or signal anything jazz related coming. She did this promo with the Louvre teasing a rock cover of the Joker and really in some ways it was really cool too. And in some ways it was really cool to give life to covers a part of the movie. But I will say it misled fans a little bit. And as for how it fared commercially, I definitely think it will sit in passion project territory just because of the nature of the material. I am curious where the bar was maybe for this album and how it was going to be perceived because it is generally covers and she did have an original on there which she promoted called Happy Mistake and I think that's an okay Lady Gaga ballad, but this project just sort of sits in its own pocket and I do think a lot of people weren't sure what the project was and then when they clicked for Jazz you sort of get something you weren't expecting. And what really stands out about Harley Quinn and why it ties to the lead single is a this came so quick to Disease's release, but B this is the first time in Lady Gaga's career where she was able to pull off a surprise release since the Cure and even the Cure had a performance and announcement. To pull off an entire album without anyone knowing is new for her because every single release that Lady Gaga has had has been plagued with internal leaks. You always sort of know what's going on. There were screencaps of the stupid Love video out like weeks before it was released, on top of the song being online a month before, and then the Chromatica tracklist on top of demos circulating. It was like everything that you could think of during Chromatica leaked, and that was just sort of the norm. Everyone's lips have been sealed on what this new pop album from Lady Gaga is like, and Harlequin itself really went with no leaks at all. The best part of this entire Harlequin package, in my opinion, is really the packaging and the art direction. Lady Gaga worked with MTLA Studio, who is on for Disease as well. And you really see what I feel like is a breath of fresh air in terms of imagery and styling. There's something new here, and it just feels that way now. When approaching Disease and first impressions on it, it's important to note just how much is going on with these few projects that have mixed to positive reception in the world of Lady Gaga. There's this buzzed about film, which we now know didn't necessarily reach expected heights in the box office and landed poorly with critics. There's this complete passion project tied to that said film, Harlequin, that stayed pretty niche in comparison to the jazz offerings she's previously had with Tony Bennett. And then next to that, there's this world conquering smash hit with Bruno Mars that's still kicking across every music chart globally. But it was on October 28, three weeks after Joker and just before Halloween, that disease dropped. Diving into first thoughts, I instantly got the feeling that Ludie Gaga was tapping back into her strengths of some of that earlier previous dance material. And just based on the sheer performance, she seems a lot more invested in the DNA of this single than most of Chromatica. And there's a lot here hitting that nerve of familiarity for me. And while I don't think that's shocking to hear right. I think it's worth noting what made those early songs so special. I love these songs she makes specifically between 2009 to 2013 that are essentially all of these elements piped up to 100% in the mix. But her voice is so powerful that no matter how much is going on and how it's mastered, she will vocally cut through it. And what I think stood out to me the most here is that there's also all of these little quirks in the mix. There's a lot of these reversed echoes in the bridge and reverbed echoes across the entire thing. And the build to the final chorus is absolutely the best part of the song. And there are a lot of Born this Way comparisons surrounding the song, and those started before release. A lot of it links to a piece that Page Six reported on a day or so before the single dropped, and the report was titled Lady Gaga's new song Disease is a return to form after jazzy Harley Quinn album, stating it's sonically reminiscent of her Born this Way album. Think dark dance pop, referencing Gaga's Grammy nominated 2011 record that featured hits including its title track the Edge of Glory, Marry the Night and Bloody Mary. We also hear that the Disease music video is meticulously choreographed in the same vein as 2009's Bad Romance in 2011's Judas let's unpack this. It's a report that I would genuinely make up in my head as fan fiction. Like if you're new here, Born this Way is genuinely my favorite pop album of all time, and the entire fusion on that album of European dance music and stadium rock is such an amazing recipe for her, and so many details in the hooks written across that album are crafted in a way that just doesn't let up. Like these are songs packed with detail and full throttle punches of pop music that you don't hear all the time that aren't as windy as the ones that she would write. And of course there's room in this area to always explore further. I think the combination of those two genres just lends itself to going back and discovering more. Also too, given the success of Bloody Mary like Clockwork almost two years ago, it does make sense to, you know, put out a statement mentioning this and alluding to it. But I have a big problem with this idea or this sentiment of an artist returning to form, because it really only sets an artist up for failure. And in Lady Gaga's own case, this was the entire angle used to promote Chromatica. I think it's something fun to get fans excited in theory, but the way it plays against her right is that it creates these sky high expectations or makes you think that you're plainly just getting a throwback moment. But the thing about a throwback moment is it doesn't compare to what's been done already. There's no throwback that can actually outdo the original. If someone said Madonna was dropping a single like Hung Up Tomorrow with another ABBA sample, there's no way it's going to land the same way, even though it tugs on the same nerve, because that nerve's been done before. As a longtime fan, I always want an artist to touch new ground in some way as well, and without many statements from her since the song dropped, it creates this gigantic conversation of is this a return to the Same exact form and question of where the bar is, because I think this is a fairly good Lady Gaga single, but something like Bad Romance is a lightning in a bottle moment an artist doesn't ever get the chance to recreate because artists don't create bad romances every day. And yeah, Lady Gaga wrote Born this way in 10 minutes in 2010 when crafting that album, but that doesn't mean she's going to churn out the same thing at the same level all the time, because it's just impossible and separate from that. Upon listening, I definitely understand why Born this Way is the reference point given, but there's something about this that feels a little less committed to something dark. Sonically, where that album really thrives there it's more thematically spooky to me, the song registers more thematically Halloween Ready, but the actual production reminds me more so of artpop. I think the verse production reminds me of Aura or even Guy. It has that slower cadence of a song like Bloody Mary, which makes me think from a marketing, marketing perspective, this could have been chosen as a single because it follows a similar cadence. It was really exactly two years ago that Wednesday was released and Bloody Mary began to take off and become a huge streaming hit in 2023. It does really intrigue me more when looking at what the album will sound like, because while I do think this is leagues above Stupid Love, I do believe that this is a single choice done in the same vein of Stupid Love, in that it will reach the most people and be the most palatable. You know, this is a song that can live with younger audiences as well as her core fanbase, and it really does glide off as a classic Lady Gaga cut. So in that way I do understand the return to form angle, but I can't help but feel like it's a bit of a hiccup because who knows what we're getting on the album and I have a feeling there's a lot more tricks up her sleeve this time around creatively, and that has to do with a lot of the collaborators on board. So getting into the team behind the track we have Andrew Watt and Circuit. Andrew Watt though everything has been so tight lipped, we know he is likely executive producing the entire album and this is because of Ozzy Osbourne, which I think is so hilarious. Essentially, Ozzy Osbourne was speaking in an interview and revealed that he was waiting to work with Wat on his own album, but he was actually in line after Lady Gaga who had him locked down in a studio all summer. And I Have a feeling that Circuit, who appears on this new single Disease, was likely very heavy handed across the entire project as well. But to give some background on Andrew Watt and why this is an interesting collaborator is that he has a very strong rock background and he also has worked with a handful of very successful pop projects. These include Hollywood's Bleeding by Post Malone. So if you think of Circles and then Miley Cyrus, Plastic Hearts, and I think for Gaga, someone who channels that loud sort of belt and chorus and stadium rock of the 80s, it's a real perfect match. And then you have Circuit on the other hand, who's quietly, in my opinion, made an effort to distance himself from Dr. Luke and really carve out his own niche in the dance pop lane. Most recently he's worked on the previous two Ava Max albums, some Kim Petras cuts, but really early on he was working a lot with Dr. Luke and Max Martin on a lot of those KE$, and Katy Perry cuts, and has definitely made his mark in the dance pop vein. And I think this combination is perfect because on paper, these two people mend a vibe that Gaga has always targeted way back with Born this Way Too, which was a combination of that sort of dance sound and 80s stadium rock. And yeah, those references seem pretty clear heading into this process, especially with quotes she's shared about wanting to break genre. But what I will note for anyone listening who feels like there are certain parts of Disease that sound a little familiar, is that Circuit being here is so unexpected as Lady Gaga's always kept a very tight knit group of collaborators that haven't touched her peers. And I point that out because you can hear flourishes of Circuit's work across a lot of different songs and you can hear them across different collaborators he's worked with. Whereas when you look back at Lady Gaga's very beginnings, you know, she made Just Dance In Poker Face, in Bad Romance with Redone, who was really still finding his footing in the pop space and wasn't working with her peers. He wasn't touching a Katy Perry track, he wasn't touching ke$, he wasn't touching Rihanna. She had her own set and that sort of carried through for all of her albums up until this point actually. Except Max Martin did have a hand on Stupid Love, which to me doesn't sound like Max Martin even touched it. That's no shade, it just doesn't. He definitely put some finishing touch on, but it didn't seem like the most heavy handed collaboration on anyone's end. That's a total side tangent. But when you do look at pop stars and this whole lane, you can sort of see this loose line of pop stars always sticking to their crop, especially when it came to that era in the late 2000s and early tens, right? Katy Perry did have Max Martin and Dr. Luke, and Gaga wasn't working with Dr. Luke and Max Martin. Ke do was also in that crowd. Ariana Grande really found her home early on with Max Martin and Tommy Brown. She was working there. You didn't see all of her contemporaries rushing to them. And I think Lady Gaga specifically was likely very intentional about keeping her crop that way. When you look at Bloody Mary, that's Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow Blood, pop's biggest album that he's executive produced is Chromatica. He's not working with all of her contemporaries. So seeing Circuit at all on this project, to me registers as a very new chapter in Lady Gaga's career. And, you know, some of those synths did remind me of Turn off the Light by Kim Petras. And before, like, if you've talked to me about this, I don't always have the warmest thoughts on that collection, but it's just so funny when you think about it, because Circuit was under Dr. Luke for a long time, right? Dr. Luke mentored him. So it makes sense that some of the material that Dr. Luke produced on Turn off the Light would sound like Circuit, because a lot of times when you have these producers in the same room, you're all working together on something and you can keep that beat. So I guess I bring this up to highlight how small the music world really is once you get to a certain point, and how this is one of the first stabs that we're hearing at a Lady Gaga track that's very much signature her, but does have DNA from a producer who's been involved in a lot across pop music, more so than maybe anyone else she's worked with. And that goes for Andrew Wild as well. And like I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of new people a part of this team when headed into the new single for their first time in about 15 years. The biggest overhaul to Gaga's camp, and that's a real essential move when you look at so many great artists who have had longevity. I point to Beyonce's Renaissance tour and entire Renaissance album, because look at that. Like, you just know that staging is crafted by her and a lot of people that she's bringing in concept by concept, with a total pulse on what's next and what's new. So seeing Lady Gaga recognize how music is changing and the creatives that exist now and where to look is just so exciting. MTLA Studio, who did art direction, was back on the set for the Disease video. Tanu Muno, a Ukrainian director who worked on Illusion by Dua Lipa, Call Me by youy Name by Lil Nas X and Wildside by Normani, is on board for Disease's music video. And Paris Global choreographer, who worked with J. Lo and Shakira on their halftime show as well as Doja Cat, is also joining her here. And I loved the video. It essentially depicts her chasing her inner demons, but it feels like a very personal lens. It doesn't feel like a lens that's meant to be super overtly self referential for fans. A good example of this is the red flannel she's wearing when she's like wrestling herself. It's very reminiscent of the look she routinely wore during our pop. She wore this red flannel with the same shade of blonde hair. And that time in Lady Gaga's career has been known as a huge one. I previously did an episode on Joanne where I talked about some of the backlash after our pop and why that album was so pivotal in her finding her footing again and getting to this point in her career. Now, where she is this coveted person who's up for Oscar contention all the time and hailed as this, you know, once in a lifetime performer. But the Rpop era itself wasn't the best time for her. And I think as a fan I picked up on this reference, but it was done in a way that wasn't giving or showing all of its cards, which I really appreciated. And in a quote on Instagram, Gaga said the disease is about facing that fear, facing myself in my inner darkness and realizing that sometimes I can't win or escape the parts of myself that scare me, that I can try and run from them, but they are still part of me and I can run and run, but eventually I'll meet that part of myself again, even if only for a moment, which is really a great nutshell on what the video looks like. And I will say I think it's Lady Gaga's best video in a very, very, very long time and something that I've watched and picked up on so much with repeated views. So if you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend checking it out. I just think it was a real home run on so many fronts. I do wish it was released in a smoother way and will 100% get there. But I do think before we dive into some of the marketing, it's important to give context around why disease is such a big deal for Lady Gaga fans and how she sits after Chromatica. I'm genuinely so impressed with this package creatively, and I think any longtime fan can probably sense the shift here. Now, even three weeks out, we're getting an acoustic performance in video for the single, which is a really exciting touch that didn't exist in 2020. And when you look at Chromatica, I think there were really two crops of fans there, right? I think there was one crop that really enjoyed hearing her voice on dance music again after so long, it felt like she was in this second imperial phase in her career with the Star Is Born blowing up. She tried her hand at different sounds with Joanne, but it was time for her to make that dance song. And I know with the Pandemic, I think a lot of people found solace in her music and they loved listening to it. And I would say part of me is in that camp, but there's another group of fans that I think saw the hunger and the drive behind those earlier albums, right? Namely Born this Way, I would say art pop, and even Joanne, for me, where you just saw her really passionate about everything that went into the album and this meticulous approach to making sure people understood the music and making sure that it reached people in the right way. And so when you look back at Chromatica, it was like as soon as the Pandemic happened, Gaga wrote a note on Instagram discussing some of the canceled marketing plans for the album. There was a surprise Coachella set that was yanked. She went quiet. And now, allegedly, I'm going to say there were scrapped plans to work with imax. There was a Fortnite collaboration scheduled, and you're sort of seeing all of these pieces. There was even supposed to be allegedly an Ariana Grande pop up performance at some point in August, September, to commemorate. To celebrate Rain On Me. And that never happened. So a lot of pieces have leaked from the era, but it just felt like an artist who saw a challenge and gave up on the album. And 2020 will always sit as a very interesting year because as that happened for many artists, there was a crop who really rose up to the occasion. And Dua Lipa is someone who really pivoted with the release of her second album to make the most of it and really left her mark on that era. I don't think there's any denying that Dua Lipa really ruled the way from 2020 to 2022 with future nostalgia. But when you look at Lady Gaga, she'd really never been one to back down before, and she talked about Chromatica and how depressed she was making the album pretty openly and it's the only project she has where she's not necessarily on, where she isn't involved in the production. So I can't help but look back at the album as something that was a really good dance pop affair, but not necessarily a good Lady Gaga album. I think it sits in its own pocket for her in a way that other projects haven't. And so what's on the line with the Disease here is I would say I'm a firm believer that an artist is really only as successful as their previous album, and you can measure that by how the first taste of their new material performs. What we're seeing with Disease is some of these low charting numbers. And I think it's because Chromatica really came and went in a way where there was so much steam behind it. But the engine that built it, the marketing, all of the stuff that went on with it, just wasn't really managed well long term, despite an amazing tour and an amazing artist at the helm of it. And it's going to take a little more time to make Disease the success that it could be. She is someone who doesn't necessarily need the same type of chart success to thrive in her career. I mean, I would say Die With a Smile right now is simply performing well based on like, Die With A Smile is doing well right now and it's not a song for her core fans. Like that is a song reaching the locals every like based on the sheer force of Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars on a ballad. And it's not even really reaching her core fan base. You can't tell me for five minutes that the people streaming Die With a Smile every day right now are the same people listening to Disease on loop. It just doesn't configure the same way. I think she's at this point in her career where she has established herself as a force to be reckoned with, really. She's known for being in films, she's known for this legacy of hit singles, and she's sort of leveled to this place where how Disease performs doesn't dictate anything about her reputation or her legacy. But at the same time, there's two different audiences now and the trudge forward with pop music, especially next to so many different releases in such a short time frame, it's going to be a different campaign than the one you'd expect, and it's still going to take a little time to to undo some of what Chromatica did, even if it was the smallest dent, which I I guess is what I'm outlining. The only aspect with this release that I'm a bit confused about is with so much under wraps and such a pulse on differences this time around and such a great creative package, why is everything with this release so quiet and spaced out? And this is where we can get to the marketing and the rollout. So and this is my favorite part of any discussion throwing out some dates here. Disease was out October 25th and it was on October 18th that song titles across music providers like YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music were altered and they spelled out Disease. She chose a few songs from her catalog to spell these out and alter the stylization of them. So basically the first letter of each word was set from uppercase to lowercase and she chose Dance in the Dark, I like It Rough, Sinner's Prayer, Enigma, artpop, Smile, which is a cover, and Electric Chapel. These songs were all edited to spell out Disease, the title of the single. While there's plenty to discuss about this albumize later, I will just say I think this set of tracks, if they are influencing the album, is only a great sign. But following that she had made a playlist on Spotify called.com and grabbed a few extra songs to spell out Gaga. So then if you look at the playlist right it says it spells out gagadisease.com. this led to a website where domains kept unlocking to more and more lyrics. You got a full verse from the single and then from there a day would go by and they'd update it with a screen grab from something and then at the top of the following week. So this is just about five days before Disease would be released. This song was officially announced by Lady Gaga as the new single coming Friday with the visual of her with dark hair being hit by a car. And I don't know if this is the most commercially viable or eye catching single cover, especially considering it is a car crash, like maybe something more could have been done. But I was immediately intrigued because I got this feeling that was so different from the previous album of something that she was probably very, very invested in. And then we got a trailer the following day which showed her running looking back at a car with piano chords from the single, which definitely cued toward a video dropping with release. And given what I've said about Chromatica and how it just sort of felt like the album came and went. It's a very fun and exciting way to get fans involved by doing this. And I see strides from how Stupid Love was released. If anyone remembers Stupid Love being released in 2020, it felt like such a big event, but the only promo leading up to it was this Billboard in West Hollywood. And then there was this huge shot on iPhone campaign through Apple, which a lot of fans don't like. Like, anytime I run into someone and talk about Lady Gaga, they mention how awful the Stupid Love video shot on iPhone was. But I will defend it for five minutes because if you remember that week in 2020, stupid love was everywhere. Because that ad through Apple was playing before every single YouTube video. It was on TV, it was on every single platform, and it totally 100% helped the song debut top five. And you can fight me on that. But I am okay with the Stupid Love ad. I think more even could have been done with the iPhone. Like, to me, the video and the shot on iPhone deal are two different things. The treatment itself for Stupid Love just wasn't that strong. But I love that there's more of a stab here to get fans engaged. Then release day comes and there's just no video for the song, despite teasing it. And instead it comes on a Tuesday and is announced as a double feature with a live performance for Die with a Smile. And for someone like Lady Gaga, who's built her entire brand on Persona and the entire package and performance art surrounding a pop star, someone so multifaceted, not having the video out on Release Day in 2024, or at the very least, you know, some sort of clever visualizer to go with it, just feels destined to hold back a release. This was extremely quiet for a release week, and there is some speculation that she got married that weekend, which would be sick. But in general, I couldn't help but notice that all of the changes on DSPs or the Spotifys and Apple musics of the world, like all of that stuff and the links to the websites was just not mentioned on her social profiles. And then when all of those song titles were changing, right, it wasn't this fluid motion of everyone checking their phone on Friday night and all the titles were different. It was like YouTube would change one day and then Spotify change the other, and then it would happen on Apple Music. And this sounds all very minuscule, but if you follow these campaigns and you see these artists, like these are artists reaching hundreds of millions of people with their music, it's crazy to think that certain things just don't always click into place. And I'm curious for anyone listening who follows music marketing or Lady Gaga? Do you like how this song was rolled out and do you think this was a smart timeline? Because the way I see it is there was this huge campaign going on to get Die With a Smile to number one in the US as it was still growing. They shipped finals that week of October 25th. Radio is playing the song. It's in Grammy contention. Clearly a great time for that, but it's almost like her team lit two candles at once, but one of them got blown out in exchange for the other. But Die With a Smile, while having potential just couldn't burn bright enough. Even with all of the extra push they did on Disease's release week, it only reached number two. And I bring up these chart facts here in this case because I feel like this goalpost is very important behind the scenes to everyone involved and obviously exciting for Lady Gaga to bag another number one single. But there's a real lack of fanfare around this lead single, and this is a loud, abrasive Lady Gaga song that belongs to a huge package. If you're dropping a music video on Tuesday, the View are not going to look the same. And also on top of that, the video was posted 10 minutes late. And I'm sorry to whoever made that mistake because you probably had a lot of Lady Gaga fans that were angry, but certain things, like a YouTube countdown is just sort of the normal practice nowadays. I'm not sure if it was a security thing to hold it back, but I was literally on FaceTime with my friend and we were trying to watch it and we had to wait 10 minutes and I can't imagine other people not clicking off of it. This song transparently isn't doing much on global Spotify, and all of these platforms behind the scenes really rallied for her. She debuted with what I believe is one of the highest playlist reaches of any artist this year, in 2024 with disease on Spotify. And yet there's not many quotes out there from her about the single. And while it debuted in the top 20 region of Spotify, it's slowly starting to fall through the weeks and now it's nearly out of the top 200 as I'm filming this, which I just don't think is deserved for this song in the package. Commercial success for Gaga doesn't mean too much anymore. As we've discussed, she's really, at this point, someone who has her hands involved in so many different styles of music as well as different mediums of Entertainment that her legacy is pretty ironclad. She did a lot of career rebuilding after rpop, and I think the coveted musician and artist we hear about now who is starring in films and has a jazz project out was a very purposeful move to create. And so these pop projects definitely sit different for her. And I don't think disease going under the radar is necessarily going to hold back anything she does at this point, but I can't help but look at some of the pieces here and feel like the song could have fared a little better. Even if she does have another song blowing up right now, I'm just not seeing the benefits of the quiet game being played here. And if this is the strategy, I'm sort of waiting to see it fleshed out. And this medium will be very interesting as I actively follow this campaign and roll out, which is definitely something I intend to do. So we'll see where things go Pivoting into album conversation, I'm assuming. My guess is that they're gonna go full force in more material in quarter one. Maybe we'll get album info on this side of the year, maybe if there's a tour that'll pop up, but plans always notoriously change with Lady Gaga, so we'll see it immediately. Makes me think of how during rpop, Venus was supposed to be the second single instead of do what yout Want, Ayo is supposed to be the single instead of Million Reasons. And like at some point John Wein was apparently in contention to be performed at the super bowl, so you really never know with her what the plan will be until it's happening. And I'm curious if anything will change, given how Die With a Smile just literally won't die. I guess it's kind of a good problem to have when you have such a big song, but hopefully when the album is released, Die With a Smile won't cannibalize the entire thing. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Lady Gaga said the pop album is nothing like Chromatica. It's a completely different record. I don't know that I'm even ready to talk about it yet, but I recognize that it's coming out soon and I will. What I would say is it's all for me, it's meant to be ingested as a time in my life. And I'm also really excited about this idea that I don't have to adhere to an era if I don't want to. I can have a few going on at once. That feels unhinged and more like me or Harley or whoever. I think this quote really paints a picture in my mind that she is very excited about this upcoming music and she doesn't look back fondly at all with Chromatica, and when looking at how that album was treated in 2020 and the energy being put into this new single where she is a lead producer and she is a lead writer and the treatment clearly means so much to her that we're in for an amazing album. And based on the few previews of songs that we do have, she'd previewed a few songs in Paris the week she was there for the Olympics, as well as a very, very brief snippet that you can barely make out in the Disease video. I think a lot of tracks on the album will lean a lot more experimental. One thing I loved about the Born this Way album and Artpop is that there really is this chaotic energy to a lot of those pop songs, even if they seem formulaic at the surface, and there's so much grit in all of the production. And when I look back at Chromatica, I just don't hear the same thing. It feels very polished and pristine in a way that Lady Gaga's package just never is. Like all of her music always leans a little theatrical and hopefully when the whole album arrives we hear more of that and I have a feeling it's going to be great. But mainly I would like to hear your thoughts listening if you're excited for the new Lady Gaga album, what are your expectations on it, where do you think it's going to go, and how do you feel about Disease as a single? I'm so excited to be trying out different styles of content with this podcast and I thank you for listening. If you've made it this far, you can follow @vinyldropodcast on Instagram or at @keithmontena on Instagram, which is me, and you'll definitely hear all about the show and when episodes are coming. Thank you so, so much for listening.