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Mother Monster has returned.
Lady Gaga released the first single of her seventh studio album Oct. 25, and this track is a dramatic return to her dance-pop roots after her venture into the world of jazz music.
For the five-and-a-half years prior to July 6, Lady Gaga performed a jazz and piano residency at the Dolby Live Theater inside Park MGM in Las Vegas. Her latest album, “Harlequin,” was released in September as a companion album to “Joker: Folie à Deux” and features jazz covers alongside two original songs.
After a long detour into jazz, many fans of her bold pop classics have been longing for a return to her earlier style — and with this new single, that moment has finally arrived in triumphant fashion. Her last album featuring her signature off-kilter pop rhythms was “Chromatica” — released in 2020 — and “Disease” echoes that album’s style while drawing from her earlier works.
The instrumentals on this track show clear connections to her 2011 album “Born This Way” with their bouncy, deep synth and chanting background vocals. While the instrumentals remain consistent throughout most of the track, several moments stand out — particularly when the drums surge before the first booming chorus, injecting fresh enthusiasm as Gaga embraces the song’s sleazy swing. The bridge offers a quieter interlude, stripping back Gaga’s voice over a simple piano before she crescendos into the final chorus.
The moans and breathy gasps Gaga adds to the song help elevate the sense of freakish seduction. The song’s lyrics revolve around a character seeking a cure for a life-threatening illness, with Gaga suggesting she can “play the doctor” and provide the remedy — phrases laden with intense sexual innuendo. This playful roleplay harkens back to earlier tracks like “G.U.Y.” from her 2013 “Artpop” album.
While her vocals and lyrics are undoubtedly enticing, a layer of grime permeates the entire song. Her moans are guttural and her vocals almost seem to drag themselves across the song, like a corpse crawling out of the grave. Though vocals have always been among Gaga’s strongest assets, tracks like these showcase her full range, allowing her to unleash her most powerful performances.
The track’s similarities to her past works serve as both a strength and a limitation. Although these resemblances may appease diehard fans who have been craving a return to her old style, it does not pose anything new for Gaga. This is ground she has trodden before, and she treads it well, but this track lacks the kind of artistic development one would expect from a new album. Gaga has been lauded for her creativity and ingenuity, but this track falls short of her earlier works’ innovations.
The dark undertones of “Disease” hint at an emerging style for Gaga, suggesting more ambitious artistic directions await on her upcoming album. While she has never shied away from edginess, this shift toward the outright unsavory marks a notable evolution in her work, her pristine vocals now deliberately contrasting with the track’s gritty atmosphere.
While “Disease” may not break new ground for Gaga, it succeeds as a solid addition to her repertoire through its commanding vocal performance and grimy style. Though some fans might yearn for more innovation from this lead single, its relatively safe approach could be strategic — building anticipation while only hinting at the more daring direction her upcoming album might explore.