Lady Gaga knew the recipe to keep her Las Vegas shows electric: start in the recording studio. Before each show of her residency this summer, she and a group of talented musicians had hours of recording sessions, capturing that spark.
The energy of their time in the studio, followed by their show, was the fuel for the creation of their new album, “Harlequin”, released on September 27. At first, the superstar was unsure of the direction the project would take, but she accepted the challenge of pushing the boundaries of music, just like her fearless character in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which opened in theaters this Friday.
“Harlequin” is an album that accompanies the film, in which Gaga stars as “Lee”, that is, the deranged villain “Harley Quinn”. His character was the driving force behind the album, which seamlessly blends jazz, funk, blues and early Americana, while drawing on traditional and modern pop.
“I had a very deep relationship with the character, and I just had a lot more things I wanted to say,” said the Grammy and Oscar winner, who recorded “Harlequin” between Malibu, California, and Las Vegas, while wrapping up her residency. “Jazz & Piano” from this summer. She had the idea for the album with her fiancé, Michael Polansky, who joined her as the album’s other executive producer.
Polansky said he felt confident scheduling time in the studio after talking about music and realizing the similarities between the character Gaga played in the film and her real-life alter ego. He indicated that his mission was to let creative energy flow with jazz as the basis of music.
“It was important to us that the album felt cohesive, not because it had to fit into one style, but because the energy and personality tied everything together,” said Polansky, who called Gaga “brilliant and fearless.” “We wanted to continue to respect the role of the genre in helping listeners connect with the music, but we didn’t want it to hold the team back creatively,” he said.
Prior to her show in Las Vegas, Gaga and the show’s drummers, trumpet players, bassists and members of the orchestra went to the studio and recorded for approximately six hours. It became a ritual that transferred the energy of their live shows to the studio.
“I was focused on pushing this sound to the limit every day and pushing ourselves to be as daring as possible,” said Gaga, who produced all the songs alongside Benjamin Rice, who won a Grammy for his work on the film’s soundtrack. A Star is Born”, starring her and actor Bradley Cooper. The album features revamped pieces such as the 1930s “Get Happy” and the black spiritual “Oh, When the Saints,” along with previously unreleased songs “Happy Mistake” and “Folie À Deux.”
“This album was made with grace and a lot of concentration and true love and dedication for ‘Harley Quinn,'” said the singer and actress. “It’s also a deep love and respect for all the musicians and people who were in the studio with us every day,” the 38-year-old artist added.
“Harlequin” represents Lady Gaga’s first jazz-inspired album since the passing of her long-time collaborator and close friend, Tony Bennett. The singer often reflects on his words of wisdom.
“He always used to tell me, ‘If you stick to quality, it’s never going to go wrong,'” recalled Gaga, who had shared the stage with Bennett and collaborated with him on two albums: “Cheek to Cheek” (2014) and “Love for Sale” (2021). Both albums won the Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album. The artist commented that Bennett, who died at 96 in 2023, would have celebrated someone like her, excited to explore new horizons of “what jazz can mean today and what music can be.”
“I wanted to make a high-quality album with sophisticated music,” Lady Gaga said. “Tony is the anchor in a lot of ways. As much as he strays from the old-school classical approach that these songs can take, as long as there were moments where we went back to the studio and the discipline of jazz, he kind of anchors the whole record.” , he indicated.
In addition to her accompanying album for the film, Lady Gaga hopes to release a studio album in February. It will be her first since “Chromatica” (2020), which includes the Grammy-winning song “Rain on Me” featuring Ariana Grande.
“I’m done with that album. Everything is part of the other one, although the music is very different,” he described.
Gaga’s happiness with her life has generated her musical creativity. She was excited to go into the studio and collaborate with people she “loves and respects.”
“It’s probably the most focused I’ve personally felt in a decade,” she said. “I feel fitter with this music than I have in a long time. It’s one of the reasons why I’m so grateful to my partner, Michael, for his creative collaboration and support in all of this,” highlighted the creator of hits like ” Poker Face”, “Bad Romance” or “Shallow”.
Gaga added that “when you feel clear, healthy and happy, I feel like that’s when your art can really fly.”
