Harley Quinn will be Lady Gaga’s best mask

There mask is destined to become one of the most loved by fans among all those worn during her career by the pop star, who has made transformism her profession. This was already clear from the video published on social media in recent days with which Lady Gaga officially presented “her” Harley QuinnJoker’s crime partner who he will play in “Joker 2: Folie à deux”, the expected sequel to Todd Phillips’ film on the famous Batman villain in Italian cinemas from 2 October. “There’s always a Joker”, sings Stefani Germanotta as she observes the glass and metal pyramids of the Louvre from above.

Then the scene moves inside the Parisian museum. The singer now dances at the top of the stairs leading to the Nike of Samothrace: it is a quote from one of the most iconic scenes of the first “Joker”, the one in which Arthur Fleck, played by Joaquin Phoenix (awarded Best Actor at the Oscars), danced to the tune of “Rock and roll (Part 2)” by Gary Glitter. Gaga/Harley walks through the rooms of the museum, looking wild. Arrive in front of one of the main attractions of the Louvre: the .Mona Lisanaturally. He smiles at her, greets her. Then he has an evil intuition. She takes a lipstick out of her apron pocket, approaches the display case of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting menacingly and draws a grin on her mouth.. “The joker is me”, she screams, reinterpreting the song composed by Anthony Newley for the 1965 Broadway musical “The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd” (which ran for 232 performances), later made famous by Sammy Davis Jr.. Gaga she immersed herself so much in the role of the Joker’s partner that she created an entire album of songs inspired by the character: it came out tonight, it’s simply titled “Harleyquin” and contains both original songs written for the occasion and covers. Like that of “The Joker” itself.

The songs are inspired by madness

“Harleyquin” it’s not a new album of unreleased songs: that will arrive in February, five years after “Chromatica” (in the meantime the voice of “Poker face” has returned to flirt with jazz together with Tony Bennett in “Love for sale”, he contributed with the ballad “Hold my hand” to the soundtrack of “Top Gun: Maverick”, played Patrizia Reggiani in “House of Gucci” by Ridley Scott and held a long residency in Las Vegas). And not even a soundtrack. Gaga, who announced the surprise album three days ago, presented it as a “companion album”, an “accompanying” album: the songs are not taken from “Joker 2: Folie à deux”, but

they are linked to the film and the imagery that characterizes it. That of folly. The album arrives as “Die with a smile”, the 70s-inspired ballad written and recorded together with Bruno Mars, released in mid-August, it is still at the top of the weekly chart of the most listened to songs in the world on Spotify: you don’t even have time to get attached to Gaga’s Dolly Parton version before the pop star already changes her makeup and costumes. And only two weeks before the release of “Die with a smile”, at the end of July, at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics we had seen – and heard – her grappling with a surprising and much appreciated homage to the French soubrette Zizi Jeanmarie to the tune of “Mon truc en plumes”. Elusive.

“The world is a stage, the stage is a world of entertainment”

The album contains thirteen songs in total. Among others, “Mountain build skirt” is another reinterpretation of a Broadway classic by Anthony Newley (the composer was nominated for an Oscar for best soundtrack in 1972 for the music of the legendary “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” by Mel Stuart starring Gene Wilder ). “That’s entertainment” is instead a cover of the song made famous by Judy Garlandwho recorded it in 1960 for the album of the same name.

In reality the song had been composed eight years earlier by Arthur Schwartz with lyrics by Howard Dietz for the film “The band wagon”, where it was performed by Jack Buchanan with the contribution of Fred Astaire, Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant. “Stolen” videos from the set of “Joker 2: Folie à deux” in which Gaga performed the song during filming had already circulated last March. “.The world is a stage, the stage is a world of entertainment”, sings Gaga, who she seems to have made verse her philosophy of life, as the absolute entertainer she has always been. Remember when in 2011 he showed up at the MTV Video Music Awards as Joe Calderone, his male version, giving viewers one of the event’s most spectacular performances ever?

“So I got into Harley Quinn”

Some of the songs included in “Harleyquin” will also end up in the soundtrack of “Joker 2: Folie à deux”, written together with the Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadótti, like “That’s entertainment” itself and “Get happy”, another reinterpretation of a song brought to success by Judy Garland. “In the film I play a character. So I worked a lot on the way I sang to fit into Harley Quinn, so as not to make her sound like me as a performer.”, said Lady Gaga speaking about “her” version of the Joker’s partner.

“We sang everything live. I had to forget the technique to let the singing define the characters,” he added when he premiered the film at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, together with the director and Joaquin Phoenix. “But – he warned -.It’s not a real musical. The scenes and dialogues are not enough to define the characters, the songs do”. And the anticipation grows for “LG7”, provisional title of the album that will be released in February, the first of unreleased songs in five years: “I have written many songs, I have produced many songs. Let’s say it’s something I’ve never done before. I love exploring music and experimenting with different genres. This industry can isolate you, but I never feel alone thanks to my fans.”