Lady Gaga Announces Surprise New Album Ahead of ‘Joker’ Sequel

Little Monsters, get ready — because nothing could have prepared Us for a surprise announcement about new music from Lady Gaga.

Gaga, 38, announced her new album, titled Harlequin, on Tuesday, September 24 — just three days before its Friday, September 27, release.

“A companion album to Joker: Folie à Deux,” she captioned the Instagram post, which featured an album cover reveal. Gaga was photographed wearing Joker-themed makeup while standing in the shower. She has a red life vest over a white dress and a stoic look on her face.

A second slide revealed that the record would be complete with 13 songs: “Good Morning,” “Get Happy (2024),” “Oh, When the Saints,” “World on a String,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” “That’s Entertainment,” “Smile,” “The Joker,” “Folie à Deux,” “Gonna Build a Mountain,” “Close to You,” “Happy Mistake” and “That’s Life.”

Leading up to the announcement, Gaga appeared to tease the music with five separate posts starting on Friday, September 20. The first read, “I’m ready for my interview.” Her second post on Saturday, September 21, read, “Don’t tell me what to wear.”

Fans were ready for more information when her third message was written on Sunday, September 22.

“No duct tape no mission,” the Instagram post read. On Monday, September 23, Gaga shared, “Moon dust gets everywhere.”

The final post came Monday night.

“Still not October,” the message read. (Previously, Gaga teased that her next album would be coming in 2025.)

Gaga is set to star alongside Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie à Deux, which will premiere on Friday, October 4. The movie is a sequel to 2019’s Joker, which earned Phoenix an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the titular role.

Gaga has spoken at length about taking on the role of Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (a.k.a. Harley Quinn), a patient at Arkham State Hospital who befriends Arthur Fleck (a.k.a. the Joker). While it’s not technically a musical despite being billed as one, Gaga “brought” the music to set, she told Vogue last month.

“I wrote a waltz for the movie,” she continued. “And I had a live piano player, Alex Smith, whom I asked to be with me for my scenes. There are moments in the film where I’m playing an adult woman who sings like a little girl. And she’s moving through the world with this kind of immaturity, which I thought was interesting.”

She added: “My relationship with music in this film is like the way a child discovers music — as the ultimate form of happiness.”