Lady Gaga and Her Enigmatic 7th Studio Album
Unless you have been sleeping under a rock since 2008, I am sure that I can say all of us know who Lady Gaga is. With 13 Grammy’s under her belt, Gaga is no stranger to the music and acting scene, with a loyal army of Little Monsters that stand in her footprint. Gaga’s experience in her career has brought her many different dynamics, like the complex ARTPOP era (which is a topic that deserves its own article), to creating two jazz cover albums with the late Tony Bennett, and collaborations with legends such as Metallica, Elton John, and The Rolling Stones. If you’re a true hearted fan like myself, you’ll even know Gaga has a knack for the Rap community, having collaborated with the likes of T.I., Kendrick Lamar, Azalea Banks, and even spitting her own bars on her songs “Paper Gangsta”, and “Cake Like Lady Gaga”.
A diverse career, from winning an Oscar award for Best Original Song “Shallow” for her debut lead role in a film for A Star is Born, to even snagging a Golden Globe for her role in American Horror Story: Hotel. Gaga proves time and time again that there is no such thing as being over the top. In 2020, Gaga became the only recipient of the MTV: VMA Tri-Con award, which was awarded to her for being an icon in three different decades. With her latest releases, 2020’s Chromatica, and 2021’s Love For Sale, and Dawn of Chromatica, all Little Monsters want to know what Lady Gaga has in store next for them.
Little Monsters, or better wording in this case, “Little Detectives”, noticed that on Lady Gaga’s November 15th, 2023, Instagram post that she was in the same recording studio that she finished Chromatica in. To the untrained eye, it would just seem like a regular selfie with a black heart and music note emoji, but to fans, they knew this could potentially be a hint as to what is coming next. Two weeks later, Gaga posted another Instagram post with the caption “TRUST THE PROCESS” noting the blonde wig in the background and her stylist’s hands fixing up her hair. This led to fans being divided that the post was implied for a new commercial for her make up brand “Haus Labs” as there is a lip stick emoji in the caption, but other fans believe that this could potentially be a day where she was filming the music video for the lead single for LG7.
While super fans were pulling out magnifying glasses and zooming in to see what hints could possibly be in Gaga’s Instagram posts, let’s take a look at who could potentially be producers on her next project. Back in June of 2023, producer Andrew Watt started following Lady Gaga and her manager Bobby Campbell on Instagram, where Bobby followed him back. Andrew is a producer known for producing hits like “Midnight Sky” by Miley Cyrus, and “Liar” by Camilla Cabello. This would lead people to think after listening to some of his work that Gaga could be leaning to more of a bouncy, disco pop like genre for LG7. In January 2024, Lady Gaga was spotted eating lunch with French producer Gesaffelstein, the producer has created songs for artists such as The Weeknd, Daft Punk, and Pharrell Williams and is best known for his electronic sounding productions. Going into a now deleted Instagram post we also see Brian Newman in the studio with her. Brain Newman is known for his jazz music and impeccable trumpet playing. The pair have worked together on previous projects like on tracks “A-YO” and “Just Another Day” from 2016’s Joanne. These are just some names that lead to the possibilities of who could be producing LG7 with Gaga. Tweets from fans show support for previous producers like RedOne, DJ White Shadow and Zedd to return for the new album.
Despite the rumored producers pointing to an electronic and jazz themed album, Gaga herself started teasing in early 2024 a different genre altogether. With her previous work with Metallica and The Rolling Stones, Gaga seems to be leaning towards a rock themed album. Wearing band t-shirts a few of her Instagram posts, even sitting cross-legged on bench, with an electric guitar in hand, and a Black Sabbath t-shirt on, the caption read “No, I’m not making a rock album” leads fans to believe the complete opposite. Little Monsters even dug deeper on her February 14th post where sheet music can be seen on top of her piano, enticing fans to try and transpose and recreate what it says to get a taste of what we are in for.
After this post, the teasing seemed to die down, as Gaga announced her Chromatica themed Fortnite collaborations, and held a couple speaking roles for different company conferences. Just when things seemed to quiet down after weeks of teasing, on March 4th Gaga posted a new photo with the caption “Xoxo night night writing lyrics in bed sleep tight”. Everyone was quick to notice that Gaga had her eyebrows bleached, which if you have been around since the beginning, this is a sign that a Gaga release announcement could happen at any moment.
With all kinds of teasing, and hints, the LG7 era could begin anytime now. With things seeming in tight quarters with her upcoming role in Joker: Folie a Deux, releasing this October, where she plays Harley Quinn, Gaga could either roll out a full era and close it before the film promotion starts. A tour could possibly work over the summer, as Gaga prefers shorter runs as evident with her 20 show The Chromatica Ball Tour. Or she could possibly juggle the both as she toured with The Joanne World Tour while also filming A Star Is Born and promoting her Netflix documentary Five Foot Two.
Hopefully we don’t have to wait long for the next installment from Lady Gaga. As mentioned in a reply to a fan on TikTok, Gaga told them LG7 is in a vault, guarded by a monster. Let’s hope that she goes down there and opens the vault in a quick manner. In the meantime, you can stream Lady Gaga’s last studio album Chromatica below.