Lady Gaga has remarkable breadth. Perhaps pop’s definitive 21st century alien, she’s transformed dance-pop into a stadium-filling phenomenon, while touching on everything from indie rock to swing in the process. The much-vaunted ‘LG7’ is billed as a return to pure pop, but first she’s got a new movie endeavour – Lady Gaga picks up the role of Harlequin in the outlandish comic book musical Joker: Folie a Deux.
So, what to make of ‘Harlequin’, it’s attendant album? A kind of LG 6.5 it’s a neat adjunct to her current career paths – a world away from ‘Chromatica’ (and its incredible world tour), it returns Lady Gaga to her jazz era work with Tony Bennett. Uniquely, it’s both faithful to the original texts, and slyly subversive – frequently surreal, she’s able to tease out the darkness and drama from these well-worn texts.
The gleeful, over-the-top zest of ‘Good Morning’ is practically maniacal in its energy, a five-coffees-deep ode to the rising sun, while a sultry ‘Get Happy (2024)’ practically reaches out of the speakers and grabs you. The project often works best when acting against type – ‘Oh, When The Saints’ is given a thumping, funky backbeat, while a swampy ‘World On A String’ is a ballad worthy of the Cramps.
Never knowingly understated, performances like ‘The Joker’ reach Freddie Mercury levels of bombast, while ‘Gonna Build A Mountain’ is a fantastic twist on Sunday morning gospel. There’s sweetness, too – ‘Close To You’ could be cloying, but in Gaga’s hands it’s actually quite affecting.
Closing with a unique take on ‘That’s Life’, you’re left wondering how to evaluate ‘Harlequin’. As a statement of her breadth – linking cinema and jazz, two enduring Gaga interests – it certainly works, reinforcing her stature as a 360 artist for the modern era. In the run up, CLASH had wondered if it would be a bit like the Batman score Prince recorded – fun, great songs, not really a proper Prince album. There’s certainly parallels here, but in stance and execution ‘Harlequin’ still feels unique. Fun, and wildly over-the-top, ‘Harlequin’ scratches an itch for both fan and artist – now, about LG7…
- Robin Murray - clashmusic.com
