On this evidence, Polansky’s advice was spot on. Though Disease is musically something of a throwback, its dramatic, devil-may-care attitude doesn’t feel out of place in the current musical landscape. This year’s hottest pop stars – queer anthem-maker Chappell Roan, pithy punchline merchant Sabrina Carpenter and edgy agenda-setter Charli XCX – have risen to the top by prioritising personality as much as pop hooks. Gaga, a performer playful enough to pull off the lyric “I’m bluffin’ with my muffin” on her 2008 chart-topper Poker Face, has been doing this for her entire career.
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At 38, Gaga has crossed the point at which female artists can find their opportunities limited by a toxic combination of misogyny and ageism. Over the summer, this definitely infested Katy Perry’s unsuccessful attempt to regain her early 2010s chart supremacy, though Perry’s comeback was mainly sunk by her substandard material and clumsy attempt to weld an unconvincing feminist message to her album’s disastrous lead single Woman’s World.
But given that she’s currently riding high in the charts with her lovely Bruno Mars duet Die with a Smile, heritage act status doesn’t seem to be beckoning yet. Crucially, because Gaga has never rooted her appeal in trying to be “relatable”, there’s no reason why Gen Z music fans can’t get behind her bold, brilliant brand of pop maximalism alongside her older followers who have been invested from the start. When she sings “I could be your antidote tonight” on Disease, it feels like a statement of intent – Gaga is back, blandness be gone.
Disease is out now and the new album will be released in February
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