If there's a concept that seemed to be on Lady Gaga's mind as she was making her upcoming seventh studio album, it was chaos. And the legendary pop star went deeper into that world as she dissected the as-of-yet untitled album's lead single, “Disease,” on the latest episode of Rolling Stone's “The Breakdown.”
“It felt like a way into the chaos of the album, which is kind of exercises in chaos — different sides of who I am as a person,” Gaga said. “To me, there's some kind of chaos in all of the ways we try to analyze ourselves. 'Disease' is the beginning of that, and it started with this little voice on my shoulder saying 'there's no more tears to cry, I heard you begging for life,' and that uncomfortable feeling that we can sometimes have when the voice in our head is not pleasant.”
“Disease” and much of the album was recorded at Rick Rubin's famed Shangri-La studio in Malibu, and while he wasn't present during the sessions, Gaga joked that “his spirit was there.”
Gaga broke down the baseline and synths and talked about making “Disease” with producers Cirkut and Andrew Watt, as well as with her fiance, Michael Polinksy, who co-wrote the song with her.
“Working with Michael is super, super interesting because he knows me so well. When we were working on 'Disease,' I was navigating my way through some of the initial lyrics that we had written in the studio. 'I could play the doctor. I can cure your disease,'” Gaga recalled. “He said, 'You know, there's another way for you to say this.' He said [it should be]'Bring me your desire, I can cure your disease,' because the thing that you are asking is to fix you, to fix this addict-like affliction that you have for this person. That's a super intimate thing that someone might not think of or feel working with me unless they really know me.'
Gaga called “Disease” emblematic of the spirit of the rest of the album, which swings between beautiful dainty moments and sounds to more extreme sensory overload. “Disease” dropped in October with a visceral music video directed by Tanu Muino. The rest of the album is expected to come out in February.
“There's moments where we are sonically just trying to push sound as much as possible. There's other moments where it's all about love, and it's super dreamy. That, to me, is true chaos,” Gaga said of the project. “There are times when it's hard to see the light, but I think sometimes what makes inner chaos harder is when you sometimes get a glimpse of the sun, because you're like, 'Man, I wish the sun would shine all the time ,' and then it reminds you of what you're missing. So the album has all of that. It's like a full experience.”
