Lady Gaga attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures "Joker: Folie a Deux" at TCL Chinese Theatre on September 30, 2024 in Hollywood, California Source: Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Watch: Gaga Drops a Horror Movie Music Video for 'Disease' Just in Time for Halloween

Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.

The video for "Disease," the first single from Lady Gaga's upcoming seventh studio album, dropped on Oct. 29, and its spooky season release date was no coincidence: Like any good modern horror movie, the video takes place on the placid streets of suburbia – and it features a demonic double for Mother Monster to face off with.

The Satanic showdown begins with Gaga splayed on the hood of a car driven by a vision straight out of "American Horror Story." A blend of retro haute couture and bondage chic, the demonic driver watches as Gaga resurrects herself and crawls on the car's hood to stare the creature down, singing, "There are no more tears to cry/I heard you beggin' for life/Runnin' out of medicine/You're worse than you've ever been."

Driver and victim join in the chorus, at which point it's clear that the being behind the wheel is none other than Gaga herself, or at least the Monster from the Id remix of Gaga.

Another struggle between dueling versions of the singer erupts in a blacked-out industrial space, where the two versions, both dressed in skimpy athletic wear, grapple. The ghoulish doppelgänger, chained to an overhead rack, tramples her daylight self and catches her in a chokehold by wrapping her legs around her opponent's neck, only for "normal" Gaga to jump up and grab her nightmare self by the throat.

"Screamin' for me baby/Like you're gonna die/Poison on the inside/I could be your antidote tonight," the chorus declares as the death match rages.

In another segment of the video, Gaga writhes in panic as the walls of two adjacent buildings close in from either side.

The singer took to Instagram to explain the terrors of the song's video, and to present it as a Halloween offering.

"I think a lot about the relationship I have with my own inner demons," Gaga captioned the post, which previewed the video. "It's never been easy for me to face how I get seduced by chaos and turmoil. It makes me feel claustrophobic."

The track, she clarified, "is about facing that fear, facing myself and my inner darkness, and realizing that sometimes I can't win or escape the parts of myself that scare me.... I can run and run but eventually I'll meet that part of myself again, even if only for a moment."

However, Gaga suggested, there's a hopeful message among the horror movie tropes.

"No matter how scary the question, the answers are inside of me," the "Just Dance" singer posted. "Essential, inextricable parts of what makes me me. I save myself by keeping going. I am the whole me, I am strong, and I am up for the challenge."

"Happy Halloween," Gaga signed off.

The new video is just Gaga's latest venture into the cinematic arts. She portrays Harley "Lee" Quinn in "Joker: Folie à Deux," and has impressed critics and audiences alike with her starring turns in the 2018 remake of "A Star is Born," in the 2021 film "House of Gucci," and two seasons of "American Horror Story."

Gaga's new album is slated to drop in February.

Watch the video below.


by Kilian Melloy , EDGE Staff Reporter

Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.

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