It’s no joke, a new Lady Gaga album is dropping this week, as a companion to the upcoming “Joker” sequel.
On Tuesday, the 38-year-old Grammy and Oscar winner announced on Instagram that “Harlequin” will drop Friday. The title of the 13-track album is a nod to her role in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” out Oct. 4. She plays Lee, a new spin on Joker love interest Harley Quinn.
The announcement featured a shot of the New York native, real name Stefani Germanotta, standing in the shower and sporting a life vest, wet hair, and makeup running down the right side of her face. The “Shallow” crooner also included a shot that looks to be from the film, showing a crushed milk carton and a portion of a clown mask.
The new album will not include Gaga’s surprise collaboration with Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile,” which the pair dropped last month.
Earlier this month, Gaga revealed that in October, she’ll release the first single from her seventh studio album, currently known only as “Lady Gaga 7.”
The hotly anticipated record is her first since 2020’s “Chromatica” and appears to be a wholly separate project from “Harlequin,” indicated further by this week’s billboards. Those showed the number “6.5,” per Variety.
The tracks on “Harlequin” include several covers, including “Get Happy” which is featured in the “Folie à Deux” trailer.
Unlike 2019’s “Joker,” which draws heavily from Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” “The King of Comedy,” and “Raging Bull,” “Folie à Deux” is a musical psychological thriller. Joaquin Phoenix will reprise his role as the titular Batman arch-nemesis, which previously won him his first Academy Award.
