As promised, Lady Gaga debuted two videos on Tuesday night — one disturbing and one perfectly nice.
The nice clip is a live performance of “Die With a Smile,” recorded live at one of Bruno Mars’ shows in Las Vegas. Gaga, onstage next to Bruno, plays piano in a big red wig, blue eyeshadow and ’60s-style mini-dress. As the song reaches its climax, lights strobe, sparklers go off, fire shoots up from the stage and we fade to black.
As for the disturbing one, that’s for her new single, “Disease.” It starts with a brunette Gaga draped over the hood of a car, driven by a black-clad figure clad who is also Gaga, wearing a creepy leather hat/mask combo. A third Gaga, this time a blonde one, pulls the first Gaga off the car hood and they start fighting in the street.
Meanwhile, another Gaga hangs by her wrists from the ceiling of a dark room and tries to strangle yet another Gaga with her legs. Back outside, creepy leather Gaga staggers down the street chasing the first Gaga and vomiting up black blood. After a lot more fighting, creepy leather Gaga seems to be the last woman standing.
So what does it all mean? In a statement on Instagram, Gaga writes, “I think a lot about the relationship I have with my own inner demons. It’s never been easy for me to face how I get seduced by chaos and turmoil … ‘Disease’ 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. That I can try and run from them but they are still part of me…”
However, she notes, “I’ve learned to handle it … the answers are inside of me …I am the whole me, I am strong, and I am up for the challenge. Happy Halloween.”
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