After years of silence, Lady Gaga is back on the scene with a new companion album to the newest Joker movie “Joker: Folie à Deux,” “Harlequin.” Gaga released “Harlequin” Sept. 27, after four years since her last album release of “A Star Is Born.” She refers to this album as “LG 6.5” (Lady Gaga 6.5) as many of the songs are created specifically for the movie and her character, Harley Quinn. Despite it being a pop album and not a studio album, Gaga did not disappoint as she created powerful ballads and kept true to her impressive range.
Gaga is known for her rich voice and impressive range and this album showcases both those perfectly in a new surprising style. We all know and love the 2010s Gaga with songs such as “Poker Face” and “Monster,” but Gaga has created a perfect mix of her own style as well as this show-pop version for her very own Harley Quinn. The initial sound of the album feels very uncharacteristic from previous albums Gaga has released but as the album progresses you hear her personal style in songs such as “If My Friends Could See Me Now” and “Good Morning.” Gaga accomplished the difficulty of creating an album specifically for a movie, while staying true to herself. You can hear the passion she has for each song and her character, Harley Quinn.
The song that stood out to me the most in the entire album would have to be “Happy Mistake.” The only way to describe this song is as a gut wrenching power ballad, as the entire song presents sheer raw emotion and powerful lyrics to accompany. Gaga writes poetic lyrics such as “My head is filled with broken mirrors. So many, I can’t look away. I’m in a bad way. If I could fix the broken pieces. Then I’d have a happy mistake.” These lyrics show the heartbreak she’s going through, knowing how her relationship is bad for her but she “can’t look away.” The lyrics can’t do it all and the background symphony had a perfect accompaniment. There was slow violin and piano gently flowing to the melody to accentuate the heartbreak of the lyrics. Both the instrumental and the lyrics paired perfectly furthering my enjoyment of the song.
Because this album is a companion album to “Joker: Folie à Deux,” I understand that not all the songs will be true and original to Gaga but “Oh, When The Saints” greatly disappointed me. It was a strange mix between somber yet hopeful tone and lyrics that were trying to mimic “Oh When The Saints Go Marching In” by Louis Armstrong. It stood out from the rest of the songs and didnt feel like a cohesive part of the album. There were lyrics such as “Oh, on that day they called my name. I took a breath and then I prayed,” that felt uncharacteristic for both Gaga and Quinn. However, without seeing the film I don’t have the context of the song. Nevertheless, it still heavily disappointed me.
Overall, I really enjoyed hearing Gaga’s voice on my playlists again and she’s a mastermind with lyrics. Each song had its own story to tell and it was interesting hearing a musical perspective to the infamous Harley Quinn. Even with the more disappointing songs they still had a part of the story. “Harlequin” was a big teaser for “Joker: Folie à Deux” and it worked as I’m very excited to watch it. If you’re a fan of Gaga or anything Joker/Harley Quinn related I would recommend you listen in.
“Harlequin:” ★★★★☆
