Lady Gaga releases video for “Disease”

Shortly after releasing her new dark electro single “Disease,” Lady Gaga has shared her official music video.

In the newly released images, Gaga confronts different versions of herself – some scarier than others – as she tries to regain control of her personified deepest fears. Ahead of the music video's global release, Gaga posted a statement on her Instagram Stories about the song's meaning.

“I think a lot about the relationship I have with my own inner demons,” she wrote. “It has never been easy for me to endure being seduced by chaos and turmoil. It makes me claustrophobic. Illness 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 to run away from them but they are still a part of me and I can run and run but eventually I will meet that part of me again, if only for a moment. Dance, transform, run, clean. Always back to myself. Ultimately, this integration is nice for me because it belongs to me and I have learned to deal with it.”

She concluded: “I am the conductor of my own symphony. I am every actor in the plays that are my art and my life. No matter how scary the question, the answers lie within me. Essential, inseparable parts of what makes me me. I save myself by moving on. I am my whole person, I am strong and I am ready for the challenge. Happy Halloween.”

“Disease” came out last Friday after initial clues about its release date emerged. Last weekend, fans noticed a pop-up site on Universal Music that was releasing pre-saves for the single and linking to Apple Music and Spotify. Gaga also released a playlist of previous hits on Spotify with certain letters capitalized and lowercased, the latter meaning “Gaga Disease.” Fans quickly discovered it was gagadisease.com, which led to a number of websites revealing some of the song's lyrics.

Gaga is currently on a roll with “Die With a Smile,” her duet with Mars, which was released in August. The song has been a commercial hit since its release and is currently at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, having previously peaked at No. 3. It has been streamed over 770 million times on Spotify and its official video has 230 million views on YouTube.

The pop star is gearing up for the release of her seventh album, which is expected to arrive in February. Last month she surprise-released Harlequin, a collection largely comprised of American songbook standards inspired by her role as Harley Quinn in the film Joker: Folie à Deux.