Lady Gaga's 'Disease' music video explained

It's been years since we last saw a video of Lady Gaga in all her glory. Sure, she's done performance recordings and appeared in films – but what kind of musical visuals with their trademark drama and theatricality? Not since her short film “911” in 2020.

That changed last night with the release of her music video “Disease,” just days after the new single dropped. Marking the beginning of a new era for her next album (fans are currently calling it LG7), she gave it her all.

The Tanu Muino-directed visuals offer the kind of over-the-top spectacle you'd expect from Gaga (the fashion! the commitment to the theme!), albeit with a particularly dark atmosphere. The singer battles multiple versions of herself throughout: a Gaga in a high-fashion gimp suit hits another Gaga with her car; two Gagas argue in the street; another Gaga stands on her clone's back and is handcuffed to the ceiling; another Gaga appears in a puddle of black vomit and convulses in an alley.

It's haunting and at times disturbing, but the real Gaga explained her personal inspiration behind the concept. “I think a lot about the relationship I have with my own inner demons. It has never been easy for me to endure being seduced by chaos and turmoil. It makes me feel claustrophobic,” she wrote on Instagram last night when the video premiered.

“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.”

But she continued the post with an encouraging message. “Dance, transform, run, clean. Always back to myself. For me, this integration is ultimately nice because it belongs to me and I have learned to deal with it. 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.”

And she ended with a fitting greeting for her spooky video: “Happy Halloween.”

Watch the full video for “Disease” above.

Erica Gonzales is Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of television, films, music, books and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There's a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now.