By Andrew Sanford | News | March 10, 2025
I work at a Broadway theater, slinging drinks for theatergoers as they try desperately to find the bathroom. Yesterday was a two-show day, on top of the start of daylight saving time. I’ve worked a double after losing an hour of sleep before, and the theater is usually quiet. That was not the case yesterday. Instead of tired, coffee-fueled front-of-house workers, I was greeted by a group as energetic as I’ve seen them, thanks to the new Lady Gaga album they had blasting through the speakers.
To say my co-workers were excited about the new album would be an understatement. They were enthusiastically comparing tracks. Some were dancing at their stations. One co-worker was on his third-day nicotine-free and finding the pop star’s new jams as the only thing keeping him from screaming at people. The excitement was infectious. I have two ears and a soul, so I’ve heard and enjoyed a few Lady Gaga songs. I’m also perpetually behind the times, so my knowledge of her work is not deep. Regardless, I know enough to be excited when she’s a part of something.
I did not think much of the first Joker film. It was fine, but I was certain when it ended that I did not need to see it again. That lack of excitement extended to any possible sequels, until Lady Gaga got involved. My enthusiasm doubled when the movie was revealed to be a musical, then diminished when it was shown to be a jukebox musical. An avalanche of bad reactions kept me from seeing Joker 2 at all, but Lady Gaga still carries a lot of clout, which is why Jenna Ortega is hyping her appearance in Wednesday.
Netflix’s Wednesday is a show I forgot I enjoyed because, like Severance, the first season came out three years ago. But I liked the darkly humorous show that mixed creepy weirdness with YA melodrama (even if the former worked better than the latter). Ortega was great as the titular character and the show felt like a return to form for Tim Burton (at least in the episodes he helmed). Then it just kind of left my brain. Now, the series is due to back (at some point), and Ortega brought Lady Gaga on board.
“It’s Gaga — just her presence alone, her face alone. She’s not only incredibly beautiful but incredibly talented, so I feel like she could stand in the corner and play a tree and she’d add something to a scene,” the star of A24’s Death of a Unicorn explained to The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m so unbelievably excited. I’ve been a fan of hers for such a long time, so I think maybe [I will listen] on the flight out of here,” she said of Gaga’s new album, which tracks because I have heard it is good and she is the same age as many of my co-workers.
Pumping in some Lady Gaga is how you get people excited. Be it for an ill-advised sequel, a long-delayed second season, or a two-show day following a lost hour of sleep, the result is (mostly) the same. People know talent, and Lady Gaga is one of the great talents of her generation. If she is part of something, you are well within your rights to get hyped as f***.
