What did Lady Gaga play in Joker: Folie a Deux? Singer opens up about facing negative reviews for her performance 

Lady Gaga has recently opened up about the negative reviews received by her latest film Joker: Folie a Deux. The film was a sequel to Joker (2019) and was released on October 4, 2024.

Directed by Todd Philips, Joker: Folie a Deux was an American jukebox musical and a psychological thriller starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Flake. The film follows is awaiting his trial at the Arkham State Hospital.

In Joker: Folie a Deux, Lady Gaga plays the role of Harley "Lee" Quinzel, a patient at Arkham State Hospital. She develops a romantic relationship with Arthur and the plot revolves around the dynamic between the two.

Despite the hype surrounding the film, it was thoroughly criticized by fans and critics and flopped at the box office. The film collected $207.5 million worldwide while being made on a budget of $190 to $200 million as per The Guardian. It also received seven nominations at the 45th Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Actor, Worst Director, Worst Picture, and Worst Actress.

Lady Gaga opened up about the incessant criticisms in an interview with Elle (published on January 28, 2025). She said:

“People just sometimes don’t like some things. It’s that simple. And I think to be an artist, you have to be willing for people to sometimes not like it. And you keep going even if something didn’t connect in the way that you intended. When that [fear of failure] makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of. It’s part of the mayhem.”

Joker: Folie a Deux was Lady Gaga's fifth time playing a role in a movie. The other four are House of Gucci, A Star Is Born, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, and Machete Kills.

---

Lady Gaga's new album Mayhem is scheduled to be released on March 7, 2025

Lady Gaga At The World Premiere Fan Screening Of HBO Original “Gaga Chromatica Ball” In Los Angeles - Source: Getty

On January 27, 2025, the infotainment page @PopBase shared photos of a huge banner featuring Lady Gaga. It announced that her eighth studio album, Mayhem would be released on March 7, 2025. The post went instantly viral and currently boasts over 126k impressions and almost 3,000 likes on X.

The same day, Lady Gaga shared an album art on Instagram and announced her upcoming project. The art contained a carousel of spooky images, flashing in and out in a dark background.

In another recent press release, Gaga opened up about the making of her upcoming album, stating:

"The album started as me facing my fear of returning to the pop music my earliest fans loved... Even if you can’t put the pieces back together perfectly, you can create something beautiful and whole in its own new way."

Mayhem will reportedly feature 14 tracks, two of which have already been released. Die With A Smile was the first single from Mayhem and featured Bruno Mars with Gaga. Released on August 16, 2024, the musical number has bagged two nominations for Grammy 2025 and was at the summit of Billboard Hot 100 during its release. On October 15, 2026, a second track called Disease came out. It peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In December 2024, Lady Gaga opened up about Mayhem in an interview (per Billboard). The actress and singer claimed:

"And it ends with love. That’s the answer to all the chaos in my life is that I find peace with love. Every song that I wrote, I just kept getting kind of swept away in these different dreams I was having about the past — almost like a recollection of all these bad decisions that I made in my life.”

---

The album's third single, alongside the music video, is rumored to be released on February 2, 2025.