Music

Unpacking the five fiercest moments from Lady Gaga’s twisted ‘Disease’ music video

Lady Gaga in the sickening new "Disease" music video.

Lady Gaga in the sickening new “Disease” music video. (YouTube)

The music video for Lady Gaga’s new hit “Disease” is here, and it’s terrifying, twisted and oh-so Gaga.

Anyone who has followed the career of Lady Gaga over the past 15 years, even in passing, will know that music videos are very much a part of her legacy.

With 2009’s “Bad Romance”, she gave us the best video of the noughties, one month before they ended. With “Telephone”, she gave us the best video of the 2010s, two months in. “John Wayne” saved an otherwise tepid Joanne era, while “911” remains one of the most imaginative releases of this decade.

The music video is a dying medium. Think of the number of huge hits this year alone that have existed (and thrived) without them: “Texas Hold ‘Em”, “Good Luck, Babe!” and, up until just a few weeks ago, “Birds of a Feather”.

Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga. (Getty)

Gaga is therefore an outlier. Her artistry remains as much about the visuals as the music, and that’s why her videos are still such an event. There’s a reason why, when she released “Disease” on Friday (25 October) her fans were in equal parts thrilled and disappointed that the video didn’t drop with it.

Now that’s changed, and “Disease” is here in all its grimy, gory, Gaga greatness. Directed by Tanu Muino, the four-minute video sees Gaga battle it out with several versions of herself. These are its top five moments.

Lady Gaga fights herself

The “Disease: video opens with a mysterious cloaked figure, reminiscent of a 17th century plague doctor and later revealed to be Gaga herself, seated in a car having just ran over a bloodied, other version of the star. It’s a puzzling start, as is the way with most Gaga videos, but what happens next kickstarts the action: dishevelled crash victim Gaga chases a third, dirty blonde Gaga down the Wisteria Lane-esque street, with the pair giving each other an ass-whooping.

Some fans believe the scene represents the woman behind the persona, Stefani Germanotta, fighting with a past version of herself – specifically, her Artpop self, as the dirty blonde Gaga is wearing a plaid shirt reminiscent of one worn by the star during a 2013 performance of Artpop track, “Dope”.

A new song tease

Halfway through the video, “Disease” cuts out as crash victim Gaga stumbles in front of the car that hit her, while the vehicle’s radio plays what sounds like a new, unreleased Gaga song. It’s a mere 15 second clip, and pretty low quality, but Little Monsters are unsurprisingly shook by the surprise easter egg.

Gimp suit Gaga gets put through the wringer

The next scene sees gimp suit-clad Gaga out of the car and on the lane, battling a brewing tornado à la Desperate Housewives season four. Cinematically, it’s one of the video’s most visually appealing moments, and ends with the evil incarnation of Gaga vomiting up a new version of the pop icon – one which is meant to represent the star today.

Gaga’s claustrophobic nightmare

The crux of the “Disease” video comes in its final minute, where newly-spat-out Gaga becomes trapped between the closing walls of the street’s houses. Releasing the video, Gaga wrote she is left feeling “claustrophobic” by her own “inner demons” and the fact she is often “seduced by chaos and turmoil”.

The scene between the walls, which sees Gaga kicking, screaming and writhing about on the floor, symbolises Gaga trying to escape her demons, but realising that she will always have to face them one way or another. “Disease is about facing that fear, facing myself and my inner darkness, and realising that sometimes I can’t win or escape the parts of myself that scare me,” Gaga explained.

“That I can try and run from them but they are still part of me and I can run and run but eventually I’ll meet that part of myself again, even if only for a moment.”

The final shot

Once the song is over and Gaga’s multiple versions have exhausted themselves, we’re left with a singular shot of mysterious-plague-doctor-gimp-suit Gaga strutting away from the scene of the chaos, black train billowing behind her. It’s not the most eventful scene, but it leaves a lingering sense that there is so much left to enjoy from this new era. Our paws are fully up, and we’re ready to be infected with whatever disease Gaga is dishing out next.

“Disease” is out now.

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