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Lady Gaga on ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Backlash: “Not Everyone Has to Like It”

The film, a sequel to the critically acclaimed 2019 Joker, premiered at the festival before its theatrical release on October 4.

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Lady Gaga on ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Backlash: “Not Everyone Has to Like It”

Lady Gaga has addressed the negative reviews and underwhelming box office performance of Joker: Folie à Deux, in which she stars as Harley Quinn alongside Joaquin Phoenix. Gaga portrays Lee, who later becomes Harley Quinn, a patient at Arkham State Hospital, where Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck is held as a maximum-security inmate.

“People just sometimes don’t like some things,” said Gaga, as quoted by Deadline. “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.”

Reflecting on the impact of failure, she added, “When that makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of. It’s part of the mayhem,” noting that the fear of failure can be damaging.

Despite the mixed reception, Todd Phillips‘ directorial musical psychological thriller received a standing ovation at the 81st Venice International Film Festival. The film, a sequel to the critically acclaimed 2019 Joker, premiered at the festival before its theatrical release on October 4. The original Joker was a major success, earning 11 Oscar nominations and winning Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Original Score for Hildur Guðnadóttir. It also became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.

Meanwhile, Gaga has announced her upcoming album Mayhem, set to release on March 7. She shared a cinematic teaser on Instagram featuring eerie images and messages set to a dark, intensifying soundscape, captioning it, “MAYHEM coming March 7.

According to Deadline, Gaga described the album’s creative journey in a statement: “The album started as me facing my fear of returning to the pop music my earliest fans loved.” She further explained that her creative process resembles “a shattered mirror: 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 include 14 tracks, featuring the previously released singles Disease and Die With a Smile. While the full tracklist remains under wraps, the third single will debut as a commercial during the 2025 Grammy Awards on February 2.