Lady Gaga Stubbornly Refuses to Start a New Era

The thirst Lady Gaga fans possess is the size of a bottomless hole. It was just a year ago when the singer was capping off her whirlwind promotions and awards ceremony tour for A Star Is Born (the soundtrack of which provided at least half an album’s worth of new Gaga material), but the Little Monsters already want more.

To be fair, Gaga herself has been teasing the release of more music for a while now.

“Rumors I’m pregnant? Yeah, I’m pregnant with #LG6,” she tweeted almost 11 months ago (#LG6, for those not completely caught up with the complexities of Twitter stan culture, means her sixth studio album). In December, she hinted that she had been working so hard on the album, she’s barely had time to bathe.

Anticipation hit a fever pitch over the past few weeks. A concert in Miami on Super Bowl weekend was announced. AT&T would sponsor a free livestream of the set. Soon, snippets of a new track, apparently leaked, began making the rounds. Then the full track, titled “Stupid Love,” leaked. It was classic Gaga with a chugging power chorus, and a big room backing track. Gay bars across the globe started playing it in full, according to Twitter reports. Her fans began dissecting what it told us about the upcoming album. Gaga herself, however, wasn’t having it.

That didn’t necessarily negate the possibility of an official launch coming soon; yet, this past “New Music Friday” came and went, and Dua Lipa’s “Physical” was allowed to win the day on the pop front.

Turns out, Gaga wasn’t prepared to premiere any new music at her Miami concert this weekend, either. The singer mostly performed a set adapted from her “Enigma” residency in Las Vegas.

When a fan requested “Stupid Love” from the crowd, Gaga reacted in a way which reminded all that she, indeed, was nominated for an Oscar a year ago.

The song went unperformed. We should have known she wouldn’t dare perform the track well decked out in the Cybergoth-informed neon-style associated with “Enigma” (a new Gaga era requires new aesthetics, after all).

So, what’s going on here?

With Gaga, it’s very possible this is all part of her plan. A planned “leak” as a way to comment on Stan culture and how much fans demand of their pop heroes? Perhaps! It would make sense for her to return to the major themes of her Fame era, especially considering how genuinely famous she’s become since writing that material. (In any event, it makes you wonder what Gaga makes of the infamous Charli XCX/Douche incident.)

Or this could be an actual leak, and Gaga is hard at work on a new album until it’s perfect (Lord knows how critical some of her fans can be).

We’re sure we’ll get the answer in time, but for now Gaga remains stubbornly in her one enigma.

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