The track peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Global 200 and reached the top 20 in the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. It received certifications in Brazil, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom. The music video for "Disease", directed by Tanu Muino, depicts Gaga facing different versions of herself and trying to control her personified fears. Gaga first performed the track during a Christmas special of Carpool Karaoke in December 2024. She later included it in the set lists of the Mayhem promotional tour (2025) and the Mayhem Ball concert tour (2025–2026).
Background and production
Lady Gaga revealed that she was working on new music on March 28, 2024, stating, "I am writing some of my best music in as long as I can remember".[1]Cirkut was invited to work with Gaga through Andrew Watt; the three produced the song "Disease", which was conceived "fairly early in the process" of their creative collaboration and became a pivotal element of their work for her then-upcoming studio album.[2] Cirkut characterized it as a "very aggressive" track and an "in-your-face" introduction to the project.[2] Gaga stated that both the song and its music video were inspired by her confrontation with her fears and "inner darkness": "No matter how scary the question, the answers are inside of me. Essential, inextricable parts of what makes me me. I save myself by keeping going".[3][4] In later interviews, she further described "Disease" as being about "somebody that wants to harm you — and it being you",[5] and said that she chose it as the album's lead single because it had a "strong sound".[6]
Following the release of "Die with a Smile" on August 16, 2024, and while attending the 81st Venice International Film Festival ahead of the premiere of her film Joker: Folie à Deux (2024), Gaga announced that the lead single from her then-upcoming studio album was to be released in October2024.[8][9] On October 18, Spotify updated the titles of seven tracks from her discography to spell out the word "disease", hinting at an upcoming single.[10][11] Three days later, the song's release was confirmed by Universal Music Group through a pre-save website,[12] which depicted a glitch of the phrase "I could play the doctor" against a black screen.[13] Via her social media, Gaga revealed the official logo of "Disease", a promotional poster, and the release time for cities globally.[14] On October 25, Interscope Records released "Disease" worldwide digitally for download and streaming,[15] and Universal sent it to Italian radio airplay.[16] Four days later, Interscope released it in the United States to contemporary hit radio.[17] Gaga unveiled the track listing of her studio album Mayhem on February 18, 2025, with "Disease" appearing as the album's opening track.[18]
Alternative versions
Gaga released two self-produced live versions of "Disease",[19][20] one performed on piano and the other on electric guitar.[20] On November 13, 2024, a live version subtitled "The Antidote Live" was released worldwide digitally by Interscope[21] and to Italian radio airplay by Universal.[22] Another live version, subtitled "The Poison Live", was released digitally on November 20 by Interscope.[23] They were both accompanied by visual videos and instrumental versions.[24][21][23] Filmed at Woodshed Studios in Malibu, California, the video for "The Antidote Live" version features Gaga performing a stripped-down rendition on a black grand piano with acoustic guitar accompaniment and a backing track.[25] Gaga stated that this version was "really delicate and almost somber" because the song's chorus was originally written on piano.[20] In the video for "The Poison Live" version, she performs an electric guitar rendition with assistance from guitarist Tim Stewart.[26][20] Gaga explained that the use of electric guitar introduced a "sense of fun" that contrasted with the emotional "torture" of the lyrics, while Stewart's chord inversions added a feeling of "hurt", which she found interesting.[20]
Several journalists found "Disease" similar to Gaga's singles "Bad Romance" (2009) and "The Cure" (2017)".[a]Alexis Petridis of The Guardian particularly compared her "strident, imperious" vocals to those of "The Cure" and "Poker Face" (2008).[39] He compared the track to Gaga's album The Fame (2008), while Alexa Camp from Slant Magazine likened its composition to The Fame Monster (2009) and Born This Way (2011).[33][39] Kristen S. Hé of Vulture opined that "Disease" recalled the themes of "sex and sickness" of Gaga's 2013 songs "Do What U Want" and "Swine", although "she's no longer consumed by darkness but in control of it". Hé interpreted the track as a rejection of the idea that "great art must come from suffering".[46] For American Songwriter's Tom Donovan, the track harks back to Gaga's cover version of "The Joker" from her 2024 album Harlequin.[47]
Gaga said that "Disease" served as an entry point "into the chaos of the album", symbolizing uncomfortable emotions and negative internal dialogues.[48] The lyrics explore love's ability to heal a partner's "tortured" disease[27][49] and "seeing the vulnerabilities of being in a dark place ... and how this can lead to self-nurturing and coexistence".[50] Gaga sings in the chorus, "I could play the doctor, I can cure your disease / If you were a sinner, I could make you believe / Lay you down like one, two, three / Eyes roll back in ecstasy".[51] Nick Levine of the BBC dubbed the lyrics "melodramatic" and wrote that the song was a "welcome reminder that she stormed the mainstream by making music that was catchy and freaky in equal measure."[49]
"Disease" received acclaim from critics,[53][54] who praised its production[39][33][46] and Gaga's vocal performance.[52][55] Journalists from Consequence named it the "Song of the Week" upon its release, describing it as a "four minute reminder that pop music is where so many elements of performance have the opportunity to coalesce."[56] Stephen Ackroyd of Dork found it "dark, dramatic and impossibly catchy".[57]Clash's Robin Murray praised the chorus and described "Disease" as "lustful, salacious, and industrial".[36]Evening Standard's India Block praised the production, religious themes, and Gaga's vocals, deeming the track a "high gothic blast that's perfect for spooky season".[52]The Independent's Helen Brown similarly commended Gaga's vocals and the song's "compellingly wonky pace".[55] Adam White from the same publication found the track "incredibly frenetic", and "really made by Gaga's snarling vocal".[40]V magazine's Wong praised Gaga's "gorgeously powerful vocals" and the song's "thunderous beats".[43]
Stephen Daw of Billboard listed "Disease" as the ninth-best track on Mayhem and considered it a brooding dark-pop return to Gaga's "twisted pop origins".[58][59]Paste's Sam Rosenberg wrote that it was an "exciting, promising" introduction to Mayhem's thematic exploration of chaos, adding that its dark nature was engaging enough to keep the album's energy flowing.[60]Beats Per Minute's JT Early thought that the contrast between the song's "empowering" message and "clanging" production highlighted "darkness as a constant thing to overcome".[50]Slant Magazine's Camp and O'Connor considered the lyrics generic but praised the sound and production; the latter said that "Disease" was "her best in a long while".[33][38]
Rolling Stone ranked "Disease" as the 17th-best song of 2024, with Brittany Spanos calling it a "thrilling and very welcome return to form".[61]The Guardian picked it as the 18th-best track of 2024; Ben Beaumont-Thomas dubbed it a "triumphant return to her core electro-pop sound".[62] In a 2024 ranking of Gaga's seven lead singles, Marcus Wratten of PinkNews placed "Disease" at number four and praised its production.[63]
Commercial performance
"Disease" reached number 14 on the Billboard Global 200 chart dated November 9, 2024.[64] In the United States, the track peaked at number 5 on the Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart,[65] number 16 on the Adult Pop Airplay chart,[66] number 17 on the Pop Airplay chart,[67] and number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[68] In the United Kingdom, "Disease" debuted at number seven on the UK Singles Chart, marking the sixteenth top-ten song in Gaga's career.[69] "Disease" additionally reached the top 30 on the charts of Greece (6),[70] the Czech Republic (10),[71] Ireland (11),[72] Latvia (14),[73] Slovakia (20),[74] Brazil (21),[75] the Netherlands (25),[76] Portugal (25),[77] Lithuania (26),[78] Switzerland (27),[79] and Canada (28).[80] The track was certified double platinum in Brazil,[81] platinum in Canada,[82] gold in France,[83] and silver in the United Kingdom.[84]
Music video
Background and synopsis
"It's never been easy for me to face how I get seduced by chaos and turmoil. It makes me feel claustrophobic. Disease is about facing that fear, facing myself and my inner darkness, and realizing that sometimes I can’t win or escape the parts of myself that scare me. 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."
—Gaga talking about the message behind the song and its visuals in her social media post for the music video's release[4]
Gaga shared a snippet from the music video for "Disease" on her social media on October22,2024. It depicts her wearing a white dress and running from a car driving towards her on a suburban street; she turns back to the mystery driver several times throughout the video as she tries to escape.[14][85]Vulture's Jason P. Frank compared the dress in the video to that of Samara Morgan from the 2002 psychological horror film The Ring.[86] On October29, Gaga announced via social media that, in celebration of Halloween, the music video would be released later that day as part of a double feature, alongside a live video of her and Bruno Mars performing "Die with a Smile" during Mars's Las Vegas residency.[87]
The video was directed by Tanu Muino and choreographed by Parris Goebel,[47] with Gaga stating that "we started exploring with the choreography this idea of me battling myself".[5] In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gaga said that the video was an answer to the negative reception of her movie Joker: Folie à Deux. She explained: "I put so much of that energy into that video. I was in that place, you know, I was like, 'I'll show you who I am, and I'll show you what this fight is like'".[5] She remarked that the video's filming left her mentally unsettled and that it lingered in her thoughts for weeks as she tried to understand its meaning; she realized that it revealed a "side of me that's scared of another side", which showed that she "was not done healing".[5]
The four-and-a-half-minute video mostly takes place in a quiet suburban neighborhood,[88] while a scene where one of Gaga's dancers is standing on her shoulders was shot inside an old mental asylum in Pasadena, California.[89] It opens with a "possessed-looking" Gaga lying across the hood of a car.[90] The visuals depict Gaga facing different versions of herself and trying to regain control of her personified fears.[91] One incarnation shows a red-eyed figure dressed in an all-black leather outfit, complete with a zippered mask and steel-studded fingernails.[88][92] She runs over a "more innocent" counterpart wearing a nightgown with a floral print.[93] In another scene, a white-clad figure in a crop top and briefs steps over her clone while being handcuffed to the ceiling,[94][93] while elsewhere Gaga appears in an ombré mesh dress with dip dye, emerging from a dark pool of vomit before becoming trapped between two colliding walls.[94][93][95] Throughout the video, these figures of Gaga are shown engaging in fights, running down the street, dancing, or embracing each other.[92]
Reception and analysis
In the music video for "Disease", Gaga embraces a macabre version of herself with an all-black outfit and long fingernails, which was compared to the film Edward Scissorhands (1990).
The video received praise from fans and critics.[96]HuffPost UK's Daniel Welsh called it a "pre-Halloween treat" that lives up to Gaga's reputation of "pushing the envelope" with her music videos.[4]Elle's Erica Gonzales deemed it "haunting and at times disturbing",[94] and Attitude's Jamie Tabberer dubbed it "dark, twisted, and deeply personal" and compared it to horror films.[97] Christian Allaire from Vogue and Gonzales praised the video's theme and avant-garde fashion costumes.[94][93]Uproxx's Flisadam Pointer commended the production, elaborate wardrobe changes, and Gaga's performance.[98] Matthew Velasco from W magazine dubbed the video "cinematic" and said that it has "almost theater-like experience". He found its theme reminiscent of The Fame Monster era and the music videos for Gaga's singles "Bad Romance" and "Alejandro" (2010).[99]Nylon's Dylan Kickham similarly compared its horror-leaning artistic direction to Gaga's previous works.[100]Elamin Abdelmahmoud of CBC Radio thought that it recalled Marilyn Manson's videos from the mid-1990s.[101]
American Songwriter's Donovan thought that the video's gothic aesthetic was reminiscent the film Edward Scissorhands (1990) and the music video for Nine Inch Nails' song "Closer" (1994); he opined that it explores themes of fetishism, sadomasochism, and self-destruction, depicting Gaga battling her inner demons in a violent, claustrophobic imagery.[47] Danielle Chelosky from Stereogum also thought that the video evoked Edward Scissorhands, particularly due to the character dressed in all black with long fingernails.[95]Rolling Stone's Brian Hiatt wrote that while Gaga had previously explored horror-inspired visuals, the "Disease" video stands out as "a coded tour of her darkest thoughts, a remarkably uncompromising way to begin an all-important album cycle".[5] He compared the scene where the masked character "retches up a large quantity of black bile" to Gaga's performance of her song "Swine" at South by Southwest in 2014, where performance artist Millie Brown vomited paint over her.[5]
Gaga first performed "Disease" during a Christmas special of the television series Carpool Karaoke, which premiered on December 15, 2024, on Apple Music and Apple TV+.[102] She included the track in the set list of the Mayhem promotional tour in 2025[103][104] and reprised the performance at the Mayhem Ball concert tour (2025–2026).[105] During the performance, Gaga, dressed in a white gown and platinum blonde hair, fights several skull-faced dancers[106][107] and a red-dressed doppelgänger;[108] they fight in a sandbox–representing a grave–before Gaga is ultimately strangled.[109][106] Livia Caligor from W magazine wrote that the performance revisited the "Gothic dreamscape of [Gaga's] past" and thought that the skeletal dancers represented her "inner demons".[107] Adrian Horton of The Guardian picked "Disease" as the highlight of Gaga's show,[109] and Wesley Morris from The New York Times Magazine commended how "in spite of all the tussling and writhing, she didn't miss a note."[110] The performance, like the music video, was choreographed by Parris Goebel, who revealed that she used cat litter to fill the sandbox.[111]
In November2024, English singer Cassyette shared a video singing a screamcore rendition of "Disease", to which Gaga reacted favorably.[112][113] The full cover version was released to digital music platforms on December7,2024.[114] In October2025, American singer Demi Lovato performed a mashup of "Disease" and fellow Mayhem track "Perfect Celebrity" on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, joined by a backup band. The cover of "Disease" featured a slight rock edge compared to the original version.[115]
12"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 19. týden 2025 in the date selector. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
12"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 51+52. týden 2024 in the date selector. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
↑"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 44. týden 2024 in the date selector. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
↑"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 44. týden 2024 in the date selector. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
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