Lady Gaga doesn’t break character on ‘Harlequin’

Lady Gaga has returned to jazz, but this time in a different way.

On Sept. 24, the pop icon took to Instagram to announce “Harlequin,” a companion album to the upcoming thriller/musical film “Joker: Folie à Deux,” in which she portrays the fan-favorite Harley Quinn, this time dubbed Lee.

The record was released on Sept. 27, and its contents took me by surprise. I’m not sure what I was expecting from a Harley Quinn-inspired album, but jazz wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. It’s safe to say I’m not disappointed, though.

This is the first time Gaga has released jazz standard recordings since her close friend and collaborator Tony Bennett passed away in July of last year. The pair had previously released two albums together, “Cheek to Cheek” in 2014 and “Love for Sale” in 2021.

For a majority of “Harlequin,” Gaga places her own spin on classics from the American songbook. But in true, magical Gaga fashion, she makes them feel like her own yet still true to the character of Lee.

The record opens with “Good Morning,” originally performed by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in 1939. For the first few seconds of the song, I felt a bit skeptical, as I wasn’t fully warmed up to the idea of another jazzy record. However, once the chorus began, I immediately felt excited for what was to come.

Honestly, I’d forgotten how great Gaga’s voice sounds in a jazz setting, as I’ve only listened to her collaboration albums with Bennett when they first released. Her voice sounds naturally Old Hollywood — it’s no surprise that she sounds right at home on “Harlequin.”

Gaga masters every cover that she tackles on the album, but there are quite a few standouts that I want to talk about.

“Oh, When The Saints,” a reprised cover of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” leaps head first into a soul-funk/jazz sound. What truly struck me about it, though, is that Gaga’s version largely removes the original gospel lyrics of the song, and instead of simply creating yet another variation of the classic, she makes it feel unique.

On “That’s Entertainment,” a song originally written by Arthur Schwartz and popularized by Judy Garland, Gaga puts her Lee persona on full display. This track is said to be featured in “Folie à Deux,” according to Genius, as Lee sings it to Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker. Needless to say, I completely see the vision.

Gaga puts a stunning rock spin on “The Joker,” a track originally from the 1964 musical “The Roar of the Greasepaint — the Smell of the Crowd.” I swear my eyes widened when I first heard the chorus of this song, with Gaga belting and practically snarling, “the joker is me.”

The last standout cover for me is “That’s Life,” popularized by Frank Sinatra. This song has been covered countless times, but Gaga’s version is simply fantastic. I feel like this cover in particular gives us a real glance at Gaga’s portrayal of Harley Quinn.

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Truthfully speaking, Gaga is the only reason I’m excited for “Folie à Deux.” I’m eager to see how she portrays Harley Quinn; don’t get me wrong, I adore Margot Robbie’s humorous depiction of the character, but Gaga seems to have a completely different interpretation of her.

Between the songs on “Harlequin” and the way Gaga speaks about Lee, I think it’s fair to say that we can expect a more emotional and complex version of the character.

“Developing Lee was really private and something that I will always remember, and when I watch the film back, I noticed, right away, some things that I shared through her that are something that only people really close to me would know,” Gaga said in an interview with Vogue. “... I just wasn’t really done with Lee when I was done filming the movie.”

Gaga certainly does incorporate parts of herself into the character on “Harlequin.” In both of her original songs on the album, “Folie à Deux” and “Happy Mistake,” we catch glimpses of Lee and of the pop star’s own life as she intertwines the two.

Gaga created “Harlequin” with the help of her fiancé Michael Polansky. Keeping that in mind, there’s a double meaning to the track “Folie à Deux” — Lee is insanely in love with the Joker, and Gaga is insanely in love with Polansky.

“Happy Mistake,” though, is the most personal out of the two, as stated by Gaga herself: “... that song is a very, very personal look at the human being that played Lee, and my relationship with playing broken women throughout my career in different ways … the ultimate confessional Lady Gaga song, in a way.”

Rating: 9/10

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southacr@miamioh.edu