Lady Gaga already gave us one of the most enduring memes of 2020 via the ‘Chromatica II‘ into ‘911‘ transition – she didn’t need to go this hard with the ‘911’ video itself, but she released it overnight, and boy, I may never recover from it.
911 is a return to the peak visual splendour and thematic weirdness of classic Lady Gaga. It was made in collaboration with Tarsem Singh Dhandwar, the director of The Cell, and is his first music video in more than two decades.
We open as Gaga wakes up confused in a white, sandy desert. She encounters a series of mysterious and immaculately-dressed characters, who draw her into their increasingly strange world as things build to a surprise twist ending.
You can check it out below:
Speaking with Apple Music back in May, Lady Gaga revealed that the song is “about an antipsychotic that I take,” adding:
“And it’s because I can’t always control things that my brain does. I know that. And I have to take medication to stop the process that occurs.”
Taking to Instagram overnight to share the story behind 911, she said:
“This short film is very personal to me, my experience with mental health and the way reality and dreams can interconnect to form heroes within us and all around us. I’d like to thank my director/filmmaker Tarsem for sharing a 25 year old idea he had with me because my life story spoke so much to him. I’d like to thank Haus of Gaga for being strong for me when I wasn’t, and the crew for making this short film safely during this pandemic without anyone getting sick. It’s been years since I felt so alive in my creativity to make together what we did with “911”.”
She continued:
“Thank you Bloodpop for taking a leap of faith with me to produce a record that hides in nothing but the truth. Finally, thank you little monsters. I’m awake now, I can see you, I can feel you, thank you for believing in me when I was very afraid. Something that was once my real life everyday is now a film, a true story that is now the past and not the present. It’s the poetry of pain.”
