Harlequin is a companion album by Lady Gaga, released alongside the film Joker: Folie à Deux (2024), in which Gaga portrays Harley “Lee” Quinn alongside Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker.
The album blends jazz classics with original songs, capturing the chaotic relationship between Harley and the Joker. Songs like “Get Happy” and “That’s Entertainment”, made famous by Judy Garland, are featured alongside new tracks such as “Folie à Deux” and “Happy Mistake”.
Initially teased as “LG 6.5”, the album was announced just 3 days before its release, and it serves as a bridge between her 2020 album Chromatica and her upcoming seventh studio album.
In the vinyl booklet for the album, Gaga left a Special Thanks message for fans to read:
This project would not have been possible without the unwavering commitment and support of the families of our musicians, arrangers, and crew members. Family is the unsung hero behind everything and we’re grateful to you for providing us with stability and warmth during the recording process.
We’d like to thank Ben, Brian, Steve, Daniel, Alex, Donald, and Tim—your talent and musicianship is unmatched. This album simply would not exist without you. To the conductors and musicians in our big band: thank you for bringing these swinging charts to life with your joy. And thank you to all the songwriters throughout history who created these timeless tunes and to the musicians who played them (and to their publishers for graciously welcoming a few new lyrics here and there).
We would also like to thank the city of Las Vegas. We made this album at the Palms over three unbearably hot summer weeks and found inspiration in the entertainers and performers who make Las Vegas so extraordinary. We are grateful to the singers, the burlesque dancers, the magicians, the comedians, the craftspeople, the artisans-each with their own unique talent. Thank you to the bartenders, the servers, the chefs, and all the hospitality personnel who keep these traditions alive for the world to experience.
A special thank you to our MGM family for being our home away from home. Michael and I had our first date at Bavette’s the night before one of my jazz shows, and since then we’ve spent many nights there making friends and dreaming about the future. Thank you to the Palms crew for welcoming us into your studio.
We would also like to thank Jackie Petri, Stacey Quinn, Lindsay Shane, Mark Thompson, Justin Tapia, Kevin Williams, Thomas Pead, Bobby Campbell, Sonya Guardo, Orin Snyder, John Janick, Steve Berman, Bryan Lourd, Warner Brothers, and DC Comics for their support of our project.
And most of all…thank you to Little Monsters, both young and old, jazz fans and not, thank you for embracing art, music, rule-breaking, risk-taking, and the genre-bending that keeps our spirits alive and creativity on fire.
I would say that Harlequin is a companion piece to “Joker”, and it is meant to be enjoyed along with the movie; but it’s also a completely separate experience. I didn’t want to be beholden to any one genre. I wanted it to as defiant as the character. And I just wasn’t done with the music when the music was done filming. So, the record is an exploration of Lee, but I think in a way it’s also just a celebration of the way that women are really complex creatures. […] This is kind of, like, a special record for me, beacuse it’s kind of my celebration, like, all the masks that I’ve worn in my career but in one person – and allowing it to be an expression of that light. […] I would say the sound of this record is definitely inspired by jazz, because of the nature of so much of the music that in in “Joker”. But also it has, like, some surf punk influence. It has funk influence. It has heavy blues influence. It kind of just allows itself to be totally free.
-Lady Gaga via “Tea time with @ladygaga”, Instagram post
