When 'Joker: Folie à Deux' hit theaters in October 2024, it arrived with immense expectations. The 2019 original had been a cultural phenomenon—winning Oscars, earning over a billion dollars, and igniting debates about violence, mental health, and the nature of comic book movies. Its sequel, a musical romance co-starring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, was one of the most anticipated films of the year. But the reaction was swift and brutal: critics panned it, audiences rejected it, and the box office tumbled far below projections. For Lady Gaga, who had poured considerable energy into the role, this was a uniquely painful experience.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the singer and actress opened up about how she processed the avalanche of negativity. “I wasn’t, like, unfazed,” she said. “It’s funny, I’m almost nervous to share my reaction. But the truth is, when it first started happening, I started laughing. Because it was just getting so unhinged … When it takes a while for something to kind of dissipate, that can be a little bit more painful. Only because I put a lot of myself into it.”
Lady Gaga’s performance as Lee Quinzel (the female Joker) was frequently cited as one of the few bright spots in Todd Phillips’s sequel. Yet the film’s creative choices—its dreamlike musical numbers, its grim deconstruction of the Joker mythos, and its bleak ending—alienated many viewers who had rooted for Arthur Fleck in the first film. The word-of-mouth was toxic, and social media memes mocking the movie went viral. For an artist accustomed to adoration and chart-topping success, this was unfamiliar territory.
But Gaga, born Stefani Germanotta, has faced career challenges before. After the commercial and critical failure of her 2013 album 'Artpop,' she reinvented herself with a Vegas residency, an Oscar-nominated turn in 'A Star Is Born,' and a pivot to more grounded pop music. The 'Joker' backlash, she explained, became raw material for her latest creative project—the album 'Mayhem' and its lead single 'Disease.'
“I put so much of that energy into that video,” she said about the 'Disease' music video, which she described as cathartic. “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.’” The video, directed by longtime collaborator Parris Goebel, features Gaga in a series of intense, almost ritualistic dance sequences that evoke pain, anger, and transformation. Fans immediately connected the dots between the visuals and the actress’s real-life experience with the 'Joker' fallout.
The irony is that 'Joker: Folie à Deux' was itself a meditation on performance, delusion, and the desire to be seen—themes that resonate deeply with Lady Gaga’s own public persona. In the film, her character Harley Quinn attempts to free Arthur Fleck from his delusions, only to be rejected and left alone. Off-screen, the actress found herself wrestling with her own relationship to fame and criticism.
“I think a lot of people don’t understand what it’s like to be in a massive franchise film that fails,” entertainment analyst Dr. Karen Stern said in a commentary for Variety. “For an artist like Lady Gaga, who has built her brand on authenticity and spectacle, the public rejection of a project she believed in can feel deeply personal. But she has a remarkable ability to metabolize pain into art.”
Indeed, the months following the 'Joker' sequel’s release were busy for Gaga. She embarked on a world tour for her seventh studio album 'Mayhem,' which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Critics praised the album as a return to form, blending dark pop with experimental sounds. She also made a surprise cameo in the second season of Netflix’s 'Wednesday,' directed by Tim Burton, further cementing her reputation as a versatile performer.
But the memory of the 'Joker' experience lingers. In the Rolling Stone interview, Gaga acknowledged that the film’s failure was “a ton of negativity” that she had to process. She described feeling “artistically rebellious” during the making of 'Mayhem,' channeling the disappointment into the album’s raw energy. The song 'Disease' in particular seems to reference the backlash: a pounding track about fighting internal demons and external critics.
The history of comic book movie flops is littered with stars who struggled to recover—George Clooney after 'Batman & Robin,' Eric Bana after 'Hulk,' Ben Affleck after 'Daredevil.' But Gaga’s trajectory suggests she may have already bounced back. Her tour is sold out, her streaming numbers are high, and she remains a red-carpet favorite. Yet the episode also reveals something about the nature of modern fandom: the same audiences that worship an artist for one film may violently reject them for the next.
Interestingly, the backlash against 'Joker: Folie à Deux' did not dim interest in the character. Later in 2025, DC announced a new Harley Quinn animated series with a different creative team, and fans speculated that a standalone Lady Gaga Harley Quinn project could still happen—though she has not confirmed anything. For now, Gaga seems content to move forward.
“I’ve learned that I can’t please everyone, and I shouldn’t try,” she said. “The most important thing is that I’m honest in my work. If people connect with it, wonderful. If they don’t, I still have to live with myself.”
Her journey from humiliated actress to pop powerhouse is a testament to resilience. It also mirrors the arc of many great performers: failure is not the end but a new chapter. As she continues her tour and plans a new film project—reportedly a drama about a 1970s disco singer—Gaga is proving that even a film described as “the most disappointing sequel of the decade” cannot silence her talent or ambition.
The lesson for fans and critics alike is that Lady Gaga’s story is far from over. Whether she revisits the world of Gotham or charts entirely new territories, one thing is clear: she will continue to transform every setback into something beautiful—or terrifying, depending on your perspective. And the world will be watching, waiting to see what she does next.
Source: Gizmodo News