Lady Gaga has posted a series of haunting, heavily distorted photos on her Instagram page which has some fans wondering whether she’s hinting at a new project in the works.
Gaga doesn’t reveal anything in the captions of the photos other than the name of the photographer, Eli Russell Linnetz. According to W Magazine, Linnetz previously shot a recent campaign for Kanye West’s Yeezy collection. He also directed the video for Shawn Mendes’ single “Nervous” in which the singer is caressed by disembodied hands.
Based on his Instagram account, his work incorporates the surreal and the bizarre. Therefor it is of no surprise that he collaborated with Gaga on these bizarre new photos.
In the photographs, various parts of the singer’s body have been warped. One particular image sets an eccentric scene — Gaga is lying on the floor and her nose and neck have been stretched. In another, Lady Gaga’s breasts have been distorted so that they look much larger than they are, ballooning out to unnatural proportions. Her mouth has also been lengthened, giving her face a monstrous and devilish grin.
In one of the more “conventional” shots, the singer is photographed from below and wears what looks like a tiger mask on her crotch.
The visual cohesion between the photos makes it look like a series of high quality promotional photos that pop stars usually release before they put out a new album. Additionally, these photos don’t seem to be part of a shoot for a magazine; Gaga doesn’t mention or tag a publication in the captions.
The photos have triggered calls for new music from her most rabid fans, those who she has affectionately named “Little Monsters”.
“Release new singles, P L E A S E!!! Tell us these new pictures were taken for the N E W E R A!!! OMG! Can’t wait for it anymore!” one person wrote.
“Can’t wait to see what you do next babe,” another fan wrote, while another fan commented, “Mother Monster is up to something.”
Lady Gaga’s last album, Joanne , was released in 2016. During that era of her career, she noticeably pared down the outlandish visuals and outfits that helped to make her famous, opting for a more subdued public image which matched the country/folk vibe of the album.
Could these photos be an indication that she plans to return to her more experimental roots?
NME reports that Gaga is working on a new album whose working title is currently LC6 . There’s no official release date yet but as NME notes, she tends to release new projects every two years. So that should make her little monsters hopeful that new music is coming soon. She’s also set to appear in a new movie, A Star Is Born, alongside Bradley Cooper. The film opens in theaters in October of this year.
