- Lady Gaga just released her new single, "Stupid Love," alongside a music video, which was entirely shot on an iPhone.
- The song marks the first record off her yet-to-be-titled sixth studio album, which fans nickname LG6. Rumors have swirled that it's called Chromatica.
- But what is the hidden meaning behind "Stupid Love," and are the lyrics possibly about her new boyfriend, Michael Polansky? Here's what we know.
- "For me, the message behind 'Stupid Love' is important and timely because there's nothing more powerful than love to heal the world," Gaga told Zane Lowe. "We all deserve it and need it to survive."
“Please just let the first single be a bop!”
That’s the admittedly unwarranted demand diehard Lady Gaga fans like myself have (for years) asked of her in anticipation of her sixth studio album, nicknamed LG6. And on Friday, Mother Monster gave us exactly what we’d hoped for with “Stupid Love”: a fast-paced, hypnotic dance-pop record that harkens back to the electronic hits she first became recognized for. The new single sounds like it could exist organically in a remix of first-album gems like “Just Dance,” “Boys Boys Boys,” and “Poker Face.” At least, I certainly think so.
Prediction: “Stupid Love” is the type of song that’ll soon go viral on Tik-Tok (I’m just waiting for the official dance challenge to commence) and eventually come up at Thanksgiving dinner when your distant relative says, “I just heard the loveliest Lady Gaga song” nine months from now. It’s fun. It’s boisterous. And it marks the beginning of a new chapter for Gaga, 33, who’s fresh off a career high that included an Oscar win for A Star Is Born’s “Shallow,” plus the record-breaking start of two Las Vegas residencies, Enigma and Jazz and Piano, and 2020 Grammy wins that brought her total count of trophies up to 11.
I’ll leave it to Gaga herself to explain the exact meaning behind the “Stupid Love” lyrics when she inevitably kicks off a promotional tour for her upcoming album LG6, which fans think is called Chromatica. But I do have several theories of my own, namely that “Stupid Love” is a love letter to her fans, a manifesto for liberation, freedom, equality, and kindness. That sounds a bit hyperbolic, I know, but Gaga’s lyrics are historically packed with double entendres and hidden messages—no matter how mindless the lyrics “Freak out! Freak out! Freak out! Get down! Get down! Get down!” might sound. Plus, the new music video supports this theory. Allow me to explain.
Does “Stupid Love” reference Gaga’s new boyfriend?
It’s possible—but in my opinion, the song isn’t solely dedicated to him. Gaga and Michael Polansky, an investor and CEO of the Parker Group, made their relationship Instagram-official in February, shortly after rumors of their courtship began swirling in December. But here’s the thing: eagle-eyed fans noticed that Gaga hinted at the release of “Stupid Love” on Halloween 2019, when she shared a photo of an iPod playing the song (you’ll have to zoom in).
Perhaps they were dating back then, but this is a woman who works on her music “for years.” And this upcoming album release, her first LP since Joanne, comes after the highs and lows of lost love: Over the past few years, Gaga become engaged to and broke up with Chicago Fire star Taylor Kinney, dated Hollywood agent Christian Carino, and was photographed with a then-rumored boyfriend, music engineer Dan Horton.
In her 2017 Netflix Five Foot Two documentary, she tells fashion designer Brandon Maxwell, a close friend, just how frustrating it is to lose love at the height of her success. “This is the third time I’ve had my heart broken like this,” she said, referring to Kinney. “I’m alone, Brandon, every night. And all these people will leave. Right? They will leave. And then I’ll be alone. And then I go from everyone touching me all day and talking at me all day to total silence.”
All of this is to say that “Stupid Love” is a call for what she, like most of us, just wants: love in all its forms. Gaga has written about past boyfriends in songs like “You and I,” “Gypsy,” and “Perfect Illusion”—but again, they never feel singularly about one guy, and instead are relatable tracks about relationships and emotional turmoil at large.
“Stupid Love” is a call for harmony.
Gaga has been forthcoming about her battles with chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and PTSD as a result of sexual assault for years, most recently opening up to Oprah at the 2020 Vision Tour in Ft. Lauderdale. “I was afraid I was gonna die,” Gaga told Oprah. “I would say I lived that way for about five years. And I’d rather face that, those five years, because they made me who I am.”
During their conversation, Gaga admitted she suffered a “psychotic break” and has since learned how to take better care of herself. Which brings me to my theory: that the love she shares for her fans fuels her desire to keep going. As someone who’s watched Gaga in concert over a dozen times, I can attest that she regularly reminds audiences of how much joy they bring her. (Listen to the lyrics of “Applause” and dig out the evidence). In a way, the song is about finding harmony within her own self.
And it’s about picking yourself up when you’re down.
“Stupid Love” includes many references to pushing past “pain”—it could be heartbreak, or it could be quite literally physical pain—and her fanbase is possibly the antidote that she turns to for support. It sounds like she’s speaking to us Little Monsters when she says, “You’re the one that I’ve been waiting for” and when she sings, “I will battle for you! Even if we break in two.”
Also in Five Foot Two, Gaga tells a doctor that despite her deep-seeded physical pain, she’s still able to trick her body into performing when she hears her fans cheering. “Stupid Love,” then, is confirmation that we’ve got a singer-actress who loves writing music and, as she told Oprah, has more “superpowers” to show us.
Before its February release, Gaga’s new single leaked on the internet, and later got played at gay bars across the globe (as I myself witnessed several times), and even at designer Christian Cowan’s New York Fashion Week show. Gaga poked fun of her insatiable fan base with a joke about pirating music. So if still releasing a song that fans so blatantly shared without consent isn’t love, I don’t know what is.
“Stupid Love” is also about helping others.
The song feels similarly anthemic to “Born This Way,” a rallying cry for LGBTQ+ rights, and the brief notes about affirming yourself—“Gotta quit this cryin’, nobody’s gonna heal me, if I don’t open the door”—remind me of the messages of kindness she and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, regularly send the world with their mental health organization, Born This Way Foundation.
Another nugget? The lyrics “I will battle for you” mimic the inclusive language used alongside the 2019 release of Gaga’s beauty brand, Haus Labs. “We want you to love yourself,” she said in a campaign video. “Battle for your life.”
In teasers for the newly-released music video for “Stupid Love,” Gaga, dressed like an anime warrior on an unnamed planet, brings two men fighting to a halt, telling them, “All I ever wanted was love.” It’s a play on the world’s tense political climate, perhaps her own attempt at sending a message similar to John Lennon’s unifying “Imagine.”
The video itself comes with a note at the start: "The world rots in conflict. Many tribes battle for dominance. While the Spiritual ones pray and sleep for peace, the kindness punks fight for Chromatica." The full meaning behind that quote is to be determined. One takeaway? That fans' theories about the new album title could be correct: it's likely Chromatica after all, especially considering Gaga used that name in a hashtag. And especially considering she's playing up the fight for harmony in the video.
During an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s New Music Daily, Gaga opened up about her creative process for "Stupid Love" and the forthcoming album. “There were so many different iterations of these songs because we all wanted it to be perfect and literally nobody cared who put their fingerprints on it, as long as it was the dopest thing that we could give the world and that it was meaningful, authentic, and completely me,” she said.
"For me, the message behind 'Stupid Love' is important and timely because there's nothing more powerful than love to heal the world," Gaga said. "We all deserve it and need it to survive."
Like with all Gaga projects, the hidden gems and hints at a deeper meaning behind a song will continue to unravel in live performances and candid interviews. For now, you’ll find me blasting “Stupid Love”—and revisiting the lyrics below.
You’re the one that I’ve been waiting for
Gotta quit this cryin’
Nobody’s gonna heal me if I don’t open the door
Kinda hard to believe
Gotta have faith in me
Freak out, freak out, freak out, freak look
Look at me
Get down, get down, get down, get down
Look at me
Freak out, freak out, freak out, freak out
Look at me now
‘Cause all I ever wanted was love
Hey, yeah-yeah (Ooh)
Hey, yeah-yeah (Ooh)
Hey, yeah-yeah
All I ever wanted was love
Hey, yeah-yeah (Ooh)
Hey, yeah-yeah (Ooh)
Hey, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah
Higher!
Higher!
I want your stupid love, love
I want your stupid love, love
Now it’s time to free me from the shame
I gotta find that peace
Is it too late, or could this love protect me from the pain?
I will battle for you, even if I break in two
Freak out, freak out, freak out, freak out
Look at me
Get down, get down, get down, get down
Look at me
Freak out, freak out, freak out, freak out
Look at me now
‘Cause all I ever wanted was love
Hey, yeah-yeah (Ooh)
Hey, yeah-yeah (Ooh)
Hey, yeah-yeah
All I ever wanted was love
Hey, yeah-yeah (Ooh)
Hey, yeah-yeah (Ooh)
Hey, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah
Higher! Higher!
I want your stupid love, love
I want your stupid love, love
I don’t need a reason
Not sorry, I want your stupid love
I don’t need a reason
Not sorry, I want your stupid love
Higher! Higher!
I want your stupid love
We got our stupid love!
Love, love, love, love, love, oh oh
I want your stupid love
Love, love, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
I want your stupid love, love
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Jonathan Borge
Senior Editor
As the Senior Editor of OprahMag.com, I'm a jack-of-all-trades, overseeing our entertainment coverage (we cover TV shows like The Politician and Big Brother, movies such as J.Lo's Hustlers and Lena Waithe's Queen and Slim), features, news items, and— as her number one fan—all of Lady Gaga's whereabouts. I proudly edit Coming Out, a series where LGBTQ+ change-makers reflect on self-acceptance. And I edit our Weird or Wellness series, which I highly recommend you read on the weekend. Prior to O, I began my career in the fashion department at Marie Claire, and eventually moved on to InStyle, where I dabbled in social media and covered events such as the Grammys, Toronto International Film Festival, and New York Fashion Week. A native of Miami, I received my journalism degree from the University of Miami. One time, Rosario Dawson complimented my hair and asked to touch it. I let her.
