Wednesday was a big Lady Gaga news day! All to do with her role in Netflix’s Wednesday. The second part of season two came out yesterday, which finally included Gaga’s guest appearance, a true cameo. Then in addition to that, Gaga dropped a whole new song, “The Dead Dance,” complete with a music video directed by Tim Burton himself. Gaga told People Mag (warning: spoilers in the link!) that she was in the early stages of writing “The Dead Dance” when she joined the show, at which point she finished the song, tailoring it to Wednesday specifically. While Tim Burton is a creator and director on Wednesday, he didn’t happen to direct Gaga’s episode. So “The Dead Dance” video is technically the first collaboration between Burton and Gaga, and it’s everything we’ve dreamed of from the two goth-leaning heavily-stylized eccentrics.

Lady Gaga is back with a new song. What’s more, her single “The Dead Dance” gets the music video treatment courtesy of Tim Burton, marking the first time the two creatives have ever worked together. The black-and-white visual plays into both artists’ aesthetics while keeping ties to Wednesday, the Netflix series starring Jenna Ortega as the Addams Family character of the same name.

“The Dead Dance” was written by Lady Gaga, Andrew Watt, and Henry Walter, with producer credits going to Gaga, Watt, and Cirkut. The pop star’s Wednesday song dovetails with her cameo in the show. Gaga stars as the white-haired character Rosaline Rotwood, a legendary Nevermore teacher, after teasing her role at the Netflix Tudum 2025 event and performing her single “Abracadabra” and “Zombieboy” with portions of the Addams Family theme song.

Mayhem, Gaga’s first studio album in five years, came out this past March. Since then, she pulled double duty as host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live and headlined Coachella 2025. Her North American tour in support of the album is currently underway, with upcoming dates scheduled in New York, Toronto, and Chicago. From there, she will perform in Europe and Australia on through to the end of the year.

This Sunday, Gaga will perform at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards. She’s nominated for 12 awards this year, the most of any nominee, including Video and Song of the Year for her Bruno Mars duet “Die With a Smile.”

[From Pitchfork]

I’m always ready for more Gaga music, and I think “The Dead Dance” is a lot of fun! It totally could’ve been on Mayhem, and I actually like it more than “Zombieboy,” the only Mayhem track I just can’t get into. That being said, I think the production value of the music video is probably stronger than the song on its own. The mostly black-and-white lensing, the campy and occasionally dismembered dolls blinking to life, Gaga unblinking and doing chaotic movements like she’s a marionette trying out a new body — it all does a lot to elevate the song. But the visuals and lyrics are very coded to early Gaga, which I think will delight little monsters everywhere.

So that’s all the good news. The not so great news is that Gaga canceled her Wednesday night Mayhem Ball show in Miami with less than an hour til curtain! She posted a very groveling apology on her Instagram Stories, saying her voice was strained and she didn’t want to risk permanently damaging it and beseeched her fans to please forgive her and she promises to reschedule as soon as possible. Gaga is very diligent with her vocal training/maintenance, and we know she sings live, so I’m inclined to give her grace here. She seems genuinely mortified by the cancellation, as opposed to some other artists who show up hours late then say to the audience, “Not sorry, I was born this way.” IYKYK.

Photos credit: Sophy Holland/Netflix, Getty Images for Netflix and via YouTube