A combination of leaked material and public confirmations have revealed that Lady Gaga has been collaborating with popular EDM artist Zedd and sampling from Israeli trance group Infected Mushroom on her new album. The eclectic and at times controversial artist’s album ARTPOP is slated for a fall release on Monday, November 11th on Interscope Records, and is one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year.
A tweet by Lady Gaga back in October 2012 hinted at a collaboration with Zedd on a new song and the news quickly spread among fans of the two chart-topping artists. In an interview with Rolling Stone in June, Zedd ended fans’ speculation about his work with Lady Gaga. “I’m really, really excited for people to hear what we came up with . . . I just really can’t imagine they would not like it, to just say it straight up. I think the stuff we’ve made is pretty fucking cool.” He also added that they worked together on five or six potential tracks for the album.
Zedd is well known for his pop-y electronic music tracks but implied in the interview that this isn’t necessarily the direction Lady Gaga is moving towards with her new album. “We didn’t try to make an EDM album – but, at the same time we didn’t try not to make an EDM album . . . I’ve done a lot of stuff that’s really outside of what I usually do . . . It’s been a very experimental way of approaching music.”
A leaked version of “Burqa/Aura” (assumed to be the song previously referred to as **rq*) indicates heavy sampling of Infected Mushroom’s “Still Love Trance,” suggesting a collaboration with them on the track. The album’s first single “Applause” and its music video are scheduled to be released together on Monday, August 19th.