Lady Gaga delays Chromatica album release over coronavirus outbreak

Joey Nolfi
·3 min read

As Lady Gaga once declared on Twitter: "Earth is cancelled." And, amid the coronavirus outbreak, so is the planned April 10 release date for the pop icon's new album.

As the virus continues to spread around the world, leading multiple recording artists to cancel tours and forcing Hollywood to postpone production on major films and TV series, Gaga announced Tuesday her upcoming sixth studio album Chromatica will not release this spring as originally announced.

"I wanted to tell you, that after a lot of deliberation, I've made the incredibly tough decision to postpone the release of Chromatica. I will announce a new 2020 release date soon," Gaga tweeted, also encouraging fans to stay safe and practice social distancing measures to help contain the virus. "This is such a hectic and scary time for all of us, and while I believe art is one of the strongest things we have to provide joy and healing to each other during times like this, it just doesn't feel right to me to release an album with all that is going on during this global pandemic."

Instead, Gaga said she prefers that "we spend this time focusing on finding solutions," like getting essential medical supplies to healthcare providers and "making sure kids who depend on public schools for meals get the assistance they need" in addition to helping those who are financially impacted by the ongoing closures of restaurants, bars, and other public places.

Gaga also announced that MGM had to postpone her Las Vegas residency shows originally planned from April 30-May 11, though she's hopeful that her other shows scheduled for May will continue as initially announced. She then revealed that she had intended to perform a secret Coachella set to promote the album, but that was canceled as well.

The 33-year-old is set to embark on her Chromatica Ball world tour this summer, and her tweet mentioned that she "definitely" plans to hold the six-stadium event as scheduled.

Other artists who've adjusted their professional schedules amid the coronavirus spread include Khalid's postponement of his Asia tour, BTS' cancellation of several concerts in their native South Korea, and Madonna's cancellation of the final European dates of her Madame X tour.

Gaga preceded Chromatica's release with its lead single, "Stupid Love," in late February. The single — produced by BloodPop, Tchami, and Max Martin — marked a return to Gaga's signature electro-pop sounds after she found worldwide success with rock- and country-influenced songs like 2016's "Million Reasons" and the Oscar-winning A Star Is Born soundtrack smash "Shallow," which last year went on to become Gaga's first song to hit No. 1 in the United States since 2011's "Born This Way."

"The reason I love working with her is you don’t know where you’re going next. Nobody knows what genre we’re going to take," Gaga's longtime choreographer Richy Jackson recently told EW of working with the singer on the "Stupid Love" music video. "It was time for this. I don’t think we’ve had pure pop in a long time. We’ve had urban pop and even hip-hop is now pop, but we haven’t had pop like this. It was time for this right now, point-blank, period."

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