While the theme of next season's American Horror Story is still undecided, fans felt a ripple of excitement created by executive producer Ryan Murphy as he revealed which cast members are set to return and embrace a twisted universe for the upcoming sixth season. Go on, do a little cartwheel.

Addressing a panel of previous cast members, which closed this year's PaleyFest, Murphy quipped: "I will tell you that every darling person up here that wants to come back can come back." Well that's fabulous news, darling.


Cast members presumed most likely to return include Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Denis O'Hare and Sarah Paulson, as well as relative newcomers Wes Bentley, Matt Bomer, Cheyenne Jackson and Finn Wittrock.

And we can barely maintain our Pokerface as last year's lead Lady Gaga, who won a Golden Globe for her role as The Countess, has already revealed she will return to the hit show.

Surprise, b*tch! Emma Roberts is ready for more American Horror Story.

"Hopefully, this season!" Roberts gushed to ET about returning to the series while at PaleyFest for her current series, Scream Queens.


"Last year, it just didn't work out 'cause I was still shooting Scream Queens," Roberts continued. "But now that Scream Queens is shooting [season two] in L.A. and not New Orleans, maybe I'll just have to walk over to the stage and force myself onto the show."

When Roberts does make her way to the AHS stage, she hopes to film a showdown with season five (Hotel) star Lady Gaga.

"My dream," the actress beamed. "My dream. Do you hear that? My dream!"

The 25-year-old appeared in seasons three (Coven) and four (Freakshow) of the anthology series, creating iconic -- and meme-worthy -- moments, like this one:

FX
American Horror Story and Scream Queens creator Brad Falchuk revealed at Saturday's Scream Queens panel that Roberts' character on that show, Chanel Oberlin, was very much a continuation of her AHS: Coven character, Madison Montgomery.

If you are a horror fanatic and not too superstitious about being murdered by ghosts and ghouls then you could have been in for the holiday of a lifetime when American Horror Story’s ‘Murder House’ was briefly available to rent on Airbnb.

The house was integral to the first series of the hit horror TV show and has also played host to other television favourites, including Buffy The Vampire Slayer and The X-Files.

The Alfred Rosenheim Mansion was available to rent for a cool $1450 (£1006) a night on Airbnb and received positive reviews before it was mysteriously removed from the listings.

Here’s hoping nothing spooky went on during one of the stays, eh?

According to Variety, the house accommodates more than sixteen people with nine bedrooms and “4.5 bathrooms”, with the mansion gaining even more value due to it being a historic Los Angeles landmark that was built in 1908.

With US networks currently churning out shows that are gaining widespread critical acclaim, most have managed to find a UK channel to call itself home. But what of the shows that are currently being neglected by UK broadcasters? Here’s four established American shows that need to find a UK home, right now.

1. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

The acclaimed comedy, which airs on The CW over in the US, follows 20-something Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) who moves to the East Coast on a whim in an attempt to win back her ex-boyfriend. The show’s creator and lead actress Rachel Bloom bagged a Golden Globe after just eight episodes and has been sweeping up other best comedic actress roles ever since. That’s got to be some indication that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend needs to make its way to the UK soon.

2. iZombie

It’s a superhero story that’s perhaps a little bit unconventional, iZombie currently airs alongside its fellow DC heroes on The CW in the US. Based on the DC comic of the same name, the show follows Liv Moore (Rose McIver), a former medical resident who leaves her job to become a medical examiner after she is turned into a zombie. Her job gives her access to brains, which give her visions from her victim’s memories that help the Seattle PD solve murders. It’s a smart show, cleverly combining the humour and hero aspect, but sadly hasn’t appealed to any UK channels.

3. American Crime

With American Horror Story and True Detective helping this genre, the anthology series format is hot right now. Created by Oscar winner John Ridley, American Crime focuses on race, class, gender politics and stars Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton. The story follows a racially charged murder in Modesto, California and the trial that later affects the victim’s and suspect’s family. The first season received widespread critical acclaim - it was nominated for 10 Emmy’s in 2015 so a UK pick-up could be possible.

4. Fresh Off The Boat

Fresh Off The Boat made headlines when it aired early last year. It’s the first American sitcom to feature an Asian-American family as its leads and became the second highest-rated comedy premiere that television season. The show follows the young Eddie Huang (Hudson Yang) as his family decide to uproot their lives from Chinatown in Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Florida to open a cowboy-themed steak restaurat in 1995. His mother struggles with the culture clash while his father embraces the American Dream while Eddie has trouble at school. It’s a show that could sill possibly make its way over in the UK.

Warning: This recap for the “Be Our Guest” episode of American Horror Story: Hotel contains spoilers. 

Nightmares, like most dreams, help us experience life without causing real harm. They’re useful in that way; we may never find ourselves being chased by a faceless hellhound through dark alleyways, BUT if that scenario suddenly did arise, we’d sure enough have a better shot of surviving if we’d already dreamt about it. Another reason we need nightmares — and more specifically, the sensation of being scared — is that these things provide valuable contrast to life’s more positive sensations. Comfort, relief, security… All are heightened and better appreciated if they follow abject terror. As entertainment, horror is forever looked down upon as a base form, something we ought to feel guilty for enjoying and certainly not something worthy of critical respect. How could we possibly respect storytelling that need not conform to convention in order to be effective? Is that even allowed? 

We began with an upsetting scene:

Liz Taylor, after seemingly getting her life in a good place these past few weeks, was suddenly looking distraught on the bed as her poignant narration began wrapping up the story of the Hotel Cortez. And then she slit her own throat with one of The Countess’s old gloves! Man, not the happiest beginning to this finale. Just a warm, gushing, sticky heartache.

Next it was Will Drake’s turn to kick murder and get involved in his career again. In this case Liz Taylor was ready and willing to head up his old fashion empire! Next thing we knew, Liz Taylor was acting as his muse and attaché, even attending important board meetings on his behalf. 

In her recent podcast interview with The Hollywood Reporter, conducted shortly before David Bowie’s tragic passing from cancer on Sunday (Jan. 10), Lady Gaga spoke fondly about the legend and his profound affect on her music and larger-than-life persona.

“When I fell in love with David Bowie, when I was living on the Lower East Side, I always felt that his glamor was something he was using to express a message to people that was very healing for their souls,” she recalled to THR’s Scott Feinberg. "He is a true, true artist and I don’t know if I ever went, ‘Oh, I’m going to be that way like this,’ or if I arrived upon it slowly, realizing it was my calling and that’s what drew me to him.“

Gaga, who won a Golden Globe for her role in American Horror Story: Hotel on the same night that the sad news about Bowie surfaced, was joined on the podcast by songwriter Diane Warren to discuss the song they wrote together, “Til It Happens To You,” from the Oscar-shortlisted documentary The Hunting Ground. 

Natalie Dormer sets out to find her twin sister in ‘The Forest’ 

The Forest is set in Japan’s Aokigahara Forest, an area infamous for the number of local citizens who go there to commit suicide, and those offended by the idea of a Western horror movie exploiting a real-life site of tragedy certainly have a point. After all, American viewers probably wouldn’t appreciate a Japanese production traveling to Ground Zero to make a 9/11-themed ghost story.

The accusations of cultural tone-deafness wind up being fairly moot, since The Forest turns out to be so generally inept and non-scary that to boycott it would give the film more attention than it deserves. It’s the kind of bland thriller that somehow bypassed a debut on DVD or video-on-demand and instead became a January-release horror movie that no one will remember by Valentine’s Day.

Sara talks Australian travel journalist Aiden (Taylor Kinney, Chicago Fire) into letting her tag along with him and ranger Michi (Yukiyoshi Ozawa) on an off-path expedition, and Michi warns her that the forest finds your sadness and makes you see things that aren’t there. They stumble upon Jess’ tent, and Sara insists on staying there overnight, but what’s supposed to be creepy and unsettling instead turns out to be a series of dull jump-scares and muddled storytelling.

Kate Winslet in a blue Ralph Lauren dress at the Golden Globes. Photo: Getty Images

How does it feel to win a Golden Globe? Shock and awe seemed to be the common sentiments expressed by the stars in the pressroom at tonight’s ceremony. “I really am so shocked right now,” Kate Winslet told reporters while holding her golden statuette for Best Support Actress for the Steve Jobs biopic. “I keep thinking this is maybe not happening. I honestly, truthfully, did not expect this at all.”

Jon Hamm was similarly surprised. “I was not expecting to win. Really. Ever. It’s incredible to be included with the people on this list,” he said, award in hand. “I watched every second of Mr. Robot. I thought it was excellent.” How would he celebrate? “I’ll probably go to the Valley and just, like, hang out,” he teased. “I might want to go bowling or… if anyone has a ping pong table? No, I don’t know. It’s such a mad house here.”

Lady Gaga discussed her experience on American Horror Story. “I would leave the set every day in tears,” she said, explaining that filming provided the perfect release. Next talk turned to music. “I am putting out an album this year. I won’t tell you when, but it is coming out this year.” As for a potential Oscar nom, Gaga sighed, “Shall we just take it a day at a time, dear? This is a lot.”

Sam Smith and his songwriting partner Jimmy Napes received the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song tonight for “Writing’s On The Wall,” their theme for the final Daniel Craig James Bond film Spectre. The award was presented by Katy Perry, and the other nominees were Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do” from 50 Shades Of Grey, Brian Wilson’s “One Kind Of Love” from Love & Mercy, Wiz Khalifa and Stereogum fave Charlie Puth’s “See You Again” from Furious 7, and Sumi Jo’s “Simple Song No. 3″ from Youth.

And in non-music but music-adjacent Golden Globes news, Lady Gaga took home the trophy for Best Actress In A Limited Series Or TV Movie for her role on American Horror Story: Hotel.

American Horror Story Hotel returns with its pre-finale episode on 6 January at 10pm EST on FX Network. Episode 11 is titled Battle Royale, which will finally reveal if Iris and Liz Taylor are successful in their attempt to take down the Countess.

The episode is written by Ned Martel and is directed by Michael Uppendahl. Click here to watch AHS Hotel via live stream. You can also click here to watch it online on the FX website in the US.

The previous episode ended with Iris (Kathy Bates) and Liz Taylor (Denis O'Hare) putting their plan of taking over Hotel Cortez into action and barged into the penthouse suite and opened fire at Donovan and the Countess. The fall premiere will finally answer the question — is the Countess alive?

Back when you were a kid and got together with the other kids in your neighborhood, what kinds of things did you like to do? Go on nighttime bike rides? Start teen detective agencies? Sprinkle sand into a campfire and then tell garishly produced nightmare tales? Or were you more of an indoor kid and preferred to stay home and play Sega Genesis or murder your parents?

We began with the face of a diva staring forlornly into a hole.

“How have you been?” Sometimes, when you look like these people, mere eye contact is enough to rekindle a passion that could heat a sun. (So I’ve heard.)

 Yep, somehow The Countess had found it within herself to allow Donovan back within herself. Again, can’t blame either of them. Romance!

 The Countess slapped his face and wished he was still alive so she could murder him! In my opinion she was still very ticked about having had the other two members of her throuple locked away in that room for a century. As we would all be.

I really love my mom, but if Angela Bassett wanted to take her place I would be like BYE. You know? Literally Angela Bassett for President!

The Lionsgate TV-Allison Shearmur Productions program will be a re-imaging of the 1987 movie that stars Jennifer Grey as a wide-eyed ingenue named Baby whose world is opened when she falls for Patrick Swayze’s dance instructor at a 1960s summer resort in the Catskill Mountains. Breslin will take over Grey’s part with Jessica Sharzer (American Horror Story, The L Word) writing the adaptation and Wayne Blair (The Sapphires, Septembers of Shiraz) directing.

Although drinking blood is nobody’s idea of a great time, vampirism certainly seems to have its perks. For example, it tends to make you not only beautiful but sexy and altogether horny; expensive couture practically slaps itself onto your body; you become impervious to any of the million ways the human body is flawed; you get to live forever. But that last one can be a real vampire pain in the vampire A. Not just due to all the existentialism and ennui that comes along with immortality, but also because sometimes you will be bricked into the abandoned wing of a haunted hotel, and what then? Immortality sure loses its luster in situations such as that.

But yeah, “Flicker” was pretty wonderful. Let’s talk about it!

Who were these disgusting ghouls! And was it now cause for concern that they’d been freed from their bricked-in existence?

She was played by the great Alexandra Daddario! (If this means Alexandra Daddario be appearing in the AHS franchise more, that would make me very happy.)

Anyway, within minutes the three of them were in a naked tangle on the bed. Sure, this was the 1920s, but that didn’t mean a steamy three-way was out of the question! NOTHING was prohibited in this roaring bed. Those flapping sheets could be heard all the way to Charleston. Something something Jitterbug. Sigh.

Anyway, this creepy girl and John Lowe had at least two very unsettling conversations in which she promised to take him to the killer, and he promised to kill the killer. Now, while she never outright asked him why he kept talking about himself in the third person (because let’s be real, John Lowe is for sure the killer), she DID seem sad when he promised to kill the killer. Why? “Because I like you.” Then she did this:

Lady Gaga is known for, among many other things, her talent for self-presentation. So we weren’t surprised to see her utterly commanding attention today when she stepped out in New York City wearing a graphic, two-piece suit, a turban, and single-lensed sunglasses that resembled nothing so much as the infamous “eye scene” from Terminator. We haven’t identified the Cyborg sunglasses just yet, but will keep on it. Because these could really, really come in handy for those days when it’s super bright on just the one side of the street.

Lady Gaga wears a pink mini dress and matching faux-fur stole at JFK airport.

Lady Gaga wears a silver off-shoulder dress by Brandon Maxwell at the opening of The Pomeroy restaurant in Queens. 

Lady Gaga wears a fuchsia mini dress by MSGM after dinner in New York on October 6, 2015.

Lady Gaga wears a Judas Priest T-shirt and cut-offs in New York on October 6, 2015.

Lady Gaga wears a red Brandon Maxwell dress at the premiere of “American Horror Story: Hotel.”

Lady Gaga’s wax figure was unveiled at Madame Tussauds in Hollywood in 2014.

Lady Gaga wears the infamous “meat dress” at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. 

Lady Gaga wears a red bodysuit on “TRL” in 2008.

Rose Siggins, the actress who played Legless Suzi in American Horror Story: Freak Show, died Saturday, Dec. 12, at the age of 43.

“Getting around is slower these days,” she told the Huffington Post back in 2012. “A lot of people with disabilities feel that life owes them something, and I was raised in a way that no one owes you a dime. The world doesn’t owe you anything. My personal opinion is, get up and go for it.”

Siggins — who starred in the fourth season of the hit FX show alongside Emma Roberts, Jessica Lange, and Kathy Bates — is survived by her husband, Dave, and two children, Luke, 16, and Shelby, 9.

On the red carpet at the Emmy Awards, the youngest cast members on the small screen, still glowing from their Labor Day tans, dolled up for the cameras with fresh-faced skin, dreamy hair, soft pink lips, and bold brows.

At 17 years old, Modern Family star Ariel Winter is already mastering the art of Old Hollywood glamour.

Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams let her waves cascade to the left in a strapless pink gown and minimal makeup.

Nineteen-year-old British actress Sophie Turner from Game of Thrones rocked a burgundy lip to complement her ginger hair.

American Horror Story: Freak Show star 24-year-old Emma Roberts rocked a smoky eye and a side part in her luxuriously curled blonde hair.

Wearing long Lorraine Schwartz earrings and an off-the-shoulder Zac Posen gown, Sarah Hyland of Modern Family is a red carpet veteran at only 24.

Uma Thurman is getting some intimate praise from one of her new costars.

Maggie Q, who plays Thurman’s love interest in the new comedy The Con Is On, told LaPalme Magazine‘s summer issue that she “had a blast” on set.

“I look at everything in my job as — just part of my job. [My] character is a Russian billionaire’s wife who’s gay. She does whatever she wants and nobody crosses her. So she has an extramarital affair with Uma [Thurman] — who, by the way, is a great kisser,” she told the outlet, according to PageSix.

Q, 39, added that her character’s sexuality was “part of the fun” of taking the role. “It’s purely sexual, not a lot of romance. Less Call Me By Your Name and a lot more kitsch.”

As for the actress’s real-world love life, she’s currently engaged to American Horror Story actor Dyaln McDermott.

“You can’t find a better guy in this business,” she told LaPalme. “We’re so blessed. In Hollywood, relationships are so hard — but in the end, when you find that right person, it’s all worth it.”

Disney-Marvel’s “Black Panther” is heading for as much as $150 million in its North American opening on the four-day Presidents Day weekend, updated tracking is showing.

That’s significantly above the first tracking on Jan. 25 for the Chadwick Boseman tentpole, which initially placed the debut in the $100 million to $120 million range for the Feb. 16-19 period. “Black Panther” could break the Presidents Day weekend record of $152 million, set in 2016 by “Deadpool.” It will easily top the second-highest debut for  the four-day holiday, set in 2015 when “Fifty Shades of Grey” opened with $93 million.

“Black Panther” has been gaining steam this week. Fandango reported Wednesday that “Black Panther” is outpacing all superhero movies in advance ticket sales for Fandango’s online tickets service, eclipsing 2016’s “Batman v Superman.” It topped Fandango’s daily ticket sales in the wake of its world premiere and first screenings two days earlier.

The newest tracking showed total awareness of “Black Panther” at 88%, unaided awareness at 43%, and definite interest at 57%. Boseman stars as T’Challa, who takes over as the king of Wakanda after his father T’Chaka is killed, as shown in “Captain America: Civil War.” The film also stars Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Michael B. Jordan. Ryan Coogler directed the movie from a script he co-wrote with Joe Robert Cole.

Initial tracking on Thursday also showed that Warner Bros.’ comedy “Game Night” is projecting an opening in the $15 million to $20 million range on Feb. 23-25, while Paramount’s sci-fi thriller “Annihilation” should debut in the $12 million to $15 million area during the same weekend.

“Game Night,” directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, stars Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams and follows a group of friends whose game night turns into a murder mystery. Supporting cast includes Kyle Chandler, Billy Magnussen, Sharon Horgan, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Jesse Plemons, Michael C. Hall, and Jeffrey Wright.

“Annihilation,” based on Jeff VanderMeer’s horror sci-fi novel, is directed by Alex Garland from his own script. The story follows a biologist, played by Natalie Portman, who embarks on a four-person expedition into a territory cut off from civilization while searching for clues about her husband’s disappearance. While there, she must deal with a contamination, vanishing colleagues, a deadly animal, and a creature known as the Crawler. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, and Tessa Thompson also star.

Paramount made a deal with Netflix in December for the streaming service to handle the international release of  “Annihilation.”

Lady Gaga’s voice pipes in over the phone, instantly familiar — but this isn’t booming madwoman cackle of “Bad Romance,” or the fembotic rap of “Lovegame,” or even the sexy vampire drawl of her recent American Horror Story character, the Countess. Lady Gaga sounds… normal. Chipper, unguarded, girly, even a bit giggly. She sounds happy. “I know this is silly, but how do I address you?” I ask her, feeling foolish the moment the question leaves my mouth. “Do I call you Gaga? Stefani?”

She just chuckles gently for a moment, pauses, and then answers, a little quietly: “Call me Joanne.”


Joanne, of course, is the title of Gaga’s much-anticipated fifth album, out Oct. 21. Joanne is also Gaga’s middle name, and the name of her parents’ Italian restaurant in New York. But most importantly, Joanne was Gaga’s paternal aunt, who died of lupus at age 19. Lady Gaga, aka Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, wasn’t born until 12 years after her aunt’s passing on Dec. 18, 1974, a date that Gaga has tattooed on her arm. “What I know of Joanne is what she left behind, which was a lot of loss and a lot of tragedy in my family,” she says. (Earlier this year, during an emotional speech at the Producers Guild Awards, where she performed her Oscar-nominated rape survivors’ anthem “‘Til It Happens to You,” Gaga revealed that a college campus sexual assault “tormented [Joanne] so emotionally that it caused the lupus that she had to get so bad that she died.”) However, despite never knowing Joanne personally, Gaga was greatly affected by her aunt’s legacy, and when Gaga reached her own 19th birthday, “That’s when I really decided I was going to hit the ground hard — hit the [New York] dive bar scene and the club scene hard with my music and playing out as a songwriter. It was really Joanne, and that story of our family, and the toughness that made us who we are, that gave me the strength to go, ‘You know, I’m going to live the rest of my life in a way that she couldn’t.’”

Gaga says Joanne is “a return to my roots in a very strong way,” and not just because it’s a tribute to a beloved, much-missed family member. It also back to her above-mentioned early NYC days, when she was playing Open Mic nights and opening for the likes of glam/garage band Semi Precious Weapons on the Lower East Side. (“Which was silly fun, and probably some of the best memories I have in my life.”) This is evident in the propulsive stadium-rock riffage of Joanne’s lead single, “Perfect Illusion”– or in that song’s uncharacteristically simple music video, during which a free-spirited, head-banging, fist-pumping Gaga rocks out at a desert rave with hipster producer Mark Ronson and Kevin Parker of Aussie psych-rockers Tame Impala, wearing just denim cutoffs, combat boots, a messy high ponytail, and a ragged, underboob-flashing T-shirt. One especially astute YouTube commenter actually said of the video: “This isn’t Gaga. This is Stefani.”


Gaga (or Stefani, or Joanne) is even planning a “Bud Light + Lady Gaga Dive Bar Tour,” kicking off Oct. 5, for which she’ll eschew her usual massive arena productions for the sort of grubby, hole-in-the-wall venues where she got her start. “It’s not so much about taking it all off for the sake of it, like, ‘Here I am, I had all these costumes before and now I don’t!’” says Gaga, who assures that there will be “more costumes and lights and big shows” in her future. (One can assume that her just-announced halftime show performance at next year’s Super Bowl will be a very un-dive-bar-like spectacle.) “But to begin all of this, we’re going to wind back the clock — to the day I decided when I was 19 that I was going to go live the rest of the life that Joanne didn’t get to live.”

Clearly, this is not the over-the-top Gaga of ARTPOP — and  for now, at least, that’s probably a good thing. While that 2013 album ultimately sold 2.5 million copies worldwide, it received mixed reviews, and while Gaga’s diehard fans, or “Little Monsters,” were supportive, many journalists were incredibly unkind — almost willing her to fail, dubbing the album ARTFLOP, and downright gleefully reporting on even the most minor setback in her personal or professional life at the time.

Gaga admits that this backlash was “hurtful at times… it doesn’t feel good when you put that much time and work and effort into things, and people make fun of them, or shame you for things you’ve created.” However, she adds: “The thing is, you’re not always going to make something that everybody likes. You can’t be in this for the business of people liking you. That would just not be even the right thing to do! To have such a big voice in the world and to only care about people liking you — what’s the point, really? When I’m making records, I’m never thinking, ‘How can I make this something that’s accepted?’”


ARTPOP’s promotional cycle also included a series of preposterous and misunderstood stunts, like a South By Southwest showcase that featured Gaga getting covered in rainbow barf by “vomit artist” Millie Brown, or an equally controversial Oval Office-themed American Music Awards performance in which Gaga played a Monica Lewinsky-like role alongside a presidential R. Kelly. Back then, some naysayers believed Gaga had at long last jumped the proverbial shark.

“You know, I do have to take responsibility that there’s an element of absurdity to a lot of what I’ve done in the past,” Gaga concedes. “The meat [dress] thing, and confusing people, that has been part of my thing. And I wouldn’t even say necessarily that now that’s entirely different. I think that people seeing me take everything off, it’s making them ask questions as well — but what I’m hoping for is for people to stop asking so many questions about ‘why?’ and just listen to the music.”

Following a career reboot via standout performances at the 2015 and 2016 Oscars (of The Sound of Music and “’Til It Happens to You,” respectively), a Grammy-winning duets album with Tony Bennett, and a stupendous “Star-Spangled Banner” tour de force at this year’s Super Bowl, Gaga now is more about the music than ever. Joanne in fact seems like the work of a indie-rock supergroup, featuring collaborations with Florence Welch (“Hey Girl”), Beck (“Dancing in Circles”), Father John Misty (“Sinner’s Prayer”), Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, Grimes producer BloodPop, Parker, and Ronson. Gaga is even playing some guitar on this album, with Ronson’s encouragement.

“It was really about working with people that have tremendous poetry and depth through their work. I can say that with such love, that I adore and cherish the people that worked on this album,” Gaga gushes. “And I mean, we didn’t collaborate over the phone, you know? This is like days, hours, nights in the studio… It was just a brilliant experience. Genuine passion and love. People that really cared about wanting me to be able to soar, and making a pop record that has gravity to it. That’s a challenge. We wanted to make something that sounds brand-new, and we wanted to make something that’s also pop, but we wanted it also to be authentic and change things up a bit. We love making music, and we’re trying to change the landscape of how music is now.”


Gaga’s giggliness becomes noticeably more audible over the phone line the more she talks about Joanne’s special guests. She says of her Beck collaboration: “It’s a really fun dance song. It’s a great record. We started in Malibu. We were just hanging out for the afternoon and I asked him if he wanted to go into the live room, which is where all the instruments are for recording. And we just went in and I sat at the piano. I believe he was playing a Hummingbird guitar that Mark gave me, and we just sat down and started to jam and we wrote the song. It’s a killer, killer record.” Of Parker, she raves, “I couldn’t wait to work with him. That was love at first sight when we all got together.” Of Homme, she says, “He spent so much time with us on the guitars and working on so many of these records… He’s amazing. I was up for days with him, working. We had the best time. I could listen to him play guitar for hours and hours and hours. He’s just tremendous.” And she calls Ronson “a tremendously brilliant talent. My favorite thing about the work that we did together on the album is just the way that he inspired me when I was singing. The vocals on the record are very honest. I love the way that he hears my voice.”

At this point in the conversation, Gaga gets so excited, she even starts reciting a few lines from her “Sinner’s Prayer” track with “fantastic poet” Father John Misty: “I’ve got a baby sister who looks just like me/And she wants nothing more than a man to please/Maybe she’s in too deep/Her love for him ain’t cheap/But it breaks just like a knockoff piece.”

“Sinner’s Prayer” definitely sounds like a song for the ladies — for the young Joannes of the world, if you will — and Gaga says she “wanted to speak to a female audience… I’m excited that when I walk down the street now and people see me, that they don’t just see the outfit and can’t wait to take a picture. I can’t wait to lock eyes with that woman that says, ‘Thank you for writing Joanne.’ That’s my goal. I want to know that she heard me in a deeper place.”


But Joanne, she stresses, is for everyone. “I really just want all those girls that have never really understood me before, or those boys that have never understood me before, to hear what I have to say about being me during this time in the world… I can try to speak to women, but I’m not trying to speak to these women in a way that they get all riled up and then they’re mad at their man. Or they’re mad at their girlfriend. Or they’re mad at their dad. You know? It’s the opposite. I want to speak to these women and I want the men sitting next to them to hear the songs and go, ‘Oh, I get it. I understand you now better, baby. I get you now, baby.’ Mark and I talked a lot about it: When speaking to women, when speaking to men, how could we make statements to women that men would understand and be a part of, and bring men and women closer, bring women closer?”

One Joanne track — with a seemingly unlikely collaborator, country songwriter Hillary Lindsey (Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel,” Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush”) — is an especially poignant “girls’ song” with universal appeal, and one tied to the overall, underlying theme of loss inspired by the album’s namesake. “’Grigio Girls’ is about me and my girlfriend getting together to drink Pinot grigio and cry without our friend Sonja [Dunham, Haus of Gaga’s managing director], because Sonja had cancer and we needed the time without her to cry about it, because we didn’t want to cry in front of her — because she was so strong, and she was keeping us so strong,” Gaga reveals, getting serious again. “It kind of started there, and then it turned into a song really about how girls get together to let it all go and pour our souls out. Then we started to play the song for guy friends — both gay and straight guys — and we just saw the look on their faces, like, ‘Oh, man, that’s so true. Now I get why my girl is like that.’ And then they were like, ‘Hey, why can’t I be a grigio girl, too?’ They want to be at the party, because the party is so inclusive. It’s a place where you can let it all out.”

So now Lady Gaga is letting it all out — at dive bar shows, in her music videos, and on her most personal album to date. “When I started writing [Joanne], I thought to myself, ‘How can I connect to other people now at this point in my career? Through my music? How can I go deeper?’ And the truth is, I wanted to do the things that made me fall in love with music in the first place,” she says. “Just sitting at the piano and writing a song, and being about me and the music and a story I wanted to tell — something more autobiographical, something more personal. This transition in my career is me embarking on a new journey with Joanne in my heart, and I’m hoping I can connect with the world on a deeper level.

“The thing is, once I was able to return to that, I was able to remember what’s important in life is family and friendship and connection and taking care of one another, especially in a time when people are so isolated and lost and afraid. It just feels really good to write a song that lays it all bare, and sing it and look my fans dead in the eye. That’s really the point of what I’m trying to do. And Joanne is giving me the strength to do that.”

From the outside looking in, Lady Gaga appears to be living a glamorous life, but the pop star admits being famous is "isolating."

Gaga discussed the downside of fame during an episode of PBS' and Variety's Actors on Actors series where she was interviewed by Jamie Lee Curtis. "I don't think I could think of a single thing that's more isolating than being famous," she said, agreeing with Curtis' disdain for fame.

"It's almost impossible for people even to probably look at my career and the things I've done and think, 'Oh she didn't want [fame] -- of course she wanted to be famous, of course she wanted all that attention,'" Gaga said. "It's just, creative expression is what I am, and I would've been doing this whether I became famous or not."

Another challenge for the 30-year-old singer/actress is making genuine connections and knowing a person's true intentions.

"I think the hardest thing for me is that I love people so much and it is very hard to not be able to engage with people in a real and honest way, because they either want something from me, or they see me as something that I simply am not," Gaga revealed. "I am not some goddess that dropped down from the sky to sing pop music, I am not some extra-incredible human person that needs to be told how wonderful they are all day and kissed."

Gaga added that her "purpose" in life is "to make people happy, and heal people through music."

But in the age of social media, fans want more than music: They want selfies.

"I would love more than anything when I meet people to just have a normal exchange with them," Gaga said. "More than have my picture was taken or a selfie."

Ultimately, the American Horror Story star wants people to understand that she and other celebs are "real people that just love to make art."

Speaking of art, watch the video below to find out what brought Gaga to tears during her Oscars performance rehearsal.