Little Monsters, rejoice! The return of aughts Lady Gaga is now. The singer, songwriter, and actress signaled a return to her early avant-garde self with her new release, “Abracadabra,” which premiered at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards on February 2.
The music video for the single has all the hallmarks of Gaga’s chart-topping early career hits (think “Bad Romance” and “Alejandro”): a chilling opening monologue, ensemble dancers wearing Victorian fashions and doing outre choreography (by renowned choreographer Parris Goebel no less!), and multiple custom looks for Gaga — including a spiky blood red vinyl number, the singer herself mumbling random words on repeat, and, of course, name dropping the devil.
Another sign of Gaga’s return to form is her Grammys wardrobe — whether that’s the custom all-black corseted dress by Australian-Taiwanese designer Samuel Lewis, or the off-the-runway white dress by Alessandro Michele for Valentino. The latter was worn during her performance with Bruno Mars — who is also having a resurgence of his own, and with whom she shares a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Die With A Smile.” Gaga has always embraced groundbreaking fashion throughout her career, but these outfits also felt reminiscent of her early days clad in the late British designer Alexander McQueen’s creations (albeit arguably tamer).
Abracadabra, amor-oo-na-na / Abracadabra, morta-ooh-ga-ga / Abracadabra, abra-oo-na-na. If none of these scream, “She’s so back!”, I don’t know what will.
