Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars have collaborated on a new single, ‘Die With A Smile’.
The song and video is set to drop at 9pm Pacific Time today (August 15), which is 5am BST on August 16. Representatives of Gaga have confirmed that the song will not appear on her forthcoming seventh album.
‘Die With My Smile’ is the first song Gaga has released since appearing on The Rolling Stones track ‘Sweet Sounds Of Heaven‘ last year. Meanwhile, it’s Mars’ first release since dropping the debut album with Silk Sonic collaborator Anderson .Paak, ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’, in 2021.
Mars had hinted at the collaboration yesterday by posting a photo of himself wearing one of Gaga’s t-shirts.
Gaga performed during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony last month, taking on Zizi Jeanmaire’s ‘Mon Truc en Plumes’. It was later revealed that her performance was pre-recorded and the 300,000 spectators had watched it on a screen, though it appeared live to viewers at home.
“We were in front of Lady Gaga’s set, and by the time the music started, the staircase was empty,” France 3 journalist Yannick Le Gall, told The Telegraph. They also added that “spectators booed and regretted having paid €180 to see nothing.”
The choreographer and head of dance for the Olympics Maud Le Pladec later explained why it wasn’t performed live, citing the unfortunate weather conditions on the day.
“Unfortunately, it was the only [performance] that, for safety reasons, we had to pre-record late in the afternoon, once we knew for sure that it was going to rain – we had minute-by-minute updates, we had never watched the weather forecast so closely in our lives,” she recalled (via Variety).
“We assessed that it was going to be too dangerous for performers, even with a few drops of rain. [Gaga] wanted to do it absolutely so we preferred to pre-record it rather than cancel it. The soil would have been slippery. She was wearing heels, very near the water, there were stairs… We had to be extremely cautious.”
It was also reported that the singer stayed on-site to watch the performance, and she later shared that she “wanted nothing more than to create a performance that would warm the heart of France, celebrate French art and music”.
