Whether it’s her career or scorching hot sauce, Lady Gaga isn’t a quitter. And after conquering the Wings of Death on a new episode of Hot Ones posted Thursday (Feb. 13), the superstar got deep about the times she pushed through the urge to “walk away” from her career.
After conducting a life- and career-spanning interview with Gaga about her music, technique and rise from struggling New York City club performer to global icon — all the while the “Rain on Me” singer took bites of increasingly spicy chicken like a champ — host Sean Evans had just one more question for his latest guest to close out the interview. “What’s the closest you’ve ever come to walking away?” he asked.
“That is an incredibly deep question to ask me in this panic mode,” Gaga replied, blinking through the pain of the lingering, peppery heat.
“I missed the community that I had in New York, and that was really hard,” she continued, reflecting on her days as a performer at Manhattan venues such as The Slipper Room. “There were definitely times where I felt like maybe I should walk away.”
“I know for sure that I never would,” the musician added. “I would definitely say that I was tested, and I always didn’t give up. And I’m still doing it, so it must mean I want to do it.”
Gaga’s stint on Hot Ones comes just a few weeks ahead of her highly anticipated seventh studio album, Mayhem, which arrives March 7. Following singles “Disease” and Bruno Mars duet “Die With a Smile” — which is currently on its fifth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — the A Star Is Born actress shared a third single, “Abracadabra,” during the 2025 Grammys broadcast Feb. 2.
Speaking of the Grammys, Gaga and the Silk Sonic star also took home some new hardware at the ceremony, winning best pop duo/group performance for “Die With a Smile.” The win marked Gaga’s 14th total — meaning she’s come a long way since the early days of her career when she may have wanted to throw in the towel. Reflecting more on how she got her start, Gaga also confessed to Evans that she used to call booking reps for venues pretending to be her own manager. “I’d be like, ‘She is so hot right now,’” she recalled, laughing.
Watch Lady Gaga’s Hot Ones episode above.
