Less than a week after releasing a new single, Lady Gaga has officially announced her first new album since ARTPOP in 2013. This comes right in the aftermath of the premiere of American Horror Story season six, which features Lady Gaga in some mysterious role that will probably give her many opportunities for wild and crazy costumes. This album, on the other hand, sounds a little more down-to-earth than what most people expect from Lady Gaga—at least on a thematic level.
This comes from Pitchfork, which says the album is named Joanne after Gaga’s aunt. The real-life Joanne died when she was 19 from lupus, and the interior art for Gaga’s album will feature examples of her handwriting and “images of various objects from her life.” As for the songs themselves, we already know that Josh Homme did some guitar work for “Perfect Illusion” (the aforementioned first single), but Pitchfork says that other songs will feature guest appearances from Florence Welch, Beck, “Girl Crush” and “Jesus Take The Wheel” songwriter Hillary Lindsey, and human meme machine Father John Misty.
Joanne will be in stores on October 21, and you can see the full album art below.