Dear Gossips,

Lady Gaga already confirmed in her most recent Vogue cover story that her next album, LG7, will be out next year, with the first single dropping in October. Late yesterday though, another announcement: Harlequin, a companion album to Joker: Folie à Deux, is coming this Friday.

The album will feature 13 tracks, covers of classic songs that will likely feature in some way in the film. And very early this morning she posted a video of her version of Shirley Bassey’s “The Joker”, shot in the Louvre, as Gaga puts lipstick on the Mona Lisa, that also promotes the museum’s upcoming exhibition “Figures Du Fou”.

Between the movie, which is projected to open lower than its predecessor, but still expected to win the box office, and the music, Gaga will be big news in the coming months. Total domination, however, is unlikely. Because as Variety points out, she’s not the only pop girlie who’s doing movies with music this fall. Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez are both also involved in highly anticipated musical films – Wicked and Emilia Pérez. Which means there’s a possibility all three could be going to the Oscars in March.

Emilia Pérez is France’s official submission to the Oscars and given its hype coming out of Cannes, with all four actresses sharing the best actress award, and how well-received the film was at TIFF, many are predicting it will be nominated not just in the International Feature category but also for Best Picture. Zoe Saldana is looking very good for a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category and there are many prognosticators who think Selena has a really good shot at one as well… in addition to a Best Song nomination because “Mi Camino”, the song she performs in the film, could be a contender.

And it looks like Selena is going for it. Among all the artists involved in Emilia Pérez, she has the most extensive cultural reach. And she’s using her platforms to support it. This is what she posted yesterday on Instagram.

To go back to Gaga – ahead of the premiere of Joker: Folie à Deux in Venice, people were predicting another acting nomination for her. Folie à Deux didn’t come out of Venice as hot as they would have wanted, though. It was the 90s queens who took over the Oscar race: Nicole Kidman, who won the Volpi Cup, Angelina Jolie, Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, and then Demi Moore and Amy Adams after TIFF.

As Sarah and I have both said multiple times over the last couple of weeks, the Best Actress Oscar race this year looks very competitive. And what’s interesting is that, so far, we still don’t know what category Lady Gaga will be submitted in for Oscar consideration. The Best Actress race is looking so tight, will they strategically slot her in the supporting category? In addition to Zoe Saldana and Selena, there are several actresses who are possibilities in that category and no true frontrunner has emerged. Gaga might have a better chance there and, as we’ve seen in years past, category selection has been its own game at the Oscars. Pay attention to see how this plays out.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey

Lady Gaga Gossip

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