The delay for Lady Gaga’s “Chromatica” will not be as long as fans might have feared. It’ll be out May 29, the singer announced via her social media accounts Wednesday morning.
“The journey continues. You can officially join me on #Chromatica on May 29,” her Twitter account declared, accompanied by a photo of her crouching in sci-fi regalia in a dramatic desert landscape.
Following through to the pre-sale link reveals newly revealed album cover art, which has Gaga pressed against a pink-backlit metal gate by a silvery rendering of the previously seen “Chromatica” logo.
Lady Gaga “Chromatica” cover art
That link included seven sites where the album can be pre-ordered or pre-saved, although many of those retailers still list the album with a placeholder Dec. 31 release date and have not been updated with the fresh cover art.
Lady Gaga’s own official retail site is already updated, though — offering what is described as a “signed” copy of the CD (it’s unclear whether the signatures will be individually hand-signed or stamped) for $17.50, with picture disc LPs and clear vinyl also being offered for $28.50-$35.
Song titles have been obscured on the hype stickers on the CDs and vinyl pictured on her web site, and are listed as TBA at digital retailers, other than the already released single “Stupid Love.” The obscuring is despite the fact that Gaga already released a track list for the album in late April after the titles were apparently accidentally revealed on a Target site.
The album had originally been slated for April 10. On March 24, she announced she was delaying it indefinitely, saying, “This is such a hectic and scary time for all of us, and while I believe art is one of the strongest things we have to provide joy and healing to each other during times like this, it just doesn’t feel right for me to release this album with all that going on during this global pandemic.”
Some believed she was delaying the album until she could reschedule her tour — “I also definitely plan to see you on the road for my Chromatica Ball tour this summer!” she wrote enthusiastically at the time — but the subsequent weeks have made it clear there are few prospects for anyone credibly announcing a major arena outing any time soon.
It also soon became clear Gaga did have other duties on her desk besides album promotion, namely helping curate and fundraise for Global Citizen’s “One World: Together at Home” special. In any case, Little Monsters are being spared the monstrous prospect of riding out the entire pandemic sans the fresh music they’d been promised.