'An artistic genius': Lady Gaga released a music video for '911' with an intense plot twist
Confused about Lady Gaga's new music video? You're not the only one.
The Grammy winner surprised fans on Friday when she released a short film for her song, "911". In true Gaga fashion, it's artistically arresting. It features bold colors, blink-and-you'll-miss-it details and a compelling storyline.
When the nearly five-minute video starts, Gaga awakes in a pit of white sand and is surrounded by pomegranates. She follows a masked horse rider to a location surrounded by adobe buildings. The succession of scenes show us a man banging his head violently on a pillow, a robed woman clinging to a mummy and a tall-dark-and-handsome man bringing knives toward Gaga as she screams.
Just as viewers reach the apex of 'What the...?" the video takes a turn. Gaga snaps into reality, waking up on a stretcher in the middle of a car crash. The unsettling images now make sense... mostly.
Gaga took to Instagram on Friday to explain the significance of her short film, calling it "the poetry of pain."
"This short film is very personal to me, my experience with mental health and the way reality and dreams can interconnect to form heroes within us and all around us," she wrote on Friday. "I’d like to thank my director/filmmaker Tarsem for sharing a 25 year old idea he had with me because my life story spoke so much to him. I’d like to thank Haus of Gaga for being strong for me when I wasn’t, and the crew for making this short film safely during this pandemic without anyone getting sick. It’s been years since I felt so alive in my creativity to make together what we did with “911”."
She concluded by thanking her "little monsters": "thank you for believing in me when I was very afraid. Something that was once my real life everyday is now a film, a true story that is now the past and not the present. It’s the poetry of pain."
Fans took to Twitter to unveil some of their initial reactions.
User Carlos Gzz lauded the music video as "a Frida khalo type of painting with a #ladygaga touch."
The most Unexpected Video ever. I love the aesthetic ! Different cultures mixed into a Frida khalo type of painting with a #ladygaga touch 🙌🙌🙌🚨🚨🚨#911video Wow. @ladygaga pic.twitter.com/wZ61laTaso
— Carlos Gzz (@carlosgzz03) September 18, 2020
"The #911video is something you watch 50 times and notice something new with every watch," user sabrina wrote.
the #911video is something you watch 50 times and notice something new with every watch pic.twitter.com/bRCI5pqxkk
— sabrina 〄 sᴛʀᴀɴᴅᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ᴄʜʀᴏᴍᴀᴛɪᴄᴀ (@tealambition) September 18, 2020
A Lady Gaga video isn’t something you just watch. You have to study it, process it, analyze it. #911video pic.twitter.com/vSVWYyuOXM
— Fake President 〄 (@TaylorKsCalves) September 18, 2020
911 short film by lady gaga is not for the average stan. the layers, harmonies, complexities, cinematography, the worldwide implications, the impact, the quality. every lyric and scene is imprinted into the very fabric of the universe. it is the alpha and omega. #911Video pic.twitter.com/fi8awzOl14
— L 🚨 (@alluregaga) September 18, 2020
Some "monsters" even tried explaining the hidden meanings and confusing ending of "911."
The 911 video is about the state of mind Gaga enters when she takes her antipsychotic medicines. Her brain fails to distinguish which parts are reality and which fantasy creating a pseudo vision of the world in her head. Her biggest enemy? Herself. #911Video pic.twitter.com/2I7RTNiUTh
— Lady Gaga Facts 🚨 (@LGMonsterFacts) September 18, 2020
911 music video shows how one's mind can interpret a real life event and transform it into a completely bizzare one and how sometimes Gaga's mind and body are at clash with each other. #911video
This has to be one of the best music videos in Gaga's career pic.twitter.com/avNjpJYHVG— Minotaur🚨 (@minotaurmonsta) September 18, 2020
One fan called Gaga "an artistic genius."
In case you’re wondering, this chaotic artsy fartsy moment was mimicking the crime scene and gaga was imagining everything as she was fighting between life and death. An artistic genius. #911Video pic.twitter.com/ynkKceflMr
— LG 〄🚨 (@EnigmaticGaga) September 18, 2020
Fans also made light of Gaga's newest art, some even making memes.
"Me waking up in 2021," user Louis Ortiz wrote attached to a screengrab of Gaga with a red covering over her eyes.
Me waking up in 2021: pic.twitter.com/2TPVEOKLsN
— Louis Ortiz (@LouisOrtiz92) September 18, 2020
Another user jokes that Gaga's dancing "qualifies as a presidential State of the Union address."
I like living on Chromatica, where this qualifies as a presidential State of the Union address #911video pic.twitter.com/zhpX1PRoJE
— Joey Nolfi (@joeynolfi) September 18, 2020
Still confused about the music video? Don't worry. Even those who don't fully understand everything going on in the video are raving over Gaga's latest work.
Well after seeing the music video and also getting the meaning behind it, my conclusion is that It's one of her BEST videos ever #911Video
— ionuț 95 (@BraveForGaga95) September 18, 2020
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: '911': Lady Gaga's intense short film has a surprise ending