Lady Gaga has released the Tim Burton-directed video for “The Dead Dance,” coinciding with her guest appearance on Netflix’s “Wednesday.”
The video opens with Gaga on a wall surrounded by baby dolls before she launches into her dead dance, awakening the dolls. She’s then joined by masked backup dancers for the chorus as day segues into night, all while the dolls bop their heads along to the upbeat tune.
News of the video emerged in early July, when outlets reported that she had been spotted filming something with Burton on the Island of the Dolls in Xochimilco, south of Mexico City. At Spotify and Netflix’s “Wednesday” Graveyard Gala last week, Gaga announced the single release date and addressed her cameo on the show.
“I had a wonderful time working on ‘Wednesday’ season two, even just being a small part of the show,” she said. “I loved working with Tim Burton and Jenna and everyone here, it’s so incredible. Thank you. I’m also here to confirm my song ‘The Dead Dance’ is coming.”
“The Dead Dance” arrives in tandem with the release of the second half of “Wednesday,” which arrived on Netflix earlier this morning. Gaga shows up in episode six as Rosaline Rotwood, a Nevermore teacher in the 1960s with psychic abilities.
According to the show’s music supervisors, Gaga connected with the “Wednesday” team following season one and wrote “The Dead Dance” specifically for the series. The dance in “Wednesday” was filmed with a placeholder track that had a similar BPM and the sequence was kept secret for over a year before “The Dead Dance” was swapped in.
“It’s not ‘Bloody Mary,’ and it’s not a remix,” music supervisor Jen Malone told Tudum. “It’s a brand-new Gaga song, and she’s an icon, a once-in-a-lifetime artist who we got to work with. And it’s perfect in every way. This is exactly what the fans want.”
“The Dead Dance” is the latest side quest from Gaga as she soldiers along on her “Mayhem Ball” tour, which kicked off in July at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. She’s also scheduled to perform at this Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards before resuming the “Mayhem Ball” tour in North America and overseas.