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The 20 Best Lady Gaga Videos

From ‘Paparazzi’ and ‘Bad Romance’ to ‘John Wayne’ and ‘Disease’ — here are the stories behind some of the best Lady Gaga videos

Lady Gaga photo illustration

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MATTHEW COOLEY. IMAGES IN ILLUSTRATION BY YOUTUBE.

Lady Gaga will go down in history as one of pop’s great visual auteurs. With every new era, she has delivered instantly iconic imagery, fashion statements and, of course, videos that have further amplified whatever sound or style she’s experimenting with at the current moment. Inspired by the daring imagery of Michael and Janet Jackson, Madonna and David Bowie, Gaga has taken advantage of every mode of changing technology available to build complex, forward-thinking universes in her music videos. For her 20 most memorable, thrilling videos, here are the stories behind how they were made as told by her collaborators.

‘911’

“911” came with a freaky short film that seemed like a departure from the intergalactic feel of Chronatica.For “911,” Gaga pulled inspiration from Sergei Parajanov’s classic 1960s art film The Color of Pomegranates while switching between mystical looks reminiscent of artist Frida Kahlo. The visual follows a teal-haired Gaga in a dystopian dream filled with clips of pomegranates in the sand and a man slamming his head into the ground that mirror the Armenian film. It ends with a back-to-reality scene of Gaga after a car crash.The video is meant to play as an allegory of Gaga’s 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 said on Instagram at the time. “Something that was once my real life everyday [sic] is now a film, a true story that is now the past and not the present. It’s the poetry of pain.”

‘Disease’

In “Disease,” Gaga’s biggest enemy is herself, a few times over. She faces a host of scary, horror film-level villains that she plays in a variety of trippy scenes. Directed by Tanu Muino, the “Disease” video kicks off with Gaga in a suburban enclave bruised and bloodied on top of a car. Behind the wheel is masked version of Gaga with one red eye. In other scenes, a chained gaga is walking all over a different version of Gaga. All Gagas are in battle with one another and torn up from the experience, until we finally see two of them embrace in the street.“I think a lot about the relationship I have with my own inner demons,” she said of the song and video upon releasing them. “It’s never been easy for me to face how I get seduced by chaos and turmoil. It makes me feel claustrophobic. ‘Disease’ is about facing that fear, facing myself and my inner darkness, and realizing that sometimes I can’t win or escape the parts of myself that scare me.”

‘Abracadabra’

“Abracadabra” saw Gaga return to the dark themes and pristine choreography of her early eras. The video (which premiered during the 2025 Grammys) opens by capturing a sinister Gaga dressed as “the lady in red,” wearing spike-covered latex as she declares: “The category is dance or die.”The video features more than two dozen dancers, including ballroom icon Honey Balenciaga, following classic Mother Monster moves. “Abracadabra” spawned its own TikTok dance trend and captures Gaga switching between extravagant outfits and choreo that transported fans back to The Fame Monster days.“There’s this dance battle that’s led by the light and the dark sides of me,” she told Elle UK. “I can’t initiate or receive the challenge without my community and the community is so strong.”