Lady Gaga Releases 'Applause' Video: Watch

8/19/2013 by Billboard Staff

She'll perform her new single to open this Sunday's MTV VMAs

Lady Gaga released the highly stylized video for her new single "Applause" on Monday during a "Good Morning America" appearance that capped a hectic week for the pop singer. The "GMA" visit was meant to be the official launch of both the song and video, but leaks forced Gaga to release the single a week early.

The "Applause" video is a collection of arty postures and scenarios showing Gaga in a birdcage, with a tail, catching knives in a cauldron, wearing a bone blouse and, in a fashion highlight, dancing in only a black-glove bra that is reminiscent of a famous Janet Jackson magazine cover. The clip is draped in mostly black and white, with splashes of vivid color, at several points showing the singer with makeup streaming down her face.

When Gaga sings the "Suddenly the Koons is me" line, the singer is transformed into a black swan/human hybrid.

"I'm happy it’s in the world," Gaga said on "GMA" about the song, which she'll perform to open the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday at Brooklyn's Barclays Center.

"Applause" the single was released to digital retailers on Tuesday, Aug. 13, and is expected to sell around 200,000 to 225,000 downloads in its first week, according to industry forecasters. "Applause" is the first single from Gaga's "ArtPop," which arrives on Nov. 11.

On "GMA," Gaga spoke about the hip injury that forced her to cancel the final 22 shows of her "Born This Way Ball" tour.

"I couldn't do anything else, but create,” she said. "I couldn’t dance. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t anything. I sat on the couch and I worked every day and I wrote all my ideas down and I obsessed, obsessed about the music."