Lady Gaga had a rather zen response to the backlash received by her latest film, the Joker sequel Folie À Deux.
The Poker Face singer played a reimagined version of the Batman villain Harley Quinn in the Joker follow-up, in which Joaquin Phoenix reprised his Oscar-winning performance as Arthur Fleck.
However, while the first Joker film was a global success – racking up 11 nominations at the Oscars, including a win for Joaquin, and becoming the first R-rated movie in history to gross $1 billion – Folie À Deux followed a rather different path.
Despite a rather mixed reception when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, critics near-unanimously panned the movie musical when it was released towards the end of last year.
In a new interview with Elle, Gaga shared her take on failure, which the magazine connected to the reception to Folie À Deux.
“People just sometimes don’t like some things,” she told the magazine “matter-of-factly”. “It’s that simple.”
The Oscar winner continued: “I think to be an artist, you have to be willing for people to sometimes not like it. And you keep going even if something didn’t connect in the way that you intended.”
It’s worth pointing out that Gaga’s performance in Folie À Deux was singled out for praise by critics, with many fans voicing their disappointment when it emerged that several scenes featuring the A Star Is Born performer had been cut from the final edit.
To coincide with the release, Gaga unveiled the companion album Harlequin, featuring covers that were included in the film, as well as original songs inspired by her character.
She is now gearing up for the release of her seventh album Mayhem, which is due for release in March (more info about that here, if you’re interested).
Read Lady Gaga’s full interview with Elle here.