Lady Gaga has emerged from her crystal cocoon to announce a Nov. 11 release date for her new album, ARTPOP. The singer’s third album will be accompanied by an app, out Sept. 1, which is billed as “a musical and visual engineering system that combines music, art, fashion, and technology” into something it calls “the auras.” Of course, Bjork did the whole “art + music = app” thing a few years ago, but Gaga’s project promises that “the user will share in the ‘adrenaline of fame’ as they build and share their own projects, chat with one another, and watch in real-time on a virtual globe as ARTPOP explodes into the physical and visual universe at once on November 11, our ‘BIG BANG!’” That’s the day, according to the Haus Of Gaga, that the music industry will shift into “an age where art drives pop, and the artist once again is in control of the ‘icon.’” That is, of course, presuming the artist wants to be in control of their icon.
ARTPOP’s first single, the creatively named “The Single,” will hit stores, blogs, iTunes, YouTube, and your niece’s cell phone Aug. 19.
The night before the record comes out, Gaga will host “an evening of artRave” with a number of collaborators, including artists Jeff Koons, Robert Wilson, Inez & Vinoodh, and Jay-Z and James Franco cohort Marina Abramovic.