Doctor Lady Gaga is almost ready to see her next batch of patients. ‘Disease’, the first single from the musician’s upcoming pop album, is expected to be released on Friday, October 25 after she teased the record via a cryptic website and playlist.

Gaga sent her fans on a sort of treasure hunt for clues about the single. On the website gagadisease.com, the words “I could play the doctor” appear on a black screen. The site is linked to another URL, icouldplaythedoctor.com, which mimics the visuals of the first site with the words “I can cure your disease.” When that phrase is used as a URL, it redirects to another page that says, “If you were a sinner.”

Following the pattern, the teased lyrics read: “I could play the doctor/I could cure your disease/If you were a sinner/I could make you believe/Explain that you don’t like 1, 2, 3/Eyes roll back inside ecstasy/I can smell your illness/I can heal you/cure your illness.” The last page features the title ‘Disease’ and an associated release date of October 25th.

Gaga started the countdown for the single in September when she announced plans to release her currently untitled seventh album in February. She said at the time that the first single from the project would be released in October. The news came through an interview with Fashionin which she explained the origins of her sonic return to form. It turns out it goes back to her fiancé Michael Polansky.

“Michael is the person who told me I had to make a new pop record. He said, “Honey. I love you. You have to make pop music,” she said. Polansky, who had this realization while watching Gaga on the Chromatica Ball tour, added: “As anyone would do for the person they love, I encouraged her to enjoy the joy of it. During the Chromatica tour I saw a fire in her. I wanted to help her keep that alive and just make music that made her happy.”

Gaga recorded her seventh album at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La recording studio in Malibu. Looking back on her 2020 album Chromatica, she said: “That album was about an absolutely terrible time for me with my mental health. I was in a very dark place.” The new album, on the other hand, “is in many ways about that time, but from a place of happiness rather than misery.”

In September, Gaga said Rolling stone: “The pop album is nothing like it Chromatica. It’s a completely different record. I don’t know if I’m even ready to talk about it, but I recognize that it’s coming out soon, and I will. What I would say is: it’s all for me. It is meant to be taken as a time in my life. And I’m also really excited about this idea that I don’t have to stick to an era if I don’t want to. I can have a few at a time. That feels unhinged (laughs) and more like me or Harley. Or anyone.”