I Finally Understand Why Lady Gaga Said Joker 2 Wasn"t Really A Musical

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Joker: Folie à DeuxHaving seen Joker: Folie à Deux, I finally understand why Lady Gaga wasn"t considering the movie to be a musical. Set two years after the events of the first Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, Joker: Folie à Deux directed by Todd Phillips is certainly a bold swing. However, just because I now have a better reference to understand Lady Gaga"s claims about the sequel and its musical status doesn"t mean I necessarily agree or like the reasons why.
Joker: Folie à Deux has already become one of the most divisive sequels of all time, having received the lowest CinemaScore of any comic book movie ever. I found the Joker sequel had elements I enjoyed more than I thought I would, but also portions that got progressively duller and eventually downright frustrating by the time the movie reached its end. While I knew the movie was going to be a "jukebox" musical going in, I had a very hard time appreciating the songs themselves. Keeping that in mind, I now realize why Joker: Folie à Deux wasn"t truly marketed as a musical to begin with.
I Was Baffled By Lady Gaga's Musical Comments About Joker 2 Described Exactly Like A Musical (But Not Calling It As Such) Close During September"s Venice Film Festival, Lady Gaga claimed that Joker: Folie à Deux claimed that the movie wasn"t a musical in the way that most other musicals use music, song, and dance (via Deadline on Twitter/X). However, her description certainly felt like the exact definition of what a musical is:

“I think the way that we approach music in this film was very special and extremely nuanced. I wouldn’t necessarily say that this is actually a musical; in a lot of ways, it’s very different...The way that music is used is to really give the characters a way to express what they mean to say because the scene and just the dialogue is not enough.”

Naturally, I found these comments to be very baffling, especially when similar claims were repeated by others in the movie"s cast and crew, including director Todd Phillips. For some reason, the agreed sentiment seemed to be that Joker: Folie à Deux would not be identified as a musical. That said, Joker: Folie à Deux features over 15 different songs, including "For Once in My Life", "When You"re Smiling", "Gonna Build A Mountain", "The Joker", and "That"s Life", all sung by Phoenix and/or Gaga, many of which had large dedicated set pieces one would expect to see from a typical musical with various performances.
After Seeing Joker 2, Now I Understand Why It's Not Really A Musical A Very Different Approach (That's Not Necessarily Better) Image via Warner Bros. Admittedly, I can understand why Gaga, Phillips, and more had the perspective that Joker: Folie à Deux wasn"t a traditional musical and had unique distinctions. The use of song in the movie is very cerebral, either sung between Lee and Arthur between themselves, or predominantly within their own minds (explaining the much larger performances that occur during his trial). While the approach is certainly unique, that doesn"t necessarily mean that it"s better or distinct enough to not be considered a musical at all.
I would argue that the goal of the songs in Joker: Folie à Deux are still meant to convey what dialogue and story alone can"t (exactly what a musical is supposed to do in the first place). Regardless, execution is another matter entirely. Unfortunately, this differing approach with the movie"s objectively musical elements is far more joyless and monotonous than one would expect.


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