Lady Gaga gets emotional in a Hot Ones interview, sharing why she almost quit music

Lady Gaga revealed the heartbreaking reason that she almost gave up on her music career while appearing on the popular YouTube talk show, Hot Ones.

During her conversation with host Sean Evans, the singer, who has won 14 Grammy awards and is 38 years old, shared the story of almost giving up on her dream long before achieving worldwide fame, selling millions of records, and embarking on sold-out tours.

When asked about the closest moment she had considered leaving the music industry, the singer responded that it was a challenging question, especially while dealing with the intense heat of progressively spicier chicken wings as part of the interview.

‘I felt a void in my life without the sense of belonging I had in New York, and that was particularly tough,’ she reflected, recalling her performances at venues like The Slipper Room in Manhattan.

The Joker: Folie à Deux star continued: ‘There were definitely times where I felt like maybe I should walk away but I know for sure that I never would.’

The actress went on to state that while she was ‘definitely’ tested that she was proud to have never given up.

Lady Gaga revealed the heartbreaking reason that she almost gave up on her music career while appearing on the popular YouTube talk show, Hot Ones

‘And I’m still doing it, so it must mean I want to do it,’ she pointed out, weeks ahead of the release of her long-awaited seventh album Mayhem, set to drop on March 7.

During the interview, Gaga confirmed that she wrote her 2011 hit track, Born This Way, in just ’10 f**king minutes.’

‘I did write it in 10 minutes!’ she exclaimed of her songwriting process. ‘For Born This Way and a lot of my songs, I hear it pretty quickly and then I just have to follow it.’

The Poker Face hitmaker also looked back on the creative methods she would use to get booked early in her career, which included pretending to be her own manager.

‘I look back on that time so fondly when I would spend the whole day trying to get gigs,’ she mused. ‘I would knock on door after door and say, “Can I please play here?” Or I would call and pretend I was my manager. I would tell people “She’s so hot right now.” Sometimes I would do an accent.’ 

For the interview, Gaga donned a stunning Thom Browne gown straight from the designer’s fall 2024 couture collection. 

The avant-garde, which was adorned with floral sculptural pieces, left her unable to use her right arm. 

Despite her dress leaving her partially immobilized, the performer made it through wing after wing. 

As she chatted with host, Sean Evans, the 14-time Grammy winner singer, 38, opened up about why she nearly abandoned her dream, long before becoming one of the world’s biggest artists, selling millions of records and performing sold-out tours

When asked to recall the ‘closest’ she came to walking away from being an artist, the singer admitted that this was ‘an incredibly deep question to ask’ while she was in ‘panic mode’ as she tackled eating progressively spicy hot wings through their talk

Her appearance comes after dropping her single, Abracadabra, earlier this month along with the accompanying edgy music video.

The song is from her forthcoming album, Mayhem, which also contains the singles Disease and Die With a Smile.

‘The album started as me facing my fear of returning to the pop music my earliest fans loved,’ the singer said in a press announcement last month.

While speaking about her next album for Vogue, Gaga gushed: ‘I love producing — I always have — and something that was really important to me making my seventh studio album was blending live instrumentation with programming.’ 

‘The album is chaotic from a genre perspective — it is genre-bending, and I think in that way is a deeply personal look into my mind as a producer and the way I think about music.’

‘I missed the community that I had in New York, and that was really hard,’ she explained after reminiscing on her days performing at locations like The Slipper Room in Manhattan

The Joker: Folie à Deux star continued: ‘There were definitely times where I felt like maybe I should walk away but I know for sure that I never would’

The actress went on to state that while she was ‘definitely’ tested that she was proud to have never given up (seen in 2022)

Also on Thursday, the Grammy Award-winner was seen leaving rehearsals for the upcoming SNL50: The Homecoming Concert in New York City

She spent the afternoon rehearsing inside Radio City Music Hall, where Miley Cyrus and other A-list performers will also take the stage on Friday night 

Gaga was joined by her fiance Michael Polansky, who kept a low-profile during their exit from the venue

She also said that the album has a ‘darker pop’ sound that’s more in line with her iconic 2009 album, The Fame Monster.

However, fans need not be worried that Gaga is going too somber with her sound. 

‘The album is not extremely serious in that it’s very fun and meant to be enjoyed at a party, in a club, or at home having personal fun time — to be free of your worries at home or walking through life,’ she insisted.

Gaga released the album’s lead single Disease last month to rave reviews from music critics, who lauded it as a return to the star’s roots.

Unfortunately, the acclaim failed to translate to the charts, with Disease debuting at No. 27 on the Hot 100 – her worst entry for a lead single in 16 years.

On the bright side, Gaga is currently enjoying one of her biggest hits in years thanks to her Bruno Mars duet, Die With a Smile.

The ballad has so far reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Pop Airplay Chart.