Joaquin Phoenix Gave Lady Gaga Singing Advice for Joker 2

We all know Lady Gaga as the ultimate pop singer selling out albums and concert performances. While she sang on screen before in A Star is Born, her next singing role in Joker 2 will be a whole other ball game. In fact, her co-star Joaquin Phoenix gave her some singing advice to fully embody Harley Quinn.

Lady Gaga’s role is expected to “blow your mind” in Joker: Folie à Deux. She already did so in her Oscar-nominated performance in A Star is Born playing an up-and-coming singer. This time around, she’ll be singing on screen again, but not as a professional. Her co-star Joaquin Phoenix, who sang on screen before as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, told Vogue he gave her some singing advice, and you’d be shocked to know what it was:

“I encouraged her to sing poorly. I remember asking her to sing without her vibrato. She has a beautiful vibrato—too beautiful. I think she felt naked without it. But as soon as she moved away from technique she unlocked her character’s voice.”

Harley Quinn offers Lady Gaga a new character experience, with the music serving as dialogue for the DC character’s thoughts. This would mean singing as Joker’s love interest compared to a Grammy Award-winning singer.

“There are moments in the film where I’m playing an adult woman who sings like a little girl. And she’s moving through the world with this kind of immaturity, which I thought was interesting,” said Gaga. “And my relationship with music in this film is like the way a child discovers music—as the ultimate form of happiness.”

What request did Lady Gaga have for Joker 2’s music?

While Joaquin Phoenix advised Lady Gaga to sing “poorly,” the Applause singer had a request of her own- live singing. During a Joker 2 press conference (via People), Phoenix said he and his co-star went back and forth about live singing until they ultimately decided it was the right thing to do:

“Not only did we sing live, but every part of the recording was live,” said Phoenix. “We didn’t sing to completed tracks or a click track. We were working with a pianist on set, so each take was a different version of the song and of singing the song, so that felt really exciting and created an energy that was necessary.”

It looks like we’re going to get to see and hear Lady Gaga in a way we haven’t before when Joker: Folie à Deux hits theaters on October 4th.