We now live in an era where we can’t always trust our eyes — and that has led none other than Lady Gaga to come under fire for potential AI usage in her latest music video for “The Dead Dance,” her new song for the Netflix show Wednesday.
So how did this happen, exactly? Let’s break it all down all the way from the beginning, including whether or not the signs actually do point to AI being used in the visual directed by Tim Burton himself.
First of all: Gaga on Wednesday! Yes, it’s happening. Lady Gaga was previously announced as a guest star for Season 2 of the beloved streaming series, and was revealed to be showing up in the second half of the season, which would air on September 3. A couple days before the release date on September 1, the show’s official social media accounts shared the first glimpse of her in costume as Rosaline Rotwood.
She rocked a spooky white dress with ghostly makeup and hair, as well as Thing, or another disembodied hand similar to Thing, on her shoulder. The show’s social media accounts called her “a vision in venom,” but didn’t give much else as far as details about her character — despite a rumor that she would play a teacher at Nevermore Academy.
Then, once release day rolled around, the floodgates opened for Gaga’s new track and the music video was released. It wasn’t a complete surprise, as the news that the song was dropping and would be featured in Season 2, as well as the fact that there would be a video directed by Burton, had already been announced. But that didn’t make the video and song any less exciting.
In the video, Burton employs a black and white gothic aesthetic that fits in perfectly with Wednesday, both the character and the show. Gaga is dressed in a very detailed white gothic gown and dances erratically along to the chorus lyrics, “Dancing until I’m dead.” However, there’s one particular production design choice that eagle-eyed fans concerned.
The video also prominently features some creepy dolls who at first are stationary and then start to move as the chorus of the song sets in — and that’s where those AI accusations started to swell.
“The Dead Dance” music video directed by Tim Burton out now! https://t.co/efrvtHCfQJ pic.twitter.com/m1kjJWD6Tx
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) September 3, 2025
The rumor kicked off on Twitter when one fan retweeted the video directly from Gaga and wrote, “I didn’t think we’d ever be in a timeline where a tim burton x lady gaga collab would turn out to be AI slop… but here we are.” The user went on to add multiple replies to their own tweet trying to justify why they felt the moving dolls in the video were animated using AI. Their particular reference point was the hands of the dolls, which appear to be morphing into themselves in clips this user singled out from the visual.
Other fans flooded the replies to the tweet, which has since gone viral with over 5.8 million views and over 70,000 likes. Some fans agreed with the poster, but even more fans came to both Burton and Gaga’s defense. Ultimately, the tweet ended up getting a community note with some very important receipts.
i didn’t think we’d ever be in a timeline where a tim burton x lady gaga collab would turn out to be AI slop… but here we are https://t.co/mSffur61DQ
— Graveyardguy (@graveyardquy) September 3, 2025
The community note leads us to an Instagram post with the music video’s full credits from The Roots Production Service, which claims to have produced the music video. Not only is a VFX supervisor listed as part of the crew, there’s a second key piece of the puzzle that checks out here.
A man with the YouTube handle @CarlosLlergo commented on the official video upload the day it was released. “Proud beyond words to have been part of the producers that made this video with Lady Gaga and Tim Burton. A true dream project. Thanks to every single person on the team who made Dead Dance possible.”
Many fans left kind replies to his words, but one user bluntly asked, “Are the dolls AI?” Llergo responded, “Noooo. Of course the ones moving were animated in a VFX studio.”
Back to that list of folks who worked on the video. Llergo is credited on that list as the project’s line producer, which means he would be fully aware of measures taken during production to make the final product come as close to the directorial vision as possible. Line producers quite literally keep things running on set and do a lot of off-set work to make sure things run smoothly and on budget, so Llergo is someone worth listening to. Plus, it has been confirmed that the video was shot on-location in Mexico, specifically the Island of the Dolls in Xochimilco, just south of Mexico City, which bolsters the validity of the project being human-created, not AI-generated.
The community note also touches on Burton’s public comments about AI. “What it does is it sucks something from you,” he told The Independent in a September 2023 interview. “It takes something from your soul or psyche; that is very disturbing, especially if it has to do with you. It’s like a robot taking your humanity, your soul.”
Though the proof seems to be here in black and white (literally and figuratively), the fan who made the original post seemed unconvinced by both the evidence and other fans’ defenses — but at the end of the day it seems as though Gaga, Burton, and their crew did not partake in the usage of AI for this project.
— Graveyardguy (@graveyardquy) September 4, 2025
And it’s a good thing they didn’t. That would be just too creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky, and altogether ooky.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
