While Lady Gaga has triumphed with “Die With a Smile”, “Abracadabra” and the “Mayhem” tour, her most devoted fan has not learned half of it. Kirill Nguyen, the creator of Gaga Daily, has just been released from prison after spending roughly two and a half years behind bars in Belarus.
Nguyen, 32, was detained in 2024 when he returned to Belarus to visit his family. In 2020 he had participated in a protest against the government of Alexander Lukashenko, whose re-election was widely questioned, and he tells Pitchfork that he simply stepped out onto the street with a flag and walked. After his arrest, a friend took over Gaga Daily, while he remained cut off from pop news.
Now he has told Pitchfork what it felt like to hear “Abracadabra” for the first time in prison. He knew Gaga had released a new song because someone had told him in a letter, but he hadn’t listened to any previews nor knew what fans were saying. The track began to play on the prison radio up to three times a day. “For the first time in perhaps 20 years,” he was listening to a song without having heard any snippet beforehand or knowing what the internet was saying about it.
The prison playlist was more pop than expected, he notes. “Imagine I’m in prison, I’m eating prison food, and all I hear every day is ‘Rush’ by Troye Sivan,” he says. He also recalls listening to “Alone” by Kim Petras and Nicki Minaj while doing physical labor. Slay!
Nguyen has returned to Gaga Daily and has a lot of catching up to do. Among other things, he learned that Gaga had become a mother just after leaving prison. And when asked whether he hopes Gaga will talk more about Belarus, he makes his stance clear: “What matters to me is how the next album is going to sound.”
