Gaga & Doechii’s surprise single

The song showed up first in a movie trailer, not on a release calendar. On April 6, 2026, 20th Century Studios used the final trailer for *The Devil Wears Prada 2* to preview “Runway,” a new Lady Gaga and Doechii collaboration, before the full track landed on streaming services on April 10. (variety.com) By Friday morning, the full single was live on Spotify as “Runway” by Lady Gaga and Doechii, listed as a 2026 release. Billboard and Rolling Stone both described it as the first new music tied to the sequel’s soundtrack. (open.spotify.com) (billboard.com) This is not just a random duet with a fashion title. “Runway” is named after Runway magazine, the fictional fashion publication run by Miranda Priestly in the film series, so the song is built directly into the movie’s world instead of being tacked on after the fact. (deadline.com) (imdb.com) The movie it is selling arrives fast. 20th Century Studios says *The Devil Wears Prada 2* opens in theaters on May 1, 2026, with Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci returning from the 2006 original. (20thcenturymovie.ca) The credits explain why the track feels bigger than a routine soundtrack cut. YouTube’s release metadata lists Bruno Mars and Andrew Watt as producer-songwriters, with Cirkut and D’Mile also credited as producers alongside Gaga and Doechii’s writing credits. (youtube.com) That lineup turns one soundtrack single into a stack of fan bases. Gaga brings pop, Doechii brings rap, Bruno Mars and Andrew Watt bring hitmaker recognition, and the film brings a built-in audience that already knows the name Runway from two decades of *Devil Wears Prada* fandom. (consequence.net) (20thcenturymovie.ca) Hollywood has been doing more of this lately: put the song in the trailer, let the clip circulate for days, then drop the full version close to opening weekend. Variety reported the first listen on April 6, and the full release followed four days later, which gave the movie free music coverage and the song free movie coverage at the same time. (variety.com) (rollingstone.com) The timing also fits where both artists are right now. Doechii has been moving from cult favorite to mainstream fixture, and Gaga has long used film music as part of her release strategy, from *A Star Is Born* to *Top Gun: Maverick*’s awards-season orbit around “Hold My Hand,” so a soundtrack single is familiar ground for her. (rollingstone.com) (billboard.com) The film side has reason to want that extra push. Deadline reported early box office tracking above $66 million for the movie’s United States opening, which means the studio is treating this sequel like a major early-summer launch, not a small nostalgia play. (deadline.com) So the quiet part was the announcement, not the scale. A song teased on April 6, released on April 10, tied to a May 1 studio sequel, and built by Gaga, Doechii, Bruno Mars, Andrew Watt, Cirkut, and D’Mile is less a surprise drop than a very polished handoff between pop promotion and movie marketing. (variety.com) (youtube.com)