Lady Gaga Says ‘Everything’ Changed When She Fell in Love with Fiancé Michael Polansky: ‘My Best Friend’ (Exclusive)

Lady Gaga says everything has changed since meeting fiancé Michael Polansky.

At the Monday, Sept. 30, Los Angeles premiere of her upcoming film Joker: Folie à Deux, the Grammy winner, 38, exclusively tells PEOPLE what it’s been like to collaborate with her fiancé on her latest studio album, Harlequin — which also serves as a companion album to the upcoming film. Polanksy, 41, worked as a co-executive producer on the project with Gaga.

“It's just the first time that we decided to fully just go into it and do it. It just felt right,” she exclusively tells PEOPLE of their collaboration. 

“We were both so excited,” she adds. “We were all warmed up and ready to go.”

Gaga also tells PEOPLE how much she adores Polansky. “I just love my fiancé so much," she says. "He's my best friend. He's my partner, and I just feel like when you are with your best friend, everything changes.”

The pair were first linked in 2020, when they were photographed kissing at a New Year’s Eve party in Las Vegas. They made their relationship Instagram official at the 2020 Super Bowl in Miami. In July 2024, Gaga revealed to French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal at the 2024 Paris Olympics that she and Polansky are engaged.

Polansky is credited as Gaga’s co-writer on songs featured on Harlequin, including, "Good Morning," "Get Happy," "Oh, When the Saints" and "If My Friends Could See Me Now." The songs to which he contributed are standards and show tunes that they updated sonically and lyrically.

The 13-track album consists of all covers, except for two original songs, "Happy Mistake" and "Folie à Deux.”

While Polansky worked on what Gaga has dubbed her “LG 6.5” album, she told Vogue in early September that her upcoming seventh album was Polanksy's idea.

“Michael is the person who told me to make a new pop record," she told the fashion magazine. "He was like, ‘Babe. I love you. You need to make pop music.’ ”

The “Poker Face” singer and Polansky made their red carpet debut at the Venice Film Festival. On Sept. 26, the House of Gucci actress and Polansky appeared at the film's London premiere.

Days before the London premiere, the "Paparazzi" singer told Buzzfeed Canada that she's looking forward to creating a family with Polansky in the next 15 years. “You know, I’m so happy to be in love and I’m so excited to have a family," Gaga responded. "So that’s definitely number one.” 

During the Sept. 27 episode of The Graham Norton Show, she confessed that she thought Polansky's proposal was a joke at first.

“He proposed on April 1st, and I thought he was joking,” Gaga revealed of the engagement on April Fool’s Day.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Joker: Folie à Deux premieres in theaters on Friday, Oct. 4.