Lady Gaga appeared to push the hands on the clock ticking down to LG7 a few spots forward on Thursday (July 18) when she gave her Little Monsters the latest, most exciting update on her long-awaited follow-up to 2020’s Chromatica.

“Just me in the studio — happy as ever making music,” Gaga wrote in an Instagram post in which she was spotted wearing an all-black out fit accented by black shades as she tossed up the metal hand sign while standing behind a microphone in a recording studio. The series of three pics included another one in which Gaga seemed to be singing and one of her sitting behind the mixing console deep in thought.

Following a string of emoji — black heart, black shades, lips, music notes — Gaga’s post added, “Feel so grateful, heart is peaceful. It’s like meditation. I can’t wait for you to hear what I’m working on.” The post got an immediate, enthusiastic reaction from Kesha, who commented, “Feed us mother!!!!,” with Gaga responding with a shout-out to her fellow pop star’s new single, writing, “Just looking for a joyride 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤.”

Gaga has been amping up anticipation for her seventh album since February, when she posted some similar studio snaps along with the clarification, “No I’m not making a rock album.” That denial came alongside a pic of Gaga sitting on a day bed in front of a window strumming an electric guitar, with a vocal mic in front of her. A week before, she posted pictures in which she was working hard playing a keyboard in the studio, as well as ones in January of her recoding vocals, which may have sparked that fan speculation that she’s leaning into her rock side.

The curtain was pulled back a bit more in June when Gaga told Drag Race star Sasha Velour that she’s been focusing on music lately in a chat about Gaga’s Gaga Chromatica Ball concert doc. “I have just been in the studio all the time, and I’m making a lot of music,” Gaga told Velour in the since-deleted post. “It’s just this incredibly vast experience that I just feel so lucky that I get to have. I’m excited for Monsters to hear where I am now, and to be connecting on that level again.” The Chromatic Ball film also dropped what felt like a mega-teaser in the message that flashed at the end of the film: “LG7 GAGA RETURNS.”

Gaga — who recently wrapped her Las Vegas Jazz & Piano residency — has not made any formal announcement about a release date for her next album so far, but the one thing we do know for sure is that she’ll appear as Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie à Deux alongside Joaquin Phoenix when that sequel hits theaters on October 4.

Check out Gaga’s post below.