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When I heard that Lady Gaga was to release her seventh studio album, MAYHEM, on March 7, I was intrigued. I loved Gaga when I was a young girl and a teenager – at the height of her The Fame, The Fame Monster, and Born This Way glory – but I haven’t been a regular listener since she released Joanne in 2016. When I read that she was revisiting her pop music roots on this album, I was over the moon and couldn’t wait to listen to the album in full. 

The perfect time to come back to pop 

Never one for taking too much time off, Lady Gaga has been incredibly busy over the past five years; she released Chromatica in 2020, starred in two films – House of Gucci in 2021 and Joker: Folie a Deux in 2024 – released Harlequin, a full-length soundtrack full of covers and a few originals, toured all over the world, and played her Vegas residency. 

While Gaga has had her fair share of controversy surrounding her since she first rocketed to fame in 2008 with her debut The Fame, (lest we forget the infamous “meat dress” that she wore to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards), she has also has the rare ability to appeal to music listeners of every genre. She appeals to both pop and rock ideals, is a classically-trained pianist, writes much of her own music, and has forged a number of meaningful relationships with other artists across genres, namely her heartwarming friendship with Tony Bennett, with whom she released two jazz albums.

MAYHEM comes at the perfect time to remind Gaga’s fans of why they first fell in love with her music. Prior to releasing the album, Gaga shared that her fiance, Michael Polansky, was the catalyst that prompted her to return to her pop roots. 

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gaga shared, “Instead of completely reinventing my sound with every album I’ve ever done, I started thinking, ‘What makes me me? What are my references? What are my inspirations? What is my style?’ Being afraid to actually answer a question I’ve been asked my whole career, which is, ‘Could you please define yourself for us?’ I had a hard time doing that, because I didn’t really know. But I think I found some of it with MAYHEM.”

The monster that is fame 

One of the most prominent themes on the album is inner conflict and Gaga’s apprehension is clearly interwoven throughout the tracks. Gaga is no stranger to having an alter ego, and in the music videos for the lead singles from the album – “Disease” and “Abracadabra” – you can find multiple Gagas facing off against one another. 

One of the standouts on the album for me is “Perfect Celebrity,” a raw track in which she ruthlessly observes and describes how it feels to live in multiple personas at one time. Her voice takes on a Courtney Love-esque quality as she sings, “I’m made of plastic like a human doll / You push and pull me, I don’t hurt at all / I talk in circles, ‘cause my brain, it aches / You say, ‘I love you,’ I disintegrate.” 

The chorus aptly ridicules the concept of fame, while also addressing Gaga’s concerns about existing within the industry for so many years: “So rip off my face in this photograph (perfect celebrity) / You make me money, I’ll make you laugh (perfect celebrity) / Show me your pretty, I’ll show you mine / You love to hate me / I’m the perfect celebrity.”

Some tracks on MAYHEM harken back to Gaga’s previous work. “Don’t Call Tonight,” appears to be the successor to “Alejandro” (off of the The Fame Monster from 2010), and once again revisits the subject of fame and maintaining a genuine persona on a global stage. Gaga sings, “I’m so addicted to your lies, oh / And in the mirror I get weak / At the girl starin’ back at me / They’re your eyes, they’re your eyes.” 

Another standout on the album for me is “Killah,” featuring Gesaffelstein, who also serves as a producer on the album. The track has a funky, Nine Inch Nails-esque beat, overlaid with Gaga’s harsh, crunchy vocals. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gaga said that “Killah” was the track that “pushed her out of her comfort zone.”

“I love the production on it so much. The only live instrument on the whole record is a guitar, and it is so much fun. It is so confident. But it was unlike any feel or groove that I’d ever worked on before. And also the truth is, I’m not that confident all the time. I’m someone who definitely can feel deeply insecure, but on that record, it’s like peak confidence,” she said. “And that’s part of the journey of Mayhem as one night out. If you think of the album as one whole night, it’s like that moment in the night when you’re just feeling your best.”

And then there are some songs that also address Gaga’s relationship with Polansky and her return to love. “Vanish Into You” depicts Gaga’s desire to merge with her partner and insulate herself from emotions and hardships of the world. In the chorus she sings, “Saw your face and mine / In a picture by our bedside / It was cold in the summertime / We were just happy to be alive / Can I vanish into you?” 

In the Little Monster Press Conference, presented by Spotify, Gaga shared that “Vanish Into You” was the first track she wrote for MAYHEM, stating, “In ‘Vanish Into You,’ I imagine that I just want to disappear into the person that I love the most.”

Gaga closes out the album with a trifecta of ballads – “The Beast,” “Blade of Grass,” and her duet with Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile.” 

Overall, the whole album brings Gaga back to her pop roots. Her sound is refined, her lyricism is sharp, and her critiques about fame and alternate personas are interesting in a way that isn’t obnoxious coming from someone who is rich and famous. For someone who seems to love committing to an over-the-top, maximalist theme for each album, MAYHEM isn’t necessarily overthought or overdone. While the album title allegedly promises a sort of chaos, we instead get Gaga at her rawest and most confident.

Listen to the album below: