Lady Gaga spent her entire career defying expectations and breaking new grounds, and she stayed true to herself on Mayhem. Her latest album is an electrifying return to her dance-pop roots that sees her experimenting with many different genres and paying homage to her role models.
Lady Gaga described Mayhem as a “chaotic” and “genre-bending” record that helped her reconnect with a darker style of pop that put her on the map. She also told Rolling Stone that this album is imbued with her love for music – a diversity of genres, styles, and dreams, adding that “it leaps from one genre to another in a manner that feels almost corrupt.”
She lived up to these words on Mayhem, which sees her toying with synth-pop and dance-pop while also embracing the elements of disco, rock, and industrial-pop. The album’s lead single and opening track “Disease” does a great job encapsulating the album’s sound and themes, along with “Abracadabra”, which was met with rave reactions after hitting the shelves last month.
Many of the songs on Mayhem echo Lady Gaga’s previous eras and biggest hits, such as “Perfect Celebrity”, which sounds straight out of The Fame, and “Garden of Eden”, which is giving us major Born This Way vibes. Several songs also pay clear homage to some of Gaga’s biggest idols, including David Bowie-esque “Vanish Into You” and Michael Jackson-tinged “Shadow of a Man”.
The chart-topping Bruno Mars collaboration “Die with a Smile” closes the album, and it’s the only song that feels slightly out of place. It’s a great showcase of her vocal abilities, despite being in a striking contrast with the rest of Mayhem, which highlights the new heights Gaga is able to achieve by being the truest version of herself.
