MAYHEM - Lady Gaga: Review
Review by Lavender:
Lady Gaga is a caliber of pop star that really needs no introduction. Throughout the early 2010s, she was elevating to and then occupying a platform of pure superstardom scoring hit after hit after hit in the process. Though her previous record Chromatica performed decently in 2021, it was a significant step down from expectations for her studio output that left me and many others wondering if her time in the brightest lights was over. It isn't. On the back of some of her biggest hits in years, Gaga returned triumphantly with a record that stylistically throws it back to her earliest days and is surprisingly rewarding doing it.
To say that this record started off on unsure footing would be an understatement. Last year Gaga shared "Disease," a single that didn't perform extraordinarily well. I think that's a shame cause the song is an absolute fucking jam with an utterly infectious hook and thumping dance beat that I think is great. On the opposite side of things, we have "Die With A Smile," a duet with Bruno Mars that has been one of the biggest songs in the world for almost 6 months now. Despite its massive success being at the core of the ongoing Gaga renaissance, I have never really cared for the song. Its vintage melodrama is so boring and flavorless and the writing and production team credited makes it clear the song wasn't even meant for this album, just tacked on because of its success.
In between these two is "Abracadabra" which has performed well so far and has the chance to be her biggest solo hit in ages. While I like the song a little bit more than when it first dropped, I still wouldn't call it one her better singles. Instead, I'm now thankful that it served as a huge signifier of the direction of the album, one that is ultimately pays off really well among the deep cuts.
But before we get there, let's flush out the bad. After a run of pretty great songs throughout 75% of the record it has a pretty difficult finale. Alongside "Die With A Smile" the project shifts away from its electro pop ethos to something slower and more dramatic, with rough results. "The Beast" is exactly that and while I love a minimal instrumental, it just needs a little something more to grab onto especially during the verses. There's also "Blade Of Grass," the worst song on the album. It's a grand dramatic piano ballad that's deeply overwrought and the singing gets totally exhausting by the end of the song.
Thankfully, everything outside of that is essentially a Gaga throwback extravaganza with no down points. I may as well cut right to my favorite moment nestled alongside the singles. "Garden Of Eden" is the best Lady Gaga song I've heard in at least a decade. Gesaffelstein is on board for production and just absolutely devours it. The beat is so wiry and infectious and Gaga just piles on one sexy, hooky refrain after another. Thematically it feels like a less refined version of FKA Twigs' "Perfect Stranger" but the ultra-literal presentation feels perfect for Gaga. Ges actually gets a credited feature a few songs later on "Killah." Did I expect to hear Gaga over a mashup of the beat from "Army Of Me" and the bassline from "Fame?" No. But does it fucking rule? Absolutely.
That's not the only tine some rock instrumentation seeps its way into these dance songs. "How Bad Do U Want Me serves up this sweet contrast sounding much more sonically sentimental. But I think the actual song itself is about Gaga trying to talk a man into leaving his girlfriend for her, which like, go off queen. "Shadow Of A Man" is a flashdancey cut with punchy rock instrumentation that absolutely soars and I like it a lot too even though its lyrics sometimes undercut themselves.
The lyrics are iffy on a couple of songs here, but honestly that feels pretty authentic to the early Gaga era and it absolutely doesn't undercut my enjoyment. "Perfect Celebrity" is a great example sounding like a mash-up of several different specific and occasionally contradictory ideas all underneath the big umbrella of "being a celebrity and performing for an audience is degrading and makes you jaded," yet despite that confusion, I like the song a lot. "Don't Call Tonight" doesn't really have any lyrical highlights but it does have a beat that feels a lot like The Weeknd's "I Feel It Coming" in a way I absolutely cannot resist.
Among the tracklist are dancier cuts I think are just okay. "Zombieboy" and "LoveDrug" both seem to be early fan favorites, which is surprising because they're probably the least catchy and least vibrant of the dance cuts. Despite not really doing anything interesting to separate themselves from the pack, I do like both songs enough that it never made listening to MAYHEM feel like a chore. The only point on the record that feels like it pulls a little TOO directly from early era Gaga is "Vanish Into You." I can point out several moments on just this song alone that have obvious parallels to some of the more grand and dramatic moments on her first couple projects. I can't hate it because of how much I love the material it's pulling from, but it's something to note.
A Lady Gaga album really shouldn't be precise and controlled, so it doesn't bother me that even at its best the record can feel a bit all over the place. While the ballads that absolutely grind the record to a halt at its finale do bother me, I think fairly, I still enjoyed much more of MAYHEM than I didn't. More importantly, the song feels like Gaga stepping up to a throne that she hasn't occupied for years. Delivering a weird and infectious combination of earnest and surreal all wrapped up in a campy, dancy package. It's hard not to feel nostalgic listening to MAYHEM, especially for it's best most vibrant moments. 7/10
For more pop, check out my review of The Weeknd's Hurry Up Tomorrow
