A Review of Mayhem and Lady Gaga’s Return to Pop Anarchy
Gaga’s return to pop is nothing short of an explorative vision of love and anarchy.
Words Randolf Maala-Resueño
Photos courtesy of Spotify
April 16, 2025
A month after its release, Lady Gaga’s seventh studio album, Mayhem, still lingers with tunes of the ghost of Gaga’s past–gritty, patterned, and revered. Described as a reborn to the music landscape, Gaga’s featured, cracked portrait on the album cover poses a soliloquy to shatteredness yet reassembled anew.
Traces of musical icons echo throughout the record. Michael Jackson’s punchy, pop-rock energy breathes soul into “Shadow of a Man,” while David Bowie’s influence is felt on “Vanish Into You,” and Prince’s unmistakable flair comes through on “Killah,” which features French DJ and producer Gesaffelstein.
These inspirations are especially clear in the grimy guitar riffs that underscore the tracks' emotional highs and lows. Even Taylor Swift’s tonal nuances and lyrical sensibilities shine through on “How Bad Do You Want Me,” with lines like, “She's on your mind like all that time, But I got a tattoo for us last week, Even good boys leave,” capturing her signature blend of vulnerability and bite.
But don’t get me wrong. The LP is not a style-copying incident but a testament to Gaga’s proficiency in jumping from one genre to another. From “Garden of Eden,” which harkens back to Gaga’s fixation with religious symbolisms on songs like “Judas” and “G.U.Y.”–blending 2000s pop with electronic beat (a complete rave staple, take note) to the disco funk that “ZombieBoy” brings to the LP, pinning nostalgia as a major feature to listeners.
Undeniably, Gaga’s stamp on pop music yields a strong throwback to fans. Pre-released phenomenon “Abracadabra” was a rebirth of Mother Monster’s “ARTPOP” and “The Fame Monster” eras–a discography filled with formulas perfect for mainstream musicality. Her dance-pop, electropop, and house music roots make a remarkable comeback, with the grimy, industrial punk forms of “Disease” fitting somehow to “Chromatica” and its deep dive to the guttural and the bizarre.
Mayhem’s peaked towards “Shadow of a Man” transfixing imagery of women empowerment against sexism in the music industry and a battlecry for life with lyrics like “Cause I won't be used for my love and left out to cry” accompanied by a disco-electro pop base. Rather, the flipside of the coin with “Abracadabra,” which tackles the woes of the darkness and fantastical magic within the electro-europop samples of “Spellbound” by Siouxsie and the Banshees.
The latter part of the LP, filled with vocal-heavy songs, lyrically reminiscent of Gaga’s transition to country with album “Joanne,” like “The Beast” and penultimate track “Blade Of Grass”–an ode to Gaga’s fiancé and their symbolic engagement. Albeit Gaga’s steadfast vocals prioritize the latter part of the LP, it does leave the record, with earlier tracks booming with energy, a bit top-heavy. Mid-tempo “Don’t Call Tonight” also lacked punch in contrast to the rest of the pieces.
The LP closes with the infamous “Die With A Smile” with Bruno Mars, capping a slower burn for the listeners while they wait for a repeat of “Disease.” The raw vulnerability “Blade of Grass” provokes would have rather kept the narrative towards a fresher, telling end, but “Die With A Smile” and its sense of endings and hope for new beginnings do create a yearning finality for the LP.
Reinventing pop music to its fullest glory was a daunting task to behold, and Gaga did it justice with Mayhem. This album truly felt like a homecoming for Gaga, proving her prowess in vocal storytelling unanimous to legendary. With “Mayhem Ball Tour” in the slate for worldwide domination this year, there’s no stopping Lady Gaga from shaping the future of the popular music genre. Let pop anarchy thrive.
Writer’s essential picks: “Garden of Eden,” “Killah,” “Shadow Of A Man,” “Vanish Into You”
