Madness & Mayhem

Lady Gaga has consistently pushed boundaries in the music world. Her seventh studio album, MAYHEM, identifies her evolution as an artist, while inviting listeners to engage in a thrilling auditory journey.

A Revival of Sound

MAYHEM represents a significant shift in Gaga’s musical style. She balances between her original musicality, while delving into newer sounds of rock and funk, and contrasting them with powerful ballads. The lead single, "Disease," opens the album with a bang, getting people excited for the album and sets the stage for the chaos in the world Lady Gaga develops in this project. Following that with the viral hit "Abracadabra," which brought about the hype to this album as it was released during the prestigious Grammy Awards. Fans on social media referred to this track saying that she "reheated her nachos," a phrase used when an artist returns to their older sound, which one example being evident through the interpolation of her name in the chorus. Songs like "Shadow of a Man," "Zombieboy," "Garden of Eden," and "Perfect Celebrity" emerge as bridges between her works in her debut and sophomore albums to her modern releases and are bangers that fuse dance and energy. Powerful ballads like the massive sensation of "Die With A Smile" with Bruno Mars and "Blade of Grass" offer an emotional ending to the project and it left me satisfied with the conclusion.

Dance or Die

The mantra of this album being "Dance or Die" is a perfect culmination of what Gaga wanted the album to be and I enjoyed the majority of the project especially the first half with my standout tracks being "Vanish Into You" and "Killah" because they were the most fun to listen to and are the tracks I have came back to the most. I throughly enjoyed this project and even though I wasn't a fan of her last few albums this has made me fan once again.

On the other hand, I was not a fan of "The Beast," and the song "Don't Call Tonight" felt like a filler track more than anything and I did not see their purposes on the track list. However, despite this it did not diminish the project and it has remained one of my favorite albums released in 2025 so far.

Mayhem in the Desert

I was lucky enough to see her at Coachella and she was able to bring this concept to life flawlessly, leaving me and the other 100 thousand attendees astounded at her performance. This album has launched her to a peak that one could argue she hadn't experienced since the early 2010's. Those who disagree should look up how many people were at her Copacabana concert in Brazil earlier this week. The 2.1 million attendees broke the record for the largest concert in recent history and leave it very difficult to deny her impact that she has on music.

My Rating of MAYHEM

Top 3: "Vanish Into You," "Killah," and "Abracadabra"

Bottom 3: "Blade of Grass," "Don't Call Tonight," and "The Beast"

Overall Rating: 88/100