At 12 a.m. (EST), March 7, 2025, Lady Gaga released her seventh studio album, Mayhem. Now, there was obviously no way for me to go into this album objectively, as I have been a massive fan of Lady Gaga since she debuted (even though I was probably a bit too young to be listening to songs about riding a “disco stick”).
Honestly, I am super happy she’s super popular right now, because I feel like she didn’t get the flowers she deserved for Chromatica (her sixth studio album) since it was released right on the brink of the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020. I was gifted tickets to her Chromatica Ball tour, and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Gaga is a performer, through and through. Dancing, singing, emoting, and engaging the audience are her specialties.
One of the other amazing aspects of Gaga’s career is that she doesn’t have just one sound or style. She is incredibly versatile, with music ranging from pop to country to jazz to ballads. Mayhem is primarily a dance album, with pop, Eurodance, ballroom, disco, a little 80s, and a touch of metal. Gaga isn’t Gaga without a bit of metal, let’s be real. While Chromatica was also a dance album, the type of dance music was different, leaning more toward electro and house.
Mayhem is a masterpiece. This release is catchy, captivating, and just the perfect amount of weird. I literally was dancing throughout my first listen to the album because it moves through you. The beats are fun, the vocals are on point (as always), and the album is like a breath of fresh air after a fairly dry few years of pop music.
To be fair, it would have been genuinely shocking if the album was anything but amazing, considering the singles she released for it are so amazing. The first single from the album was Die With A Smile (feat. Bruno Mars), released October 16, 2024. At this point, if you haven’t heard this song, then I would be amazed. It took the world by storm, breaking all sorts of chart milestones on Spotify and Apple Music, getting stream after stream. To say the song is a sensation is an understatement. The second single from Mayhem was Disease, released November 20, 2024. This was more of a pop song than the first, and the music video was bizarre and artful. It felt so perfectly Gaga and it really was the song that had me hyped for the album. The third and final single was Abracadabra, released February 3, 2025. This is another song that has taken the world by storm, going viral online and topping the charts.
Disease and Abracadabra start off the album as the first and second songs, respectively. They set the tone for most of the album, introducing the introspective and dance aspects of Mayhem. Die With A Smile closes off the album with a slower vibe. It’s the perfect tie-off to the album, as Gaga and Mars sing about the end of the world and what to do when the party’s over. Mayhem also has a wonderful progression, becoming more serious, emotional, and insightful as the album progresses, which makes Gaga’s choice for closing song even more poignant.
My top three songs from Mayhem (not including the singles):
- Killah (feat. Gesaffelstein)
- LoveDrug
- Don’t Call Tonight
Mayhem has 14 tracks with a runtime of just over 53 minutes.
Album image taken from ladygaga.com.