We can always count on Lady Gaga to push boundaries and defy expectations with each new album she shares with the world, and Mayhem is no different. Her latest album finally hit the shelves this Friday, and it marks the glorious return to her dance-pop roots that also sees her experimenting with many other genres.
Lady Gaga described Mayhem as a “chaotic blur of genres”, and she truly lived up to these words. Her latest album is mostly rooted in the dance-pop music that put her on the map, but it also includes elements of synth-pop, disco, industrial pop, rock, and grunge.
What makes Mayhem so interesting is Gaga’s commitment to celebrating the truest version of herself while also paying homage to some of the legends who shaped her journey as a musician.
Many of the songs, including the three opening tracks “Disease”, “Abracadabra”, and “Garden of Eden”, sound straight out of Gaga’s early albums, such as The Fame and Born This Way. Mayhem also features several songs inspired by her role models, such as Michael Jackson on “Shadow of a Man”, David Bowie on “Vanish Into You”, and Prince on “Killah”.
Mayhem is a glorious return to Gaga’s dance-pop roots, which also sees her stepping into new territories and exploring a diversity of genres and styles. This is both its biggest strength and weakness because the album’s tone is pretty uneven, and certain songs – such as a chart-topping Bruno Mars collaboration “Die with a Smile”, which was initially released as a standalone single – feel slightly out of place.
