She’s back. The build-up to ‘Mayhem’ has see Lady Gaga reiterate her commitment to pop music, grappling once more with the possibilities of being a chart alien, crushing competitors while setting boundaries alight. It couldn’t have come at a more apt time for the world – dark forces linger ominously on the fringes of our daily lives, impinging on the spirit in the process. Ripping up the rulebook once more, ‘MAYHEM’ is terrific full-throttle entertainment that rips out subtext and subtlety, replacing it with chaotic, helter-skelter entertainment.
Dark-pop opener ‘Disease’ breaks out of the cocoon in immaculate fashion; a spiritual cousin to her work on ‘Born This Way’ the crunching production carries the heft of Justice, perhaps, with a sprinkle of Lady Gaga’s pop in its DNA. A forceful, unavoidably theatrical return, it’s the perfect curtain raiser on this new era.
The breakneck opener arc continues with the bruising, punishing ‘Abracadabra’ – reinventing club sounds for the force of the mosh pit, the stunning verse (“hold me in your arms tonight…”) is catchier than most artist’s entire catalogues. The chorus is a bold, bonkers slight of Euro-pop, embracing the universal while dipping into the surreal – it’s remarkable, and sits with some of her most revolutionary pop moments.
There’s scarcely time to grab your breath on ‘MAYHEM’. ‘Garden Of Eden’ lifts some choppy rock riffs – not for nothing was Lady Gaga’s first public appearance in an AC/DC video, y’know – to create a stadium piledriver, while ‘Perfect Celebrity’ is a plea of defiance from one of the most libelled, wilfully misinterpreted figures in pop culture. Truthfully, we need Lady Gaga in our lives.
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‘Vanish Into You’ drops the tempo a little, the disco-fringed synths recalling ABBA’s imperial phase; there’s a slight retro touch at times here, too – witness the Prince-style funk of ‘Killah’, a homage from one ground-breaking musical alien to another.
‘Zombieboy’ is fringed with mid-80s energy, the superb ‘LoveDrug’ leans on her imposing vocal chops, while the electronic erotica of ‘How Bad Do U Want Me’ is ready to induce heart palpitations across the globe.
An all-thriller rollercoaster ride through pop’s darker environs, ‘MAYHEM’ then takes a twist to the unexpected. Dropping the tempo for ‘The Beast’ – with its notes of paranoia defiance – and the power ballad ‘Blade Of Grass’, the shift makes for some slightly awkward moments. Closing on the record-breaking Bruno Mars single ‘Die With A Smile’ is also an uneasy climax – a thrilling pop adventure, for sure, the song feels tonally distinct from the album’s strange, H.R Giger bio-mechanical lust.
All that being said, this is Lady Gaga at her hungriest – a pop carnivore demolishing a feast of blood-strewn ideas, it’s an often staggering achievement. Not that here recent history is without those – there’s a tendency online to say Lady Gaga has simply been treading water for a decade, which is absurd. The glittering acting CV? The pursuance of jazz, one of her first loves? The frequently astonishing ‘Chromatica’ era? Nothing in her glittering career should be discounted casually.
‘MAYHEM’ does, however, re-connect Lady Gaga with a sound – and approach – she deserves to own. With the world growing darker by the minute, one of the planet’s biggest stars is ready to unroot pop’s foundations once more – and we’re totally here for it.
8/10
Words: Robin Murray
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