Now that movie musicals are back in a big way and the other pop stars are flocking to the silver screen – Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez et al – Lady Gaga, always ahead of the curve, is back in the recording studio. If any of her filmmaking experience was bruising, it’s useful grist to the mill.
Whereas her debut album Fame (2008) was an artist’s impression of fame and its horrors, Gaga has actually lived the full Hollywood life now as an A-list actress. There were the soaring highest highs of A Star Is Born, where she took home the Oscar for Best Original Song. And then the lowest lows, with box office bomb Joker: Folie à deux. Her tie-in jazz album, Harlequin, was also a flop.
The vagaries of being famous comes in for another kicking in Mayhem. “You love to hate me,” she growls in the grungy track Perfect Celebrity. But there’s no hard feelings for her dedicated Little Monsters – this is pure fanservice, Gaga style.
Given the gothic vibe of the album promo and the music videos for lead singles, Disease and Abracadabra (still charting in the UK Top 10), this Little Monster was hoping for something unapologetically metal. Instead, Gaga has cherrypicked from the genre, overlaying screamo vocals on dancefloor bangers for the first half of Mayhem before giving way to pure 80s synth in the back end.
There’s still a dark, fairly murderous vibe though, if you pay attention to Gaga’s lyrics – always a cinematic affair, she creates a short story with every track. Groove-tastic Killah is particularly fun and nasty, with Gaga vacillating between horny and homicidal. “Talkin' some shit with your hand on my ass/I'm a murderer in disguise,” she croons. “Boy you’re gonna die tonight.”
Mayhem is something of a victory tour, with Gaga re-visiting some of her biggest hooks. Vanish Into You takes Bad Romance into a major key, while Shadow of a Man samples from her Beyoncé collab hit Telephone. Blade of Grass, the penultimate track, has echoes of her Oscar-winning number Shallow.
This is music to dance all night to, and Gaga has sharpened her act here too. She’s ditched her choreographer, Richard 'Ricky' Jackson, who her dancers alleged created a “toxic” work environment. That viral Abracadabra choreo? All Parris Goebel, although judging by his Instagram crashout, Ricky is not happy about it.
The healing power of the dancefloor has been a major theme in music recently, with Charli XCX and FKA Twigs releasing albums dedicated to the joy of raving, while celebs are flocking to Berlin fetish club Berghain. Mayhem is a whole club night, and Gaga’s queer fans have been ready and waiting to embrace it. There are dedicated album nights in venues across London this weekend, from a Mayhem Ball at Clapham gay bar The Two Brewers, to a Mayhem Special at the Clapham Grand.
There’s a line that’s been doing the rounds online as queer people square up to the increasingly hostile political environment: “During the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night.” Gaga has always been one of the music industry’s strongest ally’s to the LGBTQ+ community. At a time when our rights feel particularly under attack, Mayhem is her gift. Let’s dance all night.
