“Mayhem”: The perfect name for an album that has done nothing but spiral my brain into a rampant twister of chaos and conflicting feelings.
Leading up to March 7, the official release date of “Mayhem,” I was absolutely ecstatic to listen to it. With 14 tracks and a total play time of 53 minutes, Gaga poured her heart and soul into the tracklist that had been hyped up by other listeners.
When Lady Gaga released her lead single, “Disease,” back in October, the synth-pop grungy-vocal angst left me excited for everything to come next.
The next song release was on February 3, when Gaga released her next single, “Abracadabra.” My anticipation blew through the roof. The syncopated beats of the post-chorus have enamored its listeners and presumably set the scene for what to expect.
These songs, which are the first two on the album, set the bar sky high when it comes to my expectations. My socks were on the edge of my toes, waiting to fly off the very second she released the full album.
I’d like to preface this by saying that although I did anticipate a lot from “Mayhem” prior to its release, I was ready for a more synth-hyper-dance-pop vibe with a taste of EDM, but to my surprise I was met with something a little different.
Starting off with the third song on the album, “Garden of Eden,” the steady synth melody comes in, and I immediately feel the same hyper-dark-pop aura that was given to us during “The Fame” (2008) era. It makes me feel like I am seven years old again, dancing in my shared room with my older sister, playing Just Dance 2014 and trying to keep up with the animated character as Gaga’s chorus to “Just Dance” rings out in the background. I will say that when listening to the lyrics, it felt almost generic. Don’t get me wrong; the song is not a disappointment, but I do feel a lack of fluency from the lyrics throughout the song. During my first listen, I felt as though the lyrics switched from the nightclub dance party aspect of fooling around and finding out (with those “nine inch heels”) to the Adam and Eve references a little too quickly. Though, after listening almost 600 times, I found the lyrics have toned down in my brain and became much easier to comprehend. I still have this song on rotation everytime I’m on Spotify, so there is no disappointment going on here.
I have been waiting a while to give my thoughts on the 4th track of this album, “Perfect Celebrity,” which is nothing short of perfection. The angst and grilling vocals of the chorus paired with the soft sung verses reminds me of the “Smile 2” in-movie popstar “Skye Riley.” Throughout the movie she struggles in the public eye (alongside the horror aspect of the movie) as she faces backlash for her actions. All around this song is 100% Skye Riley vibes and I recommend you watch the thrilling movie series to understand my sentiments. I interpreted “Perfect Celebrity” as a calculated mix of the thrilling Hollywood highlife as well as the underlying factor of how being in the public eye controls your life, balancing on the thin edge of not doing enough and doing too much. Being the “perfect celebrity” is never being perfect enough for the audience.
“You love to hate me/I’m the perfect celebrity” is the repeating lyric that really emphasized this point for me. It is safe to say that this is a top three song for me in this album.
Now the 5th track “Vanish Into You” is where I became dumbfounded and made to rethink my expectations for this album. The song starts off with emotional vocals from Gaga that really painted the picture of what this song would mean to me. Shortly after the intro chorus there is a funky bass line that bleeds a retro-pop vibe into the song and backs the emotional lyrical melody. The song itself feels like an unrequited-love song or maybe even a past love that didn’t work in the end, almost like a cry out for what could’ve been or once was. A sad love song hidden by nostalgic pop melody is how I would describe this song.
Featuring a groovy new-wave beat from Gesaffelstein, “Killah” is the 6th track on the album. At this point, I’ve realized that Gaga was shattering my preconceived notions that all of these songs would be similar to the first two. The lyrics themselves are very provocative which has come as no surprise to me, and if anything I am in full support of Gaga continuing to embrace the feminine sexuality. The song itself is giving heavy ARTPOP (specifically G.U.Y) vibes in reference to its heavy sexual themes and non-traditional instrumentals. I find it to be nostalgic to see Gaga continuing her innuendos. I’ll admit I’d never heard of him, but Gesaffelstein himself is a French music programmer, which explains where the exotic beat and melody comes from. At first I found the repetitive melodic beats during the verses and extensive outro to be incessant and annoying, but after a while I’ve grown to like that foreign repetitiveness.
Halfway through the album, and I can’t help but be struck with something dazzling. “Zombieboy” is the seventh track in this album, and it is nothing short of amazing. I was in pure disbelief when I realized this was not in Dua Lipa’s discography, because this song gives major Future Nostalgia vibes. The song starts off with a short verse and the lyrics, “We’re about to be up all night/wakin’ up a zombie, so put your paws all over me/you Zombieboy” which hints toward another song with heavy hints of a provocative undertone. Next the nifty slap-bass line starts up and is a blast from the past providing a 70’s based vibe, which I imagine myself roller skating around a roller rink to. The words themselves are similar to the innuendos in “Killah,” but they seem to be more hidden in comparison. The low vocals Gaga sings during the chorus are absolutely killer, and the harmony is something I found myself listening to repeatedly. This song is another top three for me.
At track number 8 we are presented with “LoveDrug.” I interpreted this song similarly to “Vanish Into You,” where the words carry the hurt of a love that you want despite it being bad (hence the name “LoveDrug.”) The difference in this song is the energy Gaga brings. The melody is jerky, giving a feeling of being pulled up and down as the lyrics compliment the timing. I’ve noticed Gaga has used a lot of synthetic beats in this album and I am living for it. The introduction starts off strong with a poppy-like beat. At first, the chorus was very confusing for me. The push and pull dynamic between the lyrics and beat really confused my brain and how I heard it, but after hearing it too many times, I’ve grown to really like the song itself and am very drawn in by the chorus.
Onto number nine on the album and number 14 on my ranking, “How Bad Do U Want Me” is an interesting song in comparison to her others on the album. I love Gaga very dearly, but this song is something I would find when scrolling through Taylor Swift’s Spotify page. There is nothing wrong with writing and performing songs that sound similar to other artist styles, but I expected a lot more authenticity from Gaga. Not to say the song isn’t catchy – trust me I still moderately listen to it for fun – but I am disappointed. That being said, the song itself is very pop. It starts with a pop melody and ends the same way. The lyrics feel very different from the background track and sound a lot like they took the vocals and slapped them on a random Garageband pop sample. In an interview Gaga did with Las Culturistas (with Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers), she mentioned how close she was to not releasing this song, and in all honesty I think she should have left this record on the shelf.
In contrast to the last song I spoke about, number 10, or “Don’t Call Tonight,” is much easier to listen to, giving me back the authentic Gaga feel. Jumping back on the nostalgic-pop train, this song is very similar to the vibes and energy of “Vanish Into You,” with the same vibes of a 80’s disco-esque pop song with striking vocals that could get stuck in your head for the next three hours. The bridge and chorus that follows after are my favorite parts of the song. The way the beat changes for the bridge and how the vocals become synth-like seems to scratch a certain part of my brain and it only gets better when the following chorus is made of Gaga’s isolated vocals.
Next we have track 11, “Shadow of a Man.” This is the third song in my top three tracks, and while I could go on and on about the “funky” beat and how it sounds like this or that, I’m going to spare the repetitiveness. “Shadow of a Man” has the best chorus I’ve heard on this album. “I don’t wanna fade into the darkness tonight/show me the light, I don’t wanna be the one to fall on the knife/to come alive” are the words of this breadwinning chorus that I am so enamored about. The pace that Gaga sings the words is fast enough to keep up with my ADHD riddled brain, and I believe it truly lets me enjoy this song as the masterpiece it is. To repeat what I’ve said about pretty much every song, this track has a heavy pop vibe to it that fits in very well with the rest of the album.
To contradict the vibe of the entire album, number 12 feels like a slow alt pop mostly melancholy kind of song. “The Beast” is the slowest song on the album with its melodic gloominess that hovers over the lyrics themselves. The words have a lot of references to a clock or a time, which I am somewhat confused as to what this song could be about, but given the repeated words in the verses and pre-chorus of “tiktok, tiktok” and “11:59,” I find it safe to assume that this song has something to do with time running out. I find this song to be a little too slow paced for me, but overall it does not seem to be a bad song and can be enjoyable to listen to.
An emotional masterpiece is what I would describe “Blade of Grass” to be. The second to last song on the album is truly an amazing form of art that Gaga has gifted to her fans. The song itself is about the story of her proposal from her husband, where he proposed to her with a blade of grass from their own backyard. The words of the chorus, “Come on and wrap that blade of grass/Around my finger like a cast, Cuz even though the church burned down/I’ll be your queen without a crown,” are heartbreaking in a sweet way with the metaphor “between a blade of grass as a ring” and “a queen without a crown.” Devoting yourself and your love to a person and promising to love them no matter what and not needing a fancy shiny ring to show that love is truly a beautiful thing, and I commend Gaga for conveying this wonderful message.
Finally, after six days of listening to each of these songs about 300 times, we reach the last song of the album. “Die With a Smile” features Bruno Mars on a heartbreaking love song of perfect harmonies and heartbreaking lyrics. The only way I could describe the way this song makes me feel is by a series of various screaming noises accompanied by a heavy downpour as I walk the empty streets of any major city. I wholeheartedly believe that anyone in a long term committed relationship will understand me when I say that this song will gut you from the inside out and make you rethink every decision you’ve ever made in your entire life pertaining to your relationship with your significant other. Thank you Gaga and Bruno for releasing such an outstanding song.
It took me about 35 listens, or a rough estimate of 2000 minutes of listening to this album for me to finally become the monster I am at heart and connect with my Gaga roots. After going in head first expecting another dark pop synthetic slay diva album, I was pleasantly surprised to see Gaga embrace a lighter-pop style, one that’s more medium pop because it’s not too light. I wouldn’t say that there is “no bad song” on this album, but I would recommend this album to anyone that isn’t already a monster. Gaga outdid herself and I am happy to say that she has successfully recreated that nostalgic feeling from her old songs and put it into new media for her fans, and for myself, to thoroughly enjoy. It is extremely safe to say that Gaga will be my top artist for this year’s Spotify wrapped, and I am anything but disappointed about that.
Emma Osborn can be contacted at
eosborn@kscequinox.com
