Lady Gaga’s 6th solo album, MAYHEM, released on March 7, 2025, has received high praise from old and new fans alike.
Gaga revealed the album’s lead single, “Disease,” on October 25, 2024, and the second single, “Abracadabra,” on February 3, 2025. These songs had fans wondering if this album would be an instance of reheating her nachos, a viral phrase, referring to an artist bringing back a sound that previously they perfected. In the case of Lady Gaga, this refers largely to her albums, The Fame, Born This Way, and Artpop.
“I would say that my nachos are mine, and I invented them, and I’m proud of them,” Gaga said when questioned about the term. “So much of what I did with ‘Abracadabra’ was about claiming music and imagery that’s my own invention.”
MAYHEM has 14 tracks and a 53 minute run time. It was released to a number of positive reviews, receiving an 85/100 on Metacritic, and an 80/100 from Pitchfork. The album also earned the biggest album debut by a female artist in 2025 on Spotify.
“She’s made one of her most sonically challenging and uniform albums yet: a mix of Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, Prince and her Fame Monster-era self, rolled into the year’s strongest pop release yet,” Rolling Stone says in their review of the album.
Garnering over 45 million streams in its first day on spotify, fans were passionate about their opinions. One fan reacted to the song, “Killah (feat. Gesaffelstein)” saying, “I’m so glad she didn’t just make a basic dark pop album like we were expecting, this sound and aesthetic feel so fresh and just GAGA.”
Influences of past Lady Gaga albums can be easily picked out: a strong and danceable beat, electronic vocal modulation, and some trademark sexual lyrics. However, her more recent albums, Joanne and Chromatica, had more vocally focused songs with subdued backing tracks.
Although this muted nature was not some fans favorite sound from Gaga, MAYHEM presents this sound in new ways. “Blade of Grass” and “The Beast” are two slower songs from the album that flow nicely with the other tracks and showcase Gaga’s vocal talents.
“It breaks a lot of rules and has a lot of fun,” Gaga described the album in an interview to ELLE. “MAYHEM is about following your own chaos into whatever cranny of your life it takes you to.”
Some songs standing out to fans are, “Garden of Eden”, “Vanish Into You”, “Perfect Celebrity”, and both singles, “Abracadabra” and “Disease.” All of which have been climbing the charts since the album dropped.
This album stands out from a sea of pop releases as a well crafted Lady Gaga album. One which appeals to fans of any of her music regardless of album. Yet, it sounds and feels similar to the likes of her most notable songs, and will likely continue to dominate the charts in the months to come.
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