Lady Gaga imitating Lady Gaga is still better than most things in this sad world

In a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe – sporting bleached eyebrows like Julia Fox, a severe blunt fringe, and an all-black colour scheme like she’s Goth Aunty – Gaga spoke of her past reticence to return to her signature sound, citing a fear of “artistic stagnancy” (the maligned response to the EDM eccentricity of 2013’s confounding Artpop surely played a part). Chromatica, released weeks into COVID in 2020, had its moments – Rain On Me, of course, and the delightfully weird 911 – but it played its pop a little too dumb, or felt a bit too trusting in the genre’s escapist potential. Mayhem, to its benefit, brings a bit more off-kilter grit.

Loading

Vanish Into You might be a funk-driven love song aimed at her tech entrepreneur fiancé Michael Polansky, but Gaga’s vocals are unhinged, almost caterwauling. The slinky alt-goth of Perfect Celebrity would play well at Buffy’s The Bronze and Gaga’s fury is palpable as she takes aim at Hollywood ambition and the cost of fame and attention (“I look so hungry but I look so good”), a thematic return to her classic concerns. Her vampy funk-strut on the Gesaffelstein-produced Killah builds into an acid rave breakbeat and a bloodcurdling scream that would make Addison Rae proud.

In that same interview with Lowe, Gaga discussed her reignited passion for pop (“what is the music of your soul?” ), a commitment that feels genuine considering her dedicated promo run for Mayhem – the endless TikTok transitions are one thing, but I never thought I’d see Lady Gaga eating spicy wings on Hot Ones.

At last month’s Grammys, where her acolytes Chappell, Charli and Sabrina were being crowned, she commandeered the stage with proper star nous when she voiced support for the trans community under attack in Trump’s America. This weekend she’ll host and perform on Saturday Night Live, and next month she’ll headline Coachella. To see a generational pop icon back in her appropriate cultural milieu is only a good thing. Let the mayhem flow.

To read more from Spectrum, visit our page here.