Final month, Woman Gaga dropped her music video for “Abracadabra”—the second lead single off her new album, Mayhem, out on Friday—in the course of the Grammys. With its pulsating digital beat and avant-garde fashions (that archival Olivier Theyskens!), the track had Little Monsters placing their paws up in awe. The consensus was instantaneous and unanimous: Mom Monster, the risk-taking and darker-pop Gaga that we first fell in love with within the late 2000s, was formally again.
After all, true followers know that Gaga by no means actually went away—she solely developed. There was her country-western period, with 2016’s Joanne; the 2 jazz albums she made with the late Tony Bennett; her Hollywood-movie-star period, as she shot and promoted A Star Is Born and Home of Gucci. But whereas her sixth studio album, 2020’s Chromatica, had eerie dance information to spare, Mayhem serves as a real return to kind—delivering Gaga’s rawest and most experimental music thus far.
It’s aptly named: Beholden to no single style, the album ping-pongs between tracks like “Backyard of Eden” and “Zombieboy,” two horny pop bangers sure to be hits in all of the homosexual golf equipment; “Excellent Superstar,” an angrier and extra cathartic observe in regards to the complexities of fame; “Illness,” her thumping lead single about grappling with interior demons; and tender love ballads like “Blade of Grass” and “Die With a Smile,” her record-breaking (and Grammy-winning) hit with Bruno Mars.
That eclectic combination of moods was solely intentional: With Mayhem, Gaga tells Vogue, she lastly allowed herself to create a physique of labor with none limitations. “We’re all requested to outline who we’re and clarify ourselves. I’ve had a very arduous time with that in my profession,” she says. “I’ve discovered it actually arduous to reply these query. So, I allowed myself to be a lot of contradictory issues.”
Right here, Gaga talks to Vogue in regards to the album’s most difficult songs to put in writing, utilizing trend for storytelling—and what you may count on from her upcoming Coachella headlining set. (“I’m going to offer it all the pieces I’ve acquired,” she teases.)
Vogue: The very first thing that struck me about Mayhem was how wild it felt, by way of its style and sound. Why did that strategy appear proper?
