And, without prior notice, the world has returned to 2008. At least, Lady Gaga's world has. Because the gothic pop with which the Californian singer burst onto the scene, almost as a premonition, when the economic crisis was beginning to take away the world we knew, is back. If looked at linearly, after four studio albums distanced from that sound, Mayhem is nothing more -nor less- than the natural continuation of The Fame and Born This Way. The return to the beginnings, her unleashed dark impulse, chaos running free.
Although there are also some nuances. The aesthetics and unsettling sounds of that twenty-something who bothered American religious associations have reappeared -it's hard not to see reminiscences of what Poker Face or Alejandro were in the music video for Abracadabra- but the years have passed, and everything is much more organized and has a more refined sound. As if filtered through the years and yet without losing a drop of power. As if that dark hand still grips her chest and leads her to the deepest abyss of Gaga.
"The album began when I faced my fear of returning to the pop music that my early fans loved," the artist explained in a statement upon releasing her album. And, therefore, Disease is the first track of an album that aims to be that, the first Lady Gaga. "I can smell your sickness, I can heal you. I can heal your sickness," she sings in the track where that gothic pop sound is most pronounced.
And from there to Lady Gaga's most outrageous brilliance. Abracadabra, teased as one of the singles from the album, is that dance track that could play in the middle of a cemetery and make the dead come to the dance floor. "Dance or die," she says at the beginning. The singer's most eccentric and provocative spirit engulfing everything to give way to Garden of Eden, one of the great tributes to The Fame on the new album. She is the serpent, and everyone else is Adam following her.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the Californian points out that this album has allowed her to integrate the role of Lady Gaga with her real name, Stefani Germanotta. This is also evident in Perfect Celebrity, where she also pays a small tribute to Hollywood. "You love to hate me, I'm the perfect celebrity. So rip my face off in this photograph (Perfect celebrity). You make me money, I'll make you laugh (Perfect celebrity)." And Vanish Into You also delves into that melancholy with the apocalypse sprouting around her.
And suddenly, Killah, an industrial funk track produced by Gesaffelstein, unheard of in Lady Gaga's discography and more reminiscent of artists like Bruno Mars - with whom she collaborates to close Mayhem. If this were a party night, this would be the shot moment that would pave the way for the hangover of Zombieboy, which is the singer's tribute to the model and collaborator on Born This Way, Rick Genest -Zombie Boy was his nickname due to his tattoos- who passed away in 2018 after falling from the balcony of his apartment.
LoveDrug follows the same line, in the part of the album that most resembles The Fame, in rhythm and theme. The pain of love and music to forget it all. "I don't want to feel, I don't want to cry. So I'm going to dance until I feel good," Lady Gaga sings before the first chords of How Bad Do U Want Me play. Which could very well be one of her songs as it could be Taylor Swift's in her latest phase. Let it play alongside Antihero, let it sink in for a few seconds, and you'll understand. You can also try with Cruel Summer.
For the closing, Lady Gaga has saved the breakup. Nothing remains in the last two songs of the album of what the singer was in Disease, the dance music has disappeared, and from the shadows emerges Blade of Grass, a canonical ballad that emerged, according to Lady Gaga herself, from the marriage proposal her husband made to her in the backyard of their home. As unsettling as it is romantic.
And the finale is reserved for what has been Lady Gaga's big hit in recent times alongside Bruno Mars. That Die With a Smile that has been the fastest song, despite its slow rhythm, to reach 2 billion streams in Spotify's history. It only took 200 days. Hence the smile. Because Lady Gaga is not dead. Even if she wants you to believe so.