When Lady Gaga released her single “Born This Way”, it felt like she was one of the leading figures in a sustainable social movement with legs and a firm future. An anthem for the LGBT community, the song spoke to a startlingly swift shift in our culture that saw people embrace gays, lesbians, bisexual people and trans folks. During the hope-driven Obama presidency, we saw remarkable strides in LGBT rights, including marriage equality and the end of DOMA, the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, expansion of coverage of Federal hate crimes laws to apply to LGBT victims, as well as several executive orders and diplomatic work globally to address equality.
The It Gets Better campaign was born out of the rash of suicides of LGBT youth. Celebrities, public figures, and politicians, including President Obama, recorded videos to uplift and celebrate LGBT youth. In the summer of 2014, Time featured actress Laverne Cox on the cover for its story, “The Transgender Tipping Point”, which declared the trans rights movement the country’s next “civil rights frontier”.
The feeling that we are on the precipice of a new civil rights era has vanished. In the last few years, there have been concerted efforts to curb LGBT rights, particularly the rights of trans people (including trans youth). The current US administration has undone several progressive steps that preceding administrations have taken, and the current US president won, in part, by appealing to the anti-queer backlash.
For an artist as linked to the optimism of the Obama years as Lady Gaga is, 2025 must be a strange time to make a pop comeback. It isn’t that Lady Gaga has been absent for several years, but the singer has expanded on her brand, looking to Hollywood as well as the Great American Songbook to grow. Her efforts to become a multihyphenate have been successful so far. She’s appeared in five films, including a 2018 remake of A Star Is Born, which earned the wannabe Streisand an Oscar nod for her performance and an actual win for co-writing the film’s hit single, “Shallow”.
She put in an enigmatic turn in Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story: Hotel. She also became the late Tony Bennett‘s duet partner and a pair of albums of pop standards. However, the evident change in our culture and the divisive way in which the culture wars obliterated so much of the goodwill and optimism that we saw makes Lady Gaga appear like a slightly faded star hoping to regain her place in the zeitgeist.
Her latest release, Mayhem, comes after the polarized response to Joker: Folie a Deux and the pair of albums accompanying the film. Her last pop album was 2020’s Chromatica, and the ensuing five years had Gaga look elsewhere for musical success. The record is designed to recall the pop diva at her mid-2000s greatest.
However, while the music on Mayhem is good, it also feels somewhat perfunctory. Very little on the record reaches her best work’s emotional or sonic highs. The songs feel slightly rote and paint-by-numbers, especially in this current pop market ruled by singers like Ariana Grande, Charli XCX, and Sabrina Carpenter. These artists took cues from Gaga’s sounds and imagery and ran with them, and it felt as if Gaga was somewhat left behind. She sounds diminished.
The genesis of Mayhem was Lady Gaga’s desire to reconnect with dance-pop past, having made a few detours towards pre-rock pop with mixed results. The album’s hit single, “Abracadabra”, has gone viral, thanks to the music video choreography and the catchy chorus that recalls some of the singer’s earlier hits. It’s easily a highlight of Mayhem and captures some of the spirit and creativity that made Gaga such an arresting and compelling star. Produced with Andrew Watt and Cirkut, “Abracadabra” is a satisfying listen. There are pounding synths, marching percussion, and a winding groove that matches Gaga’s chanting vocals.
The album’s other single, “Disease”, which opens Mayhem, is also a solid track. It’s a bouncing, strutting tune that marries Lady Gaga’s classic sound with the kind of synthpop prevalent now. It’s a large, epic number that employs a large Wall of Sound-like approach.
The other superb moment is the sassy “Killah”, which pays homage to Gaga’s musical roots, especially her debt to David Bowie. It’s a loud, confused tune that works because it’s a sincere tribute to Bowie (along with other influences like Prince, Sheila E, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, and Nine Inch Nails), with echoes of his “Fame” popping up throughout the song.
These tracks are worthy entries in Lady Gaga’s oeuvre, but they don’t stack up to her classic hits like “Telephone”, “Paparazzi”, or “Bad Romance”. The problem with Mayhem is that it’s merely a good record. It isn’t ambitious or all that innovative, nor does it push Gaga’s artistry.
It’s hard to be a trailblazing pop pioneer. Just ask Madonna, a pop legend constantly battling the burdensome expectations of her near-perfect past. Gaga is an artist who owes a lot to Madonna, and like the Michigan-born icon, Gaga is trapped in an unenviable race against herself. Such a song as the perfectly serviceable MTV-pop “Shadow of a Man” sounds like warmed-over 1980s dance-pop karaoke. “LoveDrug” has a lot of promise as a 2020s take on 1980s diva new wave rock, but lacks the delirious camp that defines Gaga’s best musical moments. Her return to Bowie/Prince “Zombieboy” sounds shockingly dull and rote.
Though Lady Gaga hasn’t hit 40 yet, she seems to have enjoyed several careers. Pop star. Movie Star. Actress. Activist. The problem is Mayhem doesn’t have the hallmarks of an envelope-pushing Gaga but merely one who is adapting to the pop landscape around her. The result is a record that will remind listeners of her remarkable past but also point to a somewhat disappointing present. Mayhem shines a glaring spotlight on a wildly creative artist who finds herself behind the times, following trends instead of setting them and seeming out of step.