‘Mayhem’ proves Gaga is an artist of evolution and constant reinvention. If she does choose to look in the rearview, it’ll be in search of inspiration to create something new.
Lady Gaga stuns in black dress at 2025 Grammys before ‘Mayhem’ release
Lady Gaga arrives at the 2025 Grammys ahead of ‘Mayhem’ album release.
Entertain This!
In a time of such uncertainty and unrest, many of us are looking backward for some respite from … everything. The rose-colored lenses of nostalgia offer a somewhat false sense of how things used to be – and how far we’ve strayed. This is particularly evident in the pop culture landscape.
Last fall, I wrote about Katy Perry’s mediocre album “143” and pop culture’s obsession with nostalgia, which has often meant forgoing progress for rehashing dated ideas. So many people want Perry to recreate the magic of her seminal 2010 album “Teenage Dream,” but it’s clear Perry doesn’t have it in her anymore. It’s even clearer that the Culture™ has moved on since that album was released.
Our current nostalgia fix comes as Y2K and other early-2000s cultural markers re-enter the zeitgeist, and most attempts to recreate and rehash them read hollow and uninspired to me.
If you’ve spent any time on the internet you’ve probably heard the term “reheating nachos.” Thrust from the linguistic ingenuity of Stan Twitter, this term is mainly aimed at pop stars who revisit older elements of their career and revive them in an attempt to replicate previous success.
Recently, pop juggernaut Lady Gaga has found a way to revisit her past, or “reheat her nachos” as some would say, without it coming off too trite.
Is Gaga ‘reheating her nachos’? Yes. Is it working? Also yes.
When Lady Gaga’s latest single, “Abracadabra,” debuted in a commercial during the Grammys, knee-jerk reactors immediately pointed out the elements of the song and music video that are reminiscent of her early work. The dark aesthetics and highly-choreographed music video call back to the video for “Alejandro,” which takes the same artistic direction. The haunting, maximalist electro-pop production mirrors that of songs like “Born This Way.”
But Gaga doesn’t make being self-referential this era’s entire shtick, despite the stans pining for her to do so. Throughout “Mayhem,” her seventh album, Gaga proves that revisiting the past doesn’t always breed reductive results if you offer something fresh.
Gaga has always worn her musical influences on her sleeve. Her blend of rock, R&B, hip-hop, disco and dance pop gives her music a sense of timelessness that makes even her earlier music still sound fresh. “Mayhem” leans heavily into ’70s and ’80s rock aesthetics, drawing inspiration from David Bowie, Prince and Nine Inch Nails – artists Gaga has cited as inspiration for this album and her career at large.
Gaga’s influences speak especially loudly on tracks like the Bowie-inspired “Killah,” with its rattling bass guitar and ascending vocal arpeggios. “Zombieboy” takes me back to the disco and new wave tracks of her early career like “Summerboy” and “Disco Heaven.”
On “Perfect Celebrity,” she reflects on the pitfalls of fame with Trent Reznor affection. The trip-hop tinged verses and grungy choruses could fit squarely on “The Downward Spiral” or “With Teeth.”
Lyrically, she continues examinations of fame that began on her debut album, aptly titled “The Fame,” with songs like “Paparazzi” and “Paper Gangsta.” She continues talking about fame on “Shadow of a Man,” a Michael Jackson-inspired song about Gaga’s refusal to let her career fade into the darkness.
With “Mayhem,” Gaga does more than heed calls to retread her past work. Her artistic vision is clear as ever. Throughout the album she gives one stellar vocal performance after another, chronicling the chaos brought on by introspection all to reach the resolution that love truly is the answer (via “Die With a Smile”).
“Mayhem” proves that Gaga is an artist of evolution and constant reinvention. If she does choose to look in the rearview, it’ll be in search of inspiration to create something new.
Kofi Mframa is a columnist and digital producer for USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network.
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