In a striking pivot, pop's foremost chameleon Lady Gaga has looked to her past for her latest triumph. Her sixth studio album, 'Mayhem', has been named the No. 5 best album of 2025, heralding a full-circle return to the audacious, operatic electroclash that catapulted her to global fame.
A Return to Roots
Abandoning the smooth tech-house of 'Chromatica' and the dinner jazz of her Tony Bennett collaborations, 'Mayhem' is a deliberate revival of the sonic chaos that defined her first two records. The album is packed with sputtering synths, trashy guitars, and the playful, coded baby talk reminiscent of hits like 'Bad Romance'. This shift stands in stark contrast to her recent broader artistic explorations, which included the film soundtrack for 'Joker: Folie à Deux' that underperformed commercially.
While some might view this as a safe or market-driven retreat, Gaga's explanation to Rolling Stone frames it as a necessary rediscovery. She described the album's creation as "months and months and months of rediscovering everything that I'd lost," suggesting the process was an authentic, if chaotic, journey back to her core artistic self.
The Sound of Authentic Chaos
The strength of 'Mayhem' lies in its conviction. Tracks like 'Perfect Celebrity', 'Zombieboy', and 'Vanish Into You' showcase Gaga leaning fully into her signature hamminess, with Meat Loaf-esque yells, flirtatious backchat, and stentorian operatics. The backing tracks are described as cybernetic Frankenstein's monsters, a perfect and unique vehicle for her voice.
The album also subtly acknowledges Gaga's vast influence on the pop landscape. While listeners might detect echoes of Taylor Swift, Yazoo, David Bowie, and even Rihanna in its grooves, the record reinforces how much contemporary pop has been shaped by Gaga's own pioneering work over the last two decades. The use of Nile Rodgers-style disco guitars, for instance, feels less like a trend and more like an authentic evocation of nightlife's bliss.
Reinvention Through Reflection
Following projects where she seemed to strain for a scale beyond pop, 'Mayhem' finds Gaga settling comfortably back into her own skin. This feeling was amplified by her dramaturgically wonky but vibey 'Mayhem Ball' tour, described as a goth influencer's wedding with an infinite budget.
Ultimately, 'Mayhem' succeeds not as a nostalgic retread but as a vibrant reaffirmation. It proves that for Lady Gaga, looking back was not an act of artistic laziness, but a powerful means of moving forward, resulting in some of the most zestful and innovative music of her career and rightly earning its place among the year's best.
