Girl Gaga returned to pop music when she launched “Mayhem” final week. NPR Music’s Hazel Cills talks to Rob Schmitz in regards to the album.
ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
You may know Girl Gaga for being a pop star. However within the final decade, she’s achieved much more than simply make radio-friendly hits. She’s had main roles in movies and tv, taken a rustic flip and recorded two jazz albums with the late Tony Bennett. However final week, Girl Gaga returned to pop music when she launched “Mayhem.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “DISEASE”)
LADY GAGA: (Singing) I may play the physician. I can treatment your illness. If you happen to have been a sinner, I may make you imagine.
SCHMITZ: Critics are calling the album a return to type for an artist who likes to experiment. We’re joined by NPR Music’s Hazel Cills to speak about “Mayhem.” Welcome, Hazel.
HAZEL CILLS, BYLINE: Thanks for having me.
SCHMITZ: So that is the primary album that we have heard from Girl Gaga since 2020. What do you consider it?
CILLS: I feel that this album, “Mayhem,” is absolutely Gaga doing what she does finest. I imply, she’s making this very, like, darkish, theatrical pop music. She was additionally very impressed by goth music making this album, which is attention-grabbing, referencing bands like 9 Inch Nails and The Remedy. There are all these songs about, , beasts and zombies and witchcraft. There’s even a music referred to as “Abracadabra” that really credit the very influential ’80s goth rock group Siouxsie And The Banshees as a result of it sounds fairly just like one of many band’s songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ABRACADABRA”)
LADY GAGA: (Singing) With a haunting dance, now you are each in a trance. It is time to solid your spell on the night time. Abracadabra, amor-oo-na-na. Abracadabra, morta-oo-ga-ga (ph).
SCHMITZ: So Girl Gaga is a pop artist, however she’s additionally made music and different genres. And, , as we talked about, she made jazz albums with Tony Bennett. She took a rustic flip. How does this album match into that profession?
CILLS: Yeah, it is attention-grabbing. You already know, Gaga has referred to as this album very chaotic. For my part, it actually is not chaotic. I really feel like Mayhem is her type of returning to the sound that launched her profession again within the late 2000s. And it feels like she’s usually performing virtually, like, an homage to her finest work on this album. There’s a number of components on the album the place it appears like she’s very explicitly referencing her personal catalog. For instance, there is a music referred to as Backyard of Eden.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “GARDEN OF EDEN”)
LADY GAGA: (Singing) Take you to the backyard of Eden, poison apple, take a chew. I will take you to the backyard of Eden. I will take you to the backyard of Eden. Oh.
CILLS: The way in which that she sings on that music, the way in which that she performs her vocals – it sounds so unbelievably just like me to the way in which that she sings on her 2009 hit “Unhealthy Romance.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BAD ROMANCE”)
LADY GAGA: (Singing) I need your love, and I need your revenge. You and me may write a foul romance. Oh. I need your love and all of your lover’s revenge, you and me…
SCHMITZ: And you might be saying that “Mayhem” is a return for Girl Gaga to the music she was making almost 20 years in the past. Does the music sound, , dated in any respect, like, this yr, in 2025?
CILLS: I really feel like I may see how individuals would assume that, nevertheless it’s humorous. To me, it actually does not sound dated. You already know, I really feel like what’s attention-grabbing about “Mayhem” is that I really feel like a number of artists couldn’t pull off making an album like this, , type of going again so explicitly to the sound of, , the place they began their profession. I really feel like lots of people would assume that could be boring for an artist to do. I feel the truth that Girl Gaga has had such an experimental profession and a such numerous catalog, it implies that she will be able to type of pull this off. And, , there is a music on the album referred to as “Vanish Into You.” Once I hear a music like that, I hear somebody who actually is aware of their very own private components and is aware of what works for them and is pulling it off fairly confidently.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “VANISH INTO YOU”)
LADY GAGA: (Singing) Do you see me? Do you see me now? Noticed your face and mine in an image by our bedside. It was chilly within the summertime. We have been completely happy simply to be alive.
SCHMITZ: Yeah, I can hear that. I imply, this feels like loads like her earlier work. And as many people know, , Girl Gaga is not only a musician. She simply starred within the new “Joker” sequel, and she or he was nominated for an Oscar for her position in “A Star Is Born.” You already know, how does her music match into this profession nowadays?
CILLS: Yeah, I really feel like from, , the skin Gaga’s profession during the last a number of years, it could be type of complicated. She’s simply achieved so many various issues, pivoted in so many various instructions. And I really feel like “Mayhem,” this album, is type of a palate cleanser for anybody who has felt confused by that. She appears very conscious of what individuals need from her, which is, , this type of music. There is a music on the album referred to as “Excellent Movie star,” the place she’s actually type of singing explicitly about how her followers see her and the way Hollywood sees her.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “PERFECT CELEBRITY”)
LADY GAGA: (Singing) I am made from plastic like a human doll. You push and pull me, I do not harm in any respect. I speak in circles ‘trigger my mind, it aches. You say I like you, I disintegrate.
CILLS: It simply actually solidifies to me that “Mayhem” is an album that’s type of serving as a reminder to everybody that beneath all of it, she’s type of the identical musician that she’s all the time been.
SCHMITZ: So Hazel, what do you assume Girl Gaga’s attempting to inform us with this album? Do you assume it is – it tells one thing about how she sees herself as an artist?
CILLS: Yeah, I feel undoubtedly. I have been describing this album to pals as type of a flex. It simply appears like her actually confidently saying, , I am in a world of my very own. You already know, she will be able to make nice pop music completely on her personal time period. She does not must observe traits. You already know, she did not have to do one other dramatic pivot like so many pop stars must do. And I feel, , in between, , motion pictures and tv and all of her different ventures, she’s principally saying, like, I can all the time come again to this. Like, I can do that in my sleep. And I feel her followers, , actually love her for it.
SCHMITZ: It have to be good. That is NPR Music’s Hazel Cills. Hazel, thanks for becoming a member of us.
CILLS: Thanks for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF LADY GAGA SONG, “PERFECT CELEBRITY”)
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