Pop Culture Happy Hour - Lady Gaga's Mayhem

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

Lady Gaga has kept busy as a singer and actor, but it's been five years since she's released a full-blown pop album. Now, she's back with Mayhem, which has already produced three hits — including the chart-topping Bruno Mars duet "Die With A Smile." It's got bangers, it's got ballads, it's Lady Gaga through and through. To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Lady Gaga has kept busy as a singer and actor, but it's been five years since she's released a full-blown pop album. Now she's back with Mayhem, which has already produced three hits, including the chart-topping Bruno Mars duet, Die With a Smile. I'm Stephen Thompson, and today we're talking about Lady Gaga's new album, Mayhem, on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. Joining me today is freelance music and culture journalist Rihanna Cruz. Hey, Rihanna. Hi, Stephen. Pause up. Also with us is NPR music critic and correspondent, Anne Powers. Hey, Ann. Hey, Stephen. Hey, Rian. It's so great to be here with all you little monsters. I'm excited.

It is a pleasure to have you both. So in the five years, since she released her last studio album, Chromatica, Lady Gaga has starred in Joker Foli Adieu and put out two collections of standards tied to her work in the movie. She released an album of duets with Tony Bennett and recorded a song for Top Gun Maverick that got an Oscar nomination. She's never been far from the spotlight, but it's been a while since fans have gotten a dose of her amped up anthemic pop music. Now those fans have a new Lady Gaga album called Mayhem. It's already spawned three hits, Die With a Smile, Abercadabra, and Disease. Thematically and sonically, mayhem is all over the map as it touches on familiar Gaga themes, bad romance, the lure of celebrity, as well as newer developments like her recent engagement.

It's got bangers, it's got ballads, it's latehers. Idiag Gaga through and through. Rihanna Cruz, I know you to be a little monster from way back. What do you think of mayhem? So, first of all, I think we've been starved for good pop albums and culture generally. So I am honored to say that I love it. I am a lifelong little monster. I've been there since day one.

I remember listening to the fame on my third grade field trip school bus and looking out the window very longingly. I know, really showing my age here. No, you're more showing my age. I suppose so, I suppose so. But the reason why mayhem feels so gratifying to me, and I love it so much, is because it feels like an entire culmination of Gaga's entire career so far. It has her different brands of pop all over the record, as well as a penchant for different genres.

We see rock-oriented songs a la her album, Joanne, show up on this album. We see similarities to demos from her first record, the fame on this record. It's a Little Monsters dream, frankly, and I'm happy to say I love this album. Oh, well, I couldn't agree more. It is a Little Monsters dream. It's kind of a little monster's gashly crom tinies, I'll say, invoking Edward Gory, the great patron saint of Gothic pop culture who celebrated his centenary recently. And, you know, what I mean by that is the gashly chrome tini's was, of course,

Edward Gory's alphabet. And this is kind of Lady Gaga's alphabet, you know? We're really going from A to Z with all the Gaga styles. And I also absolutely love how she is taking on and, dare I say, occasionally besting current pop stars. And I'm really curious if you all hear that too. Like her rivals, her peers, her friends, she's like, I can do what you do. And I can do it while hanging upside down in a satin day glow jumpsuit. Yeah, I think, Anne, you hit on something that speaks to this album's strengths as well.

as to me a couple of its weaknesses. I think it is a survey of many different sounds. It is a very hardworking record. It is doing a lot and throwing a lot at the wall. I don't think every one of those pop star homages works perfectly well. I think there is a, there is a song on here that I think it's very conspicuous. I think it has stood out to a lot of people called How Bad Do You Want Me? which feels like the answer to an AI prompt, write a Taylor Swift song for Lady Gaga. For me, that doesn't work as well. At the same time,

I am really glad to have this particular form of Gaga, the hard-charging ultra-pop superstar who is putting in ludicrous amounts of work to entertain. It's nice to have that Lady Gaga back because I was starting to feel like she was shifting into her adult contemporary era in ways that felt premature. You know, she put out an album of songs with Tony Bennett, Die With a Smile, the Bruno Mars ballad that it closes out this record that has been streamed billions of times is very much a classic throwback adult contemporary singer-songwriter duet. I had started to worry is being famous so important to her that she's shifting into her adult contemporary era prematurely. This album answers that question, for the most part, with a lot of

really hard charging bangers. I wanted to ask you guys, you guys are big fans of this record. I was fine with it, but not in love with it. What were your favorite songs? Rianna, give us a couple of your favorite favorites on this record. Live and stream in Shadow of a Man all weekend. Speaking of the high octane pop sensibilities that you mentioned, Stephen, I think, like, that song is really great at capturing what's so great about Gaga, specifically her ability to write really great choruses and post choruses. Basically, she knows how to craft a really good pop song, and I think Shadow of a Man is really excellent in that regard. I feel similarly about abracadabra. I thought it was a really excellent single and something different and new for God.

And what I appreciate about this record is Gaga's ability to step outside of the box and try new things that we perhaps have not heard from her in a very long time at the very least. Like I like the Taylor Swiftian how bad do you want me because it sounds different. And it sounds like I'm listening to Taylor Swift without the guilt, frankly. So that's great for me. But those are some of my favorites on the album. I'm going to defend how bad do you want me to on the basis of what it reminds me of, which is Yaz's indelible early electropop hit, Only You. If you play that song next to How Bad Do You Want Me, I think you'll hear a stunning comparison,

that also exposes what Taylor was up to, what she was copying from on songs like gorgeous from reputation, which a lot of fans on Reddit have said are similar. I think it's all flex, Stephen. You know, I think it's all about Gaga being like, you all pop girlies think you can do what I can do. I'm going to do it. And not in a mean way, like in a weirdly loving way. It's like you know how much you love the imitation. Now let me show you the original and you're going to crave the original.

Or even like, why separate the original from the imitation? Because of course with Gaga, it's all performance. It's all the fame. It's all a game. And she's the master. Well, and when we're talking about Gaga as the original, I think Gaga herself would acknowledge that she is part of a continuum. Yes, for sure. She is certainly picking up where Madonna left off.

She's picking up where David Bowie left off. Nine-inch nails all over this record. Nine-inch nails is a significant influence on this record. And I think, you know, as much as, you know, we're reading into this, like, here I'm the original, I don't necessarily think that even Gaga thinks she's the original so much as building on. what other pop stars that influenced her have done. This is an influence-heavy record. Yeah. All kinds of wild influences, right?

I mean, Michael Jackson. Yeah. You know, early rap, the zombie boy rapture, blondey rapture comparison we could make. It's pretty wild. See you over there in the back of this party and girlfriend isn't here. Killa is like a prince reject. And I say that with the most loving comparisons. So true.

And Rihanna, I'm glad you mentioned Abercadabra. And Abricadabra is one of the singles. She famously introduced it to the world by buying commercial time at the Grammys. And what jumped out at me about that song as a song that could really take off is that it manages to check a lot of boxes, not only being a kind of catchy, overdriven pop song, but it's a little weird. Yes. And it also taps into some of those early. Gaga hits with the kind of chanty like poker face or bad romance that have a little chanty quality to them. And so it felt new and weird, but also classic Gaga. I wrote a thing for

NPR music about how I was waiting for Gaga to come back to bring the freak back to pop. And Rihanna, I'm interested to hear what you have to say about this because when we started talking today, you were saying, we haven't had a good pop record for a while, which is interesting coming from you. I'm not sure I even agree with that. I think there have been a bunch of great popcorn. Yeah, I mean, talk a little more about that. Yeah, I mean, I feel like this goes back to the imitator thing I mentioned. I think like we live in a time where a pop record is mostly founded on regurgitations perhaps of earlier sounds. And not to say that this record is absolved of that, because as we're talking, it mayhem is very 80s.

influenced and that's clear. And 90s. And 90s. Basically, just put the gamut of pop music through a blender and you kind of have mayhem. But I don't know. I think I found myself feeling very jaded with pop music recently, particularly from A-list celebrities and pop stars. I was not enthused by the Billy Ilish record, not enthused by the Dua Lepa records from last year. Beyonce is doing country, which is amazing, but her own gamut. Like I think in terms of pop music, I haven't felt this way about a record since Renaissance years ago. Oh, wow.

Where I feel truly invested with the popian qualities of what Gaga is bringing to the table, where it's getting me to dance. It's getting me to sing choruses. I've been walking around my house singing different choruses from the album all week, different songs. And I think that's a testament to how starved I personally am for a good, well-rounded pop record. Wow. I'm sorry, I'm getting alerts here. It says Chapel Rhone has entered the chat. Oh, Charlie X, CX is here.

Actually, I'm glad you brought up Chapel because one of my favorite songs on this record, Vanish Into You. I feel like that song directly speaks to Chapel. It's a great illustration of what Mayhem does, because on the one hand, Vanish Into You speaks to previous Gagas. I mean, it's got the kind of Latin vaguely, indeterminately Latin rhythm of Alejandro. Right. Lys La Bonita coded. Yes, exactly. Exactly. It all goes back to Madonna. Absolutely. But then, I don't know, play the chorus of good luck, babe, next to the chorus of Vanishing to you, and tell me that Gaga isn't saying, I can hit those notes and I can

hit them more Broadway than you can hit them, Chappel Ruff. And again, it's worth noting this is not a competition. It's a loving thing. It's a loving. I mean, Chapo Rhone was just praising the Lady Gaga. record herself over the weekend. You know, these are at most friendly rivalries. Absolutely. And they're both Elton John devotees. As well, they should be. I wanted to get your thoughts on where Lady Gaga is in her career, because it is extremely hard to stay on top in pop.

You know, we've kind of alluded to all these young pop stars who are kind of coming for her throne. You know, I just mentioned Chapel Rhone and Charlie XX, X, X, X, people she's clearly influenced. You know, she just played S&L, and she joked in the monologue about being 38 and how that's the perfect age for a female pop star, ha, ha. Like, you know, of course, it's a very precarious time. Because the industry chews up and spits out so many women in pop music, where do you see her right now, especially putting this record out on the heels of so many kind of norm core, I mean, normcore plus Joker is for last five years. I mean, I think God, is able to stay in the spotlight because of a core tenet of her artistry, and that's reinvention, where even when she was on this adult contemporary pivot for a while, doing these Tony Bennett albums, doing Harlequin, which is the standards record for Joker 2, we always kind of knew that that wasn't the last stop in her career.

And I think coming back to pop music for fans, but also her. feels like a full circle moment. I do think this might be the last Lady Gaga record as we know it. I think she's putting it all out before she settles down, has a kid, gets married, she's engaged right now. But I do think Gaga is able to evade this adult contemporary status by constantly pushing the boundary and constantly reinventing herself and constantly showing us what she is good at. I agree with that. And I think both on this record and also in what performances we've seen so far, she is wiping the floor completely. Yeah, I think she's in a really interesting spot.

And one thing that she has really benefited from in having explored a bunch of different lanes is she can always go back to them. Like, she can certainly go back to the adult contemporary well. It's just really interesting to me. I've wondered about her next move, especially in light of kind of the career collapse of Katie Perry. You know, as somebody who has also made effortful. production-rich kind of technicolor pop music, but eventually just kind of creatively fizzled out. How she's been able to avoid that fate. I mean, I think part of it is I think Lady Gaga's songs have always had more to say than

Katie Perry's songs have. You know, I'm definitely very curious about where she goes from here. I mean, Gaga does have a vision, as you're just saying. And, I mean, for this record, there's this concept behind it. It's interpreting a series of her children. dreams. I mean, that's a frame. Do we need the frame? I don't know, but I know Gaga's walking into the studio with that frame, and that's what's pushing her to the next level, you know, concept-wise. Whereas with Katie Perry, it just feels what's there? There's no there there at this point with

Katie Perry. Gaga has a personality and no shade to Katie Perry. Like, again, love Katie Perry. Did not like one-four-three, but that's beside the point. I think what separates this from a lot of late career pop star albums as well because Gaga's been around for over a decade, almost two decades at this point. I think what makes it different is that you can feel Gaga in every track. I think a lot of... Except for how bad do you want me? I know. But even on that, I feel Gaga. I hear Gaga on that. But I think like what makes her so special is that you hear her. She doesn't disappear into an album. She is the album. And I think that's what separates her from someone like, Katie Perry, who was kind of dwarfed by the music itself.

Right, right. And I mean, I was hoping this was going to be even more perverse than it is. I mean, there's a lot of happiness on this record. There's a lot of affianced, you know, we're engaged where I'm heading toward marital bliss. Well, it closes with a pair of love songs. I mean, Blade of Grass, which is directly referencing her engagement. Yeah. And then die with a smile, which is certainly a very love forward balance.

And Michael Polanski, her fiance, actually co-wrote a bunch of these songs in a beautiful Linda McCartney move. I've got to love that. I hope he's on the tour singing back a vocal saying in a werewolf costume. That's what I'm hoping for. I think Die with a Smile. We've been talking about it. I think it sounds better in the context of the record where we're toying with these ideas of love and sadness and trauma and happiness, like all coexisting. I think it really culminates on Die with a Smile.

And I'm happy she put it on the record, frankly. I love that comment because there is a kind of a gothic strain on this record that's so far from a goth sound. But that's what connects vanish into you, which I mentioned as a favorite. I mean, they're both these like heady love songs. And yet they both have a supernatural wind-swept Kate Bush on the Moors quality to them. Stephen, I know you're not a huge die with a smile fan. But is there a way we could persuade you to come around? Because I also love Bruno, so we can get into that as well.

Oh, man. Like much of society, I've been a little bit Stockholm syndromed by that song. By just having it relentlessly fed to me over and over again. It's a huge hit. You know, I hear it. And then I'm like, fine. One reason that I took to it a little bit more in the context of the record, I got a sense of it as part of a more coherent vision instead of as a corporate mega merger, if that makes sense.

But, you know, die with a smile does have a strain of weirdness in it. I mean, it is a big sweeping power ballad of which we've, you know, we've gotten so many from Bruno throughout his career. But this is a power ballad about the apocalypse, you know. This is like, if the world was ending, I want to incinerate. I want to be incinerated next to you, which is an interesting version of romance. We don't get enough. weird pop music and that's another reason why Gaga is so special because she can make a song like The Beast, which is essentially a fan fiction song about Gaga loving a werewolf.

And then turn around and do a song like Garden of Eden, right? Or Perfect Celebrity or Zombie Boy, which are all very strange. Yes, that's exactly what I was saying. I wanted it to be truly perverse. It's not exactly as perverse as I wanted, but it has enough of that. And I mean, that's also tied to Gaga's political project, which is protect trans lives. And, you know, my queer community raised me and this is who I'm making music for. And I really appreciate that.

And I think that going back around at what you're talking about, her personality, she also has convictions. Yeah. Yeah, which is refreshing, I think, to see in this political landscape. And also in pop music, where I think the MO more often, than not is kind of just let the hits play, you know, let the songs speak for themselves. And that's part of the reason why I love Gaga is that, like, you can feel who she is in her music. It goes back to that personality thing. Like, I love Lady Gaga because I can listen to a record and get a sense of where she is in her life, what she believes in at that moment, what she thinks of her celebrity. And I think all of that is present on mayhem. Yeah, she's always been outspoken

and she's always done good work. We want to know what you think about Lady. Gaga's mayhem. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash PCH. That brings us to the end of our show. Anne Powers, Rihanna Cruz, thanks so much for being here. So fun. Happy to be here. We want to take a moment to thank our pop culture happy hour plus subscribers. We appreciate you so much for showing your support of NPR. If you haven't signed up yet, want to show your support and listen to this show without any sponsor breaks, head over to plus.npr.org slash happy hour or visit the link in our show notes.

This episode was produced by Liz Metzker and edited by Jessica Reedy. Hello, Come In provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Stephen Thompson, and we will see you all tomorrow.