Lady Gaga better have a good legal team, because Mayhem sounds a lot like the album of the year

A comprehensive review of Lady Gaga’s seventh studio album that had me levitating off the ground

By Julia Kelm

Mayhem (2025) is Lady Gaga’s long-awaited seventh studio album. Gaga returns to her dark dance pop roots, making little monsters relieve their childhood from a new, more mature perspective.

I have been a fan of Lady Gaga since I was 13, obsessed with her music and her as an ethereal being. I own all her albums on vinyl (besides Mayhem), and can probably guess any of her songs within the first 5 seconds of them playing. So I hope that’s enough credentials for me to be considered a true “little monster.”

Here’s my track-by-track opinions:

1. Disease: 

This is what started it all. It’s dark, it’s sexy, it’s bangin’, dare I say perfect? I think Disease is probably my number one for this album in the amount of times I have this on repeat. The chorus just sent me to another plane of existence. She really is the queen of pop (Sorry Madonna, you had your moment.)

2. Abracadabra:

When Gaga says her name in a song, you know you’re witnessing peak. Abracadabra to me feels like it could’ve been a track on The Fame Monster (2009), which I feel like Gaga fans have been begging for, for years (excluding, of course, Artpop act 2.)

3. Garden Of Eden:

Another steller, perfect Gaga song to add to this album. Gaga can craft a hook and chorus like no other, I swear to fuck. When she sings, “I could be your girlfriend for the weekend. You could be my boyfriend for the night,” my soul left my body in the most heavenly way, and my feet floated off the ground. And relive a truly religious experience every time I turn it on as I walk around campus.

4. Perfect Celebrity:

This song makes me wanna drive a car off the bridge that connects Arcata to Eureka, in how crazy and alive I feel when I listen to this song. The rock-esque instrumentals in this track is a nice little switch-up from the heavy dance pop we heard in the previous three songs.

5. Vanish Into You:

I’m pretty sure I levitated listening to this song too. I’m sorry if you were expecting a more objective review, but if you weren’t having a holy experience listening to this album, then you probably aren’t reading this review anyways.

6. Killah (feat. Gesaffelstein):

The opening to Killah is what pure ecstasy sounds like. The little guitar riff that sounds like the guitar in Need You Tonight by INXS makes me so happy. The general harking back to 90s and 80s influential musicians is just great, and I need more. MORE!

7. Zombieboy:

Okay disco vibes, say less. Zombieboy’s opening also reminds me of Hollaback Girl (2004) by Gwen Stefani, which I didn’t realize I needed until I heard this. I can feel the TikTok trends to this song in my bones, wait and see.

8. LoveDrug: 

I yearn for the club when LoveDrug starts playing. I need twirling room, and at least two gin and tonics inside me, and then I think I’ll finally experience true happiness. I’ve been too stressed, I need to dance to Gaga now or I might explode.

9. How Bad Do U Want Me:

I heard someone say this song sounded like Taylor Swift, and now I can’t unhear it. Which I have to admit, ruined the song for me slightly. Regardless, I’m gonna call this a banger and move on, because Gaga can do no wrong.

10. Don’t Call Tonight:

For me this is a tad skippable, but it’s still Lady Gaga, so I won’t say it’s bad, because she’s never made a bad song. It just doesn’t stand out to me when compared to all the hot liquid gold that this album is swimming in. 

11. Shadow Of A Man:

I think Michael Jackson was somehow resurrected for this song to be made, because it sounds just like something he would’ve made in his prime. When Gaga sings, “ ‘Cause I won’t be used for my love and left out to cry” in that fast tempo, I absolutely lose my mind. Dare I say…banger?

12. The Beast:

This is the one song on this album I don’t really care for. Something about it feels like a song that would play in a shitty Wattpad movie sex scene. It’s campy, and fun though, so again, I won’t say it’s bad. Just not my favorite, and I probably will not listen to it as often as I do the rest of this album. 

13. Blade Of  Grass:

Gaga’s solo ballad for this album is quite good, although I wish it felt a little more like Speechless, off of The Fame Monster. Although I still had a good time with this track, it’s just not on repeat for me at the moment. 

14. Die With A Smile:

I love this song so much… as a stand alone track. I sorta wish Blade Of  Grass was what ended this album for me, but I’m not angry that it’s here either. Regardless, it’s a good song and not a terrible way to close out this stellar album.

Julia is a journalism major at Cal Poly Humboldt. She loves film and is a regular on Letterboxd. To quote Robin Williams in her all-time favorite movie, Dead Poets Society, “The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”