Lady Gaga in her Abracadabra music videoAfter winning over pop fans with hit singles Disease and Abracadabra, and winning a Grammy for the Bruno Mars collab Die With A Smile, Lady Gaga fans have major cause for celebration on Friday morning as the hitmaker has finally unveiled her latest album, Mayhem.So far, Gaga has received near-unanimous praise over Mayhem, which marks her first full-length solo album since 2020′s Chromatica.Early reviews have lauded Mayhem as a “return to form”, harking back to the sounds that made her a household name back in the day with the albums Born This Way and The Fame (although a couple have also criticised the release as “boring” for harking back to her previous eras).Intrigued? Well, here’s more of what the critics are saying so far…Billboard“Mayhem plays from front to back as a bold, daring piece of pop anarchism from Mother Monster. She takes the sounds that have defined the majority of her career, dismantles them to a molecular level and builds them back up into tantalising new shapes.”Variety“Gaga has a way of revitalising the touchstones of her earliest work on Mayhem without it feeling nostalgically lopsided. There are callbacks to former glory, but it sounds contemporaneously fresh, in lockstep with modern-day pop without chasing its most obvious conventions.”Lady Gaga’s new album Mayhem is finally hereThe Guardian (4/5) “[Mayhem] does a lot of things that anyone who fell hard for Gaga’s debut album, The Fame, might reasonably want her to do […] Mayhem may be a reversion to core values – to the Lady Gaga of 2008 – but the striking thing is that it doesn’t feel particularly retro. Instead, it seems curiously of the moment.”The Telegraph (4/5) “Mayhem is exciting but exhausting, a battering ram sonic assault. In such bland pop times, it’s good to see her parking her tanks back on the dance floor.”New York Post (3.5/4) “Little Monsters — and casual fans alike — will be thrilled to hear that the Mother Monster we all love is back on Mayhem, her best release in 14 years. The project is the love child of her two most commercially successful albums, combining the ’80s-inspired theatrics of 2008’s The Fame with the electro-grunge of her 2011 opus, Born This Way.”The Times (4/5) “[Gaga] is always at her best not wearing meat dresses, crooning with Tony Bennett or doing dodgy superhero musicals with Joaquin Phoenix, but belting out melodramatic dancefloor bangers. Her seventh studio album is loaded with them.”Lady Gaga in the Mayhem album artworkDaily Mail (4/5)“Dominated by pulsating electronic beats and 1980s-style power pop, the 14 new tracks here see the singer returning to her early, club-orientated roots — while adding a few surprisingly funky touches, before rounding it all off with three emotional ballads. With such clever pacing, the album isn’t quite as chaotic as its title suggests.”NME (4/5)“Ultimately, Mayhem feels like a great Gaga album because it’s just so much fun. At times, it’s a bit like reconnecting with an old friend who makes sense even when they seem to be chatting nonsense.”iNews (4/5)“In a way, this is an album of few surprises. But that’s its brilliance – not only a return to form but a reminder that the worlds Lady Gaga has created will always exist.” Slant (3/5) “That Mayhem doesn’t live up to its title isn’t exactly a crime, but it commits an even worse pop sin: It’s kind of boring.”Financial Times (2/5) “Lady Gaga fails to follow her own mantra in the risk-averse Mayhem… Having promised to ‘go with the chaos’, the singer resorts to throwbacks and pastiche after a few strong songs.”Watch Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra music video below:This article has been updated to reflect additional reviews shared since it was first publishedREAD MORE:Lady Gaga’s Old Quotes About Her Own Music Come Back To Haunt Her During Hot Ones InterviewThis Is The Real Meaning Behind The Intriguing Title Of Lady Gaga’s New AlbumLady Gaga Uses Grammys Acceptance Speech To Voice Impassioned Support For Trans CommunityThis Is The Hidden Meaning Behind The Lyrics Of Lady Gaga’s Incredible New Song Abracadabra Entertainment, ukmusic, Lady Gaga, lady-gaga HuffPost UK – Athena2 – All Entries (Public)
Lady Gaga in her Abracadabra music videoAfter winning over pop fans with hit singles Disease and Abracadabra, and winning a Grammy for the Bruno Mars collab Die With A Smile, Lady Gaga fans have major cause for celebration on Friday morning as the hitmaker has finally unveiled her latest album, Mayhem.
So far, Gaga has received near-unanimous praise over Mayhem, which marks her first full-length solo album since 2020′s Chromatica.
Early reviews have lauded Mayhem as a “return to form”, harking back to the sounds that made her a household name back in the day with the albums Born This Way and The Fame (although a couple have also criticised the release as “boring” for harking back to her previous eras).
Intrigued? Well, here’s more of what the critics are saying so far…
Billboard
“Mayhem plays from front to back as a bold, daring piece of pop anarchism from Mother Monster. She takes the sounds that have defined the majority of her career, dismantles them to a molecular level and builds them back up into tantalising new shapes.”
Variety
“Gaga has a way of revitalising the touchstones of her earliest work on Mayhem without it feeling nostalgically lopsided. There are callbacks to former glory, but it sounds contemporaneously fresh, in lockstep with modern-day pop without chasing its most obvious conventions.”
Lady Gaga’s new album Mayhem is finally hereThe Guardian (4/5)
“[Mayhem] does a lot of things that anyone who fell hard for Gaga’s debut album, The Fame, might reasonably want her to do […] Mayhem may be a reversion to core values – to the Lady Gaga of 2008 – but the striking thing is that it doesn’t feel particularly retro. Instead, it seems curiously of the moment.”
The Telegraph (4/5)
“Mayhem is exciting but exhausting, a battering ram sonic assault. In such bland pop times, it’s good to see her parking her tanks back on the dance floor.”
New York Post (3.5/4)
“Little Monsters — and casual fans alike — will be thrilled to hear that the Mother Monster we all love is back on Mayhem, her best release in 14 years. The project is the love child of her two most commercially successful albums, combining the ’80s-inspired theatrics of 2008’s The Fame with the electro-grunge of her 2011 opus, Born This Way.”
The Times (4/5)
“[Gaga] is always at her best not wearing meat dresses, crooning with Tony Bennett or doing dodgy superhero musicals with Joaquin Phoenix, but belting out melodramatic dancefloor bangers. Her seventh studio album is loaded with them.”
Lady Gaga in the Mayhem album artworkDaily Mail (4/5)
“Dominated by pulsating electronic beats and 1980s-style power pop, the 14 new tracks here see the singer returning to her early, club-orientated roots — while adding a few surprisingly funky touches, before rounding it all off with three emotional ballads. With such clever pacing, the album isn’t quite as chaotic as its title suggests.”
NME (4/5)
“Ultimately, Mayhem feels like a great Gaga album because it’s just so much fun. At times, it’s a bit like reconnecting with an old friend who makes sense even when they seem to be chatting nonsense.”
iNews (4/5)
“In a way, this is an album of few surprises. But that’s its brilliance – not only a return to form but a reminder that the worlds Lady Gaga has created will always exist.”
Slant (3/5)
“That Mayhem doesn’t live up to its title isn’t exactly a crime, but it commits an even worse pop sin: It’s kind of boring.”
Financial Times (2/5)
“Lady Gaga fails to follow her own mantra in the risk-averse Mayhem… Having promised to ‘go with the chaos’, the singer resorts to throwbacks and pastiche after a few strong songs.”
Watch Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra music video below:
This article has been updated to reflect additional reviews shared since it was first published
READ MORE:
Lady Gaga’s Old Quotes About Her Own Music Come Back To Haunt Her During Hot Ones Interview
This Is The Real Meaning Behind The Intriguing Title Of Lady Gaga’s New Album
Lady Gaga Uses Grammys Acceptance Speech To Voice Impassioned Support For Trans Community
This Is The Hidden Meaning Behind The Lyrics Of Lady Gaga’s Incredible New Song Abracadabra
