Why Die With A Smile belongs meaningfully on Mayhem

[Bradley 58,211]

The album starts with Disease, which signals the beginning of an anomaly in Gaga's personality. Disease is both a sonic as well as thematic introduction to the mayhem we'll be witnessing in Gaga's psyche.

Gaga has described the album as 'chaotic from the perspective of genre'. Some are intended to push the boundaries of what the producers wanted to do with sound, some have Bowie- and Prince-like melodies, who are not only inspiration for the album but for Gaga's entire artistry as a musician since the beginning of her career. Some songs are also supposed to be quite dream-like and ethereal, and many will lean towards moments of intensity. If you think about it, the album is existential beyond the level of lyricism, it's also existential on the level of artistic roots and inspiration. It's almost a depiction of her psychological landscape which will map out the sources for her fulfilment and her 'torture'.

It makes sense that that the album concludes with death - but not a demise signalling her defeat. Die With A Smile provides the perfect touch that she will 'die' fulfilled after having gone through the entire spectrum of Gaga's Mayhem. In my opinion, her victory is not survival but her acceptance and coming to terms with the disease which threatened her existence at the beginning of the journey. Can you imagine if the album just ended with Blade of Grass?

If Chromatica's polished and disciplined quality was an overt attempt in controlling her own chaos, Mayhem's fluidity and unpredictability are the outcome of her mastery in that control. I mean just look at the contrast between how effortful the Chromatica cover is and how Mayhem completely subverts that effort. It kind of makes sense that Die With A Smile acts as the bridge between the two eras if you see it as a statement of her position between control (Chromatica) and chaos (Mayhem).

Die With A Smile introduces the end of Mayhem.

Disease introduces the beginning of Mayhem.

Both work.

Thoughts?

Edited Tuesday at 11:38 PM by Bradley

[Bradley 58,211]

For those of you who're wondering, yeah but did Gaga intend all this?

Well, you're kind of supposed to evaluate the work as it's presented without too much regard to the artist's intention. And who's to say she didn't intend any of this at all when she describes DWAS as 'the missing piece of the album'?

[NUTELLA 5,013]

I enjoy the song, but I personally find the decision to include it on the album kind of tacky.

You're right, though- I should wait to evaluate the album as a whole, without prejudice about her intentions.

(Thread title is going to give @PartySick & @Ladle Ghoulash nosebleeds)

[PartySick 149,094]

6 minutes ago, NUTELLA said:

I enjoy the song, but I personally find the decision to include it on the album kind of tacky.

You're right, though- I should wait to evaluate the album as a whole, without prejudice about her intentions.

(Thread title is going to give @PartySick & @Ladle Ghoulash nosebleeds)

The notification sent me into a blind rage truly  

OT: You can make whatever retroactive justification you want but the fact is the only reason the song was put on the album is 'cause it sold well and they want Mayhem to have a #1 single and over a billion streams upon release. It wasn't an artistic decision, it was a business one and I don't f*cks with those  

I'm willing to suspend so much disbelief to lose ourselves in the art and the way it's presented, I'm the guy that found a deeper meaning in Jewels n' Drugs ffs, but for the first time in her career I actually can't look past this one. DWAS does not belong on this album  

[dynamite 51,063]

1 minute ago, PartySick said:

The notification sent me into a blind rage truly  

OT: You can make whatever retroactive justification you want but the fact is the only reason the song was put on the album is 'cause it sold well and they want Mayhem to have a #1 single and over a billion streams upon release. It wasn't an artistic decision, it was a business one and I don't f*cks with those  

I'm willing to suspend so much disbelief to lose ourselves in the art and the way it's presented, I'm the guy that found a deeper meaning in Jewels n' Drugs ffs, but for the first time in her career I actually can't look past this one. DWAS does not belong on this album  

yeah this. you can try to explain the artistic reasons etc but fact is it was added purely for commercial reasons not because it was a perfect match for the album

[PartySick 149,094]

Just now, dynamite said:

yeah this. you can try to explain the artistic reasons etc but fact is it was added purely for commercial reasons not because it was a perfect match for the album

And to clarify, @Bradley I'm glad you've found a way to slot the song in with the rest of Mayhem  

I'm just personally incapable of doing so

[Bobina 1,688]

DWAS will never beat the tacked-on allegations. The aesthetics of the music video don't match the Mayhem era at all. It was introduced as a song to "hold us over til LG7"- Gag's own words. If it hadn't become the absolute monster smash that it is, it never would've been added, and it would've faded into obscurity. I'm willing to give it a chance as the album's closer. Maybe it'll blend well but that remains to be seen. As of right now I still firmly believe it doesn't fit. 

[Bradley 58,211]

2 minutes ago, dynamite said:

yeah this. you can try to explain the artistic reasons etc but fact is it was added purely for commercial reasons not because it was a perfect match for the album

 

4 minutes ago, PartySick said:

The notification sent me into a blind rage truly  

OT: You can make whatever retroactive justification you want but the fact is the only reason the song was put on the album is 'cause it sold well and they want Mayhem to have a #1 single and over a billion streams upon release. It wasn't an artistic decision, it was a business one and I don't f*cks with those  

I'm willing to suspend so much disbelief to lose ourselves in the art and the way it's presented, I'm the guy that found a deeper meaning in Jewels n' Drugs ffs, but for the first time in her career I actually can't look past this one. DWAS does not belong on this album  

I'm not denying that. I'm just saying DWAS could be there in more than one way. And it has an organic place in the story of Mayhem imo.

[Bradley 58,211]

3 minutes ago, Bobina said:

DWAS will never beat the tacked-on allegations. The aesthetics of the music video don't match the Mayhem era at all. It was introduced as a song to "hold us over til LG7"- Gag's own words. If it hadn't become the absolute monster smash that it is, it never would've been added, and it would've faded into obscurity. I'm willing to give it a chance as the album's closer. Maybe it'll blend well but that remains to be seen. As of right now I still firmly believe it doesn't fit. 

Sure, but then Gaga is slowly dissipating the dark gothic aesthetic. I never expected Abracadabra to have that ethereal Venus look. Mayhem is not going to be dark and black for an entire year.

Also, it's produced by Gaga and Andrew Watt too. So even sonically, it feels so much closer to Mayhem than any of her previous work.

[holy scheisse 21,856]

It belongs for streams  and there’s no shame cuz yknow what we love an album with a hit single  maybe 2 if abra continues to grow  

[Reality 73,954]

I have yet to see anyone give a solid reason as to why DWAS shouldn't be on MAYHEM.

"It feels tacked-on" — Well, yes. No one is arguing that. We ALL know that the primary reason why DWAS is on the record is because it did well commercially. Even the people who like DWAS being on MAYEHM (me) don't dispute that. It can be a business decision AND an artistic one. The two choices aren't mutually exclusive.

"I don't like the song" — Ok? And I don't like Jewels N' Drugs. Does that mean I want it taken off ARTPOP? No. It serves its purpose and simply removing a song just because you don't like it violates the album's artistic integrity. And people are gonna like/dislike different songs. If you don't like it, skip it

"The aesthetics don't fit" — When DWAS was released, it wasn't conceived as part of the album. Yeah, the two aesthetics are different, but does that really matter? We know why they're different. Move on, now it's part of the album. Let's not be obtuse and try to make it a gotcha! moment and be like "See! If the song was truly meant to be on the album, the aesthetics would be the same." Gaga retroactively put DWAS on MAYHEM, and we know that. 

"It doesn't sound like it should be on the album" — Y'all can't make this judgment call when you haven't heard the album  Abra and Disease sound different enough, so does Garden of Eden and the little we've heard from Notorious Being/whatever that song is actually called. Sure they're all darker, but I think lyrically DWAS fits in just fine. It's a pretty dark song, it's just clouded in a "happier" sound. Gaga has said multiple times that there are different types of genres on this album. 

"It doesn't fit the album thematically" — Again, you can't say that without hearing the album first. Like I said, lyrically, DWAS fits in well with what we've heard from the album so far. And thematically, it seems like MAYHEM is all over the place, so who's to say it doesn't fit the album's themes?

"It wasn't part of Gaga's original vision for the album" — The artistic process is everchanging. Again, no one is denying that this is mostly a business move on her/her label's part, but that doesn't mean she couldn't have found a way to put it on the album. I think it's fairly easy to make up some meaningful and artistic reason why DWAS is on MAYHEM. It's not rocket science. To be completely frank, I feel like the people who are like "I'm never gonna consider it as part of the album because it's just way too different" are just too stubborn to do so.

[Tony 180]

56 minutes ago, PartySick said:

DWAS does not belong on this album

Exactly. I wish she made a ballad album. 

[juicyjuicy 1,933]

Wow @Bradley something about the way you wrote all that gave me chills cuz i 100% agree and now i’m hot and bothered 

[elegidadedios 212]

I don't know if it helps but I actually don't mind at all DWAS is on the album, I am sure it will somehow fit into the sound as a whole. What bothers me are the unmatched visuals 😭 like fr I really want the album to be released so the single cover stops appearing and I can pretend it never existed LMAO 

[Chromanne 758]

I understand if some people think DWAS won't fit with the sound of Mayhem however after I listened to Abracadabra, it's evident that the album is going to be non-cohesive as ARTPOP. In that sense, Abracadabra sounds every different from Disease and will fit more on ARTPOP Act II. Therefore you should expect that multiple songs are going to sound different from each other, not just DWAS.

Also one may argue that including DWAS in Mayhem wasn't intended in the first place. But still, this can be said for many of her albums like Joanne, ARTPOP and maybe even Chromatica. Artists may have a particular vision in the beginning but it's not necessary that it will surely be the final product. After all Mayhem is supposed to be bending of many genre and DWAS can be one of them.