So is MAYHEM her magnum opus?

[Mr S 8,541]

Lyrically yes

Sonically i don't know. It has a safeness to is. But it also doesn't have anything truly skip worthy. It's more consistent. BTW had filler/skips but maybe better highs?

TFM is considered her best album (shows up on best of lists) but may be partially due to the entire era (visuals, power, context) BTW doesn't show up on any lists.  And currently Chromatica is her most acclaimed.

 

I guess like with most things Gaga, time will tell.

Edited Friday at 03:50 PM by Mr S

[SevenWonder 4,120]

It's the most enjoyable Gaga album after first, second and third listens for me. Quite easily. There's no skips. Even the songs I don't love, I really, really like. 

Is it her opus? Don't know just yet. I don't know if Mayhem's impact will be as huge as BTW. But I think the songs are there for sure.  

[REALITY 74,506]

It's not her magnum opus—for me that's still Born This Way—but it's easily in her top 3 albums.

[Lucas 25,251]

It will always be Born This Way.

Songs 8, 9 and 10 kinda lower the quality of the album imo. Those 3 songs are extremely generic and basic compared to the rest album which is IN-CRE-DIBLE

[chromaticainmyhead 6,507]

I feel like TF/TFM is her magnus opum because that's what she envisioned and she's being associated the most still. BTW second and ARTPOP third. Idk Mayhem seems so close to Chromatica in a way it could easily be a TF/TFM situation. Mayhem is so noisy and I'm not sure if I mean this in a good way. So much overproduction even though I love certain songs, I feel like this record is missing a clearness to it which BTW and TFM certainly had.  Nevertheless it's a great record.

[misha4ever 1,256]

I'm an 80s kid so I'm not thrilled about most songs sounding like that. I wanted more Disease sound.

 

[Cavadour 2,146]

8 minutes ago, misha4ever said:

I'm an 80s kid so I'm not thrilled about most songs sounding like that.

 

Disease sounds more current, like present-day style. Gaga herself is torn between dark & white (and red !), talking about NIN influences and finally quoting more glam and new wave... 

Other people's nostalgy can be tiresome...

 

I think you should open yourself to Mother and let her voice flow to your innermost monster You may find traces of disease in the attic mayhem  !

 

[spookytanooki 336]

20 hours ago, ThePopDevil said:

im kinda perplexed at the safeness of some songs like vanish into u, how bad do u want me and balde of grass 

We love Baldy of Grass

[misha4ever 1,256]

46 minutes ago, Cavadour said:

 

Disease sounds more current, like present-day style. Gaga herself is torn between dark & white (and red !), talking about NIN influences and finally quoting more glam and new wave... 

Other people's nostalgy can be tiresome...

 

I think you should open yourself to Mother and let her voice flow to your innermost monster You may find traces of disease in the attic mayhem  !

 

I'm not hating the album, I have a hard time loving new songs and tend to listen to the same old songs over and over, but I do have issues with the 80's sound because I grew up with it and I'm like enough lol!

 

Knowing how my brain rejects new songs at first, I know I will love several songs later, because that always happens with albums from bands and artists I like.

[RichAssPiss 4,821]

I think it's a really natural porgress from her peak music. And while that music will likely always define her, this feels like it adds a new dimension to what people expect from her.

I'd liken it to folklore to Taylor. Maybe Red and 1989 will always be seen as her classics but folklore was a matured artist in control of her craft. Gaga really feels in control here. 

The Fane Nonster/Born This Way seem to me like the clearest expression of classic Gaga. But Mayhem is where she shows herself capable of a new layer of that style of song craft. 

[dy2light 30]

Is MAYHEM her magnum opus? No. And I don't think it's meant to be. [EDIT: Whether or not it's meant to be, it doesn't need to be.]

 

I have several thoughts about this album. First: I thought it would be a return to TFM/BTW-era Gaga, in a way. I was wrong: it was a revisiting of a lot of her life, in particular much of her experiences with music before even The Fame, and also an exploration sonic themes she hasn't been able to explore on an official release before.

 

But more importantly, it's an album to honor where *she* is in life right now and over the past few years. And like she's said in her interviews lately: she is deeply in love with Michael. And that brings me to my next point:

The bulk of this album is exploring her more recent experiences and growth with love. This is an album about Gaga's experience with love -- developing and holding love for herself, and for Michael.

MAYHEM is a love album. That's what it is.

 

One last thing: I think the album is a sibling of ARTPOP in one very particular way: Gaga is once again establishing herself as an artist who makes the art *she* wants to make. And while it may throw some of us off, I think that this is the right long-term move.

 

So no, I wouldn't say MAYHEM is Gaga's "magnum opus." But (at least when originally writing this) I don't think it was meant to be. And that's not just ok, but great! It's still a *great* album!

 

EDIT: Well, great. Now I'm not entirely sure of myself, because it just keeps growing on me more and more You know what? I'm just gonna enjoy the mayhem lmao

Edited yesterday at 10:03 AM by dy2light

[Future Lovers 6,615]

I need to sit with it more to say that, but I am 100% sure it’s comfortably in her top 3 best and easily her best since Born This Way. 

[Battle 4 Ur Life 6,594]

this expression is so ancient. she’s made every album of hers different from the previous. I think it’s pedantic to feel the need to put one single project above all others and call it magnum opus, people react so different and it’s very subjective.

magnum opus fits better artists that have been dead for at least half a century.

if you’re asking me if Mayhem is her best album, I don’t know but I’m not worried about it. I’d probably give that spot to BTW but just like Mayhem it has a few songs I didn’t connect a lot with and it doesn’t make it less of a favorite because of many things that are related to it.

[Lava 3,258]

9 hours ago, Blackout19 said:

Chromatica is.

IKTR!!

[gagzus 15,498]

Absolutely,  I think she’s finally honed in on a unique style of singing, writing and sound. 
 

I love how she even made songs like Garden of Eden to remind us she can STILL make those old school Gaga bops with simple writing and concepts with great beats and melodies. 
And HBDUWM proves she can do what artists like Taylor and Sabrina does for example if she wanted. (But they could never do her sound)