Why did Mayhem start so strong then go full disco funk?

[Bradley 59,424]

19 hours ago, NUTELLA said:

The album was originally titled MISHMASH

Sounds like a Katy Perry title

[princessofmonaco 163]

1 hour ago, princessofmonaco said:

Here's my interpretation. To me, it's like
 

Hard hitting, abrasive pop : Disease / Abracadabra / Garden of Eden /

Full on industrial rock : Perfect Celebrity / Can't stop the high

A little dreamy anthem (the " and she fell into a gothic dream" of the album) Vanish into you

Funky nasty theatrical disco glam rock : Killah / ZombieBoy / TDD

80's by way of Tina Turner and Pat Benatar : LoveDrug / HBDYWM (sortof) / Don't Call tonight

80's by way of Michael Jackson : Kill For love / Shadow of a Man /The Beast

Timeless balads : Blade of Grass / Die With a Smile
 

Those are pretty much the building blocks for Gaga as a whole (except for Jazz). So if she is the Mayhem, the mix is all there

I've been thinking about this, and it makes perfect sense with the way she made the album, telling her story of overcoming mayhem. The structure is litterally

Confronting her demons head on, her being tempted by her dark side

Something happens, she gets engaged to Michael (Vanish into you)

Then she feels free and comfortable enough to dive into the music that shaped her

Then The Beast is the ultimate acceptance of her dark self

Then when have bittersweet loving bliss with the two final balads, and that's where she is now

 

If you look at it this way, the middle part (from killah to don't call tonight) IS the core of the story, even though the first 4 songs hit "harder". For that reason it makes a lot of sense that she did not make the whole thing industrial rock, because it would not work with the narrative she wanted to tell. 

The singles were a way for her to introduce us to the story, starting with DWAS (where i am), Disease (i'm going to confront myself) and Abra (I have the courage to survive that process). Then a year later, as a bonus, TDD (having pure fun with it). 

Edited 13 hours ago by princessofmonaco

[Ladle Ghoulash 27,484]

55 minutes ago, Bradley said:

Sounds like a Katy Perry title

MISH MASH, bish! Another mess in the basket

[Battle 4 Ur Life 6,724]

honestly if she had released a PC inspired album she would have faced criticism saying it sounds monotonous.

Mayhem is a cohesive yet diverse sound and production is definitely the most interesting and mature out of her recent releases.

having said that I still struggle to connect with HBDUWM, DCT AND BOG. they do sound amazing from a lyrics and production perspective. I just think other tracks would have made me like the whole album. but obviously they are part of the genre chaos she proposed here.

it is my favorite album of hers since ARTPOP and it’s obviously better than ARTPOP itself.

[LilyLark 10,131]

22 hours ago, Delulu Rogers said:

She said from the beginning it was a mix of genres and it’s how she wanted it. She was going to make the whole album sound like PC and then changed her mind. 

I thought she said her original idea was a genre mix, then she was going to have everything sound like PC, and then she talked about it with various people, including Michael, and decided to stick with her original idea. 

Somehow, some fans have weirdly twisted it to "Michael made her not do grunge/industrial." I'd still like an album that was full industrial, but I really loved Mayhem and it obviously worked for most people as it's her highest rated album on MetaCritic. It's not her most cohesive, and yet somehow works. 

*I also hope she does a full 80s style album like LoveDrug, which sounds like it belongs on a Miami Vice soundtrack. 

Edited 12 hours ago by LilyLark

[Ladle Ghoulash 27,484]

1 minute ago, LilyLark said:

I thought she said her original idea was a genre mix, then she was going to have everything sound like PC, and then she talked about it with various people, including Michael, and decided to stick with her original idea. 

Somehow, some fans have weirdly twisted it to "Michael made her not do grunge/industrial." I'd still like an album that was full industrial, but I really loved Mayhem and it obviously worked for most people as it's her highest rated album on MetaCritic. It's not her most cohesive, and yet somehow works. 

*I also hope she does a full 80s style album like LoveDrug, which sounds like it belongs on a Miami Vice soundtrack. 

That is what she said, btw. Fans somehow inverted that statement and I honestly think it’s because they might want someone to blame who isn’t Gaga for the album not being what they wanted lol

[LilyLark 10,131]

53 minutes ago, Battle 4 Ur Life said:

honestly if she had released a PC inspired album she would have faced criticism saying it sounds monotonous.

Mayhem is a cohesive yet diverse sound and production is definitely the most interesting and mature out of her recent releases.

having said that I still struggle to connect with HBDUWM, DCT AND BOG. they do sound amazing from a lyrics and production perspective. I just think other tracks would have made me like the whole album. but obviously they are part of the genre chaos she proposed here.

it is my favorite album of hers since ARTPOP and it’s obviously better than ARTPOP itself.

I agree on HBDUWM. I love the album, but HBDUWM (and I like it!) seems like an outlier, even in a genre bending album. I get the Yaz slash 80s influence, but to me it doesn't fit with the more overt 80s influence in LoveDrug or The Beast. It's like the 80s influence is just so subtle in HBDUWM that it ends up sounding more like a Taylor track. 

Mayhem has really grown on me. I liked it a lot the first time I heard it, but I'd rank it my #2 Gaga album after BTW nowadays (controversial take, probably). I see it more as a move from 90s to disco-funk to 80s and then ending with 80s and 90s style ballads. 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by LilyLark

[LilyLark 10,131]

7 minutes ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

That is what she said, btw. Fans somehow inverted that statement and I honestly think it’s because they might want someone to blame who isn’t Gaga for the album not being what they wanted lol

Sigh. I swear little monsters are like one of the worst fan bases (nothing can top the Barbz, though, we're angels in comparison lol). if they don't like the album, they don't like the album, but don't blame Michael or claim it's "bad" (objectively, it's her best reviewed album). I wish they would just say "it's not my taste" instead of pretending they are a deciding voice on what's good or bad. 

Edit: You can also kind of see the plan throughout Mayhem in terms of how she genre bends, so it lines up with her statement that it was her original plan. 

Edited 12 hours ago by LilyLark

[LilyLark 10,131]

9 hours ago, Lucas said:

I don't know if disco funk is accurate to describe the sound of the 2nd half of the album but the album, imo, truly goes downhill after Zombieboy. You can easily tell she put a LOT of efforts into the first tracks, her vocals and instrumentals are very intricate and detailed.

And then BOOM, suddenly everything feels generic and rushed (except the masterpiece SOAM).

Slander on the masterpiece LoveDrug. 

[PartySick 162,155]

15 hours ago, lilboyblue said:

Disagree. MAYHEM is one of her most cohesive and consistent works.

Cohesion isn't just about sound. That's a very superficial way to look at it. Despite the perceived "mayhem" in the shifting genres, the songs all feel like they were cut from the same cloth. Like they were envisioned by an auteur.

Cohesion could be thematic. Cohesion could come from intention. Many things can tie an album together and I feel like in MAYHEM there's a sense of grunge and angst and reclamation that permeates through each track that makes them unmistakably of this era.

I personally love how the album flows. It makes for very engaged listening and it has very good replay value. 

Mayhem's flow is truly like none of her other albums. Especially after the official addition of CSTH, TDD, and KFL. Those three tracks took an already unbeatable album and made it even better

[codymonster 8,654]

I think she has struggled with identity throughout her career because of the heavy "character" she would play. Like, Joanne she sang a different genre and was a different person, Chromatica the sound was VERY the same and she clearly was trying to "be a pop start", Cheek to Cheek she was a jazz girl, and so on. And each era, you can see her getting restless. By the end of Joanne, she was transitioning back to being full "Gaga." 

I think she just went with her passion this time around. The album feels very Gaga, the songs are diverse, the vocals are diverse, the vibes are diverse, and I feel like she can be a lot of different "Gaga's" when performing this album. We've got full pop Gaga, dialed back grungy Gaga with the Disease acoustics, pure acoustic Gaga, funky Gaga, and so on.

Personally, I hope she keeps this going. She obviously started leaning into the idea of being an Enigma within the last 5 or so years, and I think that she needs continue to lean into that. She is a talented musician that can and will do everything. That will, hopefully, be her legacy. A student of art and music. 

Again, I think that's what Mayhem is -- feeling the most at piece, but being chaotic and out there with your work. And the music still works as a cohesive album. I mean, if that isn't the definition of Lady Gaga, I'm not sure what is. It's a full circle moment. 

Edited 11 hours ago by codymonster

[_Lam 598]

I feel like if the whole album sounded like the first section (from Disease to CSTH), it would start to feel a bit repetitive. Even with CSTH in there, it already gets kind of overwhelming with all the aggressive synths. Then VIY comes in like a breath of fresh air and transitions perfectly into the funkier middle part.

The first section still sounds incredibly fresh though. That industrial rock vibe is so cool and honestly doesn’t sound like anything else right now. It’s like a mix of metal, rock, Nine Inch Nails, Muse, and hard electronic beats. I really think Gaga found a lane there that she could keep exploring.

The second half, yeah, the disco sound has been done a lot lately, but she makes it her own with that funky twist. It doesn’t feel like just another disco revival like Future Nostalgia. You can really hear her influences, Bowie, Jackson, Prince, and it gives the songs a more timeless feel instead of chasing a trend. It also perfectly sums up who Gaga is as an artist. That’s kind of the difference with Chromatica too. As cohesive as it is, once the house trend faded, it didn’t feel as exciting to revisit. This new, more layered and multifaceted sound feels like it has way more staying power.

Edited 9 hours ago by _Lam

[Sepsami 19,316]

10 hours ago, Bradley said:

Sounds like a Katy Perry title

I'd honestly love for Katy to go full camp again instead of these semi-serious, awkward bad girl thing she is going. She's the queen of camp and I want her to camp it up again

[TheFrenchGuy 277]

12 hours ago, princessofmonaco said:

I've been thinking about this, and it makes perfect sense with the way she made the album, telling her story of overcoming mayhem. The structure is litterally

Confronting her demons head on, her being tempted by her dark side

Something happens, she gets engaged to Michael (Vanish into you)

Then she feels free and comfortable enough to dive into the music that shaped her

Then The Beast is the ultimate acceptance of her dark self

Then when have bittersweet loving bliss with the two final balads, and that's where she is now

 

If you look at it this way, the middle part (from killah to don't call tonight) IS the core of the story, even though the first 4 songs hit "harder". For that reason it makes a lot of sense that she did not make the whole thing industrial rock, because it would not work with the narrative she wanted to tell. 

The singles were a way for her to introduce us to the story, starting with DWAS (where i am), Disease (i'm going to confront myself) and Abra (I have the courage to survive that process). Then a year later, as a bonus, TDD (having pure fun with it). 

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