Musically I Feel Like Gaga Gave Up on Mayhem

[LadyxGaGa 3,133]

what did yall want from the dead dance?? we got a big name director ?? we got filmed on location and a rly cool location at that??? WE GOT BRAND NEW MUSIC??

[Ladle Ghoulash 44,124]

21 minutes ago, LadyxGaGa said:

what did yall want from the dead dance?? we got a big name director ?? we got filmed on location and a rly cool location at that??? WE GOT BRAND NEW MUSIC??

Ngl I honestly just wish the MV were tied into the Mistress of MAYHEM storyline. IMO, they should’ve filmed a low budget choreo video like the one we got then a done a full blown cinematic narrative video that takes place in the MAYHEM universe.

[Ultimecia 6,538]

15 hours ago, ****oDanceFight said:

Of course! Sorry for the playful ribbing, but it really is in jest and not meant to be coming for you! 

I think it’s important to be having these conversations regardless because it shows at the very least her art is interesting enough to have passionate discussions about it, and it's therefore alive and means something, which is better than art meaning nothing at all. 

Now, when Mayhem Ball releases on streaming, I’m counting on your streams, sister  (jkish)

No issues taken, thank you again! 

Yes, I agree that respectful exchanges like these are very important!

And yes, I will be streaming don't worry. 

15 hours ago, Alxjcgn said:

My bad, didn't see that. I've been reading the posts quickly while making dinner lol. The album itself is definitely cohesive and one of the best she has done in terms of making everything flow

No problem! Your post was also very respectful and constructive, thank you for sharing your opinion in such a way.

[nATAH 55,000]

4 hours ago, LGAte said:

yall are deaf. 

 

Disease (90's industrial) and Garden of Eden (mid-00s pop) and Abracadabra (2010s German Techno meets early 90's Piano House meets Ray of Light tranceness) and Killah (Bowie-esque funk) and Zombieboy (Chic/Nile Rogers disco meets 00's cheer romp) and How Bad Do U Want Me (Yaz/80's synthpop) and Shadow of a Man (Michael Jackson meets Prince) and Don't Call Tonight (Daft Punky Cali-rock)  and Die With A Smile (mid-70's soft rock) 

I get these are all cool sounds but this was not a "cohesive" album. 

 

I think streaming has caused people's literal listening abilities and ability to approach music like a Humanities or Critical course has lost all relevance because everyone just thinks they like everything or calls everything everything these days and blends it into a soup and says its cohesive because of a narrative in their own head.

 

When I first heard this record THE FIRST thing I said was....this is her least cohesive album.

 

VISUALLY it is VERY COHESIVE. YES!

Musically. Not at all. Even she said it's not. It's like 3 or 4 different albums smacked together. 

She literally stated Die With A Smile was not meant for the record.

It's BLATANTLY obvious LoveDrug was sold to studios for the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack (it has the producers and same DNA of the synths and guitars and even winks at the first Top Gun stylistically) and then added

She even said she wanted the album to be more like Perfect Celebrity (and it was even called that at one point) and then Michael convinced her to do the funk thing more. 

And she even said Killah was a random fun thing she did with Gessaffelstein off the cuff that decided to work for the album. 

Also the fact The Dead Dance was made for a kids TV show and was literally recorded for that purpose as a sister to Bloody Mary's success and that world. 

 

How does one actually sit there and go, "yep, that's the bones of a cohesive album."

cus the album is called MAYHEM and what you're describing is...mayhem 

an album doesn't need to be cohesive to be good

[LGAte 670]

4 hours ago, Bronco said:

I mean...no.

Kylie was not "largely absent" because of her breast cancer. She did cancel the original Showgirl Tour mid-run in May 2005. But restarted the revamped Showgirl tour in Nov 2006.

That ended in Jan 2007 and she went immediately into the X era kicking it off in Oct 2007 and led to her largest tour to date at that point (and the one that's visited the most unique geographical locations to date) in 2008. 

Aphrodite wasn't a comeback album after her cancer fight. It was 4 years, 2 tours and 1 album after the cancer fight.

I wasn’t insinuating it was immediately after. We were talking about entire career trajectory. 

[LGAte 670]

3 hours ago, LadyxGaGa said:

what did yall want from the dead dance?? we got a big name director ?? we got filmed on location and a rly cool location at that??? WE GOT BRAND NEW MUSIC??

A song that was good and not as corny.
 

Bloody Mary is cool and interesting.

the Dead Dance was childish.

[Bronco 21,203]

2 minutes ago, LGAte said:

I wasn’t insinuating it was immediately after. We were talking about entire career trajectory. 

I mean you said largely absent. That does read like you either forgot or didn't know about what happened between her diagnosis and the Aphrodite era. 

And like, the Aphrodite era contradicts the point you were trying to make. Because it wasn't a return to form or a re-peak. The singles roll out was largely botched and Kylie was seriously unhappy with it leading to her breaking with her long time label (a move which almost ended her career in the end if it wasn't for her rebuilding as an independent artist during covid). 

You'd have been better off using Disco & Tension to back up the point you were making.

[LadyxGaGa 3,133]

4 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

Ngl I honestly just wish the MV were tied into the Mistress of MAYHEM storyline. IMO, they should’ve filmed a low budget choreo video like the one we got then a done a full blown cinematic narrative video that takes place in the MAYHEM universe.

i assumed with it being tied to netflix they had their own vision and she rly couldn’t do much without their input or approval 

[LadyxGaGa 3,133]

28 minutes ago, LGAte said:

A song that was good and not as corny.
 

Bloody Mary is cool and interesting.

the Dead Dance was childish.

its was a song for a netflix show like bloody mary became apart of wednesday not the other way around

[Ladle Ghoulash 44,124]

8 minutes ago, LadyxGaGa said:

i assumed with it being tied to netflix they had their own vision and she rly couldn’t do much without their input or approval 

That’s part of the reason why I think she should’ve pitched the two prong approach of doing the choreo vid for Netflix, but then the MAYHEM themed video as a tie-in to the narrative of the albums MVs for the fans. Win-win, imo.

[JohnnyVersace 9,207]

Name another artist that’s had more than 2 hit singles in recent years 

 

[PornoDanceFight 1,805]

6 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

Idk saying Disease has nothing to say feels like a skill issue. The video is basically about inward facing psychological and emotional sadism and masochism, a shadow self dividing and conquering someone’s psyche until a pure essence is born from the chaos and  tries to unify the self, recognizing that the sadism of the shadow comes from a place of deep seated pain. It’s basically a video about shadow work and emotional + psychological integration. Not to mention that t he arc of the video, alongside Abra, became the narrative spine/framework for TAOPC, which I’d say is probably her most fully conceptually realized fusion of pop performance and theatre of her entire career. 

Not to piggy back, but I will say: as someone who has had a history of nightmares fueled by my anxieties and occasional 365 party girl weekends...Disease is one of the more relatable tracks on the record, her discography, and directly speaks to her own lived experience. Taking the personal and making it universal is like pop 101. 

[Ladle Ghoulash 44,124]

2 minutes ago, ****oDanceFight said:

Not to piggy back, but I will say: as someone who has had a history of nightmares fueled by my anxieties and occasional 365 party girl weekends...Disease is one of the more relatable tracks on the record, her discography, and directly speaks to her own lived experience. Taking the personal and making it universal is like pop 101. 

100%. I love that video manages to explore her identity on a meta level without feeling like it’s narrowly about “Lady Gaga.” I honestly found the video very healing and relatable as well 

[Skabi 3,106]

as veteran fan (been stanning this woman since 2008) i'll give my 2 cents that no one asked for 

personally when i first heard mayhem i was unimpressed, for me the stakes were soooo high. was expecting a TF+TFM+BTW mashup, a shockingly dark album. but then, as i started listening to it for what it was, it slowly started growing up on me, the expectations left and i could hear the music for what it was. i find it so amazing how she managed to re-visit her past sound and kind of make it her own AGAIN but in a new way and approach. people talked about her re-heating her nachos but from my point of view, she just re-used the recipe but changed it entirely 

that being said... i do feel she could do some more videos (not necessarily singles), she has in fact been a visual artist and she revolutionised pop music back in 00s by creating 10min long videos. i believe she's at a place where she can do what she wants without caring for impact, and being honest, had she released 1-2 more videos a-la abracadabra, the GP would eat it up. people are so used to quick-burn singles and albums, we have a new "pop queen" every 2 months. so gaga could really shake the world once more. 

she could even do a short film, this album is FILLED with gold! maybe lyrically it's not always as deep as TFM or BTW, but production-wise it is her most mature album yet. glorious dance pop music, with many references to the macabre, pure gaga style!
hmmm well, she sort of did this via mayhem ball, where indeed the cinematography and storyline is top notch, and dare i say (personally) her best tour to date? (hopefully she releases the film for it ) all in all, i believe mayhem provided opportunities for further visual exploration

to put it this way, disease and abracadabra felt like the beginning for me, now, it feels like i got a taste of an amazing food but then the waiter took away the plate 

[Lava 3,791]

On 3/4/2026 at 6:21 AM, Blackout19 said:

maybe she is ready to go back to chromatica

PLEASEEEE I WOULD GAGGG