She dances on the line between clever self-referentiality and less inspired rehashing on her new LP, committing to the over-the-top excess that first made her a star.

It is as complete a statement about who Lady Gaga is in 2025 as anything could be. MAYHEM repositions Gaga as a dance diva heavily indebted to the icons who came before her to an audience as likely to know her for wearing a meat dress as for performing with Tony Bennett.

It was November 2023 when Lady Gaga and Will.i.am were spotted mysteriously leaving a restaurant with giant folders in their hands. A PopCrave tweet reported the occasion to be a "four-hour dinner," and the pair of musicians were photographed leaving separately.