Lady Gaga’s ‘Mayhem’ is out today and the pop singer discusses how the chaos of her earlier work influenced this album, her relationship with the media, how she’s grown as an artist, her fan interactions and more!
What do you think of ‘Mayhem’? Let us know in the comments below!
What do you think of ‘Mayhem’? Let us know in the comments below!
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MusicTranscript
00:00To me, if you can repeat your fingerprints, they're your fingerprints.
00:03I don't want to drive anyone insane, but also thank you so much.
00:07So, like, I tried to have a lot of fun making this record.
00:16I always embark on a very, like, organic musical process.
00:20And the album always begins with the music.
00:23There have been times in my career where I had, like,
00:26an idea in terms of, like, how to conceptually approach a record.
00:30I would say that this album, from start to finish,
00:34it was like pieces coming together.
00:36And I did not want to turn it into anything artificial.
00:42I really wanted to allow myself to, like, just follow the music.
00:46It started to slowly remind me of, like, my earlier work.
00:50The mayhem of my approach to pop music,
00:53which is, like, something that, like, is mine, that I feel proud of.
00:59I did want the chaos to end.
01:01And that's why the record is the way that it is.
01:04It's sort of like there being an end in sight to the chaos, I think, gives it some hope.
01:17What was it that was kind of fearful for you about doing that?
01:21I think I felt a lot of pressure.
01:22Yeah?
01:23I felt pressure to, yeah, like, ever since my first album.
01:26You know, I did listen to what people would say.
01:28Will she outdo herself? Can she top herself?
01:30Can she live up to it? You know, she needs to evolve.
01:33Or, you know, she hasn't changed enough.
01:35There was a lot of noise. I was young, too.
01:37Of course.
01:38You know, and I'm 38 now. I'm a lot more confident in myself.
01:42But I think I found my confidence in this record.
01:45Oh.
01:46Like, making the album and facing the mayhem of it all
01:50and taking the pressure off myself helped me to value what I feel really matters about me as a person,
01:59which is, you know, my relationships and the people that I love
02:03and treating people with love and respect all around me.
02:05And then also putting my musicianship first.
02:08Oh.
02:09When you put your artistry first and you take the other stuff away,
02:13like the competition of it all, and some of that's being a woman in music.
02:18Of course.
02:19When you take that away, it gave me so much dignity.
02:22Yeah.
02:23And I didn't realize how much I was craving it.
02:34What was interesting about that song is that as I started writing it,
02:38it started out with just that ominous loop that's at the front.
02:43It freaked me out when I first heard it.
02:45It absolutely freaked me out.
02:46It's dark.
02:47Yeah.
02:48I started writing, and I knew right away what I wanted to say.
02:53Yeah.
02:54And I had this feeling inside myself of, you can't write about that.
02:59Like, you can't show this part of yourself.
03:02Then I was like, no.
03:04Go with the chaos.
03:05Absolutely.
03:06Embrace it.
03:07What do you want to say?
03:08And I'm made of plastic like a human doll.
03:10You push and pull me.
03:11I don't hurt at all.
03:12I talk in circles because my brain, it aches.
03:14You say, I love you.
03:15I disintegrate it.
03:16It became complicated so quickly of owning that I wanted to be a star.
03:22Yeah.
03:23And that it did bring a lot of complication in my life,
03:27but also the anger that I felt towards myself, that I brought it on myself.
03:31Yeah.
03:32So it's a complicated song, and it's an angry song.
03:35I was nervous to put it on the album, but part of Mayhem is I just put it all out there.
03:41And I tried to really own who I am and just be proud of my approach to music,
03:47my approach to pop music.
03:49And then also even through Abracadabra,
03:51which is very different from Perfect Celebrity,
03:53take ownership over something that I started a long time ago.
03:57Yeah.
03:58Now, this might just be me being an unhinged fan,
04:00but when I was listening to it,
04:02did I catch a reference to your song Princess Die in Perfect Celebrity?
04:07Yes.
04:08Okay.
04:09Incredible.
04:10I heard that.
04:11I heard it, and I was just like,
04:12Princess Die, that's my favorite unreleased Gaga track.
04:14Yeah.
04:15And it's unreleased, and I was like,
04:16it deserves to be released.
04:17It absolutely does.
04:26Part of my personal mayhem is that it's fun,
04:30and that's why I keep doing it.
04:32You know what I mean?
04:34And that's what makes it complicated,
04:37is this thing that is dark.
04:40It also is the best time.
04:43And I think by that point in the album,
04:45this is when you're just at the party,
04:47and you're totally numbing out.
04:49And now you've fully accepted that by the morning
04:52you are not going to feel well,
04:54but you're fully in it.
04:56It's just a good time.
04:57And I do think that I felt a lot of pressure over the years
05:01to prove myself as a musician.
05:03Absolutely.
05:04And that sometimes stopped me from having fun.
05:07Oh.
05:08You know?
05:09So I tried to have a lot of fun making this record.
05:19You are so good at working with
05:21all of these different producers,
05:23whether it's DJ White Shadow, Fernando Garibay,
05:26Takami, and now, obviously, Andrew Watt,
05:28Circuit, Gustav Holstein.
05:30And yet it always is still so distinctly Gaga.
05:33I really wanted to...
05:36I wanted to be myself.
05:38I've always been myself in my music,
05:41but there have been times
05:42when I have wanted to change who I was.
05:45And that's still an authentic process.
05:47Sure.
05:48But this was different.
05:50And I've always had these, like, twisted dreams.
05:53And, like, that's the way I kind of, like, process life
05:56is these, like, dark, twisted dreams.
05:58They reemerged during this album,
06:00and I tried musically to work with people
06:04that I could push myself with
06:06so that it wouldn't be, like, something exactly that...
06:08Because it's not exactly what you've heard from me before.
06:11No.
06:12But there's the DNA of my approach to pop music.
06:15Yeah, there's, like, little pieces of it
06:16throughout the album.
06:17Completely agree.
06:18And I love a big sweeping melody.
06:20I mean...
06:21I love a big chorus.
06:22I love multiple hooks.
06:23I love a great bridge.
06:24I love a pre that, like, slides right into...
06:27Like, there's things that, like, I need to happen, you know?
06:30And I think that's okay.
06:32Like, as the musical landscape changes,
06:35I think it's okay to be influenced by it,
06:37but I think it's also okay to, like, know who you are.
06:40Absolutely.
06:41And, like, just be you.
06:42I was about to say,
06:43thank you for keeping the bridges in pop music.
06:45It's so important to me that bridges stay in pop music.
06:47If the world was ending,
06:50I'd want to be next to you.
06:53I'm really grateful, and I'm really beside myself.
06:57I never expect anything like this.
07:00You never know.
07:01This is really, like, a true honor and privilege.
07:06And I have to say,
07:07social media was so different when I started
07:10to where it is now.
07:12I've seen Little Monsters be, like, so amazing
07:17for almost 20 years.
07:19I haven't seen us like this in a long time.
07:23When Disease came out, it was, like, something...
07:26It was truly, like, sleeper agents.
07:28Like, people were activated.
07:30I'm so grateful to have, like, access to everybody's content.
07:34Like, seriously.
07:35Absolutely.
07:36No, but it's, like, I'm just, like, thank you.
07:38It's so beautiful.
07:39And it's, like, everybody's so talented
07:41between the dancing, the makeup, the costumes.
07:44Like, it just gives me so much life.
07:46I'm really honored, and I don't expect it.
07:49I really don't.
07:50All I ever want to do is make something
07:52that you press play, and you feel good
07:55for the duration of the record.
07:57And maybe you play it again
07:59because you want to do it one more time.
08:01But, like, I just want to make people smile.
08:10You've been commenting on, like, every video.
08:12That's me.
08:13I know that that's you.
08:14It is me.
08:15I mean, why is that so important for you
08:17to be showing that love right back to them?
08:19Well, I mean, that's the way we always were.
08:22It just wasn't, like, to this extent
08:25because we didn't have the same tools
08:27to talk to each other.
08:29It was just slightly different,
08:30but we always tried our best.
08:32We've been having this conversation
08:33through art and fashion and politics
08:36for a long time.
08:38I always say that I have the best seat in the house,
08:41you know, because I get to watch the fans.
08:43It's so cool, and it means a lot to me.
08:46It means a lot to Michael, too,
08:48because he sees how happy it makes me.
08:50He loves seeing me feel happy
08:52and make the fans happy.
08:53I just want to say tonight that
08:55trans people are not invisible.
09:01Trans people deserve love.
09:02The queer community deserves to be lifted up.
09:05What is your reaction to the way
09:07that the trans community is being treated
09:09by this administration right now?
09:10It is abysmal and horrible
09:13and violent and wrong.
09:15I just want to extend all my love
09:18and gratitude to the trans community
09:21for showing us so much strength and love.
09:26Gaga, thank you so much.
09:27This was incredible.
09:28It was so nice to get to meet you.