Lady Gaga remains one of the most enduring, revolutionary pop stars of the 21st century, although her cultural impact in recent years has occasionally been reduced to producing cloying ballads for blockbusters, some of which she also starred in, that ended up in adult contemporary radio purgatory. (Her latest film was on par with Morbius at the box office, to say the least.)
Her 2024 hit collaboration with Bruno Mars was, unfortunately, more of the same. Fans have eagerly awaited the pop star's seventh studio album, long dubbed LG7 by stan Twitter — and for a while there, it seemed like it might just end up being another collection of jazz standards or covers. Then, last fall, she released the clanging electropop single "Disease," with the Old Gaga showing signs of life.
After announcing MAYHEM in January, she went on to drop another track called "Abracadabra," which quickly became heralded as her return to form, bringing excitement for LG7's long-awaited arrival to a fever pitch. (You're on the right track, baby!) It arrives today via Interscope Records, and some Exclaim! staffers have taken the time to share their thoughts in a group chat.
iPod Nano's Reigning Queen
Megan: What's everyone's relationship like with Gaga? Do we have any Little Monsters in the house?
Allie: I had a huge moment with Born This Way when I was working at the mall in the suburbs, which feels prophetic. This album is way more The Fame, though.
Sydney: I really like her! I wouldn't go as far as to say I stan, but she's been such a force for so long and it's rare she puts out a single I don't like. I like some albums more than others but I'm generally a fan. Fun fact: she walked right past me in Yorkville like 10 years ago and her wide dress brushed against me. Felt like I was blessed tbh.
Karlie: I definitely consider myself a fan! I have a very core memory of listening to "Just Dance" on repeat on my iPod Nano in elementary school.
Allie: Huge iPod Nano vibes.
Megan: I was in Grade 7 or 8 when The Fame came out, so it was back in the time where I was, uh, a "dancer." Technically speaking, anyway. It felt like those singles were inescapable, and we were always warming up or going across the floor to them at the studio. It's kind of wild how many hits were on that album.
Karlie: Chromatica came out the spring before I went off to university, so I remember talking about it with the other gay people that I was trying to make friends with online on those TMU 2020 First Year Facebook groups haha.
Allie: AW
Megan: Very Stefani Germanotta busting out on the piano during lunch hour at NYU.
Good Gaga as Recession Indicator
Allie: I like how this one is trying to do recession pop again. Sign of the times?
Megan: I've always been a very casual Gaga fan, and really appreciated how much of a breath of fresh air she felt like when she first burst onto the scene. This album is less of a breath of fresh air, but it's still more fun than a lot of her more recent stuff. Definitely a sign of the times.
Karlie: I keep seeing tweets saying "Good Gaga is a recession indicator."
Allie: R.I.P.
Sydney: I was thinking that on my first listen through, she's letting herself be weird again. "Abracadabra" is totally her "JOYRIDE."
Allie: Totally. More "JOYRIDE" songs in 2025.
Megan: Although one might say that movie that shall not be named was pretty weird... Obviously, this album is meant to do image rehab after that. It's also supposed to see Gaga get back to her roots sonically, and she supposedly taps into a lot of '90s inspiration — Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, the Cure — as well as Prince and David Bowie. Is any of that coming across to you?
Allie: We want GOOD weird, not BAD weird. (Maybe she was just too busy making LG7 to give a shit about other projects?) I can hear '80s for sure! But I'm really picking up 2000s and '10s.
Sydney: I totally see the NIN thing. It's more With Teeth than The Downward Spiral, but that's not a bad thing! I want a Gaga cover of "The Hand That Feeds" after this.
Allie: The Gesaffelstein feature on "Killah" is interesting because his production is so distinctly 2010s but you can hear him trying to do Prince also. Like if Aleph were funk? Love that track's little breakdown.
Karlie: I can definitely hear those influences. Her ability to honour and tap into the styles of other artists is always something that I appreciate about her. It's always cool to hear her flex her versatility.
reputation (Gaga's Version)
Megan: Okay, I don't expect anyone else to have picked up on this (where's Alex the one time I need him?), but I must ask: does anyone feel like "How Bad Do U Want Me" is quite literally a Taylor Swift song?
Sydney: YES OMG
Allie: Oh god, yeah.
Sydney: Immediately I was like, where is that motherfucker Jack hiding?
Megan: ANTONOFF IN THE AIR
Karlie: Gaga said, "You guys want reputation (Taylor's Version)? Here you go!"
Sydney: It's one of my least favourite tracks on the album. It's like she included it to throw the Swifties a bone.
Megan: It's really funny to me, because I expect Taylor bullshit from Taylor, but it somehow sounds even clunkier coming from Gaga? I don't know, I just didn't expect that kind of pandering from her. A song like "Zombieboy" is the type of kinda-cringey weirdness that I do in fact expect — and appreciate — from Gaga, even if it isn't my thing.
Karlie: I guess no one is immune to the Taylor industrial complex.
Allie: Canadian connection on Cirkut doing production on a lot of this album. Great White North Jack A?
It's Impossible to Reheat One's Own Nachos
Sydney: Another Taylor connection: this feels like an album that is meant to encapsulate an era, much in that recession pop vein. But this feels at least a bit less like an industrial complex because it's less monotonous-sounding. All the big 2010s pop girls had very specific eras — Gaga herself, Katy Perry before she got bad, and even Nicki Minaj.
Megan: Hilarious that she's had so many songs at this point that they can't help but have thematic crossovers, right down to the titles: "Perfect Celebrity" à la "Paparazzi," "Don't Call Tonight" à la "Telephone."
Allie: There's a "paws" lyric on "Zombieboy" too. Haven't heard her do that in a bit.
Sydney: Her own OK Computer/In Rainbows 01/10 theory.
Karlie: For "Perfect Celebrity," Gaga's spin on a song about celebrity worship and fan culture was fun to listen to. I enjoyed the little vocal inflections that felt like old Gaga. Definitely nothing new, but still fun.
Megan: Speaking of lyrics, the only one that really caught me lyrically was "LoveDrug." "River in my eyes, I've got a poem in my throat / I hear the music and it takes me by surprise" is a very Meggo opening couplet. It's early, but I think it's a fave! Like, fuck off with having a poem in your throat, woman — this is spectacular, give me 14 of 'em right now.
Sydney: I think that at this point it's not fair to expect Gaga to reinvent her own wheel. She did it once before, and we're seeing her impact come back into the pop zeitgeist, so it's nice to see her tap into that. Unlike the aforementioned Katy Perry.
Megan: I totally agree! I think it just adds to the feeling that she's trying to recapture something about that moment. And honestly? She doesn't do a bad job of it at all.
Sydney: She just simply accepted that she was born this way.
Karlie: As the Gaga herself said, "My nachos are mine, and I invented them."
Sydney: If it's her own nachos, she can't be reheating them. It's a new batch, and she has pretty much all of the ingredients, except maybe she's out of pickled jalapeños.
Let Bonus Tracks Be Bonus Tracks
Allie: That said, I do agree that the back half of this album falls off a smidge.
Megan: Nothing can make me like that Bruno Mars duet, in the same way that I hated the universally beloved "Shallow."
Allie: Shallow like the pool of barf I drowned in from that song.
Sydney: "Shallow" blows.
Megan: Every time I expressed that opinion around normies, things got real awkward.
Karlie: "Die with a Smile" feels out of place to me in the context of the entire album. Like okay, I guess this is how we're ending things?
Megan: I agree. It feels like they were just like, "Well, this has been a big hit so we should probably tack it on at the end or something."
Sydney: Throw it on the back and treat it like a bonus track just 'cause.
Allie: We don't need to bring back Bruno Mars for Recession Pop 2.0. We didn't need him then, either.
Sydney: I'll accept "24K Magic" and Silk Sonic but that's it.
God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It
Allie: Other than "Garden of Eden," which slapped, this incarnation of Gaga's reheated Gagachos is lacking in Christian imagery interestingly. I always thought her Jesus stuff was so chic.
Sydney: "Judas" is a gym-time special for me.
Megan: I don't know if I agree with "Garden of Eden" seemingly being the focus track, it's kind of "Abracadabra"-lite to me.
Karlie: Interesting, I would not have thought that! Although I can already see the dance choreography...
Sydney: "Abracadabra" is so old Gaga — right down to the reference of herself right in the hook.
Megan: She's her favourite reference, baby. Okay, if you had to give MAYHEM a rating out of 10, what would it be?
Sydney: I'm leaning 7?
Karlie: I'm leaning toward a 7? Jinx!
Sydney: Light 7, but the highs are pretty high.
Karlie: Agree, agree.
Allie: 7. Would have been an 8 sans Bruno Mars and plus a Beyoncé "Telephone 2."
Megan: WHAT "DON'T CALL TONIGHT" SHOULD HAVE BEEN!
Sydney: Not that I don't like you, I'm just tryna par-tay.
Megan: I'm also feeling a 7. It's certainly not the culture-shifting force that The Fame or Born This Way were, but it does recapture some of that former glory after some years where Gaga's biggest contributions have been blockbuster soundtrack ballads. Which, to be fair, she is absolutely capable of pulling off (even when I find them annoying) — "Die with a Smile" is proof that there's still an appetite for this, so go off I guess?
Allie: Someone's mom loves it, and moms need songs too.
Sydney: Newmarket and Barrie moms, but still.
Megan: Gaga sounds like she's having fun again, and it's delightful to listen to. She's embracing her weirdness once again and it's going to make for a non-corporate Pride rager.
Allie: The Crew & Tangos parties are going to be MOIST.
Karlie: I'm very here for an "Abracadabra" summer.
Sydney: Is it too early to declare song of the summer?