I was digging the album up until about Zombieboy, but then I just got kinda bored with it tbh. The last 3 or 4 songs are just extremely skippable, and I really wished she would have done something more "club-y" to close out the album like how she opened it, rather than falling back into slower songs like her last couple albums. Charli XcX showed that it's possible to do a really good dancey album start to finish.
Anyway, it's at least nice to have Abracadra in her repertoire. That one really does feel like old Gaga and I guess I just had higher hopes for the album overall
The album does slow a bit, nearing the end. And, personally, I’m actually more captivated at the Electro Grunge direction that Lady Gaga was planning to go with the album (which I think was said in the Zane Lowe interview, I’m not entirely sure).
However, her going back to her roots and touching on older songs is quite cool and interesting. This can be seen with MAYHEM's Perfect Celebrity referencing Chromatica's Plastic Doll by stating it outright; MAYHEM's Vanish Into You being a soul sister to The Fame's Summerboy through speaking of a quick-burning love; MAYHEM's Zombieboy has had similarities drawn to The Fame's Disco Heaven with the mindless dancing (recession pop core) and upbeat lyrics, but I think it has stronger connections to The Fame Monster's Monster with how Lady Gaga calls the person an animal mirroring “that boy is a monsterrr” along with both the club imagery and the allusions to sensuality through monster-coded lyrics, which can be seen in “So put your paws all over me” and “He ate my heart and then he ate my brain”; MAYHEM's LoveDrug has clear parallels to The Fame's LoveGame in name alone (as far as I’ve analyzed it), but there’s also strong connections to Chromatica's 911, since both speak of feeling bad about yourself and allude to taking drugs in “pop a 911” and “I just need a dose of the right stuff / I just need your love drug”; MAYHEM's Don't Call Tonight being an extension of The Fame Monster's Alejandro with how it mirrors her fear of men—which is what Alejandro was about, the entire album was about her fears in fact—with how she dreads being called up by this person; MAYHEM's Shadow Of A Man feels like the fallout of Born This Way's Government H**ker (I don’t know if I can say that, but it is a clean song), since the latter speaks of how Lady Gaga just wants this love and doesn’t care what happens, but the former is the realization that she’s being taken advantage of and is going’s to reclaim her power; MAYHEM's The Beast is similar to The Fame Monster's dANCE IN THE DARK where both songs speak about how Lady Gaga doesn’t want to face the reality of the situation and just wants to live for that night, the former also speaking on the latter's topic of the fear of self; and MAYHEM's Blade Of Grass is close to Born This Way's Yoü And I but in different situations—the former is after a tragic event, while the latter was a regret from a while ago. In my opinion, Die With A Smile is a bonus track that was tacked on, but Lady Gaga got the album to transition into it nicely.
I bet there are more connections, correlations, and parallels with other songs on other albums. However, to clarify, I just wanted to get my thoughts out there, not attacking anyone specifically.
Also, she has two exclusive bonus tracks (out of 50 total songs she made for the album) out there for CD and vinyl, which I had no clue about till earlier today, being “Kill For Love” and “Can't Stop The High”. You can listen on Youtube; I prefer the former.
Overall, this album was Lady Gaga trying to comeback into being fully mainstream (especially with how she returned to her old sound and capitalized on big hits like Abracadabra and Die With A Smile) while still being a love letter to long-time fans, referencing The Fame a ton.
I enjoyed Charli XCX's brat and how she used club music to accompany the rich lyrics about intergenerational trauma, anxiousness, and the loss of a friend. It's definitely an S-tier album of 2024, though I think Lady Gaga was going for a different direction. Either way, loved both.
Thanks for reading the ramblings of a Little Monster that's disappointed that MAYHEM didn't follow the trend of albums having one song that flipped the rules of capitalization (i LIKE IT ROUGH, dANCE IN THE DARK, eLECTRIC CHAPEL, aRTPOP, sINNER'S PRAYER, eNIGMA, sMILE)!