Her new album is a work of self-citation, rummaging around in Gaga’s own past for inspiration. It’s also, somehow, the freshest collection of songs she has released in years.

The idea of big fun suggests the existence of little fun, and Lady Gaga is now the kind of pop star who can do both. “Just Dance.” Meat dress. Being carried down the red carpet at the Grammys inside an egg.

Lady Gaga finally dropped her new album, Mayhem, on March 7. It's her long-awaited solo followup to 2020's Chromatica -- not counting 2024's Harlequin, which was a Joker: Folie à Deux companion album.