In a recent interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, Lady Gaga discussed her new album, “MAYHEM”. She described the album as “a transgressive journey through genres,” reflecting her diverse musical influences and life experiences.
The album features tracks that delve into personal aspects of Gaga’s life. “Blade of Grass” is an emotional song inspired by her engagement to Michael Polansky, capturing the intimacy of their relationship. Another notable track, “Vanish Into You,” draws inspiration from iconic artists like Queen and David Bowie, showcasing Gaga’s ability to blend different musical influences.
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She still loves being Lady Gaga
Something I want my fans to know now, which is why I said I love being Lady Gaga, is I actually returned back to my artistry recently in a huge way of making this album. I put so much of myself as a musician, as a producer, as a songwriter into everything. And that is who Lady Gaga is to me. Maybe to someone else it might be the meat dress or something that I did that they remember as me. But for me, I always want to be remembered for being a real artist and someone that cares so much about a life of art.
How “MAYHEM” is different compared to previous albums
‘ARTPOP’ was a vibe. ‘Joanne’ was a sound. ‘Chromatica’ had a sound. All different. ‘The Fame Monster’ was more chaotic. ‘The Fame’ was theatrical pop. ‘Born This Way’, to me, had more of a metal electro New York vibe to it. I actually made the effort making ‘MAYHEM’ to not do that and not try to give my music an outfit. You know what I mean, but instead to allow myself to be influenced by everything. That was how I discovered my songwriting and production abilities as a kid, so that was a special experience. Then still some of that influence though, the electro grunge influence, made it still onto other songs that were some were industrial, some were like 2000 throwbacks, like “Garden of Eden.” There’s a song called “Can’t Stop the High,” that you haven’t heard, that’s on the version of the album that’s on my website only and that is a pure electro grunge record that goes even harder than “Perfect Celebrity” does.
Lady Gaga is happy to be ‘boring’ now because…
After my career took off, I didn’t have a sense of home in the same way. Obviously I have an amazing family that I love so, so much and they were always wonderful. I just was away, and I was kind of untethered, and I loved that for a long time. And then I just imploded and felt like I didn’t have gravity. So now I have gravity, and gravity’s good. And sometimes I joke now and I just will say, “I’m boring now and thank God.” And no, but seriously, maybe I’m not boring in my art for sure. Boring maybe was what I was doing before, where it was so predictively chaotic all the time. I enjoy being able to reflect on all of my dreams and then make them, and yeah, that’s why I say that MAYHEM is also all these gothic dreams. It’s like all of my dark dreams, and all of the different things they mean, and how they come alive, and it’s all in one place, and it’s total mayhem, and it’s completely me, and it’s my gift to my fans.
“ARTPOP” was a concept and a philosophy
ARTPOP was a very special album to me. I was, just like on my previous records, handpicking the producers that I was going to co-produce with. I was choosing how to make the opera. And it was not really happening in mainstream music, that one track would change that much. The groove would sometimes change. It would completely not be expected. It was very disruptive. It was not easy listening. It was basically like me going, ‘I’ll do what I want. I’ll do it my way.’ But what’s so interesting is I always did that. It’s just for some reason that record was viewed as more defiant, I think, because I was also fighting against some of the newer things in my life, like living up to my new image and wanting to break that. So I never dressed the same and my hair was always different. ARTPOP was more of a concept and a philosophy more than it was an aesthetic.
Her relationship with fiancé Michael Polansky has grounded her & how the new song “Blade of Grass” came about
I just got much healthier. I have good people in my life. I fell in love with Michael. As a songwriter you need life to inspire your writing and if everything is promotion, then I’ll write about promotion and I won’t write about that special moment I shared with you where Michael asked me how I would want him to propose to me one day. We were in our backyard and I said, “Just take a blade of grass and wrap it around my finger” and then I wrote “Blade of Grass” because I remembered the way his face looked and I remembered the grass in the backyard and I remember thinking he should use that really long grass that’s in the center of the backyard.
Those moments, to me, at a certain point I was into the idea of fame and artifice and being the conductor of your own life when it came to your own inner sense of fame. I had to fight a lot harder to make music and dance a little bit later into my career because my life became so different, that I didn’t have as much life around me to inspire me. It all became this one other thing and then I think my fans were like, ‘Why isn’t she promoting things?’ and ‘Where is she?’ but I needed to go live life to have a full life and also to give back to my true gift. That’s one of the sweetest things that I think Michael ever said to me as my partner is he was like, “You who you are is that you’re an artist. That’s the thing that makes you the most happy, so we need to nurture that part of you.” He reminded me that the other stuff was maybe sometimes hard for me and making it more difficult, so keeping me away from what I love.
Being in love…
My home used to only be the stage. It was so lonely. And also it is so much more fun to take somebody up there with you, someone that loves you, that knows what you’re capable of in all the various aspects of life. I think that there’s nothing that could bring a tear to my eye, I think more on a daily basis than knowing that I mean also so much to somebody in a way that isn’t about what I’m doing on stage or my song or what I’m wearing. It’s like he’s so grateful if I make him a double decaf espresso over ice because that’s his favorite, and that’s a huge part of who I am. And mattering to somebody just for being me, like a girl, that means a lot, but also to be embraced also and that he will say to me like, the thing you have to do to get yourself ready to go do that is so intense. Like he just wants me to be okay and he wants to, he’s my real friend.
Coachella and upcoming tour for “MAYHEM”
I love being on stage and I enjoy it again at this time in my life. So for sure, I’m so excited for Coachella, and it’s all I ruminate on constantly all of my ideas, and what to do, and how to do it, and what does Mayhem mean? How do we bring MAYHEM to the desert? I’m really excited. I feel like I’m firing on all my cylinders again, and that it’s super rad, and I can’t wait to see my fans, and I also can’t wait to do it with Michael.
Source: The Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music 1
