A second before Gaga sings this line in the song’s music video, where she battles against doppelgangers trying to kill her, she seizes her body as if someone put two defibrillator paddles to her chest and yelled,

Mayhem arrives on the heels of a successful 2025 for Gaga, which saw her chart-topping collaboration with Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile.” The song spent five weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, marking her second-longest-running No. 1 hit after 2011’s “Born This Way.” She also won a Grammy for best pop duo/group performance alongside Mars.

She dances on the line between clever self-referentiality and less inspired rehashing on her new LP, committing to the over-the-top excess that first made her a star.