One of the music industry’s biggest nights witnessed numerous comebacks from celebrity musicians who have been out of the limelight for the past few years. The 2025 GRAMMYs celebrated the past year in music, honoring new artists who are shaping the modern landscape of the industry while celebrating some of the most legendary musicians of our time. Among the most visible seasoned artists at the show was none other than superstar Lady Gaga, 38-time Grammy nominee and 14-time trophy winner.
It’s been nearly four years since the icon was recognized for a solo studio album, with Chromatica receiving a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards in 2021. Since then, Gaga has primarily produced collaborative and soundtrack albums, including Love for Sale with Tony Bennet and Harlequin for the 2024 musical-thriller movie Joker: Folie à Deux.
Focusing on these creative endeavors, amongst others, prompted Gaga’s distance from the spotlight. On June 16, 2023, she shared in an Instagram post that she had “been experiencing her creativity…in a really special and private way” and that her time away was “extremely healing for [her] heart, mind, body, and creativity.”
The release of her now-iconic duet with Bruno Mars, “Die With A Smile,” launched the 38-year-old artist back into the public eye in August of 2024. The song has topped the charts since its debut, reawakening Gaga’s long-standing fanbase of little monsters and attracting new listeners.
At the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards on the night of Feb. 2, “Die With A Smile” competed for the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance award as well as the highly-coveted Song of the Year award. Also set to perform live alongside Bruno Mars, Gaga used the major award show as a true marker of her return.
Gaga arrived on the red carpet in dramatic style, sporting an all-black Samuel Lewis couture gown, straight pitch-black hair, and bleach-dyed brows. The Victorian-inspired look contributes to the aura of Gaga’s upcoming Mayhem era, especially paired with the gothic, horror-inspired music video to “Disease,” the first single released off the anticipated album.
In October 2024, fans got a first taste of LG7 with the debut of the dark-pop dance anthem. Fans and the media noted early on that the sound is reminiscent of Gaga’s early avant-garde electronic dance music style with an added grungy, alternative tone.
On Jan. 27, less than a week before the GRAMMYs, an official album announcement surfaced alongside a confirmed release date. Mayhem, Gaga’s seventh studio album, can be expected on March 7, featuring 14 tracks that play off of the unique sounds of old-school hits from her The Fame Monster era in 2009.
This all led up to the culminating moment during a Grammys commercial break when Gaga took fans by surprise, premiering a new music video for yet another single off of Mayhem. The music video for the debut fast-tempo dance track “Abracadabra” cemented the influence of Gaga’s earlier eras on this new album, with callbacks to “Bad Romance” and “Alejandro” through the familiarly eccentric choreography, set design, and costuming.
A red, black, and white color pallet elicits nostalgia for the artist’s past hits. However, the depiction of multiple Gaga characters dance-battling may aim to signify a separation between the old Gaga and the new Gaga, symbolizing her simultaneous commitment to staying true to her authentic style while embracing change and growth.
Various Gaga characters also appear within the “Disease” music video, with a similarly-dressed Gaga appearing in a large-brimmed hat and latex gloves with long nails, evocative of her feature in American Horror Story: Hotel.
Fans reacted to the “Abracadabra” premiere on X with enthusiasm and excitement, proclaiming that Lady Gaga and pop music are back. In addition to the debut of her new song and video, earlier in the night, Gaga accepted the GRAMMY trophy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Bruno Mars and gave a stunning live performance of “California Dreamin’” in acknowledgment of the tragic L.A. wildfires.
What we’ve seen of the Mayhem era thus far is a testament to Gaga’s marvelous ability to bend genre to her will and a lesson to all artists that the only boundaries in art are the ones you set for yourself. Gaga has our attention now, and I can’t wait to see what she does next. Only one thing’s for sure — Mother Monster is back in all her glory.
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