Instead, she’s made one of her most sonically challenging and uniform albums yet: a mix of Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, Prince and her Fame Monster -era self, rolled into the year’s strongest pop release yet.

The latest album from Lady Gaga has been praised by critics for returning the US hitmaker to her “freaky” dance roots. Her seventh studio album, Mayhem, recorded at Shangri-La Studios near her home in Malibu,

Gaga didn’t really mythologize “Mayhem,” her seventh album, or its music, in the lead-up to its release. “I actually made the effort [while] making ‘Mayhem’ to not do that and not try to give my music an outfit,