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.

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,