The words “influence” and “reference” are closely related, and in any art form, both are often — hopefully usually — an act of love, an acknowledgement, a knowing wink to fans (as long as they don’t verge into copyright infringement, anyway). Whether it’s Quentin Tarantino’s deep references to his favorite martial-arts films, Barbara Kingsolver’s re-invention of Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield” as “Demon Copperhead,” or Silk Sonic, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s love-letter to the ‘70s, the reference is usually in the spirit of homage.
And there are many, many such homages on Lady Gaga’s cracking new album, “Mayhem.” It’s something she’s never been reluctant to do or acknowledge, although her oft-referenced quote about being “unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, shit on it, vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it” was actually said in reference to “American Horror Story”/“Glee” creator Ryan Murphy. For “Mayhem,” she herself has singled out “David Bowie, Prince, Earth Wind and Fire… Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, grunge” and also mentioned the Cure. While we don’t necessarily hear all of those after a handful of close listens to the album, we hear a lot of them, and more besides — including herself. Following is a hardly complete list of some we’ve noticed after a handful of listens to the album …
“Abracadabra” — The groove in the woozy synthesized bass certainly evokes Charli xcx’s “Brat Summer”-launching hit “Von Dutch,” and the operatic middle section (“simple mel-o-dee”) bears traces of ‘80s ABBA. And there’s more than a whiff of her own “Bad Romance” on the melody of the chorus, although as we’ll see, that’s not the only leather-studded kiss to that song…
“Vanish Into You” — the first of many David Bowie references: while the verses have just a subtle nod to his 1983 smash “Let’s Dance,” a funky, Nile Rodgers-ish flourish on the guitar drives it home. There is also some more ABBA majesty in the vocals on the chorus and the “Winner Takes It All”-esque piano arpeggios on the break before the final chorus, and even another Bad Romance flash (“Can I-I-I-I-I… vanish into you”).
“Killah” — This one is so loaded with references it’s hard to know where to begin, so we’ll begin at the beginning: The song dives straight into a deeply funky electronic groove that kneels at the altar of Nine Inch Nails’ galvanzing 1994 hit “Closer,” followed quickly by verses that have an almost identical cadence to those of Prince’s “Sign O’ the Times.” The chorus not only includes guitar riffs reminiscent of not one but two mid-‘70s David Bowie songs — “Golden Years” and “Fame” — but the descending melody on the chorus also recalls both the “FAME-Fame-fame-faaaaame” in the latter song and, probably less intentionally, Lil Wayne’s 2006 song with Robin Thicke, “Shooter.”
“Zombieboy” — the title, of course, references Gaga’s late friend Rick Genest, a heavily tattooed actor-artist who appeared in her “Born This Way” video, and who died after a fall in 2018. The musical references are less obvious, although there are more chunky guitar riffs reminiscent of Nile Rodgers on Chic’s 1977 hit “Good Times” and a chant reminiscent of Gwen Stefani’s 2004 hit “Hollaback Girl.“
“How Bad Do U Want Me” — This one is the other motherlode of references: The song either samples or interpolates Yaz’s 1982 classic “Only You,” but even more striking are the echoes of “Blank Space,” from Taylor Swift’s “1989.” The yearning in the vocals and melody, the shouted backing vocals and the lilt on the chorus particularly point to that song, and there’s even an echo of that song’s lyric “’Cause you know I love the players/ And you love the game” in Gaga’s “You love the crush/ You love the rush” here.
“Don’t’ Call Tonight” – Another chunky Chic guitar, and a vintage 1970s vocoder segment, a treatment that has been heard on everything from ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky” to multiple Daft Punk songs.
“Garden of Eden” — As noted by many fans — and as this side-by-side comparison shows — this song is basically a rewrite of a demo apparently called “Private Audition” that Gaga recorded in the late ‘00s with soulmaster Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, bringing this game of spot-the-reference full circle.
