Lady Gaga's 'Mayhem' (2025) with Hot 99.5's Nick Gomez

We're sorting through Lady Gaga's seventh studio pop album Mayhem with Gaga superfan and iHeartRadio personality Nick Gomez. 

Nick is an almost lifelong Little Monster, who credits Gaga with inspiring the love of pop music that steered him towards a career in radio, where he can be heard at night on Hot 99.5FM, Washington D.C.'s #1 Hit Music Station, and in the afternoon on Pride Radio. 

Andrew and Dominique prod Nick about Mayhem's place in Gaga's catalog and he provides all the answers!

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(Episode 30.)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to At First Listen, the music podcast for people
who don't always get the.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hype but want to.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique, and our guest today is Hot
ninety nine point five Washington, d C. And Pride radio
host Nick Gomez. Nick is an up and coming radio star,
almost Daily Crier and Little Monster if here with us
is discuss Lady Gaga's new studio album Mayhem.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
Welcome though, Wow, you know that is so incredibly accurate
because actually, while thinking about the songs that we're going
to listen to today, I did cry reading some of
the lyrics. So I'm fully unexpected but very very true.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Wow, that's I had a feeling that you were going
to get emotional about at least Gaga as an artist.
But that's not a detail that I would have expected.
The lyrics, it doesn't doesn't seem super emotional to me.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
There was, and so lyrics is a stretch because it
is one singular lyric that uh that set it off.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
I was on thea precisely.

Speaker 5 (01:25):
How did you know?

Speaker 3 (01:28):
So? Nick, I know you're a huge Gaga fan. Normally,
the way the show works is we have we book
a guest and then the guest tells us what to
listen to. This was a little bit the opposite way
of that, where we had the idea for this episode
and then I thought, oh, I know, my friend Nick
is a huge Gaga fan. Why don't we have Nick on?

(01:50):
And you were available, and here you are. But the
more I'm thinking about it, and the more I'm paying
attention to what you're putting on social media, the more
I'm starting to believe that this is what you would
have picked if we had you as a guest and
let you choose.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
Yeah, it probably would have been this album or if
it was at a different time, another Lady Gaga album,
for sure.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
That's what I was wondering, like, because I was reviewing
her the rest of her discography to prepare and I
was I was wondering, from your perspective, if this is, like,
you know, one of the best, or if it's just
like the hot one, Right, this is.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
A quintessential yeah, I think, And I I mean, we're
going to talk about all of like the individual songs,
because like Andrew, Andrew asked me what to pick a
few songs, which I think should actually be classified as
a crime because I can't pick a couple, but like,
my my thoughts on this album really are that like,
even though I don't think she would ever do this,

(02:57):
because a lot of her her albums like tell a story,
even though they may not be sonically the same across
the entire record, a lot of the albums do tell
a story. I think that this very well could have
been like her self titled, especially with like the context
of all of the music that came before, and so
everybody's gonna have like their different opinions on like I

(03:19):
think maybe the emotional connection to some of her different albums,
But I think when it comes to the work, this
is like if you took I wrote down the phrase
mayhem the seventh album, the seventh pop album from Lady Gaga.
This album defines that like it is her sound through
and through from top to bottom. I think that the

(03:41):
work on this is top notch for her. Now that
touches on a question that I had.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
This is the first Gaga album that I've ever listened
to in its entirety. Is it kind of a return
to a previous sound for her? Or is this kind
of a new thing, a new avenue it because my
impression of it is that it's like a classic Gaga record.

Speaker 4 (04:05):
Right, I think, uh, A lot of people were expecting
it to be, and I guess maybe I kind of
was expecting it to be like almost like a regurgitation
of like the Fame Monster where you're Alejandro bad Romance
Paparazzi just dance like we were gonna get all of
those like bright, pure pop songs again.

Speaker 6 (04:23):
Sonically, no like it it.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
I almost want to say, like it is a return
to form, but not one singular form. Like listening to
all of these different songs, it's that you can you
can almost place each one of them on one of
her different albums, like, oh, this definitely could have been
on Art Pop, this could have been on the Fame months,
so this could have been on board this way. Justly,

(04:47):
I think it is a return to form and sense,
but like a real overarching form. This is everything that
she has poured into every album since the Fame is
kind of coming out in like this more refined, like
grown up way.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
On Mayhem, I definitely got the feeling that there were
a lot of inspirations coming from different eras, Like I
almost felt like these were ideas that she had from
before that she was putting on this album. I I
don't like obviously I don't know her process, but I

(05:22):
there was certain things I was like, there were okay,
I always jump ahead, but there were certain songs that
I thought like they kind of sat in this moment
in history, but they just like weren't the right time
to come out with them, and that She's that like
you could tell she's been singing with Tony Bennett for

(05:44):
the past however many years. You can tell that like
she got all that energy out, she did she got
some oscars, she did her thing, and then she was like,
all right, now I can like really come out with
these these like tracks that I've been thinking on and
these lyrics and phrases that are on my mind.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, I think I think you can get a lot
of and this is gonna sound really negative when it
comes out first, and I'm gonna explain it, like, I
think you get a lot of very similar storytelling.

Speaker 6 (06:14):
From her across all of her albums.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
In a way that like like people talk about pop
artists kind of having like their quote unquote, like fame
is a prison era where like one or two albums
in there's gonna be a ton of songs about how
like fame has like changed their lives and how like
they've got no privacy anymore in whatever way that they
code it through lyrics and like production when I.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Think either the album we wrote on tour this is
like the road album, or it's like the Fame is
a prison, where like, uh, this actually sucks, guys, this
job sucks.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
And I think that like the similar storytelling that you
get from Gaga, she kind of has those Like I
think she has a Fame as a prison song on
almost every one of her albums.

Speaker 6 (07:00):
It's just that now different.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
Wasn't Paparazzi on the first record or was that the
second one?

Speaker 4 (07:06):
Paparazzi was on the first one that was on the Fame,
And so I think she has like kind of these
these famous of prison records on a lot of her
different albums, but they all are from different perspectives of
like obviously Paparazzi is I just had this crazy come
up and it feels like I'm being hunted twenty four
to seven, and then you got I mean, I think

(07:27):
I compared that kind of thematically to Shadow of a
Man on this record, where like we're perfect celebrity, even
where shadow of a man. She's like, Yeah, this whole
time i've been famous, I've been like having to contend
with being the only woman in the room. But I'm
kind of cool with that now because I'm the boss
and I know that I'm the boss, and I've created

(07:47):
this thing. And so I think that that can be
said about a lot of the different themes like she has,
Like she talks about self doubt and like kind of
internal chaos, and like those can kind of be like
applied to all of the different projects that she's put
out over the years. And so I think that like
idea of this sounds like something that like she's been

(08:08):
sitting on or that she had an idea of or
wrote maybe and worked on like years ago comes through
because of those like carrying over themes.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
So, without getting too deep into the album in this
first segment, can we talk a little bit about your
relationship to Gaga in general as an artist? When did
this begin for you? And why do you hold her
so dear?

Speaker 4 (08:35):
So every time this song plays on the radio, like
when I'm on the air, just dance, I tell this
story as briefly as I can. I remember exactly where
I was the first time I heard a dance, I
was in the back of my mom's minivan on the
way home from my sister's gymnastics meet, and I remember

(08:55):
being like, what's the mom, what's this song of like
what like eight year old nine year old closeted me
and she's like, Oh, it's it's this lady, Lady Gaga.
I think she's British because she really like talk with
that like weird inflection, like at the beginning of her career,
and so something clicked with just dance as I feel

(09:18):
like it did for probably the rest of the world,
and it was just kind of like an obsession since then,
like a lot of experiencing her music over the last
few like adult years of my life. I'm with like
CHROMATICA and and Mayhem. Now has kind of been like
the flashback to like eleven year old Nick sitting on
the floor in front of the TV watching the HBO

(09:42):
Monster Ball to our special Live for Madison Square Garden,
which is the only movie that I own and I
watch it almost monthly, like a pivotal moment in culture
I think for me was was that And a lot
of people talk about her kind of being this champion

(10:02):
for the LGBTQ plus community, which she is, and she
like is our girl and always has been. And for
someone like me at like that age eight, nine, ten eleven,
discovering this person is a little weird and is so
very clearly on my side, even though I don't know

(10:25):
what my side is yet. I think that was the
real like emotional bond to her. And then of course,
like then pursuing a career in music and entertainment and
like being so infatuated with I don't want to say
infatuated with the fame, because it's not like I was
ever trying to be I don't want to be a
pop artist, but like so infatuated with like the industry,

(10:48):
and then the way that she exists within in the industry,
and how she's kind of like been a student of
fame and pop music and the way it all works.
It's just kind of like the added bonus to having
that crazy emotional connection to her. And now here we are,
and I won't shut the hell up about it.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
I really want to know your like actual favorite, like
your order of albums. I don't think I think that's
that's too much to put at the front end of
the episode, but you know, have that in your mind,
because I'm curious about if you've stayed as like locked
in on her throughout her different explorations of different sounds

(11:28):
and stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
Yeah, it's so funny that you say that that's too
much to put at the beginning, because that is fully
something that like I have texted with with like five
different people over the course of the last.

Speaker 6 (11:39):
Week of like where does this one rank?

Speaker 7 (11:41):
Now?

Speaker 4 (11:41):
Like where do we put this on the list? So
I don't know if you want me to answer.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
That now later, go go ahead.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
I'll make a note. No, I'll make a note for.

Speaker 6 (11:53):
That'll be a good way to close it all.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yeah, yeah, ranking, Okay, there we go. And since you
are in radio, I'm curious in DC like what songs
by Gaga or and what songs from this album are
currently being played on the broadcast radio and on Pride Radio.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah, I mean Abercadabra is obviously the main one. Like
I think part of a job in pop radio, but
I think to loop this in with the her being
the Gaga being the master class and pop music that
she is, you kind of have to be like really
objective about what is the most mainstream palatable thing. And

(12:39):
when you look at a song like Abercadabra, that is
like this lofty, anthemic, classic Gaga dance song that everybody's
gonna love and everybody is loving. And so that's the
one that we're hung on ninety nine to five, which
is the broadcast station here. When it comes to Pride Radio,
obviously we're all little bit more in tune with the

(13:01):
depths of Gaga there. So I think we're playing Abracadabra,
Garden of Eden, Vanish Into You Love Drug, and how
Bad Do You Want Me?

Speaker 5 (13:15):
So quite a.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
Few, just like the side of the album.

Speaker 4 (13:19):
Yeah, if you if you listen to twenty minutes of
Pride Radio, you're guaranteed at least three Gaga songs probably.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Okay, well, let's get into all of the Gaga songs
after the break. We'll be right back with Nick on Affrist. Listen,
and we're back on that first listen.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
I'm here with Nick Gomez from Hot nine nine to
five and Pride Radio. We are talking about Lady Gaga's
latest studio album, Nayhem. So my first thought the first
time through this record was who died and made Lady Gaga.

Speaker 4 (14:05):
David Bowie your response, I would agree, and I would
also like throw every other iconic pop star into the
mix there who died and made her, Prince who died
and made her, Madonna who died in like there's uh,
this is kind of like to fight over the Prince

(14:28):
thing who died and.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Mad Eda James who died and made her, Billie Holliday,
you know, like she she likes to, you know, take
inspiration from a lot of places.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
Yeah, and I think that the album is kind of
it's like dripping in obviously all these like sonic like
musical references, but also just like you can tell that
she's got this. Not that this was ever a question
about her, Like she's she talks about it all the time,
like and you can hear it on all of her
other records, but I think even more so at this one.
It's just like being in like a respect and like

(15:02):
a reverence for those artists and the music that they
were a part of that came before her.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, so that that occurred to me. Not to jump ahead,
let's table this a little bit, but upon listening to Killa,
that is certainly an homage to David Bowie's fame and
a lot of the stuff that David Bowie, like the
Let's Dance kind of stuff. But as I started thinking

(15:32):
about it more, Gaga is actually a very good contemporary
analog to David Bowie vocally, but also in terms of
their career. They're both rock stars turned actors, although I
think Goga is a much better actor than David Bowie was.
But also, you know, vocally, David Bowie had this like

(15:56):
uh searing like falsetto high voice, and then he had
the boomy like bing Crawsby like Bartone, and then he
had some more of like the like the rock star
sort of like head voice, chest voice, kind of power,
you know, vocal. And the fun thing about this record,

(16:18):
in addition to picking out all the little references or homages,
is hearing how she just goes for it with all
the different voices that she has. Because at least by
my very limited, admittedly limited perception of Gaga is the
recent songs she's had on the radio have been kind

(16:40):
of one sort of like the more the safer voice,
like the shallow voice where it's like more like her
true singing voice. Like there's some screams on this record
on the other side of the spectrum, like yeah.

Speaker 4 (16:55):
Or like digging deep into the weirdness of some of herself,
Like I think calls such a good example of that,
because like you look at the SNL performance of that
song and how like visually insane, Like she dug deep
for some visually weird shit too. We were talking about
the how locked in I've been to all of her

(17:18):
kind of discography over time, At least to me, some
of the I don't want to say boring, but like
the less interesting stuff is kind of like the shallow
that doesn't take anything away from it.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
But I think that kind of like talking like she's
listening in on our conversation, like not to be mean,
you're a genius, but it's not my favorite.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah, all right, so you you named a bunch of
tracks for us to focus on, and we will get
to those. It made me think that this episode is
going to be really long because these were all sort
of the tracks that I kind of except for Killer,
which was one of the ones you picked, these were
nothing that like really grabbed me.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah me neither. These wouldn't have been my Okay.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
Okay, good, I'm not alone. So my favorite song on
the album is the first track, Disease. So I'm gonna
play a couple seconds of that and we'll talk about it.
This is like a deep house kind of a record,
shades of Nine Inch Nails, some kind of like industrial

(18:35):
sort of heavy rock. Even like it's.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
There's also like a psychedelic, like syd trance like vibe
to the audio.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yeah. Just the sound design on that song is super cool.
The vocals are great, the video is extremely weird. Dominie
has me watching music videos to prepare for the shows,
which is not something I would normally do.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
I got you on it. I didn't watch any of.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
Them, Okay, I mean they're visually very interesting, but also
you just kind of left like, I don't know what
the hell that was about. It's like a bunch of
images that are mostly unsettling.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
Are you talking about music videos in general, or particularly
the Lady Gaga music gas. Yeah, there's a I think
there's a lost art to music videos of Like I
think I agree with you there on the Disease music video.
To me, that that that served the purpose of and
I kind of feel the same way about Disease. It

(19:34):
serve the purpose of like setting the stage for everything
that was about to happen with this album. H And
because there are a couple of Easter eggs in that
music video of like clips of songs and just like.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
References to stuff that Zombie Boy like interlude where it's
like playing on the radio in the car.

Speaker 4 (19:55):
Yeah, and all these kind of a little some visual
references to like like Lady Mayhem, which is the lady
in the red hat in the abricadabra video. To me,
a lot of that kind of like creative kind of
just was it was the purpose of it was to
set the stage for for Mahem.

Speaker 6 (20:13):
So I see I See disease kind of being like
what the fuck is this?

Speaker 2 (20:17):
Okay, I'm looking at this now. I love this. I
like totally connect with this. I it. Yeah, this contextualizes
a lot of things for me. I was feeling like,
why is this album coming out right now? Like in
this season? I was feeling that, and I'm feeling that
even more because I was just like, this feels like
a summer album like or something. But then when I

(20:42):
really like with the with the big hits, but then
the more I listened to it, I was like, oh,
it's actually like a Halloween moment. So I'm like, why,
you know, she came out right after the Grammys, right,
and which makes sense, but I was I was just like,
this felt like I was supposed to be dancing to
it in the summer, and I, yeah, she's doing this

(21:07):
whole horror thing and I'm seeing it like I love
Michael from Michael Jackson.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
I love that she didn't put it out during Halloween season.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
It would have been too obvious, too obvious totally, But
we're gonna listen to it then.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
Yeah, so it's also a little bit smart, Yeah it is.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
And Disease the single came out. I think it was
October twenty first. I think that was an October release,
So the hauntingness of that song, at least it was
a little on the nose. Okay, So next is Abercadabra,
which everyone probably knows right now, but I'm gonna play
a clip here.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
This song is fun because it's after the first verse,
it's just like every section is a hook. The first
verse doesn't go quite as hard as the rest of
the song, and then it just explodes for the chorus
and also the bridge and the pre courses and the
post choruses. So it's just like, yeah, I think that

(22:07):
perfect like factory made radio hit, Like obviously the song
was going to be a single, no doubt about it.

Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah that's that lofty, like, uh, classic Gaga dance hit.
So I have in my notes next to Abricadabra in
all caps make pop music fun again, And I think
that's what that's what this was. You have like the
crazy like Lady Gaga moment of I'm gonna make you

(22:33):
all watch this when you're already watching something else, of
putting it just in a commercial during the Grammys, like
coming back out and dancing harder than she's ever done
before in that music video. Uh, it's just it's fun.
That's what all of my thoughts about Abricadabra. R. It
is just so fun. If it comes on when you're
in public, you can't not, like I think at this point,

(22:56):
you can't not lose your shit to it.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, nobody dances is hard, is Lady Gaga. And no
wonder she has like back problems, you know.

Speaker 6 (23:05):
Why she stop dancing so hard for so long?

Speaker 2 (23:09):
And visually again I'm seeing like I'm feeling like she
she did American Horror Story, right, I'm not a I'm
not a fan of that show, but I know that
she did that, and it feels like she decided she
needed to make a visual album for like not to
go with it, but she like that wasn't her medium necessarily.

(23:32):
She was like, I gotta do my music version of
this because I love this, and I yeah, I want
to I want to keep it going. This horror moment
with the red and black, like it looks like an
American horror story.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Also like shades of squid Game or something totally dance,
Dance or Die is what they say at the beginning.

Speaker 4 (23:51):
The color of it all is something that I thought about,
like wall, I guess it's just kind of like comparing
to her all of her albums of how like there
are there's a lot of darker references across a lot
of them. You look at, like the artwork and the
creative for the Fame Monster is all black born this
way is essentially the kind of the same color palette

(24:12):
and like real grungy chromatica started out super like pink
and bright, and then obviously that came out when the
pandemic started. So you get around to the time where
she goes to tour that album, and it's this like
super brutalist, dark, like concrete kind of vibe on tour,
and then you get Mayhem and it's the same color story.

(24:36):
It's interesting to think about that vibe with some of
these songs and then you hear some of the other
ones and you're like, wait a second this. I think
the Mayhem title actually really does work on this album,
because it all seemed really dark at the beginning, and
now as we're kind of moving through it, it seems a
little bit brighter and poppier. So it's just it's just
interesting that you bring up that point about the black
and red, because that is I feel like that's something

(24:56):
that's been in my brain over the last week, listening
to some of these songs, kind of like parsing out
what they make me feel.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Then it's Garden of Eden, which is I like that
one perfect celebrity a little bit too on the nose
for me. I was a fair Yeah, it's a good one.
I just feel like that's not the story I want
to hear from someone who's been famous for like almost
twenty years.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
I yeah, like I get it.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
And you've also covered this topic so many times it's true.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
I feel like there is a way that it's kind
of perfect timing right now because we have all these
younger pop stars saying like, I don't want to talk
to paparazzi, I don't want to deal with your like
with the game of celebrity, and she is she has
always kind of delivered on that, and I so as

(26:04):
like someone who has hasn't really paid attention to her
music that much over the past decade other than you know, hits.
It was kind of nice to get to get her
input on that on that topic because she has she
has her like viral moments and stuff, but she looks
kind of annoying and it's like she's known as like

(26:29):
being She's like, I'm an Italian a mayor, I'm just
an Italian American from New York City. And I think that,
like I love that for her. I love that she
like keeps coming back around and like owning that.

Speaker 6 (26:45):
There's two two ways perfect Celebrity makes me feel.

Speaker 4 (26:50):
The first is it like feels a little funny to
me because they're every time I listen to it. I
remember this clip I think it was from one of
her Vagus residents where she's like she's like kind of
vamping at the piano.

Speaker 6 (27:03):
She's talking to the audience.

Speaker 4 (27:04):
She goes, she turns almost like to the camera and
is like, isn't it fucked up that you guys pay
me before I sing for you? Like I already cash
the check. We're not even playing the same game. And
it's there are just some lines that she has in
perfect celebrity, like I think it's give me your money
and I'll make you laugh. Like first, it just the

(27:24):
first time I heard that song, it immediately connected that
like little viral moment. And I also the other way
that makes me feel is I think that even though
I do agree, it is super on the nose, especially
when you compare it to like I was saying, like
that the Fame is a prison song, the other one,
which I think is kind of Shadow of a Man
on this album. It kind of still resonates even though

(27:47):
it is on the nose, because she is now experiencing
this celebrity at the age of thirty eight, after she's
already done this job for so long, and where she's
admittedly had like five years off and and where she's
had these times where maybe she thought that like her

(28:07):
career would be over in a sense because of like
her health struggles and uh, the way that she struggled
to u with romantic romantic relationships, and like all of
these things that have happened as her career has advanced.
So yeah, I do agree it is on the nose
a little bit, especially just like being called like the
celebrity is in the title is like kind of insane.

(28:29):
But I think that there is there is an added
perspective in the famous a prison version on this on
this record.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
All right, so let me play us a couple seconds
of Vanish into You, which is one of Nick's picks. So, Nick,
what is it about that song that grabbed you so much?

(28:58):
As a great chorus? For sure, Well, lots of things.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
I was saying a little while ago that like you
can kind of take a lot of these songs and
place them on some of her previous albums. And one
of my favorite albums is there's debate over whether it
counts as two or one because you have the Fame
and the Fame Monster, which essentially was just a deluxe

(29:24):
version of the Fame So for all intents and purposes,
we'll call it my favorite album. But this sounds like
a song that could be on the Fame. It's very
reminiscent of beautiful, dirty rich, Like the kind of like
rhythm and bass in this song is very similar to that.
It feels like super early Gaga, but also with this

(29:46):
like crazy vocal performance and something that I kind of
I didn't notice immediately because like when you on the
first listen, you're not always listening for lyrics, but then
you kind of like dive back in and.

Speaker 6 (30:02):
Realize some stuff.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
This is actually the song that made me cry that
was talking about earlier.

Speaker 6 (30:06):
The verses are really simple.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
And I think that showcases like a certain kind of
tact in.

Speaker 6 (30:14):
Songwriting, and it made me think of.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
The like the lyrics on Taylor Swift's Tortured Poet's Department,
which every pretty I think can agree is not very succinct.
Like there's a lot of like prose in those songs.
And I'm not saying that that's a bad thing. I
think that they both like are really impressive styles and
they're equally like as evocative and emotional. But I think

(30:43):
in the second verse of this song there's maybe like
literally seven words, but they all like cut to the
point immediately that it's cool to just jump back into
the chorus because she's kind of advanced the plot of
this song, and I think that is what really hooked me. Obviously, melodically,
it's really interesting and fun to listen to, especially that

(31:07):
like kind of acapella hook up front is just like
I feel like I was like slammed into a wall
the first time it came on, and in line with
kind of like those those lyrics grabbing you, even though
they're so sustinct. At the end, she switches it up
and says when I die, can I vanish into you,

(31:28):
which is just like this whole story of I love
you so much, I want to be a part of
you forever. And also kind of these like whether they're
rumors are true or not, of this song maybe being
a little bit of a tribute to Tony Bennett because
of the references to I Left my Heart San Francisco,
Piana Hill.

Speaker 6 (31:47):
It calls to me those first couple words in the
first verse.

Speaker 4 (31:49):
I don't think that melodically it could be a wedding song,
but I think thematically it could be a wedding song.
It's just a real emotional listen and it's kind of
the first song on the album that we get that
that kind of pivots away from this kind of like
internal chaos.

Speaker 6 (32:04):
So it's kind of the first interesting turn in the story.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
As you're listening, what were the what were the lyrics
that made you cry?

Speaker 4 (32:14):
It was that the last ones when I Die can
I avantage into that like kind of switch up was
I was listening to it on the metro on the
way into the studio today, I was like, I am
in public right now. But I think that that point
about the intro and uh, whether it's like an instrumental
intro like we'd like deal with in radio or uh,

(32:36):
kind of just those references that aren't necessarily copied and
pasted in a different part of the song, I think
that speaks to and and vantage.

Speaker 6 (32:45):
Into you that like hook up front moment.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (32:48):
I think that really speaks to kind of the masterclass
that at this point God Guy is giving and how
she has been a student of pop music for so
long and she executes it really fucking well.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
Let's get into kill and I'll start by playing a
little bit of that this is so big.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
So.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
Shockingly on the first listen, did not like the song.
I think that on the first listen, this album can
kind of be a little bit overwhelming, Like there's a
lot of kind of like big sounding. I think Killa
is something that I thought was like really big. I
was like, there's this is like all guitar, Like, I

(33:32):
don't I'm not sure if I could dance this. I'm
not sure if I like this. I don't know if
I'm ever going to listen to this again. I came
around on it obviously because I was like, please, let's
talk about this. I think what kind of what definitely
sold a little bit more for me was and I
know this is now talking outside of the music, the
S and L performance of the song, because you really

(33:53):
when artists perform stuff live, you get to really see
kind of like their full creative expression of like of
what this means. I thought it was crazy that she
was performing on SNL. When I heard the first few
notes of it, I was.

Speaker 6 (34:04):
Like, this one, We're doing this one.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
But to see we were talking about colors a couple
of minutes ago. To see that like now this was
that she had just wearing this like purple, and her
dancers were in like yellow and pink. Uh And to
see that this was kind of a little bit of
a pivot in in the vibe that we were getting,
and then also to see her digging deep for some

(34:28):
of the crazy uh, like anytime Lady Gaga gets on stage,
picks up a pair of drumsticks and goes fucking crazy
on the drum set with the drummer, like now this
is a show. Now, now we're now we're really cooking
with gas here. And then the the like the tear
away moment into the kind of like red flapper dress
thing where you can if you listen closely in that performance,

(34:48):
you can hear the gay gasps and screams of people
in the audience when that comes off her.

Speaker 6 (34:56):
So that definitely sold.

Speaker 4 (34:57):
It a little more, and then I spent some more
time with it after that performance. I think it's just
at we were talking about her references to Bowie just
in general, like the whole album, the references to all
the other artists that she very clearly respects.

Speaker 6 (35:14):
This is such.

Speaker 4 (35:16):
I think it showcases her like depth of not only
like appreciation respect for those other artists, but like her
knowledge of what they put into their music. And I
mean the way that she's talked about Gassofflstein on in
some of the interviews about creating this song with him
and his production, how much she respects him. I just

(35:36):
think it sounds really fucking cool, and also I think
it's like kind of low key, the horniest song on
this album that fits.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
The Bowie vibe as well. For sure. I'm a huge
fan of Robert Woon, the designer who designed the outfits
for the SNL performance, And I love how she continuously
shows respect to like multiple different mediums. You know, design obviously,

(36:07):
fashion is it's like a big thing for you know,
celebrities and musicians. But I like that you're talking about
this respect and like reverence that she has for other
artists that came before her. That's not something that I that,
like I think about like it's but it's very clear

(36:28):
all along, like all across her career, even even in
her way of like portraying people in her in movies,
like the films that she's chosen to be in, even
like The Joker. I don't know what that movie is called.
Was it Harley quinnan Joker or something? Anyway, like being

(36:49):
a part of like these long histories basically, and like
you know, or the Gucci Lady, like joining these long
histories and really like, I know these are I'm you know,
lady got a expert just like, No, it wasn't okay
unless she was also in that, but no, she was.

Speaker 6 (37:11):
That's what makes her.

Speaker 4 (37:12):
I think that's what And I say this about Gaga,
but there's obviously other pop artists or artists in general
that have this kind of longet topic of conversation at
the moment, Like that reverence and that respect and that
like not like a genuine knowledge, not like oh that's
pretty or oh that's good.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
Is what.

Speaker 6 (37:34):
Makes her Lady Gaga.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
There's a reason why she is the way she is,
and I think it's that like depth to her that
she's had throughout her entire career. The reason why that
we we still dedicate all this time to talking to
her today is because of that respect for not only
the musical artists like you're saying, but like for fashion
and for for any other kind of creative medium.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
Yeah. I mean, even though she like her thing is
to kind of overdo everything, when you look into it,
it it does come off like it's sincere or at
the very least like she knows personally what she's talking about.
It's not that someone was throwing a suggestion out there,

(38:14):
and she was running with it because it was a
career move. Like I'm sure nobody was like, yes, dedicate
like three years of your life to hanging out with Tony.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Bennett just jazz standards, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Just crooning.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
Yeah, and she's so she delivers every time. Also, she
doesn't like just do it and like kind of play
lip service to it, like she goes all the way in. Like, yeah,
I was feeling that I was listening to I think
it was called Harley Quinn where she it's just mostly

(38:48):
jazz like stuff and I did not expect that, And
what is it? Is it Harley Quinn where she's she
there's a lot of jazz standards and she does like
the Saints come marching in.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (39:00):
That was That was kind of the companion album that
she did too, Joker movie Slash soundtracks. She did a
solo thing on her own that was definitely a ton
of jazz. That was right that came out I think
it was September of last year, so like right before
she started with the Disease and Mayhem kind of promo.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
It made me slightly uncomfortable. I was like, some of
these are borderline like negro spirituals and like I was like,
you're weird for doing this, But it was also like
these are these are like classic songs, These are like

(39:39):
jazz standards. She has done her research and she's not.
It's not like she like, you know, put these all
over the the billboards and told everyone like listen to this.
Look what I Look what Lady Gaga just came up
with like she was she just want to like play

(40:01):
with her favorite stuff, just like she I think gave
Tony Bennett potentially a temporary immortality potion. Like I think
she was keeping that man alive for a while, like
she had him chanted.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
It was like, let me go Gaga, please.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
That's like that was the vibe. That was the vibe.

Speaker 3 (40:22):
So definitely a thread of the conversation around the album
is the sonic references, and some people would call it
ripping off. I that is maybe the way I thought
about it initially, but ultimately I do think that some
of them are so straightforward that it could be nothing

(40:43):
but an homage because everyone is picking out. So I'm
gonna play the intro of Zombie Boy right now, and
I think Nick, you'll probably know exactly what I'm going
to talk about after that Zombie So so that's Hollaback

(41:04):
Girl by Gwen Stefani and I don't like the Gwen
Steffani song, but I like this song quite a bit.
That is like the only part in the album that
is a little bit cringey to me is like you
can do that. That part recurs throughout the song and
the chorus as sort of like a background vocal, like

(41:26):
a response. I just wish it wasn't there at the
beginning because it's I want to be focused on Zombie
Boy and Gaga and not a kind of lowsy Gwen
Stefani song from twenty years ago.

Speaker 7 (41:43):
I truthfully didn't hear it until somebody on TikTok played
them like back to back and I'm like, oh, okay,
and maybe that's Mike Gwen Stefani blind spot, which I'm
sorry to the Gwen Steffani fandom that I have a
blind spot.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
She's like Maga now, so I think we're over her.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
She Wow.

Speaker 4 (42:05):
Yeah, she's been peddling some like some weird shit online.

Speaker 6 (42:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (42:11):
I honestly don't have a lot of in depth thoughts
about this song.

Speaker 6 (42:15):
I like it.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
I think it's really fun. Do you remember from like
the Born This Way era? I think it was actually
the Born this Way music video that the guy who
was bald that was tattooed to look like a skeleton
or like a zombie, had tattoos all over his face,
ring any kind of bell.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
That what you're describing sounds familiar, but I'm not sure
I know it from that video.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
Okay, he I mean, he definitely was. He's been in
other like parts of culture, but he was in I
believe it was the Born this Way music video. He
went by zombie Boy, and so there's a lot of
speculation that this is and he's passed away since so
there's some speculation that this is kind of a.

Speaker 5 (42:56):
Tribute to him.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
All right, And then the next song that you want
to talk about was Love Drug. Let me play a
second of that. So we're teasing the chorus in the intro,
and then it's into the verse, which is another one
of the moments when Gaga plays with her voice using

(43:34):
the sort of like the big boomy sort of voice,
but in like a verse section. It's not in like
an anthemic part.

Speaker 4 (43:43):
There's so many different ways that she plays with her voice.
I think on this song. One of the cause that
I have on it is is it's uh. There's that
classic kind of like Aga spoken word like ad lib
thing that I think comes in a lot towards the end.
I think it's the bridge, but it pops up a
couple times, is like a little ad lib here and there.

(44:04):
This is like to me, it's giving like a super
Born this Way vibe. It reminds me of this song,
which it's a B side, you could even consider it
a sea side. It seems like so deep of a
cut a song called Electro Chapel when that album came out,
I fucking loved that song, and just like that, it

(44:25):
feels like this is a really good example of why
she's regarded the way she is in pop music like this,
there's a lot of a lot of different eras of Gaga.
I feel like in this song, especially vocal.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
I just googled it to verify and that I love
that you brought up you say Born this Way, because
this was the one I was kind of referring to
earlier where I was like, I think that she had
this idea for this song, and then Kesha came out
with Your Love is My drug, and then she was like,
I can't come out with this. Born this Way came

(45:01):
out in twenty eleven and Your Love Is My Drug
came out in twenty ten, so my theory at least
actually could be possible. It's not the first time anyone's
ever called love a drug, but like it would have
kind of you know, Kesha was the moment right then
Your Love Is My Drug was a huge hit, and

(45:25):
I yeah, it's just funny that, like you think, sonically
it also matches up with that era.

Speaker 4 (45:31):
Yeah, wow, that's that's crazy that we've come full circle
on that thought.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
So yeah, this to me, I just kind of I
listened to it every time. Nothing about this song really
grabbed me or offended me. Just seemed like a solid
album cut. But Nick, you just drink it up. You
snorted up like that love drug so good, which is

(45:57):
a little weird.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Do you want to play te kind of the out?

Speaker 8 (46:00):
Okay, sorry, it's so I'm like that made me want
to listen to Keesha, but also felt like it could
have gone right into like perfect celebrity, Like it definitely

(46:22):
felt not that different from that song.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
Also, there's a guitar solo on this song. One of
a few on the album, which I think is pretty
neat for a major pop record. I assume the guitar
is played by her producer, Andrew Watt, who also worked
on The Rolling Stones Hackney Diamond's album produced that that's
how they met because Gaga was on the song I

(46:50):
think it's called Sweet Sounds of Heaven, which is like
a big sort of Gospely song, and she was working
on something I think for the Joker sound track at
the same studio the Stones were working at. She walks
into the studio and the Rolling Stones are jamming on
this song with Stevie Wonder and she's like, oh, I

(47:11):
guess I'll hang out here for a bit. And one
thing led to another and she's singing, you know, face
to face with mc jagger like an hour later.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
I think that whole time, Nick and I were nodding like, yes,
I believe you about all of this stuff. I know
so much about that.

Speaker 6 (47:29):
Listen.

Speaker 4 (47:29):
I've never I've never claimed to be a music historian,
and I never will be.

Speaker 6 (47:36):
And that's why we have Andrew are historian. Yeah, yeah,
I think he's been in the.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
Game since he was eight years old. He knows no
other life. So the next track is how Bad do
You Want Me, which is a Taylor Swift song. M
I don't wait what how bad do you Want Me?

Speaker 2 (47:58):
It's a Taylor Swift song.

Speaker 6 (48:00):
It very well could be. There's I there.

Speaker 4 (48:04):
So there was I saw a TikTok of somebody doing
kind of the same thing I've been doing, of like saying, oh,
look what what album would this song be on? And
they're holding up other Lady Gaga albums, and then this
song comes on and they hold up nineteen eighty nine
by Taylor Swift. So I think that that is super accurate.
That's a valid comment. I will say. They're a kind

(48:28):
of cultural moment attached to this song of it does
sound a lot like something from the Fame. And I'm
pretty sure that the song that she mentions in this
tweet is nothing else I can say.

Speaker 6 (48:46):
Perez Hilton is tweeting something.

Speaker 4 (48:48):
I think he's asking Taylor Swift, what is your favorite
Lady Gaga song? And she replies to that tweet and says, aa,
nothing else I can say. And so to see the
kind of like full circle of being like, well, this
song sounds like it could be on the Fame, but
it also sounds like a Taylor Swift song, but also
this sounds like the song that Taylor Swift said was

(49:09):
her favorite song from the Fame. It's just a fun,
little like pop girly moment that I'm very much enjoying about.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
So all right to me, seg I'm gonna play a
bit of How Bad Do You Want Me? For Dominique,
since I don't think she remembers what it sounds like totally.
This is like Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift just in
their bag.

Speaker 2 (49:28):
Yeah, no, I I when I heard that. I heard
this earlier on before I listened to the album just around,
and I remember someone being like, you like the new
you like the New Gaga? And I was like, I guess,
And I had no idea that this was a Gaga song.
I definitely like checked my phone for sure to be like,
did they switch artists? Because this does sound like a

(49:52):
Taylor Swift song.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
I think it's it's so clear that it could be
nothing else but an homage. I know of no inter
action between Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga. I don't know
of any things that they've said about each other. But
it's just it has everything you would expect from a
Taylor Swift song, but also yeah, so just her treatment

(50:16):
like it's to me, that's nice cleaning out. Yeah, and
then let's jump ahead to Shadow of a Man. Let
me play a little bit of that. I like that.

(50:37):
Nick can't hear this and he just sees his popping,
So Nick, why did you pick this one?

Speaker 4 (50:46):
So there's a little bit of back in. I think
it was May of last year Gaga released the chromatica
Ball film, which was just the concert film from her
last tour that she was on very long away to film,
I think two years it took to come out, and
the big reveal at the end of it, as she's

(51:08):
walking off stage, the five six or seven second intro
of Shadow of a Man plays, she does like a
little Michael Jackson dance move, and then quickly the words
Gaga or LG seven Gaga returns flash on screen before
it goes to black.

Speaker 6 (51:26):
And so for.

Speaker 4 (51:29):
Nine months that was the only audio any of us
had of what could possibly be coming on the next album,
And so of course that was that was the one
that I was listening for, like and when Disease came
out as a first single, I was like, shit, that's
not it then, ever, could Abracame. I was like, well,
that's not the one either. When are we going to
get this damn song? I need to hear the rest
of it. And so there's definitely a little bit of

(51:51):
like a hype connection to it there. But I think
I like it so much because it's also not what
I was expecting from that little clip, Like it seems
like it would not have the tempo that it has,
did not also seem like it would be paying the
homage to Michael Jackson that it would be. This to
me sounds like it could be like a Joanne or

(52:13):
art pop track from her, which feels like even though
it kind of like has that little like pop rock
vibe like a lot of this album does, it also
kind of feels like something that hasn't happened on this
album yet. And we were talking about the like fame
as a prison kind of theme that she's carried along

(52:34):
that every artist has at one point or another.

Speaker 6 (52:36):
Kind of feels reminds it thematically.

Speaker 4 (52:40):
It reminds me a little bit of Dance in the Dark,
which is a song on The Fame Monster where it's
kind of the lyrics are baby Loves to dance in
the dark. When he's looking she falls apart, so kind
of like this basically an earlier iteration of being in

(53:00):
the shadow of a man, whether it's in a professional
relationship like she's talking about how she's been in her
in her career the only woman in the room a
lot of times on this song, or in romantic relationships
where it's kind of this like internal insecurity. On Dancing
the Dark. It definitely feels like a more grown up
version of that song along with the whole like fame

(53:23):
is a prison thing because the playing with kind of
like the.

Speaker 6 (53:29):
Matriarchy of it all.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
Say more on that, the matriarchy of it all.

Speaker 6 (53:33):
Maybe that's not the the right word. No, not the patriarchy.
There we go, that word was not right, the patriarchy.

Speaker 3 (53:44):
Yeah, so then we have a little bit later. The
last official track on the album is Died with a
Smile featuring Bruno Marsh. This is a great song. Apparently
everything on this song was recorded live, so there's not
electronic drums. Everything was recorded I presume with Bruno's band,
but I'm not sure they did it all in like

(54:07):
one day.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (54:09):
Gaga said that he like texted her and was like, hey,
I have this song, do you want to come hear it?
I feel like it might also be one of those
like they were at the same studio, like down the hall,
from each other's stories, and it's crazy that like when
they tell the story of like how the song came about,

(54:29):
it seems so casual and like blaise And now it's
quite literally one of the longest running number ones ever.
I think as of this recording, one hundred and fifty
days at number one on Spotify, which is insane. This
not I definitely don't think this song fits on this

(54:50):
album really, but certainly like undeniable hit. I mean, you
take two of the biggest pop stars of like this
century thousands, yeah, the two thousand and two ten, Yeah,
Like of course it's gonna be massive.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
So I.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Think that she was also talking to Tony Bennett again here,
and I think Bruno has some stuff to say because
Tony Bennett has that song Smile that she did with him,
and you know he died, so do the math, you know.
But it's also like it is like the last the

(55:34):
last bit of the song, if you'll find that life
still worthwhile, if you'll just smile, It's very it's this.
It's the same similar sentiment of like you know we're gonna, yeah,
we're dying with a smile. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
I like the imagination of the song where you have
man and Bruno Mars with the pretty high voice and
then a woman and lady Gaga with a bit of
a lower like a lower range, a lower sort of alto,
and so you have them harmonizing, and I believe when

(56:15):
Gaga comes in with the harmony, it's lower than what
Bruno is singing. I could be I could be wrong
about that, and maybe like their voices are blend, are
blending so well together that I'm mishearing it. But it's
just like the the arrangement on it is is very cool,
just kind of like it's not a groundbreaking song, but
to me, it's a very unheteable song.

Speaker 4 (56:37):
Well, you talk about the the skill in being a
pop artist, which obviously we're talking about Gaga, she has that,
but Bruno has another one of those people that knows
how to craft something really well and also knows how
to like select things that are gonna hit Like this
is just like in the business of pop music, a
really great song to make and release because of how

(57:00):
clearly easy it is for everybody to love it, or
at the very least not hate it.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
I love how he crafts whatever height he wants based
on who he's near. I've been looking at this video.
They always managed to make him look like he's taller
than the women he's around, and she's sitting down this
entire video.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
The you know, yeah, I'll pick Gaga because she plays
the piano exactly, a.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
Classic City exactly exactly. It's like a you know, like
Lord of the Rings. His prospective situation every time.

Speaker 4 (57:36):
Well, Gaga is five foot two, so he may actually
have some height on her.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
An in for two. Maybe he is very petite. It's
something that I followed throughout his career trying to figure
out because he's always working with women who are all
very petite and he's great.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
So you don't think we're gonna get a Bruno Mars
Dua Lipa collaboration anytime.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
I would bet so much money that no, there's.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
No debuts his new ladder shoes.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
Yeah exactly, and he's wearing a tall hat and like
he am sure he has lifts in. I think, yeah, no,
and go off.

Speaker 4 (58:15):
This is turning into real Bruno Mars Height Bashing session.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
We're Exposing Bruno Podcast Exposes Bruno Mars.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
Yeah, he's gonna he's gonna hate this.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
Everyone is looking at their their downloaded album and saying that, well,
that's the end of the episode. Fourteen tracks, that's it.
But Nick is such a sicko that he found another
song that is only available on the physical editions of
the Mayhem album, which he does not possess yet. It's

(58:49):
called Can't Stop the High. If you didn't think she
loved Trent Reznor before, this is your proof. So, Nick,
when did you learn that this song existed? And how
did you hear it before your vinyl arrived.

Speaker 4 (59:11):
I knew that it existed because it was like known
fact that there was a special edition of the album
on the website that had some bonus tracks.

Speaker 6 (59:21):
I obviously don't have the vinyl.

Speaker 4 (59:24):
Yet, but I very graciously received this file from an
unnamed person, and I can't believe that this song is
not on the standard release.

Speaker 6 (59:35):
It is insane to me.

Speaker 4 (59:40):
It's one of the only songs on the album that
I can't place on another one of her records. It's
too pop to fit on Born this Way it's to
rock to fit on art popper cremet, Like I can't
place it anywhere else.

Speaker 6 (59:53):
It feels so totally new Lane.

Speaker 4 (59:56):
And this was another thing that like I wrote down
the definition of the new pop album from Lady Gaga,
like this is definition of that. This was a first
listen for me of like, holy shit, this song is crazy.
Pre chorus and post chorus are all so unique. I
think that like any artist that is like looking for

(01:00:17):
instructions on how to craft a hook should listen to
this song because you're you're singing it after the first lesson,
like I'm aware of all of the words in this
hook after the first lesson because it's so good, kind
of going hand in hand with the like this should
have been on the standard release. There was a lot
of talk from people expecting this dark pop sound, which

(01:00:41):
I think is the.

Speaker 6 (01:00:42):
Trent Reson Reza overall, like.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
Kind of like adjacent to Disease and Abercadabra and probably
even Garden of Eden. The way that the album starts out,
everybody expected the entire album to be that way, and
then kind of we're a little jerked around when it
got kind of Taylor Swift in the middle.

Speaker 6 (01:01:02):
This is it.

Speaker 4 (01:01:02):
This is exactly what I think of when I think
dark pop, Like there's that, there's she's just that that
breaking out another weird Gaga voice in the verses, she's
kind of fucking rapping in in trend resnor.

Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
But it's also a little bit to pesche mode this song.

Speaker 9 (01:01:19):
Yeah, it's and and also like the the delivery of
like the style of the song is that dark pop,
but the lyrics feel very fame, like I'm at a party.
I got a feeling that the DJ might take me home,
like I am astral projecting.

Speaker 6 (01:01:40):
It is crazy. I love this song. I think it's
one of the best things she's ever released.

Speaker 4 (01:01:45):
When I get the vinyl, I'm going to listen to
it so many times that the vinyl goal the vinyl disintegrate.

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
All of the comments on YouTube are people complaining that
it's not on the standard edition of the album. Yeah,
so you're you're definitely not alone. When we come back,
Nick will rank Gaga's discography, and uh, we'll wrap it
up and get out of here. I'm at First Listen.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
We're back with at First Listen.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
I'm Andrew and we're here with Nick Gomez. So Nick,
do you have your Gaga albums tiered for us.

Speaker 5 (01:02:31):
I do so.

Speaker 4 (01:02:32):
I just scrolled back in my text with the one
of five people that I was discussing this exact topic
with for the last week, and I think that this this.

Speaker 3 (01:02:42):
Is I think, I think I've got it. Are we ready?

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Are you going to start with with best? Or are
you going to start with least?

Speaker 6 (01:02:52):
I could go from the bottom up?

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
Yeah, go from the bottom up?

Speaker 4 (01:02:55):
Okay, all right, Joe Anne unfortunately, and then art pop chromatica,
Born this Way, Mayhem, and then the Fame Slash the Fame.

Speaker 3 (01:03:13):
Monster Okay, wow, yeah, wow.

Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
To be fair, there's a lot of ties happening in
this list, I do think, like when I sent this
to this person I was talking about this with like,
there's a lot of which I kind of agree with.
There's a lot of talk of like Born this Way
kind of trumping Mayhem because of the time that it

(01:03:37):
came out and also the time and a lot of
people's lives that it came out, which I'll agree with.
Like Born this Way came out I think in my
either sophomore or junior year of high school might have
honestly might have even been freshmen where obviously for a
closeted gay boy an album like Born This Way was

(01:04:00):
gonna hit a little bit different, So not including the
like emotional attachment to the records, I think that's kind
of why Mayhem is a notch above Born This Way.
I think it also has to do with just how
much I think that Mayhem references all of her past
work in a more grown up and refined way. Honestly

(01:04:24):
at this point, like tie Born this Way and Mayhem,
but Mayhem like inches it out by point one because
it's just a there's some there're refined tracks on there,
like the that I was talking about. One of the
songs reminded me of Electro Chapel Love Drug, Like it
feels like a refined version of that song a woman
who has now had twelve more years in her career

(01:04:47):
has made. And so I think that's why it Mayhem
inches it out.

Speaker 6 (01:04:52):
For number two, was that how many did you name technicians?

Speaker 4 (01:04:56):
So I named six because I was in that ranking
I' during the Fame Slash the Fame Monsters as number one, So.

Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
You weren't you just excluded like the Tony Bennett, the
whole Jazz era, all of the Joker stuff, he said, Right,
that doesn't.

Speaker 6 (01:05:14):
So you asked how locked in I was? That is
where the lock was unlocked.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
I expected, I'm you you followed what I expected.

Speaker 4 (01:05:27):
So like, if that's not to say I dislike them,
I did find it really hard to get into Harlequin,
the most recent one, seeing clips of her performances with
Tony Bennett and seeing clips of performances from her residencies
in Vegas. Uh, no doubt she does them very well.
I just I'm not going to include those in my

(01:05:48):
ranking because I don't have really an opinion on them.
We're calling this LG seven, and we're in that calling
at LG seven, and we're not including Cheek to Cheek
and we're not including Harlequin because I mean, she she
referred to Harlequin as LG six point five when she

(01:06:10):
was teasing it, so I think that it also clicked
in a way just kind of doesn't fit into like
the Gaga cannon when we're talking about her albums. Not
to discredit it or discount it, but there's definitely a
certain lineage that feels like is commonly referred to.

Speaker 3 (01:06:29):
Yeah, all right, uh, Nick, thank you so much for
spending the afternoon with us to talk about Lady Gaga.
Is there anything that you want to add? And where
can people find you?

Speaker 4 (01:06:44):
I give this album a very solid eight point seventy five.
I think it is one of the best things that
Lady Gaga has ever created, and I guess that's really it.

Speaker 6 (01:06:54):
Thank you for having me on.

Speaker 4 (01:06:55):
This is actually when you were asked me, I was like,
this is the honor of a lifetime.

Speaker 6 (01:06:59):
It really is.

Speaker 4 (01:07:00):
Means I will find any opportunity to talk about Lady
Gaga and how great she is and how people need
to make pop music like she does, and so I'm
glad that we could do this in a lovely formal
professional so professional, Yeah, maybe professional wasn't the word.

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
No. I think I feel so grateful that we had
you because there this is called at first listen. So
a lot of the times it's really man Andrew like
figuring out as much as we can about an artist,
or like the context that's necessary for the episode. But

(01:07:39):
like the amount of encyclopedic knowledge that you have on
Gaga really was was really fun because I felt like
we could just like talk about stuff and you'd be like, well,
actually I have I can verify that.

Speaker 3 (01:07:53):
Because it's supposed to be like a kind of a
first react, like an educated first reaction. But then also
we feel bad if we don't know anything because we.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
All were always like making guesses like you can't help
but to be like, I bet that this is probably
what was going on, but we just like don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:08:11):
So yeah, I am happy and honored to be the
Gaga Encyclopedia.

Speaker 6 (01:08:17):
I'll do it anytime at low cost too.

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
Okay, thank you so much. Nick. Catch Nick on the
radio Hot ninety nine point five on Pride Radio on
your iHeartRadio app, and find them on social media Nick
and Radio on Instagram.

Speaker 5 (01:08:35):
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 2 (01:08:37):
That was our first listen. To tell us about yours,
you can find us at First Listen podcast on Instagram
and YouTube. And to hear more from me, you can
check out my show You See Black at Upright Citizens
Brigade Theater on the twenty night of March eight thirty

(01:09:00):
pm and it's also live stream, so we get tickets
on the UCB website and check us out.

Speaker 3 (01:09:09):
Thank you so much until next week.

Speaker 5 (01:09:11):
Back bye,