Lady Gaga has recorded plenty of music that’s decidedly traditional in its instrumentation, most notably her two albums with the late Tony Bennett. However, her latest project, Mayhem, is not one of them, as it’s a full-blown, electronic-leaning pop album. The songs aren’t ones you hear and immediately think about how they’d sound in a stripped-back performance with piano or acoustic guitar.
But, at the core of Gaga’s songs are rock-solid songwriting, which she demonstrated on The Howard Stern Show today (March 11), with acoustic performances of Mayhem highlights “Abracadabra” and “Perfect Celebrity” (the performances can be heard here). Gaga turned the latter into a piano ballad and gave the latter a guitar-based arrangement.
This comes amid an especially busy period for Gaga, which has seen her make a bevy of public appearances to hype up Mayhem. She did Hot Ones, showed up for the SNL50 anniversary celebrations, announced a potentially massive concert in Brazil, and was the host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live.
In a recent Zane Lowe interview, Gaga emotionally reflected on her pre-fame life, saying, “I just had no idea what was going to happen, and I’m really grateful that it did, but what I value when I think about this time is not what it gave to me in my career, but the endless memories. The memories were so powerful here, and that will just be in my heart forever.”
Listen to the performances here.
