Lady Gaga reflects on 'Mayhem' album inspiration

Ahead of the much-awaited Mayhem, Lady Gaga says her upcoming eighth album is inspired by ’90s music, such as Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead.

On her show, Gaga Radio, the 38-year-old shared how she came to understand “heavier and intense” music.

“When I heard Johnny Cash do [Nine Inch Nails’] ‘Hurt,’ I realized that so many different kinds of music could find their way into these sorts of sounds,” the 38-year-old said, adding, “‘Closer’ is a huge inspiration for Mayhem.”

Similarly, Lady praised industrial music in an earlier interview with Elle. “There was industrial inspiration with a lot of the sounds. There’s a transitional moment on the album that’s rooted in ’90s music. A sort of electro grunge defiance."

The Blood Mary hitmaker added, "That era in music which was a response to the music that came before it. And then David Bowie theatrical rock, Prince, Radiohead. I was inspired by so much music that has grown roots in my veins.”

She continued, “The joy … resides in the very fact that I get to make music for a living. And then in the end, all of the things that I’ve been through and thinking, ‘I don’t know how am I going to get this industrial sort of pseudo 2000s beat to go with this electro grunge sound."

"And how am I going to get this kind of Bowie funky record to mesh with this 80s synth pop….’ I’m doing all this gymnastics. But the joy of it in the end is that I was able to make sense of it for me," Lady concluded.