To coincide with the release of her seventh canonical studio album, MAYHEM, Lady Gaga sat down for an extensive interview with David Marchese for the New York Times, accompanied by photos by Philip Montgomery.
During their emotional conversation, the 38-year-old pop provocateur reflected on making MAYHEM, being “bridled” as a young woman in music, and finding her way back after losing touch with reality.
• On “the way [she] was bridled to think about women in music”: “When I moved to Hollywood and was playing my music for Interscope for the first time, they had conversations about, what’s your look going to be? And you’re thinking, It’s going to be me. How are you going to dress? Well, I’m going to wear what I usually wear when I’m onstage. They introduce you to start thinking about it as a business as opposed to a performance.”
• On making great art while happy: “People say artists make their best work when we’re tortured, but, I would really like to do away with that. I think I’ve made some of my best work [with MAYHEM], and I’m happy and healthy because I have all my faculties as a musician. I think that romanticizing sick artists perpetuates this thing that’s supernegative, especially for women. I want women to feel like they can be healthy and be happy, that we will celebrate them in their health.”
• On kindness: “It’s not just about what you put on your Instagram. It’s about how you live your life. It’s about how you have conversations with people, who you make an effort to be friends with, to understand the stories of others. How do you make sure that systems are operating in inclusive ways and ways that celebrate people? It can’t just be when people are watching. You’ve got to be kind all the time.”
• On surviving psychosis: “At a certain point, I just completely lost touch with reality. I was falling so deeply into the fantasy of my artwork and my stage persona that I lost touch. I wouldn’t say that falling deeper into a life of being a tortured character was good for anything. […] It took me out of life in a big way, and after a lot of years of hard work I got myself back.”
“It’s a new world for me.” Lady Gaga recently discussed friendship, her new album, “Mayhem,” and the possibility of motherhood in her future. Read or listen to The Interview. nyti.ms/43B4UL8
— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) March 8, 2025 at 10:00 AM
* But I highly recommend you do!
