Singing, Sobbing & Skipping At Lady Gaga's 'Mayhem' Listening Party

Chaos descended on an unsuspecting Greenpoint warehouse on Feb. 27 as 200-plus Lady Gaga fans got an early listen of the singer’s seventh album Mayhem, which drops March 7. Billed as the Little Monster Press Conference, its invite-only guest list was made up of handpicked stans and top Spotify listeners, dressed in cigarette sunglasses, tour tees, music-video-inspired costumes, and one impressive recreation of her Samuel Lewis gown from the Grammys.

After relinquishing our phones, we entered an industrial space lit by spotlights and a flickering, spinning lamp. The centerpiece was a series of blank white walls bearing the record’s monstrous typeset, quickly filled with fan messages like “Thanks 4 telling me I could be trans,” “You will always be famous,” and “Bus, club, another club,” scrawled in permanent marker.

A palpable buzz filled the room as Mother Monster entered. Wearing a black hoodie and sunglasses, Gaga announced she was both excited and nervous to share Mayhem. But she didn’t have to worry; her tight rapport with the crowd of lifelong fans was evident from the echoing laughter when she joked, “I hope you love it … I hope you don’t get angry at me.”

As the lead single and album opener “Disease” boomed through speakers, Gaga seemingly vanished, reappearing like a smoke cloud during track No. 2, “Abracadabra.” During its chanted post-chorus, she thrust her hands into the air, singing with an audience that had already memorized the lyrics.

During the proceeding run of bops — including the flirty “Garden of Eden” and rock-tinged “Perfect Celebrity” — Gaga danced through the mob, singing to fans, doling out hugs indiscriminately, and autographing everything from wrists to boxed waters. Gyrating peaked during the Gesaffelstein collab “Killah,” an early fan favorite, though “Shadow of a Man” elicited a knowing scream from those who recognized it from her Gaga Chromatica Ball film.

In between the slinky “How Bad Do U Want Me” and impossibly catchy “Don’t Call Tonight,” I found myself face-to-face (or perhaps Cheek to Cheek?) with the singer. As I attempted to find rhythm, I said, “Gaga, we don’t know the words yet.” Without missing a beat, she grabbed my hand and said, “You will. Don’t worry, you don’t have to perform for me tonight.”

As the track list wound down, I spotted a gay couple waltzing to “Blade of Grass,” later revealed to be inspired by her fiancé Michael Polansky’s proposal. A rousing singalong to the closing track “Die With a Smile” reenergized the room, with one eager fan yelling, “Play it again!” during Mayhem’s final notes.

Suddenly, a massive black curtain fell, setting the scene for a press-conference-style Q&A. Alongside moderator Benito Skinner, Gaga reemerged in a black Victorian gown with tousled dark hair, perching behind a series of microphones. You could hear a pin drop when she shyly asked, “Do you like it?”

Ahead of the event (which was later livestreamed by Spotify), Gaga told InStyle that fans should “feel free to ask me whatever you want.” Indeed, she answered fan-approved questions about Azealia Banks’ tweets, what she whispered to Ariana Grande at the 2020 VMAs (“I’m gonna ask her,”), the long-awaited “Telephone Part 2” (“[You can] all call Beyoncé together,”) and whether she’d revisit her “EDM opus” ArtPop. (Only under “reactionary” circumstances, she said.) When someone called the new record “c*nty,” Gaga clasped her hand to her chest in laughter.

You'd assume some grit would’ve been buffed away in the almost two decades since Gaga dropped her debut album The Fame, inspired by city nightlife, her club-kid roots, and big dreams. Yet on the heels of her seventh effort, the New York native curated a candid and close-knit vibe reminiscent of her roots: a dance floor we fought for, albeit with NDAs and complimentary black-and-white cookies.

Walking out into the night air, we were appropriately greeted by the same shimmering skyline that inspired her all those years ago. Bathed in a literal and metaphorical glow, fans sobbed, sang, and skipped through the streets, high off the effects of Gaga and mayhem in every sense of the word.