Lady Gaga knows how she wants people to think of her.
In an interview on Apple Music 1 with Zane Lowe, the pop star, 38, opened up about how she hopes people remember her as a “real artist” — despite some of her more colorful antics.
“Something I want my fans to know now, which is why I said I love being Lady Gaga, is I actually returned back to my artistry recently in a huge way of making this album,” Gaga told the radio host, 51. “I put so much of myself as a musician, as a producer, as a songwriter into everything.”
She continued: “And that is who Lady Gaga is to me. Maybe to someone else it might be the meat dress or something that I did that they remember as me. But for me, I always want to be remembered for being a real artist and someone that cares so much about a life of art.
Lady Gaga in February 2025; Lady Gaga in September 2010. Jon Kopaloff/WireImage; Steve Granitz/WireImage
Elsewhere in the conversation, Gaga revealed why she can’t classify the sound of her forthcoming album Mayhem.
“ARTPOP was a vibe. Joanne was a sound. Chromatica had a sound. All different. The Fame Monster was more chaotic. The Fame was theatrical pop. Born This Way, to me, had more of a metal electro New York vibe to it. I actually made the effort making Mayhem to not do that and not try to give my music an outfit,” she said.
Instead, Gaga allowed herself “to be influenced by everything.”
“That was how I discovered my songwriting and production abilities as a kid, so that was a special experience,” said the “Bad Romance” hitmaker. “Then still some of that influence though, the electro grunge influence, made it still onto other songs that were some were industrial.”
Gaga described her song “Garden of Eden” as inspired by “2000 throwbacks.”
“There’s a song called ‘Can’t Stop the High,’ that you haven’t heard, that’s on the version of the album that’s on my website only and that is a pure electro grunge record that goes even harder than ‘Perfect Celebrity’ does,” she added, referring to another track on Mayhem.
In January, Gaga announced the release of her seventh studio album Mayhem
The 14-track project will also include the previously released songs “Disease” and “Die With a Smile” with Bruno Mars.
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Lady Gaga in 2025. The Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music 1
In a press release, the Grammy winner revealed that Mayhem will be all about returning to her roots in a new way.
“The album started as me facing my fear of returning to the pop music my earliest fans loved,” she said in a statement at the time.
Mayhem is due March 7.
