Featured Essay: The Art of Collecting MAYHEM: A Gaga Era Worth Chasing

by Keegan Campbell

I never thought I’d be the person who owned multiple copies of the same album- but MAYHEM isn’t just any album. It’s Lady Gaga’s most ambitious album yet. This is the story of how I ended up with eleven vinyl variants- and why I’d do it all again.

We’ve seen artists release endless versions and editions of an album on various formats to drive sales in hopes of having that album debut at number one. In recent years, I would wait a week or so after a new album was announced to see which variant I wanted to buy on vinyl. Which variant had the best artwork? Which had the best colored vinyl? Does one version have a bonus track that others don’t? I never thought the day would come where I would be relentlessly hunting down every variant of an album on vinyl. MAYHEM is the album I own the most variants of on vinyl. The standard album comes on Black, Translucent Ruby, Opaque Violet, Opaque Hot Pink, Opaque Blue, Opaque White, and several versions of the deluxe album (features an exclusive bonus track) on; 180g Heavyweight Black, Opaque Silver, Opaque Yellow, Picture Disc and Zoetrope. That’s eleven different copies. 

So why on Earth did I invest so much money into this album? 

Picture it: May 2024. The weather is starting to turn as we say goodbye to spring and begin to welcome summer. Lady Gaga announces she’ll be releasing her long-awaited concert film for her 2022 tour, The Chromatica Ball. Little Monsters everywhere are summoned to celebrate on the May 25th release date. Gaga even throws a screening party in LA for fans where she wears fashions that feel straight out of The Fame Monster or Born This Way eras. Little did we know, Mother Monster would be sneaking in a snippet of a brand new song at the end of the film.

As Gaga is seen leaving the stage, the sound of dark synths bleed into the audience’s applause. We hear her singing the lyrics “dance in the shadow of a-”, and as the instrumental shutters, the words, “LG7” and “GAGA RETURNS” flash across the screen. It was officially the start of a new Lady Gaga era.

Two months later, Gaga delivers a stellar performance of “Mon Truc en Plumes” at the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony. She’s visibly touched by Little Monsters camping outside of her hotel, day and night, just for a quick glimpse of her. Gaga takes to social media and says she wants to give her French fans a treat.

She plays some of her new music for them - something she hasn’t done for fans in a very long time.

She plays the opening of the then unknown “Abracadabra*”, and the crowd goes berserk. Then, after hushing them, she starts to play a grungy, industrial instrumental that ends with the lyrics, “I’ve become a notorious being” (“Perfect Celebrity”*). That was the exact moment I thought to myself: This is going to be Gaga’s best album yet.

Fast forward to August - we get a surprise duet single with Bruno Mars, “Die With A Smile”. Fans buzz, wondering if it’s part of the new album or the lead single for the Joker: Folie à Deux soundtrack. Gaga clarifies: it’s a stand-alone track (later to be included on MAYHEM).

She performs a string of shows at her Vegas residency and, at the end of September, drops a surprise album, Harlequin. (When does this woman rest?) The album accompanies the film, Joker: Folie à Deux. While it’s mostly Great American Songbook covers, Gaga slips in two originals- “Folie à Deux” and “Happy Mistake”, the latter performed live on Jimmy Kimmel. Looking back now, the lyrics of “Happy Mistake” seem to describe the cover art for MAYHEM.

Then on October 25, 2024, Gaga releases the lead single from LG7, “Disease”. I’ll admit- it took a while to grow on me. While I loved the production and her flawless vocals, I was waiting for something to grab me.

As a Halloween present, Gaga drops the music video for “Disease” and I was instantly hooked after seeing her vision. Not to mention, she sticks a snippet of a new song in the middle of the video (“Zombieboy”). Mother always delivers. In the video, we see Gaga literally wrestling with herself- or rather, her shadow self. The parts of her psyche that she’s seemly kept at bay over the last decade are now embraced. By the video’s end, we see a woman who has fought fame her entire career- and is finally owning every part of herself.

I’ve been a fan since before the term “Little Monster” even existed, and one of the greatest gifts has been witnessing Gaga’s evolution from the very beginning. Watching her overcome challenges and grow over the years has mirrored my own personal journey, helping me find strength and confidence in myself. At times, MAYHEM feels like a retrospective of her career, yet it still sounds fresh, daring, and completely new. It’s as if Gaga is looking back and embracing every version of herself, and that self-acceptance feels central to the message of MAYHEM.

This moment, for me, felt like the heart of the entire album. My interpretation of the overarching theme of MAYHEM is allowing everything in your life to coincide at once. Embrace the good, the bad, and the ugly. Love every part of your past, present, and future.

Gaga wasn’t kidding when she said, “GAGA RETURNS”. The entire promotional campaign has been a joy to experience from a Little Monster’s perspective. You can see it in her eyes: Gaga is happy, enjoying life as a performer, and in love with her fiancé.

Gaga made MAYHEM for herself- and she made it for Little Monsters. She’s at the pinnacle of her artistry. That’s why I wanted to collect all 11 variants of MAYHEM on vinyl.

Favorite Variants:

Deluxe 180g Heavyweight Vinyl from Gaga’s webstore (It sounds the best and I love the artwork, not to mention the bonus track, “Can’t Stop The High”)

Deluxe Opaque Yellow (I love the cover art and “Kill For Love” is my favorite bonus track)

Best Etching:

Black Vinyl

Translucent Ruby Vinyl (the most sought-after variant, only released in the U.S. at the time of writing). 

Keegan got into collecting vinyl when he was 5 years old, after his father gave him a copy of The Chipmunk Songbook. Twenty-five years later, he’s built a collection of over 530 records- primarily pop, but with plenty of surprises in the stacks. If you’d like to peep at his collection, follow me on Instagram: @vinylquest