She dances on the line between clever self-referentiality and less inspired rehashing on her new LP, committing to the over-the-top excess that first made her a star.

Instead, she’s made one of her most sonically challenging and uniform albums yet: a mix of Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, Prince and her Fame Monster -era self, rolled into the year’s strongest pop release yet.

It’s pure chaos, and Little Monsters everywhere wouldn’t have it any other way. On Mar. 7, Lady Gaga set the music world on fire with the release of Mayhem, her long-awaited seventh studio album—and it’s everything Gaga fans have been craving.