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Lady Gaga Unveils ‘Mayhem Requiem,’ Capping the ‘Mayhem’ Era on Apple Music

The release reframes her 2025 album through stripped-back live arrangements from a no-phones Wiltern set, offered only to Apple Music subscribers.

Overview

  • The live album and concert film, which Apple Music released to subscribers Thursday following one-night screenings at select AMC theaters, arrive as an exclusive with a Spatial Audio edition.
  • Billed as the final chapter of the Mayhem era, the filmed Wiltern set places Gaga in a ruined opera house with charred columns and a gothic, requiem-like look.
  • Recorded in January at a no-phones show at Los AngelesWiltern, the performance reworks every 2025 track with new arrangements, from a spare piano “Abracadabra” to a rock-leaning “How Bad Do U Want Me.”
  • At the Los Angeles premiere, Gaga led a funeral-style procession at The Grove with an eight-piece brass band playing somber jazz versions of her hits before the AMC screening, appearing in an archival Givenchy gown by Alexander McQueen.
  • Early reviews praise the musical reinvention and focus on live playing, while some outlets critique the dark mourning imagery, signaling a bold close to the project’s theatrical arc.