Straight after performing at the Grammy ceremony and snatching the statue for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance together with Bruno Mars for Die with a Smile, Lady Gaga is putting the pedal to the metal with a new song and music video: Abracadabra, directed by herself, choreographer Parris Goebel, and Bethany Vargas. Because ahead of her new album release, coming up on March 7 and titled Mayhem, the pop star is giving it her all to feed her fans what they need: danceable anthems and jaw-dropping visuals.
With highly cinematic influences including Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria and Gaspar Noé’s Climax, the Abracadabra music video focuses on one thing, and one thing only: as Lady Gaga says in the beginning, “Category is: dance or die.” Drawing inspiration from ballroom culture but taking it to her most celebrated genre (dark pop à la Alejandro or Bad Romance), the New York-born and raised artist seems to be going back to her roots: a dash of crazy, a hint of twisted, and a whole lot of genius. The recipe that brought her global success and catapulted her to stardom, turning her into one of the most revolutionary singers of the 21st century.
In Desease, the first single off of Mayhem, she already made a statement: it was time to embrace one’s darkness again, to be proud of one’s darker feelings and thoughts, and to take the route where the sun doesn’t really shine. Now, with Abracadabra, she cements this message further, proving once again that she knows how to craft a record and, just as important, to build a whole universe around it that gives it depth, meaning, and relevance.
