Speaking of “Abracadabra,” Lady Gaga may have pulled off the ultimate “Saturday Night Live” magic trick during her two musical numbers in this week’s episode: dancing furiously and singing live. That combination is not for every “SNL” musical guest,

Lady Gaga shook up the music landscape with her brash, uncompromising brand of maximalist pop – heavy on anthems and attitude. Now, with the release of Mayhem, her first solo album since 2020's Chromatica,

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.