New Music Friday – March 7, 2025

March 7, 2025 Ben Pagani

It’s New Music Friday with a monstrous headlining artist. Here’s a look at the top picks out this week. Read on to see a full list of new albums, EPs and singles. First, a look at what’s arguably 2025’s most anticipated musical release.

The Best of New Music Friday:

Lady Gaga – Mayhem

Lady Gaga has let nearly two decades worth of aura drive the anticipation for her sixth album Mayhem. It’s been five years since her last record Chromatica, which is the longest stretch Gaga has gone between solo studio albums in her lustrous career. That’s also ramped up hype. Not that Gaga’s gone awol between now and 2020, she certainly hasn’t. She’s acted in films and built a larger cult following along the way. As Gaga now can openly declare, for better or worse, she’s a “Perfect Celebrity.” On Mayhem, Gaga has now lived enough to have an even harsher edge towards the entertainment industry, get more daring with her performance art and pageantry, making her somehow an even larger than life figure than the singer who wrote “Born This Way” 14 years ago.

Gaga was always in charge of Mayhem, executive producing the record with her fiancé Michael Polansky and Andrew Watt, the former Miley Cyrus collaborator who’s become a classic rock revitalizer for Elton John, the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney — all artisans who all pioneered their own genres.

Mayhem could have taken the easy road and went way over the top like other recent pop records, but instead, its songs are never overly complicated. It’s funky, lovely and has shades of synth-pop. Gaga doesn’t try hard to play hide-the-influence: “Killah” featuring Gesaffelstein has the industrial throb of Nine Inch Nails and “How Bad Do U Want Me” has a Swift-like sensation behind its vocal performance.

Gaga is one the greatest pop artists of the 21st century. She has always grown but maintained her Gaga-like composure. See, she can only be compared to herself, even when other stars are at her side. “Die With a Smile,” her duet with Bruno Mars, appears at the tail-end of Mayhem, the last in a closing trifecta of songs that give in to her predilection for dramatic balladry. This level of glory is a tricky thing to achieve, and even more difficult to maintain. No one knows that more than Gaga. Even with all the Mayhem, here she is proving that all it takes to be successful for so long is to trust your instincts and be yourself.

New Music Friday Top Picks:

Annie DiRusso – Super Pedestrian [Supper Soup]

Jason Isbell – Foxes in the Snow [Thirty Tigers]

Sasami – Blood on the Silver Screen [Domino]

Star 99 – Gaman [Lauren]

Takuro Okada – The Near End, the Dark Night, the County Line [Temporal Drift]

Tobacco City – Horses [Scissor Tail]

Which of these tracks from New Music Friday will you add to your favorite playlists today? Any we missed? Let us know in the comments or on Instagram!

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Ben Pagani

Music Projects Manager at Beyond The Stage Magazine

Ben is a music journalist living and working in Chicago. They joined Beyond The Stage as an intern and have stayed on the staff for several years. Now serving on the editorial board, Ben is proud to be BTS' Music Projects Manager, coordinating coverage between international record labels and our staff. Ben has interviewed, photographed and written about bands from across the world. Ben has lived all over the United States working in television and media. They are an Emmy Award-winning writer. Ben can be found spinning records as 'DJ Wearing Sunglasses' in clubs and basements across the US.