Music

‘Born This Way on steroids!’: Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra has fans “shaking”

By Sam Damshenas

3rd February 2025

“ABRACADABRA, AMOR-OOH-NA-NA!” Monsters are screaming, crying and throwing up etc (us included!) over Lady Gaga’s new single and video.

On 2 February, the Oscar-winning icon premiered a teaser for the ‘Abracadabra’ music video at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, with the song and video respectively released on streaming platforms and YouTube immediately after.

Produced by Cirkut, watt and Budgie, ‘Abracadabra’ is a gargantuan dance-pop anthem that blends elements of house, disco, and electronica, echoing the sounds of Born This Way, ARTPOP and Chromatica.

The accompanying video, drawing comparisons to iconic clips like ‘Bad Romance,’ ‘Alejandro,’ and ‘Born This Way,’ follows Gaga and 40 dancers through intricate dance sequences.

With a striking black, white, and red aesthetic, it marks the return of Gaga’s alter-ego ‘Mayhem,’ who first appeared in the video for ‘Disease’. The video was directed by Gaga, Parris Goebel and Bethany Vargas.

‘Abracadabra’ is the third track from Gaga’s seventh studio album – also titled Mayhem – after ‘Disease’, which was met with widespread critical acclaim, and ‘Die With A Smile’ featuring Bruno Mars.

The latter became Gaga’s sixth chart-topper on the Billboard Hot 100 and is currently the second longest-running number-one hit on Spotify’s global chart.

At the Grammys, it won ‘Best Pop Duo/Group Performance’ and was nominated for ‘Song of the Year’.

When accepting the award for ‘Best Pop Duo/Group,’ Gaga used her time on stage to honour trans people in response to the Trump administration’s attempts to erase the community.

“Trans people are not invisible,” she said, with Beyoncé, Charli XCX and Billie Eilish nodding in agreement. “Trans people deserve love. The queer community deserves to be lifted up. Music is love. Thank you.”

Mayhem is due for release on 7 March. Visit here for more information, from the cover to the tracklist, and check out the best responses to ‘Abracadabra’ below.