Gaga Delivers a Visually Stunning, High-Art Dance Spectacle.

Lady Gaga has once again worked her magic with Abracadabra, the third release from her upcoming album Mayhem. Premiering during the 2025 Grammys, the song and its accompanying music video reinforce that no one orchestrates high-art pop spectacle quite like her. But does Abracadabra push her sound forward, or is it another sleight of hand—reinventing the past in a new guise?

The video opens in a desolate warehouse, a void that sets the stage for the controlled chaos to come. Tapping her blood-red mic twice, Gaga issues a challenge that electrifies both her subjects and the audience:

“Category is dance or die.”

Then, the ritual begins. Like an eerie callback to Bad Romance, the track pulls you in with a chorus of hypnotic rahs—but this time, they feel darker, almost menacing. Under the direction of Parris Goebel, Gaga’s dancers move with militant precision, their choreography mirroring the song’s eerie intensity:

“With a haunting dance / now you’re both in a trance / It’s time to cast your spell on the night.”

Draped in a high-collared, powder-white lace cape, her bleached brows and sharp presence make her appear almost vampiric—a high-fashion Nosferatu presiding over a coven initiation. Or is it a metaphor for the all-consuming nature of pop stardom? The ambiguity is deliberate, and Gaga knows exactly how to keep us under her spell.

The percussive stomp and hypnotic chant recall her Fame Monster-era theatrics, but the production leans into a darker, more industrial aesthetic. It’s entrancing, but does Abracadabra mark a true evolution, or is it simply part of pop’s nostalgia economy, where reinvention often means reworking past selves? With pop’s growing fixation on cyclical transformation, the question lingers: is she conjuring something new, or just remixing old magic?

Gaga’s Grammy Win and a Moment of Advocacy

Beyond debuting Abracadabra, Lady Gaga also took home the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance award alongside Bruno Mars for Die With a Smile. It was an unexpected pairing—Gaga’s avant-pop instincts colliding with Mars’ retro-soul sensibilities—but the win only reinforced her effortless genre fluidity.

A longtime advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, Gaga used her time on stage to show solidarity:

“Trans people are not invisible. Trans people deserve love. The queer community deserves to be lifted up. Music is love.”

In a political climate where queer and trans rights remain under attack, her words felt both timely and necessary—a reminder that pop, at its best, isn’t just entertainment; it’s a platform for activism.

A Spellbinding Performance but What Comes Next?

Gaga and Bruno Mars closed the night with a tribute performance of California Dreaming, dedicated to wildfire victims and in support of MusiCares’ relief efforts. Showcasing her vulnerability Gaga reminds us that beneath all the spectacle, she’s still one of pop’s most emotionally resonant performers.

With Mayhem on the horizon, Abracadabra teases an era steeped in dark pop mysticism. Evolution or nostalgia, it doesn’t really matter–Gaga’s world is one we can’t look away from.

Editor’s Note: At the time of publication, the Abracadabra music video has been live on YouTube for just a few hours and has already soared to #2 on the platform’s Trending for Music chart.