5/5 ★★★★★
On 14th January 2026, Lady Gaga invited over 2,000 Little Monsters to attend the live recording of her Apple Music Live show, MAYHEM Requiem, to celebrate the close of the MAYHEM era. The live premiere took place on the 14th May, accompanied by an in-person event at the very venue where the original show was recorded – The Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. Gaga arrived in full funeral attire, surrounded by dancers, making a slow and solemn procession from the Apple Store to the venue.
Gaga arrived in a Givenchy archive gown by Alexander McQueen, Fall/Winter 1997.
If we were to sum up Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM Requiem in just three words, they would be: Legendary , Evolvution, and Creativity.
Gaga performed every track from MAYHEM (excluding the deluxe edition songs), with each reimagined and reshaped so distinctly that they felt like entirely new compositions. It was as though Gaga and her collaborators returned to the studio, stripped back the original vocal layers, harmonies, and instrumentals, and reconstructed them entirely – blending new synths and effects to breathe fresh life into every track. The result was unlike anything she has produced across her entire career, and it is precisely why we are awarding this show a well-deserved 5/5.
Where a standard Apple Music Live show might see an artist simply take to the stage and perform their songs as originally recorded, Lady Gaga, of course, had other ideas.
The set design alone set this apart from any Apple Music Live show we have seen to date. In a behind-the-scenes feature documenting the creation of MAYHEM Requiem, Gaga and her fiancé Michael Polansky revealed that the show is set one hundred years after the final Mayhem Ball, in which a fan has rediscovered the Opera Haus – now reduced to nothing but rubble. Performing without dancers, accompanied only by her band, her piano, and the crumbling remains of the Opera Haus, Gaga commanded the stage with an intimacy that was nothing short of captivating. The lighting design was equally impressive, with beautiful rays filtering through the rose windows of the lower stage, lasers descending from above, and smoke rising through the cracks of the set to create visuals that were truly breathtaking.
Among the many highlights of MAYHEM Requiem, the reimagined rendition of Vanish Into You stands out as particularly memorable. Already an emotionally resonant track, this new arrangement – featuring altered harmonies and transposed keys – elevated the song to an entirely new level. Gaga delivered the performance with extraordinary delicacy, and it was impossible to watch without being moved.
Equally thrilling was her performance of Killah, which incorporated a sampling of Closer by Nine Inch Nails, infusing the track with a raw, gritty rock edge. It was yet another example of Gaga doing what she does best – constantly evolving, never repeating herself, and further cementing her place as one of the greatest living artists of her generation.
The costuming throughout the show was nothing short of spectacular, featuring between three and six distinct looks, all anchored in a deeply gothic aesthetic – from a sweeping black cape to a full funeral dress complete with veil.
The show closed with one of its most extraordinary moments: a stunning reimagining of the global smash Die With a Smile, featuring an interpolation of Kavinsky’s Nightcall. Only Lady Gaga could take one of the biggest songs of the 21st century and transform it from a piano ballad into a synth-driven, electronic, retro-80s spectacle. It was, without question, one of the finest performances of the evening – a bold and refreshing reinvention that encapsulates everything Gaga stands for: relentlessly reshaping and redefining the boundaries of pop music.
Watch Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM Requiem on Apple Music:
