Lady Gaga cites Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails as influences on new album

Granted, in an interview with the website Consequence (nee Consequence of Sound), she cited "90s grunge influence, 2000s pop influence, funk influence, ’80s influence." So yeah, there is a degree of throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks from a publicity perspective. What seems to have stuck is her talk of industrial music, and specifically of Nine Inch Nails.

It was in an interview with Elle where Gaga notably broached the album's industrial influences, because what publication is more associated with industrial music than Elle? This is also the interview wherein she mentioned Radiohead, though they are not an industrial band.

Of course, what has raised the most eyebrows, and thus drawn the most eyes, is the Nine Inch Nails name drop, and particularly their song "Closer." Gaga recently got a SiriusXM station Gaga Radio pretty much just to promote "Mayhem," and she played "Closer" on said station. She also cited that song as a "huge inspiration" on "Mayhem" in that Consequence interview.

This is a reference essentially designed to ping in the brain of anybody who was watching MTV in the 1990s, particularly those young enough to have seen the video for "Closer" and been freaked out all to hell by it. It's a zero-chill song with a zero-chill video, and that is a space in which Gaga will operate from time to time.

Since "Mayhem" drops on March 7, you can soon give it a listen and see how industrial and Nine Inch Nails-adjacent it truly is.