I could play the doctor, I can cure your disease

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's 50 best albums of 2025.

#5 : Mayhem - Lady Gaga

With the absolute integrity that has become his trademark, Bad Bunny shone his inestimable spotlight back on his roots in Puerto Rico for his sixth album, singing of sacrifice, colonial oppression and the importance of preserving tradition. He’s an incredible conduit, synthesising the past – salsa, bolero, perreo – with the present, bringing local artists including RaiNao and Lorén Aldarondo along for the ride. As if it needed stressing, Debí … also underscored his own legacy, and his incredible range: heartbroken that life must one day end on Baile Inolvidable; lovelorn in the rave on Perfumito Nuevo; seemingly cast in moonlight on the heavy Bokete.

The 21st album I've previously heard and the seventh I've written up - I remembered I'd enjoyed it but I'd not been back to in the intervening months. I also didn't revisit the write-up before I relistened to the album, so I was surprised I picked up on many of the same references - Bonnie Tyler, Madonna, Taylor Dayne and Yazoo all came back to me. I think this is LG back to her best with a very decent album and if I was a Little Monster, I suspect I'd have spent a lot of the year listening to this. If this passed you by then there really are many, many worse offerings that you will have experienced this year. 

And it did pretty well in the charts I guess - it debuted at #1 and had a 17 week run, took a couple of months off and came back for a (currently) 15 week run with it being at #90 - certainly one of the better performing albums of the year. And it's got quite the Wikipedia entry too, with 633 milliPeppers being the most we've seen in quite some time. I can't claim I read it all but it tells us it's her sixth solo album and eighth overall, was recorded at Rick Rubin's studio and was produced by Andrew Watt so there are some pretty heavyweight names involved. 

Critically, it was pretty well received by most people and, for a change, I find myself agreeing with The Telegraph who said "in such bland pop times, it's good to see her parking her tanks back on the dance floor". It has also appeared on quite a few year-end lists and has been nominated for the Album Of The Year Grammy (and looking at the competition she's a shoo-in for me - so she probably actually doesn't stand a chance). And it's done well commercially, getting to #1 in a load of countries including the US and, well pretty much everywhere else except for Nigeria where it got to #52. 

And, for a change, we're going to report on the discogs entry because the cheapest version available is £14, which is quite high for an album that's been out for nine months but the most expensive is the somewhat unusual combination of a three sided double LP, with one album being clear with split orange and black liquid fill vinyl and the other being neon orange vinyl - it's not something I need in my life but I bet it looks mighty impressive. 

And the winner of this round is...

...oh, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta doesn't seem to have a load of competition, so I guess we have to give it to her. But, I actually think it's one of the better albums of the year which would have won most rounds - it's well worth a listen.

#8-6 - A bracingly honest winner