Lady Gaga’s upcoming album, Mayhem, features the poignant track “Blade of Grass,” inspired by her engagement to fiancé Michael Polansky. She recounted a heartfelt moment when Polansky asked, “When I propose to you, what am I supposed to do?” To which Gaga replied she would accept a blade of grass wrapped around her finger. The song reflects bittersweet memories, including the loss of loved ones, particularly her friend Sonja Durham. The album concludes with “Die With A Smile,” which Gaga describes as hopeful and dreamy. Polansky has been a supportive presence throughout her creative process.
“When I proposed to you, what should I do?” Gaga recalls her fiancé asking her.
Lady Gaga concludes Mayhem with a touch of love. On Friday, the pop star will unveil her seventh studio album, Mayhem. During a recent interview with Rolling Stone ahead of the album’s release, she revealed that the second-to-last track, “Blade of Grass,” was inspired by her engagement to fiancé Michael Polansky last spring.
“I penned it after Michael proposed to me. The song reflects a memory of us in the backyard where he asked, ‘When I propose to you, what am I supposed to do?’” Gaga shares. “I responded, ‘Just wrap a blade of grass around my finger in the backyard, and I’ll say yes.’”
The delightful moment with Polansky—who later asked her to marry him in April 2024 after a day of rock climbing—also stirred some nostalgia for Gaga. “It was the memory of the past coming back to me, the loss of friends, the loss of loved ones. I had a friend who married in my backyard, who later passed away from cancer,” Gaga reflects, mentioning her friend and managing director of Haus of Gaga, Sonja Durham, who died in 2017. “I found myself reflecting on the fact that this joyful occasion in my life was happening in a place that held bittersweet memories for me.”
Gaga characterizes “Blade of Grass” as possessing “a much more eerie and tense” vibe, along with more “ominous chords” compared to “Die With a Smile,” which ultimately wraps up Mayhem. This is all by design. “‘Die With A Smile’ is genuinely uplifting, dreamy, and classic, and that’s where the mayhem truly concludes,” the artist explains. “The wonderful aspect of the album is that the Mayhem does not linger; it actually finds an end.”
Polansky serves as a continuous thread throughout Mayhem. As Gaga began to promote the album, she mentioned to Vogue that it was Polansky who inspired her to “create a new pop record.” (Polansky is even noted as a co-writer on “Disease.”) “On the Chromatica tour, I noticed a spark in her,” Polansky recounted to the magazine. “I aimed to help her keep that flame alive consistently and to start producing music that brought her joy.”