Lady Gaga says she "blacks out" whenever she is in the presence of Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor

On Tuesday, March 11, Lady Gaga appeared on The Howard Stern Show, and spoke about how she drew inspiration from Nine Inch Nails' 1994 album The Downward Spiral and their single Closer, for the music of her latest album Mayhem. Gaga further shared her feelings about when she would meet the band's frontman Trent Reznor.

Lady Gaga was asked if she had met Reznor in person, to which she said that she had spoken to him a a few times. The 38-year-old singer further said:

"I forget the first time. I think I black out every time I'm in his presence. He's an amazing musician."

She then said that she never felt intimidated by Reznor and instead had been super "excited, stoke, and quiet" for the same. Gaga revealed that she had taken inspiration from the aforementioned album by Nine Inch Nails for Disease, the lead single of her latest album. Upon being asked why she liked the song Closer so much, she said that it's "just so good."

Previously, Lady Gaga had expressed how big of a fan she is of the rock band. A photo showing Gaga in the band's t-shirt, had been shared by Consequence on their official Instagram page, on March 11.

Gaga released Mayhem on May 7, 2025. She reportedly had worked alongside several producers while creating the album, including Andrew Watt, Cirkut and Gesaffelstein. The recording of the album took place in Rick Rubin's studio Shangri-La located in Malibu. Some popular tracks of this album are Abracadabra, Garden of Eden, Die with a Smile, Vanish into You, How Bad Do U Want Me, and Perfect Celebrity.

On March 8, she performed Abracadabra and Killah for the first time On Saturday Night Live's March 8 episode.

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Lady Gaga spoke about the meaning of her song Perfect Celebrity

Elsewhere in the Tuesday interview, Lady Gaga unpacked the meaning of her song Perfect Celebrity, the fourth single that she dropped from the album. The song reportedly falls in the category of electropop and trip hop. During the interview, Gaga further revealed that she could relate to the aforementioned song while writing it. She said:

"I think in a way, when I was writing, I was feeling like there was the real me and there was the clone me. It's kind of one of the more angry songs I've ever written. The song is a little bit of a retaliation against myself, and I'm just sort of trying to figure out as I go through it, how I feel about it all, and it's kind of a reckless tune, I think, in a way."

This song was released on the same day as the rest of the new album. According to Harpers Bazaar, this track dealt with the downside of fame. In a March 5 interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Gaga revealed that Perfect Celebrity drew inspiration from The Cure's 1990 song Never Enough.