Lady Gaga has been singing the praises of her collaborator on her current Mayhem album, Cirkut.
In a profile of the producer in the latest edition of Billboard, Gaga told the mag that Cirkut – whose real name is Henry Walter – has “an incredibly positive energy” and is “incredibly gifted as a programmer.”
Walter has worked with Britney Spears, Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Kesha and Nicki Minaj over the years, in the role of either songwriter, producer or both. But Mayhem was his first project with Gaga.
“I tried not to go in with any expectations because I hadn’t met her before,” he told Billboard. “There’s always an initial phase of feeling each other out, figuring out if you vibe with them. Either you have chemistry with someone or you don’t, and I’m glad that we did.”
“The first song we worked on together was Vanish Into You,” Gaga recalls. “[It] started out as just an analogue synth Moog bassline, and as the song took form, his sonic choices for the drums struck me instantly. We hadn’t spent a lot of time together, but he was naturally drawing upon all our musical influences … right away, I heard the Justice influence, the Franz Ferdinand coolness, The Cure’s vulnerability and softness. We were just an instant match.”
The pair, it seems, made a good team. Walter praises Gaga’s vision for the record, saying: “She’s intentional about everything while also being humble in the sense that she’s willing to say, ‘OK, we tried that, it didn’t work.’ Her musical taste is broad, and she would know the exact reference to help us unlock something.”
Walter “has this incredibly positive energy that makes a beautiful space for songwriting and production,” according to Gaga. “On the musical side, it was his intuition about production that struck me the most. Cirkut is incredibly gifted as a programmer. His technical proficiency is astonishing but also extremely musical - his musicianship is so well-rounded and rich.”
And Billboard clearly rates him, too. In the mag’s recent run down of the Top Producers of the 21st Century, Cirkut came in at Number Four, behind just Max Martin, Dr Luke and Stargate.
