Lady Gaga Says Fiancé Michael Polansky Talked Her Out of Making Mayhem a Grunge Album

Lady Gaga’s Mayhem almost sounded very different.

During her interview with The New York Times published on March 8, the “Rain on Me” singer revealed that her fiancé Michael Polansky talked her out of making Mayhem a “grunge” album.

“Michael was in the studio every day with me. He oversaw the whole process of making the record, completing it, helping me to shape the sound of the record creatively,” Gaga, 38, said.

“It was an amazing thing to do with your partner, because when I start to doubt myself, there is nobody that’s going to call me on it better than he is.”

When asked for an example, the 14-time Grammy winner said: “There was one point where I almost turned the whole album into a grunge record.” Gaga noted that there’s “plenty of grunge” on Mayhem and said the moment of inspiration came after working on “Perfect Celebrity.”

“I was like, ‘Oh, everything should be this’ and [Polansky] said, but there’s so much other amazing music that you’ve made, and it’s all you. You don’t have to try to be something.”

Gaga continued, “I thought that was really astute, and I was happy it happened because often I will run with my crazy idea and then sometimes regret that.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Polansky also made sure that a fan-favorite track of Mayhem stayed on. During Gaga’s appearance on the podcast Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, she revealed that “How Bad Do U Want Me” almost didn’t make the cut.

 “Oh my God, I almost didn’t put that on the album,” Gaga said of the “total hyper-pop” song.

“I was not sure that I should put that on the record, and Michael was like, ‘You have to — your fans are going to love that song.’ “

Gaga was hesitant to release the synth-heavy track because she said she would get a “weird reaction” from fans to a “really super pop” song.

“I felt this way about ‘Just Dance,’ so thank God I didn’t listen to myself then,” she said of the 2008 song.