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Lady Gaga has nothing but praise for Mayhem executive producer and co-writer Andrew Watt.
The “Abracadabra” hitmaker tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement that Watt — who has produced albums and written songs for everyone from Paul McCartney, Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John and the Rolling Stones to Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Post Malone, Justin Bieber and Pearl Jam — is “uniquely gifted producer and musician.”
“Everything he does is rooted in a deep love for music and for the people who make it. You can feel how profoundly it’s shaped his life. He lives and breathes it in a way that’s rare even among artists,” Gaga, 39, tells PEOPLE.
She adds Watt, 34, can “truly play,” which “opens up an entirely different dimension in the studio.”
“With Andrew, the process becomes limitless, his instinct, taste, and understanding of sonic history makes him one of the most dynamic collaborators in modern music,” Gaga concludes.
Watt executive produced and co-wrote Mayhem alongside Gaga and her fiancé and creative partner Michael Polansky.
Courtesy of Andrew Watt
Watt recently told PEOPLE that “it was so much fun to make dance music and laugh and smile” with the “Disease” musician.
“Gaga and Michael Polansky invited me over their house before we started the album,” he said. “It was after we did the Stones [collab] together [“Sweet Sounds of Heaven.”] I was sitting with them and was playing a couple tracks that I had, and things started flowing from her.”
Not long after, Watt said they decided to get into the studio together.
“She has done so many different types of music throughout her career. There’s nothing she can’t do. So when we went to make this album, I think we were touching on all of [the genres she’s covered],” he said.
Watt continued, “As an artist, she’s always learning, always evolving, always pushing herself. The work ethic is out of this world. And it just became apparent from the stuff that we started making that we were making a dance album.”
The songwriter and producer praised Gaga as “an incredible musician, an incredible producer [and] an absolute visionary.”
“It was the most exciting album I’ve ever been a part of, and we worked at it for longer than any album I’ve ever worked on consistently — a year straight without stopping,” Watt said of Mayhem.
