name	Bad Romance
cover	LadyGaGaBadRomance.jpg
border	yes
alt	Upper bust of a blond woman. She has short cropped hair. Her body and her face is covered by a red translucent cloth with intricate wrappings in the front. Over the image the words "Lady Gaga" and "Bad Romance" are written in red capital letters.
artist	Lady Gaga
album	The Fame Monster
released	October 26, 2009
format	Digital download, CD single
recorded	2009, Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles; FC Walvisch, Amsterdam
genre	Dance-pop, electropop, synthpop
length	4:54
label	Streamline, Kon Live, Cherrytree, Interscope
writer	Stefani Germanotta, Nadir Khayat
producer	RedOne
chronology	Lady Gaga singles
last single	"Paparazzi"(2009)
this single	"Bad Romance"(2009)
next single	"Telephone"(2010) }}

"Bad Romance" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released as the lead single from her third extended play (EP), and second major release ''The Fame Monster'' (2009). Written by Lady Gaga and produced by RedOne, the track was inspired by the paranoia that Gaga experienced while touring the globe from 2008 to 2009. After a demo version of the song was leaked, Gaga premiered the finished version at Alexander McQueen's show at the Paris Fashion Week in October 2009. This was followed by the release of the single's cover art.

Musically, "Bad Romance" features a spoken bridge, a full-throated chorus and sung lyrics that concern the situation of being in love with one's best friend. The song, containing elements of the music from the 1980s and the 1990s and influences of German house-techno music, has been described by Gaga as a pop experimental record. "Bad Romance" was a commercial success that reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, Irish Singles Chart, Canadian Hot 100 and the Swedish, German, Austrian and Danish charts, while peaking at number two in countries such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the song has sold 9.7 million copies worldwide in 2010, making it her second-best selling single behind "Poker Face" (2008). Also a critical success, "Bad Romance" was praised by most critics who compared it to Gaga's second single "Poker Face". It was also ranked the ninth best song by ''Rolling Stone'' in their list of "25 Best Songs of 2009" and received the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

The accompanying music video features Gaga inside a surreal white bathhouse. There, she gets kidnapped by a group of supermodels who drug her and sell her to the Russian Mafia for sexual slavery. The music video ends with Gaga killing the man who bought her. The video received positive responses for its artistic treatment and visual imagery; critics complimented its provocative and symbolic plot. It was nominated for ten awards at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, eventually winning seven of those, including the Video of the Year. The video also won a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video.

Gaga has performed "Bad Romance" on several television shows – including ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''Gossip Girl'' as well as award shows such as the 2009 American Music Awards. It was the closing song of Gaga's The Monster Ball Tour, during which, she performed it while standing inside a giant gyroscope.

Background

"Bad Romance" was the first single from ''The Fame Monster'', Gaga's follow-up to her debut album ''The Fame''. Before its official release, a demo version of the song was published illegally on the internet, prompting Gaga to comment via Twitter, "leaked next single is makin my ears bleed. Wait till you hear the real version." She had initially performed a brief portion of the song on ''Saturday Night Live'' on October 3, 2009, along with "Poker Face" and "LoveGame". The actual version of "Bad Romance" was premiered during the finale of fashion designer Alexander McQueen's 2010 Paris Fashion Week show, followed by the song being released on October 19, 2009. Gaga explained that "Bad Romance" was one of the songs she wrote in 2008 while touring. The songs composed during that time are about the various "monsters" (paranoias) she faced during the tour. One of them was the "love monster" and the inspiration for "Bad Romance". Gaga explained that she generally felt lonely when she was in relationships, and concluded that she gets drawn to men with whom the romance never works out. Hence "Bad Romance" was the song that detailed whether she preferred such lonely relationships, or it was her wrong choice in men. In ''Grazia'' magazine, Gaga further detailed her inspiration,

I wrote ['Bad Romance'] when I was in Norway, on my tour bus. I was in Russia, then Germany, and spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe. There is this amazing German house-techno music, so I wanted to make a pop experimental record. I kind of wanted to leave the '80s a little bit, so the chorus is a '90s melody, which is what the inspiration was. There was certainly some whisky involved in the writing of the record. It's about being in love with your best friend.

The cover art was released on October 15, 2009, and shows Gaga in a red dress, with her face down and covered by the dress fabric. Bill Lamb from About.com praised the cover art saying, "Gaga is maintaining her hitting streak of generating powerful images to accompany her music and stage presentations".

Composition

"Bad Romance" was written by Lady Gaga and RedOne, while the latter produced it. The song was recorded at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles and FC Walvisch Recording Media Studios at Amsterdam. According to Gil Kauffman from MTV, "Bad Romance" is similar in tempo to Gaga's previous single "Poker Face". The song opens with Gaga singing a portion of the chorus, then transitioning into the "Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah, Roma-roma-mah, Gaga-ooh-la-la" hook. It is followed by the sound of drum beats and the sound of keyboards. After the first verse, the prechorus follows, with Gaga voicing the line "You know that I want you, And you know that I need you, I want your bad, your bad romance". The full-throated chorus then follows, where she sings "I want your love, And I want your revenge, You and me could write a bad romance [...] Caught in a bad romance". During the interlude, Gaga sings the verses from the chorus in French: "Je veux ton amour, Et je veux ta revanche, Je veux ton amour".

At About.com, Bill Lamb writes that the music is well suited for playing at fashion designer shows and on the runway. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine said that the music consists of New Wave synths and a number of endless hooks. Simon Price from ''The Independent'' felt that the chorus has influences of the music of Boney M while ''The Guardian'' reviewer Kitty Price wrote that "Bad Romance" recalled the music of Depeche Mode's 1986 album, ''Black Celebration''. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Bad Romance" is set in common time with a metronome of 119 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A minor with Gaga's vocal range spanning from the low-note of E₃ to the high-note of A₅. The song follows in the chord progression of Am–C–F–C–G in the verses and F–G–Am–C–F–G–E–Am in the chorus.

The lyrics address aspects of a bad relationship but also discuss fashion in the line "Walk, walk fashion baby, Work it move that bitch crazy." In an interview, Gaga pointed out that she was listing Alfred Hitchcock films in the verse, "I want your psycho, your vertigo shtick, Want you in my rear window, Baby when you're sick." She said, "What I'm really trying to say is I want the deepest, darkest, sickest parts of you that you are afraid to share with anyone because I love you that much."

Critical reception

"Bad Romance" received mostly positive reviews from critics. In 2011, ''Rolling Stone'' called it the greatest Lady Gaga song ever, praising the song's catchy chorus and "pummeling club beat power a song that's grand and tawdry and joyful and melancholy". Lamb listed the song as one of the top tracks from ''The Fame Monster'', and commented that "Lady Gaga's singing is at its best so far here as she moves from threatening to floating sweetness and back again. [...] If you had any fears that Gaga would be one album flash in the pan, the room filling beats and melodies of 'Bad Romance' should help dispel them." Gil Kaufman from MTV described the "minimal beat [of the song] stays at a low boil for most, [...] rising up in an ecstatic, Erasure-esque throb during the chorus, but lacking the immediate pull of some of Gaga's biggest hits to date". Other critics also found references to music from the 1980s. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine characterized the song as one of the album's highlights and explained that "if melodies could be time-stamped, [this] would have '80s branded on [its ass]". Kitty Empire of ''The Guardian'' wrote that singles like "Bad Romance" make Gaga more comparable with Madonna.

Referring to her emerging popularity, Jon Dolan from ''Rolling Stone'' said that "'Bad Romance' makes [Gaga's] name a Teutonic chant". Christopher John Farley from ''The Wall Street Journal'' praised the catchiness of the hook of "Bad Romance", and Michael Hubbard from MusicOMH felt that the chorus of the song is Gaga's best yet. Pitchfork Media placed "Bad Romance" at number 39 in its top 100 tracks of 2009, saying it was "epic in construction". The dark nature of the music was noted by Simon Price in ''The Independent'', who said that the first line of the song "I want your ugly, I want your disease" set the tone for the Gothic nature of ''The Fame Monster''. Likewise, Edna Gundersen of ''USA Today'' commented that "Synth-powered 'Bad Romance' is a ferocious club thumper with a sordid underbelly". The Boston Public Health Commission rated "Bad Romance" as number 10 on its list of "Top 10 List of Songs with Unhealthy Relationship Ingredients".

Mikale Wood of ''Los Angeles Times'' called the song "Europoppy", and at the BBC, Paul Lester stated the song as "cheesy", while comparing it to the music of Andy Warhol. Monica Herrera from ''Billboard'' stated that "Bad Romance" was not as catchy as Gaga's previous songs, but it had "wicked" sex appeal. Jon Blistein from ''L Magazine'' wrote about the organization of the song. He felt that "'Bad Romance' revels in the nightmare it tries to create with Hitchcock references and somber vocals," but the song lacked cohesion. Blistein called it an amalgamation of Cher song, faux-European accented verses, power disco chorus and a bland spoken-word bridge. Daniel Kreps from ''Rolling Stone'', while writing about the song's initial leak, felt that the song was comparable to "Poker Face" and was not on par with her other singles. ''Rolling Stone'' also ranked the song at number nine on its list of the "25 Best Songs of 2009". On February 13, 2011, the single won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Chart performance

In the United States, "Bad Romance" debuted at number nine on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on November 14, 2009, making it Gaga's highest debuting song on the chart until then. It sold 142,000 paid digital downloads in its first week. After two weeks the song moved from number eleven to number two, which became its peak. The movement was spurred by 49 percent digital gain, thus pushing the song to the top of the Hot Digital Songs chart selling 209,000 copies. "Bad Romance" became her second highest peaking song on the Hot 100, behind "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". The song was certified four-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipment of a four million copies of the single. The song has sold over 4.753 million paid digital downloads in the United States to date according to Nielsen Soundscan, making Gaga the first artist in digital history to have three singles—along with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face"—pass the four million mark in digital sales. "Bad Romance" debuted on the Pop Songs chart at number 38 and moved to the number one position, making it Gaga's fifth consecutive number one single on the chart. The same week it also topped the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. According to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, "Bad Romance" set the record for most weekly plays in the 17-year history of the Pop Songs chart, registering 10,859 plays from 130 radio stations monitored for the chart. The record was later broken by Kesha, with her song "Tik Tok".

The song debuted on the ARIA Charts of Australia at number 16, and at number 33 on the New Zealand RIANZ charts. The next week, "Bad Romance" was the greatest gainer on the ARIA charts and moved to position three. On its seventh week on the chart, the song reached a new peak of two in Australia, and a peak of three in New Zealand. The song was certified four-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipment of 280,000 copies of the single. On October 29, 2009, "Bad Romance" debuted on the Irish Singles Chart at number 20; it reached the top in its seventh week. On the Canadian Hot 100, "Bad Romance" debuted at number 58. The following week it reached number one, making it the third song by Gaga to top the Canadian chart. After being replaced by "Tik Tok" for two weeks, "Bad Romance" again claimed the top spot on the chart. The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) certified "Bad Romance" seven-times platinum, for shipment of 280,000 copies of the single.

After its release in the United Kingdom, "Bad Romance" debuted at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. In December 2009, the song reached the top spot, making it Gaga's third UK number one single. She became the first female in British chart history to have three number one singles in one year. Two weeks later, in the first week of 2010, "Bad Romance" returned to the number one spot, making her only the second female artist of the 21st century to have two separate runs at the top spot. "Bad Romance" was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipment of 400,000 copies of the single. In Sweden, the song debuted at number three and after two weeks, reached the top of the chart. Across Europe the song debuted on the main charts of Austria, Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland (to be on top 50 for 65 weeks from late 2009 to early 2011), Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. The song debuted on the European Hot 100 Singles at number 40 and on January 23, 2010, "Bad Romance" topped the chart, remaining there for two weeks. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the song has sold 9.7 million copies across the world in 2010.

Music video

Development

During an interview with ''Rolling Stone'', Gaga confirmed that film director Francis Lawrence had directed the music video for "Bad Romance", and that she was impressed with the final version. She explained, "I knew [Lawrence's] ability as a director is so much higher than what I could [do]." Her creative team ''Haus of Gaga'' managed the art direction, and the final video premiered on November 10, 2009. Gaga described her experience of working with Lawrence:

I wanted somebody with a tremendous understanding of how to make a pop video, because my biggest challenge working with directors is that I am the director and I write the treatments and I get the fashion and I decide what it's about and it's very hard to find directors that will relinquish any sort of input from the artist. [...] But Francis and I worked together. [...] It was collaborative. He's a really pop video director and a filmmaker. He did ''I Am Legend'' and I'm a huge Will Smith fan, so I knew he could execute the video in a way that I could give him all my weirdest, most psychotic ideas, [...] But it would come across to and be relevant to the public.

Gaga created a pair of razor-blade sunglasses—which she believed portrayed tough female spirit—to wear in the video, explaining "I wanted to design a pair for some of the toughest chicks and some of my girlfriends [...] they used to keep razor blades in the side of their mouths, [...] That tough female spirit is something that I want to project. It's meant to be, 'This is my shield, this is my weapon, this is my inner sense of fame, this is my monster.' The white latex suits in the video were inspired by the wolf costume from the film ''Where the Wild Things Are''. Gaga also wore designer Alexander McQueen's high shoes.

Synopsis

The main idea behind the video is that of Gaga getting kidnapped by a group of supermodels who drug her, and then sell her off to the Russian Mafia for a million rubles. It takes place in a fluorescent white bathhouse. The video begins with Gaga sitting on a white throne in a brightly lit white room. The scene shows her wearing the razor blade glasses and surrounded by people and a harlequin Great Dane. She has her finger on the mute button of an iPod speaker, and as she releases it, "Bad Romance" begins to play and a dimly lit bath house is shown. A bright light pans across the walls, activating fluorescent lighting, that shines through a sign reading "Bath Haus of GaGa". As the first hook of the song begins, a group of female dancers wearing white long-sleeved leotards with knee high boots and matching crowns crawl out of white, coffin-like pods. The center pod has "Mons†er" written on it, and Gaga emerges wearing a similar outfit to the others, who begin to dance behind her. A pastiche of following scenes alternates between Gaga singing to herself in front of a mirror and lying in a bathtub.

When the chorus of the song begins, two women pull Gaga out of the bathtub, rip her clothes off and force her to drink a glass of vodka. As the second verse begins, Gaga, wearing a diamond-covered outfit topped with a crown, seductively dances for a group of men bidding for her. She straddles one of the men, played by Slovenian model Jurij Bradač, and performs a lap dance for him. Afterwards, the man raises his bid and becomes the highest bidder for her. When the chorus is played for the third time, Gaga is shown wearing a faux polar bear hide jacket. She walks towards the man, who is sitting on a bed and unbuttoning his shirt, while drinking a glass of vodka. Gaga has a look of indifference on her face and removes her jacket and sunglasses. Suddenly, the bed spontaneously combusts with the man still sitting on it and Gaga sinisterly sings in front of the flames. The video ends with her lying beside a smoldering skeleton, on top of the destroyed bed, covered in ashes. With soot smeared across her body, she calmly smokes a cigarette, while her pyrotechnic bra activates.

Reception

Tim Stack from ''Entertainment Weekly'' compared some of the dance choreography of the video with the music video of "Thriller". He said, "I don't think Gaga has ever looked prettier than in the close-ups where she's more stripped down." Jennifer Cady of E! was also impressed by the video and commented, "This music video really makes us appreciate everything Gaga actually brings to pop music. She's exciting to watch, plain and simple. [...] We need someone like Gaga to really bring it. To put actual thought and care into her product so that it feels alive." Daniel Kreps from ''Rolling Stone'' felt that the scenes from the music video were reminiscent of the work of Stanley Kubrick. He added that in "Bad Romance" Gaga portrays her craziest ideas yet. Jocelyn Vena from MTV believed that the video was symbolic and portrayed that "the old Gaga is over, here's the brand-new Gaga: the one who seems to delight in pushing the boundaries and exploring all manner of sexual proclivities." She further believed that the video was a testament to Gaga's brilliance "as an artist that uses the video art form as the jump-off point for the next leg of their career."

''The Wall Street Journal'' noted Gaga as one of the few pop stars of present time, who really understood spectacle, fashion, shock, choreography—all the things Madonna and Michael Jackson were masters of in the 1980s. Bill Lamb from About.com wrote that "like the song [the video] blasts at your senses until you are just left drowning in the audio and visual power of it all." On August 3, 2010, the video received 10 nominations at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in the categories of Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Special Effects, Best Choreography, Best Direction, Best Dance Video, Best Pop Video, Best Female Video, and Video of the Year, tied with Peter Gabriel's song "Sledgehammer" for the record for most nominations for a single video in the history of MTV Video Music Award. It went on to win seven of the categories. The video won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.

Live performances

A portion of the song was performed on ''Saturday Night Live'' on October 3, 2009. Gaga wore a complex outfit called "The Orb", designed by Nasir Mazhar and her production group "Haus of Gaga". Described by Gaga as a "fashion installation", it consisted of concentric metallic rings that revolved around her. After finishing her performance of "LoveGame", Gaga sat at her piano and played an acoustic version of the chorus of "Bad Romance". She performed the song on the TV show ''Gossip Girl'' episode "The Last Days of Disco Stick". The performance took place at a private show arranged by the character Blair Waldorf. In an interview with MTV, Gaga explained that the decision to perform on the show was inspired by her sister. She stated that she did not want the performance to be out-of-tune with the storyline of the show, so she worked with the script-writers to incorporate it into the plot. The performance included many ladders, symbolizing bad luck; it featured Gaga wearing a long dress. According to the show's executive producer Stephanie Savage, the song incorporated a few ''Gossip Girl'' specific lyrics. The performance began with her emerging from two giant doors in a large red gown. She climbed up a ladder, from where she sang parts of the song. Her male dancers danced around the ladder as she continued to sing.

"Bad Romance" was also performed at the 2009 American Music Awards, where she coupled it with "Speechless", from ''The Fame Monster''. Gaga was dressed in a flesh colored bodysuit wrapped with white piping, and embedded with flashing lights, imitating ribs and spine. The performance started with "Bad Romance" and Gaga dancing around the stage, ultimately breaking open a glass door with the microphone stand. It was performed on ''The Jay Leno Show'' where Gaga wore a pair of black sunglasses and a black jacket with shoulder pads that extended above her head. Her male backup dancers were dressed in black suits and S&M; inspired headgear. Both "Bad Romance" and "Speechless" were performed at ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' on November 25, 2009. Gaga performed "Bad Romance" on the British TV show ''The X Factor'' on December 6, 2009. The performance had her singing inside a four meter long bath tub as well as playing the piano while sitting on a toilet. "Bad Romance" was performed as the last song of Gaga's The Monster Ball Tour. She performed the song in an '80s-inspired white power suit with exaggerated high shoulders and highwaisted pants. The performance was done while standing in a human sized gyroscope. On January 15, 2010, Gaga performed "Bad Romance" as part of a three song medley on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show''. Gaga was dressed in a metallic jacket and had spikes in her hair. She carried a spiked ball dangling from a chain in her hand. "Bad Romance" was also performed at NBC's ''Today Show'', along with "Alejandro", "Teeth" and a song called "Yoü and I". In May 2011, Gaga performed the song during Radio 1's Big Weekend in Carlisle, Cumbria. She also performed the song on ''Good Morning America'' as a part of their "Summer Concert Series". It was the opening song of the show and Gaga entered the stage, flying on a harness, and stretching out her hands towards the audience as steam billowed from the center-stage. Once she reached the song started and Gaga's dancers removed the white cape she was wearing, to reveal her in red fishnet stockings with black felt pieces, a red leotard and black lace boots.

Cover versions

On March 14, 2010, Marco Hietala from Nightwish covered the song in ''Kuorosota''. Hayley Williams, the lead singer from the band Paramore covered a piano version of the song and posted it on her Twitter on March 28, 2010. On March 29, 2010, 30 Seconds to Mars covered the song in BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. ''Glee'' performed it on one of the episodes titled "Theatricality"; it was a group number for which the actors donned Lady Gaga outfits. When glee club New Directions member Rachel Berry discovers that rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline are planning on performing a Lady Gaga number at Regionals, the character Will (Matthew Morrison) sets the club a Gaga assignment. The girls and Kurt then create costumes inspired by Gaga and perform "Bad Romance". The version sold 48,000 digital downloads according to Nielsen Soundscan, and entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at 54, staying on the chart for one week. Pop group Evil Adam covered the song and made it available to stream and download. Lissie posted a cover of the song on YouTube. Her version of "Bad Romance" received praise from filmmaker David Lynch and ''The Washington Post'' writer David Malitz, who included it on "Click Track – Singles Files", the paper's weekly playlist. Singer Lulu and actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. performed a version of "Bad Romance" as a duet on the August 5, 2011, episode of Channel 4's ''Chris Moyles' Quiz Night''.

Track listing

Digital download # "Bad Romance" – 4:54

Digital download EP # "Bad Romance" – 4:54 # "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Remix) – 5:11 # "Bad Romance" (Chew Fu Remix) – 7:13 # "Bad Romance" (Starsmith Remix) – 4:55 # "Bad Romance" (Music Video) – 5:14

Promo CD Single # "Bad Romance" (Short Radio Edit) – 4:00 # "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:22 # "Bad Romance" (Main) – 4:54

EU CD Single # "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:24 # "Bad Romance" (Main) – 4:54

Germany Remix Version # "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:21 # "Bad Romance" (Chew Fu Remix) – 7:13 # "Bad Romance" (Starsmith Remix) – 4:55 # "Bad Romance" (Grum Remix) – 4:50 # "Bad Romance" (Bimbo Jones Radio Remix) – 3:58 # "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Remix) – 5:11 # "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Dub Remix) – 5:11 # "Bad Romance" (Music Video) – 5:14

French CD Single # "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:21 # "Bad Romance" (Bimbo Jones Radio Remix) – 3:58 # "Bad Romance" (Chew Fu Remix) – 7:13

UK CD Single # "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:22 # "Just Dance" (Deewaan Mix ft. Ashking, WeDis, Lush, Young Thoro) – 4:16

UK 7" picture disc # "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:21 # "Paparazzi" (DJ Dan Club Remix) – 6:37

US Digital Remix EP # "Bad Romance" (Chew Fu H1N1 Fix) – 7:13 # "Bad Romance" (Kaskade Remix) – 4:20 # "Bad Romance" (Bimbo Jones Radio Remix) – 3:58 # "Bad Romance" (Skrillex Remix) – 4:23

US Digital The Remixes EP Part 2 # "Bad Romance" (Grum Remix) – 4:50 # "Bad Romance" (Richard Vission Remix) – 5:22 # "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Remix) – 5:12 # "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Dub Remix) – 5:12 # "Bad Romance" (DJ Dan Remix) – 3:44

US 'The Remixes' CD Single # "Bad Romance" (Chew Fu H1N1 Fix) – 7:13 # "Bad Romance" (Kaskade Remix) – 4:20 # "Bad Romance" (Bimbo Jones Remix) – 3:58 # "Bad Romance" (Skrillex Remix) – 4:23 # "Bad Romance" (Grum Remix) – 4:51 # "Bad Romance" (Richard Vission Remix) – 5:23 # "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Remix) – 5:12

==Credits and personnel==

Lady Gaga – songwriter, co-producer, vocal arrangement, background vocals

RedOne – producer, songwriter, instruments and programming, vocal arrangement, vocal editing, recording, engineering

Johny Severin – vocal editing

Dave Russell – engineering

Eelco Bakker – engineering

Mark "Spike" Stent – audio mixing

Credits adapted from ''The Fame Monster'' album liner notes.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2009–10)	Peakposition
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Canadian Hot 100
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Dutch Top 40
European Hot 100 Singles
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!scope="row"
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!scope="row"
Irish Singles Chart
!scope="row"
Japan Hot 100
!scope="row"
!scope="row"
!scope="row"
Romanian Top 100
!scope="row"
!scope="row"
!scope="row"
!scope="row"
UK Singles Chart
!scope="row"
!scope="row"
!scope="row"
US Hot Dance Club Songs
US Hot Latin Songs
!scope="row"

Year-end charts

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" border="1" |- !scope="col"| Chart (2009) !scope="col"| Position |- !scope="row"|Australian Singles Chart |align="center"|31 |- !scope="row"|Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders) |align="center"|86 |- !scope="row"|Danish Singles Chart |align="center"|42 |- !scope="row"|Irish Singles Chart |align="center"|10 |- !scope="row"|Italian Singles Chart |align="center"|18 |- !scope="row"|New Zealand Singles Chart |align="center"|29 |- !scope="row"|Swedish Singles Chart |align="center"|12 |- !scope="row"|UK Singles Chart |align="center"|17 |- |} {|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" border="1" |- !scope="col"| Chart (2010) !scope="col"| Position |- !scope="row"|Australian Singles Chart |align="center"|26 |- !scope="row"|Austrian Singles Chart |align="center"|9 |- !scope="row"|Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders) |align="center"|31 |- !scope="row"|Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia) |align="center"|10 |- !scope="row"|Canadian Hot 100 |align="center"|3 |- !scope="row"|Danish Singles Chart |style="text-align:center;"|28 |- !scope="row"|Dutch Top 40 |align="center"|57 |- !scope="row"|European Hot 100 |align="center"|1 |- !scope="row"|German Singles Chart |align="center"|17 |- !scope="row"|Hungarian Airplay Chart |align="center"|5 |- !scope="row"|Italian Singles Chart |align="center"|9 |- !scope="row"|Japan Hot 100 |align="center"|26 |- !scope="row"|Romanian Top 100 |align="center"|13 |- !scope="row"|Spanish Singles Chart |align="center"|6 |- !scope="row"|Swiss Singles Chart |align="center"|13 |- !scope="row"|UK Singles Chart |align="center"|26 |- !scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 |align="center"|8 |- !scope="row"|US Adult Contemporary |align="center"|48 |- !scope="row"|US Hot Dance Club Songs |align="center"|2 |- !scope="row"|US Pop Songs |align="center"|3 |}

Certifications

Country	!scope="col"
!scope="row"	4× Platinum
!scope="row"	Gold
!scope="row"	7× Platinum
!scope="row"	Platinum
!scope="row"	Platinum
!scope="row"	Platinum
!scope="row"	Multi Platinum
!scope="row"	Gold (cell)

Country	!scope="col"
!scope="row"	Gold (PC)
!scope="row"	2× Platinum
Russia	Gold
!scope="row"	2× Platinum
!scope="row"	Platinum
!scope="row"	Platinum
!scope="row"	Gold
!scope="row"	4× Platinum

Release history

Region	Date	Format
United Kingdom		rowspan="2"
United States
United Kingdom	November 23, 2009	rowspan="2"
Australia	November 27, 2009
United States	December 22, 2009	The Remixes – Digital download
	January 12, 2010	The Remixes – CD single
France	January 18, 2010	CD single
United States	February 9, 2010	The Remixes Part 2 – Digital download

See also

List of number-one hits of 2009 (Austria)

List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2009 (Canada)

List of number-one hits in Denmark

List of number-one singles (Sweden)

List of number-one singles of 2009 and 2010 (Finland)

List of number-one hits of 2009 (Italy)

List of number-one singles of 2009 and 2010 (Ireland)

List of number-one singles of 2009 and 2010 (UK)

List of European number-one hits of 2010

List of number-one hits of 2010 (France)

List of number-one hits of 2010 (Germany)

List of number-one singles of 2010 (Hungary)

List of number-one singles (Romania)

List of number-one dance singles of 2009 (U.S.)

List of number-one dance airplay hits of 2010 (U.S.)

List of Mainstream Top 40 number-one hits of 2010 (U.S.)

List of number-one singles of 2010 (Spain)

List of best-selling singles worldwide

References

External links

Lady Gaga : Video : Bad Romance Interscope Records

Category:2009 singles Category:Lady Gaga songs Category:Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs number-one singles Category:Billboard Hot Dance Airplay number-one singles Category:Billboard Pop Songs number-one singles Category:Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles Category:European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Category:Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Music videos directed by Francis Lawrence Category:MTV Video of the Year Award Category:Number-one singles in Austria Category:Number-one singles in Denmark Category:Number-one singles in Finland Category:Number-one singles in France Category:Number-one singles in Germany Category:Number-one singles in Italy Category:Number-one singles in Norway Category:Number-one singles in Romania Category:Number-one singles in Spain Category:Number-one singles in Sweden Category:UK Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Singles certified multi-platinum by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry Category:Singles certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America Category:Singles certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan Category:Singles certified platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique Category:Singles certified gold by the Belgian Entertainment Association Category:Singles certified septuple platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association Category:Singles certified quadruple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Assocation Category:Singles certified platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry of Denmark Category:Singles certified platinum by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie Category:Singles certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand Category:Singles certified double platinum by the Productores de Música de España Category:Singles certified platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry of Sweden Category:Singles certified platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry of Switzerland Category:Singles certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry Category:Singles certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America Category:Songs produced by RedOne Category:Songs written by Lady Gaga Category:Songs written by RedOne

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Name	Lady Gaga
Alt	Portrait of Lady Gaga
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
Birth date	March 28, 1986
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, piano, keyboards
Genre	Pop, dance
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, performance artist, record producer, dancer, businesswoman, activist
Years active	2005–present
Label	Def Jam, Cherrytree, Streamline, Kon Live, Interscope
Website	}}

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (; born March 28, 1986), better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She began performing in the rock music scene of Manhattan's Lower East Side, and by the end of 2007, was signed with Streamline Records. Employed as a songwriter for the record company, her vocal abilities captured the attention of recording artist Akon, who signed her to his label Kon Live Distribution.

Lady Gaga came to prominence as a recording artist following the release of her debut album ''The Fame'' (2008), which was a critical and commercial success that topped charts around the world and included the international number-one singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". After embarking on the Fame Ball Tour, she followed the album with ''The Fame Monster'' (2009), which spawned the worldwide hit singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro" and allowed her to embark on the eighteen-month long Monster Ball Tour, which later became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. Her most recent album ''Born This Way'' (2011) topped the charts of most major markets and generated more international chart-topping singles that include "Born This Way", "Judas", "The Edge of Glory", and "Marry The Night". Beside her musical career, she involves herself with humanitarian causes and LGBT activism.

Influenced by such acts as David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Queen, Lady Gaga is well-recognized for her flamboyant, diverse and outré contributions to the music industry through fashion, performance and music videos. She has sold an estimated 23 million albums and 64 million singles worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time and her singles some of the best-selling worldwide. Her achievements include four ''Guinness World Records'', five Grammy Awards and thirteen MTV Video Music Awards. Lady Gaga has consecutively appeared on ''Billboard'' magazine's Artists of the Year (scoring the definitive title in 2010), is regularly placed on lists composed by ''Forbes'' magazine, and was named one of the most influential people in the world by ''Time'' magazine.

Biography

1986–2004: Early life

Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta on March 28, 1986 in New York City to parents Cynthia (née Bissett) and Joseph Germanotta, an internet entrepreneur. Descending from Italian and more distant French-Canadian roots, Gaga is the elder of two children. Her sister, Natali, a fashion student, was born in 1992. Despite her seemingly affluent upbringing in the family home in Manhattan's Upper West Side, Gaga has stressed that she did not come from a wealthy background, stating that her parents "both came from lower-class families, so we've worked for everything—my mother worked eight to eight out of the house, in telecommunications, and so did my father."

From the age of 11, Gaga – who was raised Roman Catholic – attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls Roman Catholic school on Manhattan's Upper East Side. She described her academic life in high school as "very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined" but also "a bit insecure": "I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn't fit in, and I felt like a freak." Acquaintances dispute that she did not fit in at school. "She had a core group of friends; she was a good student. She liked boys a lot, but singing was No. 1," recalled a former high school classmate.

Left-handed Gaga began playing the piano at the age of 4, went on to write her first piano ballad at 13, and started to perform at open mike nights by the age of 14. Her passion for musical theatre brought her lead roles in high school productions, including Adelaide in ''Guys and Dolls'' and Philia in ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''. She also appeared in a very small role as a mischievous classmate in the television drama series ''The Sopranos'' in a 2001 episode titled "The Telltale Moozadell" in addition to unsuccessfully auditioning for parts in New York shows. When her time at the Convent of the Sacred Heart came to an end, her mother encouraged her to apply for the Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21), a musical theatre training conservatory at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. After gaining early admission at 17, she eventually lived in an NYU dorm on 11th Street.

CAP21 prepared her for her future career focus in "music, art, sex and celebrity" where, in addition to sharpening her songwriting skills, she composed essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues and politics, including a thesis on pop artists Spencer Tunick and Damien Hirst. With CAP21, she also tried out for and won auditions, including the part of an unsuspecting diner customer where MTV's ''Boiling Points'', a prank reality television show, was being filmed. Notwithstanding these achievements, she felt that she was more creative than some of her classmates. "Once you learn how to think about art, you can teach yourself," she said. By the second semester of her sophomore year, she withdrew to focus on her musical career. Her father agreed to pay her rent for a year, on the condition that she re-enroll at Tisch if unsuccessful. "I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would listen," she remembers.

2005–07: Career beginnings

Settled in a small apartment on Rivington Street towards the summer of 2005, Gaga recorded a couple of songs with hip-hop singer Grandmaster Melle Mel, for an audio book accompanying the children's book ''The Portal in the Park'', by Cricket Casey. She also began a band called the Stefani Germanotta Band (SGBand) with some friends from NYU – guitarist Calvin Pia, bassist Eli Silverman, drummer Alex Beckham and booking manager Frank Fredericks – in September of that year. The band played a mixture of songs: some self-penned alongside classic rock numbers like Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er". Playing in bars like the Greenwich Village's The Bitter End and the Lower East Side's the Mercury Lounge, the band developed a small fan base and caught the eye of music producer Joe Vulpis. Soon after arranging time in Vulpis' studio in the months that followed, SGBand were selling their extended plays ''Words'' and ''Red and Blue'' at gigs around New York while becoming a local fixture of the downtown Lower East Side club scene.

SGBand reached their career peak at the 2006 Songwriters Hall of Fame New Songwriters Showcase at The Cutting Room in June where Wendy Starland, a singer and model, appeared as a talent scout for music producer Rob Fusari. Starland informed Fusari – who was searching for a female singer to front a new band – of Gaga's ability and contacted her. With SGBand disbanded, Gaga traveled daily to New Jersey to work on songs she had written and compose new material with the music producer. While in collaboration, Fusari compared some of her vocal harmonies to those of Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen. It was Fusari who helped create the moniker Gaga after the Queen song "Radio Ga Ga". Gaga was in the process of trying to come up with a stage name when she received a text message from Fusari that read "Lady Gaga." He explained, "Every day, when Stef came to the studio, instead of saying hello, I would start singing 'Radio Ga Ga'. That was her entrance song" and that the text message was the result of a predictive text glitch that changed "radio" to "lady". She texted back, "That's it," and declared, "Don't ever call me Stefani again." ''The New York Post'', however, has reported that this story is incorrect, and that the name resulted from a marketing meeting.

Although the musical relationship between Fusari and Gaga was unsuccessful at first, the pair soon set up a company titled Team Lovechild in which they recorded and produced electropop tracks and sent them to music industry bosses. Joshua Sarubin, the head of A&R; at Def Jam Recordings, responded positively and vied for the record company to take a chance on her "unusual and provocative" performance. After having his boss Antonio "L.A." Reid in agreement, Gaga was signed to Def Jam in September 2006 with the intention of having an album ready in nine months. However, she was dropped by the label after only three months – an unfortunate period of her life that would later inspire her treatment for the music video for her 2011 single "Marry the Night". Devastated, Gaga returned to the solace of the family home for Christmas and the nightlife culture of the Lower East Side.

She became increasingly experimental: fascinating herself with emerging neo-burlesque shows, go-go dancing at bars dressed in little more than a bikini in addition to experimenting with drugs. Her father, however, did not understand the reason behind her drug intake and could not look at her for several months. "I was onstage in a thong, with a fringe hanging over my ass thinking that had covered it, lighting hairsprays on fire, go-go dancing to Black Sabbath and singing songs about oral sex. The kids would scream and cheer and then we'd all go grab a beer. It represented freedom to me. I went to a Catholic school but it was on the New York underground that I found myself." It was then when she became romantically involved with a heavy metal drummer in a relationship and break-up she likened to the musical film ''Grease'': "I was his Sandy, and he was my Danny, and I just broke." He later became an inspiration behind some of her later songs.

During this time, she met performance artist Lady Starlight, who helped mold her on-stage persona. Starlight explained that, upon their first meeting, Gaga wanted to perform with her to songs she had recorded with Fusari. Like SGBand, the pair soon began performing at many of the downtown club venues like the Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall. Their live performance art piece was known as "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue" and, billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow", was a low-fi tribute to 1970s variety acts. Soon after, the two were invited to play at the 2007 Lollapalooza music festival in August that year. The show was critically acclaimed, and their performance received positive reviews. Having initially focused on avant-garde electronic dance music, Gaga had found her musical niche when she began to incorporate pop melodies and the glam rock of David Bowie and Queen into her music.

While Gaga and Starlight were busy performing, producer Rob Fusari continued to work on the songs he had created with Gaga. Fusari sent these songs to his friend, producer and record executive Vincent Herbert. Herbert was quick to sign her to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, upon its establishment in 2007. Gaga later credited Herbert as the man who discovered her, adding "I really feel like we made pop history, and we're gonna keep going." Having already served as an apprentice songwriter under an internship at Famous Music Publishing, which was later acquired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Gaga subsequently struck a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV. As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears and labelmates New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls.

While Gaga was writing at Interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio. He then convinced Interscope-Geffen-A&M; Chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live Distribution, making her his "franchise player." As 2007 came to a close, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer RedOne, whom they also managed. The first song she produced with RedOne was "Boys Boys Boys", a mash-up inspired by Mötley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls" and AC/DC's "T.N.T.". Gaga continued her collaboration with RedOne in the recording studio for a week on her debut album; making the chart-topping singles "Just Dance", "Poker Face" and "LoveGame" together. Gaga also joined the roster of Cherrytree Records, an Interscope imprint established by producer and songwriter Martin Kierszenbaum, after co-writing four songs with Kierszenbaum including the singles "Christmas Tree" and "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)". Despite her secure record deal, she admitted that there was fear about her being too "racy", "dance-orientated" and "underground" for the mainstream market. She responded, "My name is Lady Gaga, I've been on the music scene for years, and I'm telling you, this is what's next."

2008–10: ''The Fame'' and ''The Fame Monster''

By 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles, where she worked extensively with her record label to complete her debut album in addition to setting up her own creative team – modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory – Haus of Gaga. Intensive work continued on the album, combining genres "from Def Leppard drums and hand claps to metal drums on urban tracks" while drawing inspiration from 1980s synthpop and incorporating dance music with clear hooks. ''The Fame'', described as an exploration of her obsession with fame and the intricacies of a rich and famous lifestyle, was first released on August 19, 2008, preceded by lead single "Just Dance" four months earlier. Due to radio play being slow, Gaga supported the releases by performing in the backwaters of Malta and Vietnam in addition to small gay clubs around the United States. She was also billed as a supporting artist on the North American leg of New Kids on the Block's reunion concert tour.

A sleeper hit, "Just Dance" hit the summit of the charts in six countries – Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States – in January 2009. The Grammy Award-nominated song provoked the instant success of ''The Fame''. Receiving positive reviews from contemporary critics who commended Gaga's ability to discover a melodious hook and compared her vocal abilities to those of Gwen Stefani, the album went to number-one in countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland while appearing in the top-five in Australia, the United States and fifteen other countries. On ''Billboard'''s Dance/Electronic Albums chart, it stayed at the top spot 106 non-consecutive weeks. Since its release, ''The Fame'' has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Gaga achieved an even greater unexpected success when "Poker Face", another sleeper hit, reached number-one in almost all major music markets in the world including the United Kingdom and the United States in early 2009. The follow-up single won the award for Best Dance Recording at the 52nd Grammy Awards over nominations for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, while ''The Fame'' was nominated for Album of the Year and won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album. Gaga was the recipient of many other honors in 2009 including the accumulation of 3 of 9 MTV Video Music Awards nominations – she won Best New Artist while the video for her single "Paparazzi" gained the awards for Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects – and ''Billboard'' magazine's Rising Star award. In addition to being an opening act on the Pussycat Dolls' Doll Domination Tour during the first half of 2009 on their legs in Europe and Oceania, she also embarked on her own six-month critically appreciated worldwide concert tour The Fame Ball Tour which ran from March to September 2009.

While she traveled the world on tour, she wrote ''The Fame Monster'', a collection of eight songs, which was released in November 2009. Each song, dealing with the darker side of fame from personal experience, is expressed through a monster metaphor. Its first single "Bad Romance" topped the charts in eighteen countries, while reaching the top-two in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. It made Gaga the first artist in digital history to have three singles (along with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face") to pass the four million mark in digital sales and accrued the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance while its accompanying music video won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video at the 53rd Grammy Awards The album's second single "Telephone", which features singer Beyoncé, was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and became Gaga's fourth UK number-one single while its accompanying music video, although controversial, received a more positive reception from contemporary critics: praising her for "the musicality and showmanship of Michael Jackson and the powerful sexuality and provocative instincts of Madonna." Her following single "Alejandro" paired Gaga with fashion photographer Steven Klein for a music video similarly as controversial – critics complimented its ideas and dark nature but the Catholic League attacked Gaga for her alleged use of blasphemy. Despite the controversy surrounding her music videos, they made Gaga the first artist to gain over one billion viral views on video-sharing website YouTube. Musically, ''The Fame Monster'' has also received abundant success. Equating to the amount of Grammy nominations her debut received, ''The Fame Monster'' garnered a total of six nominations; the album won for Best Pop Vocal Album and earned her a second-consecutive nomination for Album of the Year at the 53rd annual awards ceremony.

The success of the album allowed Gaga to start her second worldwide concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just weeks after the release of ''The Fame Monster'' and months after having finished The Fame Ball Tour. Upon finishing in May 2011, the critically acclaimed and commercially accomplished tour ran for over one and a half years and, according to ''Billboard'', grossed $227.4 million, making it one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time and the highest-grossing for a debut headlining artist. Concerts performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for a HBO television special titled ''Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden''. The special accrued one of its five Emmy Award nominations and has since been released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Gaga also performed songs from the album at international events such as the 2009 Royal Variety Performance where she sang "Speechless", a power ballad, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II; the 52nd Grammy Awards where her opening performance consisted of the song "Poker Face" and a piano duet of "Speechless" in a medley of "Your Song" with Elton John; and the 2010 BRIT Awards where a performance of an acoustic rendition of "Telephone" followed by "Dance in the Dark" dedicated to the late fashion designer and close friend, Alexander McQueen, supplemented her hat-trick win at the awards ceremony.

Other performances may have included her participation in Michael Jackson's This Is It concert series at London's O2 Arena. "I was actually asked to open for Michael on his tour," she stated. "We were going to open for him at the O2 and we were working on making it happen. I believe there was some talk about us, lots of the openers, doing duets with Michael on stage." A realized collaboration with Polaroid started in January 2010. Excited about combining the company with the digital era, Gaga was named Chief Creative Officer for a line of imaging products for the international optic company with the intent of creating fashion, technology and photography products.

Despite a successful debut, Mermaid Music LLC – her production team – was sued in March 2010 by past producer Rob Fusari who claimed that he was entitled to a 20% share of its earnings. Gaga's lawyer, Charles Ortner, described the agreement with Fusari as "unlawful" and declined to comment. Five months later, the New York Supreme Court dismissed both the lawsuit and a countersuit by Gaga. In addition to such strife, Gaga has been tested borderline positive for lupus, but claims not to be affected by the symptoms. The revelations caused considerable dismay amongst her fans, leading to Gaga addressing the matter in an interview with Larry King, saying she hopes to avoid symptoms by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

2011–present: ''Born This Way''

Gaga's second studio album and third major release ''Born This Way'' was released on May 23, 2011. Described as "a marriage of electronic music with major [...] metal or rock 'n' roll, pop, anthemic style melodies with really sledge-hammering dance beats" and referred to as an album "about what what keeps us up at night and what makes us afraid", she stated. Gaga characterized her new music as "something so much deeper than a wig or lipstick or a fucking meat dress" and upon hearing it, Akon remarked that she is taking music to the "next level". Its arrival followed the release of its eponymous lead single "Born This Way" on February 11, 2011, which was performed live for the first time at the 53rd Grammy Awards two days after its release. The song, dealing with self-acceptance regardless of race or sexual orientation, debuted atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the 19th number-one debut and the 1,000th number-one single in the history of the charts, while selling more than 3 million digital copies in the United States by October 2011. A music video was released for the song, showing Gaga giving birth to a new race amidst surrealistic images; critics noted artistic and cultural references and praised its concept. Gaga lent her vocals elsewhere, pairing with Elton John to record an original duet for the animated feature film ''Gnomeo & Juliet''. The song, titled "Hello, Hello", was released on February 11, 2011, without Gaga's vocals. The duet version was only featured in the film.

Two other singles, "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory", as well as a promotional single, "Hair", were eventually released before the album. The music video for "Judas", in which Gaga portrays Mary Magdalene, and Biblical figures such as Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot are also featured, was criticized for its religious references; the video, nonetheless, received acclaim for its overall delivery and praise from others who claimed that there was nothing offensive about it. "Judas" additionally peaked within the top ten in several major musical markets. "The Edge of Glory" was intended as a promotional single; nevertheless, due to commercial success in digital outlets, the song was released as a single to critical appreciation, accompanied by a music video. Gaga also undertook a job as a fashion columnist for ''V'', where she wrote about her creative process, her studying of the world of pop culture, and her ability to tune into the evolution of pop-culture meme. Upon release, ''Born This Way'' sold 1.108 million copies in its first week in the United States, debuting atop the ''Billboard'' 200, and topping the charts in more than 20 other countries. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised its range of different styles as well as her vocals. Later, Lady Gaga went to Sydney to promote ''Born This Way'' with a one-of-a-kind concert at the Sydney Town Hall on July 13, 2011.

She continued her musical endeavors, releasing "You and I" and "Marry the Night" as succeeding singles from ''Born This Way'', as well as recording songs with veteran artists like Cher and Tony Bennett. The song recorded with Bennett is a jazz version of "The Lady Is a Tramp", while Gaga described her duet with Cher as a "massive" and "beautiful" track, which she "wrote a long time ago, and I've never put it on one of my own albums for, really, no particular reason." On August 28, at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga won two awards out of four nominations, and attended the event dressed as Jo Calderone, her male alter-ego. For the 2012 edition of the ''Guinness World Records'', Gaga was listed for Most Followers on Twitter, with over 13 million followers, and "Poker Face" was listed for Most Weeks on US Digital Hot Songs, with 83 weeks. Gaga continued her live appearances, and performed at the celebration of former US president Bill Clinton's 65th Birthday alongside Bono, Stevie Wonder and Usher, among others. She wore a blond wig as a nod to the famous performance of Marilyn Monroe for John F. Kennedy and changed the lyrics to her song "You and I" specifically for the performance. Later on, Gaga won four awards out of six nominations in the main categories at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards in November, for Best Female, Biggest Fans, Best Song and Best Video; the latter two with "Born This Way". On November 14, 2011, Gaga and her choreographer and creative director Laurieann Gibson parted ways, after working together for four years. Gibson's assistant Richard Jackson replaced her as Lady Gaga's choreographer.

Gaga released her fourth extended play ''A Very Gaga Holiday'' on November 22, and followed an appearance in her Thanksgiving Day television special entitled ''A Very Gaga Thanksgiving''. The television special was critically acclaimed and attained 5.749 million American viewers upon original airing. The accompanying tour for ''Born This Way'' was materializing, and at the same time Gaga started writing songs for a new record. She further explained to MTV News that she and Garibay were working on the follow-up album to ''Born This Way'' and stated that it was "beginning to flourish".

Artistry

Influences

Gaga's parents, who exposed her to artists like The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Elton John, had significant influence on her childhood and, presently, still do. "I am a real family girl. When it comes to love and loyalty, I am very old-fashioned. And I am quite down-to-earth for such an eccentric person," she insists. "I'm quite traditional in the family sense. I've always been that way." According to Gaga, Joanne Germanotta – her aunt who died of lupus aged 19 – lives on through her and inspires all of her music and art. Joanne's date of death is tattooed on Gaga's body and, despite dying 12 years before her birth, Gaga commented, "I really believe I have two hearts. I think I actually carry two souls in my body, and that I'm living out the rest of her life and her goodness – she died a virgin, she died never having experienced all these things that we all get to love and experience in our lives." Another spiritual influence on Gaga has been the Indian physician, public speaker and writer Deepak Chopra. Labeling him a "true inspiration", she stated that "he's always reminded me to work in a life of service to my fans and to fulfill my vision and my destiny" in addition to thinking about Chopra when it comes to her work as a musician: "I want so much for it to go beyond the music for my fans."

Musically, Gaga takes influence from numerous musicians from dance-pop singers like Madonna and Michael Jackson to glam rock artists like David Bowie and Queen whilst employing the theatrics of artists like Andy Warhol and of her musical theatre roots in performance. The Queen song "Radio Ga Ga" inspired her stage name: "I adored Freddie Mercury and Queen had a hit called 'Radio Gaga'. That's why I love the name [...] Freddie was unique—one of the biggest personalities in the whole of pop music," she commented. Gaga receives regular comparisons to recording artist Madonna who admits that she sees herself reflected in Gaga. In response to the comparisons, Gaga stated, "I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I've made it my goal to revolutionize pop music. The last revolution was launched by Madonna 25 years ago" in addition to commenting that "there is really no one that is a more adoring and loving Madonna fan than me. I am the hugest fan personally and professionally." Like Madonna, Gaga has continued to reinvent herself and, over the years of her career, has drawn musical inspiration from a diverse mix of artists including Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie singer Debbie Harry, Scissor Sisters, Prince, Marilyn Manson and Yoko Ono.

Gaga has identified fashion as a major influence and has been stylistically compared to English eccentrics Leigh Bowery and Isabella Blow and to American recording artist Cher. She commented that "as a child, she somehow absorbed Cher's out-there fashion sense and made it her own." She has considered Donatella Versace her muse and the late British fashion designer and close friend Alexander McQueen as an inspiration, admitting that "I miss Lee every time I get dressed" while channeling him in some of her work. Modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory, Gaga has her own creative production team, which she handles personally, called the Haus of Gaga, who create many of her clothes, stage props, and hairdos. Her adoration of fashion came from her mother, who she stated was "always very well kept and beautiful." "When I'm writing music, I'm thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It's all about everything altogether—performance art, pop performance art, fashion. For me, it's everything coming together and being a real story that will bring back the super-fan. I want to bring that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat and taste and lick every part of us." The Global Language Monitor named "Lady Gaga" as the Top Fashion Buzzword with her trademark "no pants" a close third. ''Entertainment Weekly'' put her outfits on its end of the decade "best-of" list, saying, "Whether it's a dress made of Muppets or strategically placed bubbles, Gaga's outré ensembles brought performance art into the mainstream."

Musical and performance style

Continually experimenting with new musical ideas and images, Gaga's musical and performance style is the subject of much analysis and scrutiny from critics. She professes that she is "liberating" herself by constantly reinventing her sound and image, insisting that she has been drawn to such a practice since her childhood. Vocally, Gaga possesses the range of a contralto and exhibits "overwhelming expression, instinctive vocal phrasing, '80s rock reminiscent chest belts and animalistic vocal ticks" while being able to move through 2.4 octaves. Refusing to lip sync, Gaga – whose range is frequently compared to those of Madonna and Gwen Stefani – has manipulated her vocal style over the course of her career yet considers ''Born This Way'' (2011) "much more vocally up to par with what I've always been capable of." In summation of her voice, ''Entertainment Weekly'' wrote, "There's an immense emotional intelligence behind the way she uses her voice. Almost never does she overwhelm a song with her vocal ability, recognizing instead that artistry is to be found in nuance rather than lung power."

Although her early lyrics have been criticized for lacking intellectual stimulation, "[Gaga] does manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace." She admits that her songwriting has been misinterpreted; her friend and blogger Perez Hilton articulated her message in a clearer way: "you write really deep intelligent lyrics with shallow concepts." Gaga opined, "Perez is very intelligent and clearly listened to my record from beginning to end, and he is correct." "I love songwriting. It's so funny – I will just jam around in my underwear or I could be washing my dishes. I wrote several songs just at the piano," she confesses. Gaga believes that "all good music can be played at a piano and still sound like a hit." She has covered a wide variety of topics in her songs: while ''The Fame'' (2008) meditates on the lust for stardom, ''The Fame Monster'' (2009) expresses fame's dark side through monster metaphors. ''Born This Way'' (2011) is sung in English, French, German and Spanish and includes common themes in Gaga's controversial songwriting like love, sex, religion, money, drugs, identity, liberation, sexuality, freedom and individualism.

The structure of her music is said to echo classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop. Her debut album ''The Fame'' (2008) provoked ''The Sunday Times'' to assert "in combining music, fashion, art and technology, [Gaga] evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa 'Hollaback Girl', Kylie Minogue 2001 or Grace Jones right now" and a critic from ''The Boston Globe'' to comment that she draws "obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen Stefani... in [her] girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats." Music critic Simon Reynolds wrote that "Everything about Gaga came from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy naughties pop glazed with Auto-Tune and undergirded with R&B;-ish beats." The follow-up ''The Fame Monster'' (2009), saw Gaga's taste for pastiche, drawing on "Seventies arena glam, perky ABBA disco and sugary throwbacks like Stacey Q" while ''Born This Way'' (2011) also draws on the records of her childhood and still has the "electro-sleaze beats and Eurodisco chorus chants" of its predecessor but includes genres as diverse as opera, heavy metal, disco, and rock and roll. "There isn't a subtle moment on the album, but even at its nuttiest, the music is full of wide-awake emotional details," wrote ''Rolling Stone'', who concluded: "The more excessive Gaga gets, the more honest she sounds."

Her performances are described as "highly entertaining and innovative"; the blood-spurting performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was described as "eye-popping" by MTV. She continued the "blood soaked" theme in The Monster Ball Tour, in which she wore a revealing leather corset and is "attacked" by a performer dressed in black who gnaws on her throat, causing "blood" to spurt down her chest, after which she lies "dying" in a pool of blood. Her performances of that scene on tour in England triggered protests from family groups and fans in the aftermath of a local tragedy, in which a taxi driver had murdered 12 people. "What happened in Bradford is very fresh in people's minds and given all the violence which happened in Cumbria just hours earlier, it was insensitive," said Lynn Costello of Mothers Against Violence. Her unconventionality continued at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards when she performed in drag as her male alter ego, Jo Calderone, and delivered a lovesick monologue before a performance of her song "Yoü and I". Chris Rock has defended her flamboyant and provocative behavior. "Well, she's Lady Gaga," he said. "She's not 'Lady Behave Yourself.' Do you want great behavior from a person named Gaga? Is this what you were expecting?"

Public image

While ''Rolling Stone'' named Gaga the "Queen of Pop" in 2011, public reception of Gaga's music, fashion sense and persona are mixed. Her status as a role model, self-esteem booster for her fans, trailblazer and fashion icon who breathes new life into the industry is by turns affirmed and denied. Gaga's albums have received mostly positive reviews and critics have pointed out her unique place in pop music, the need for new movements in popular culture, the attention Gaga brings to modern social issues, and the inherently subjective nature of her art. In view of her influence on modern culture and her rise to global fame, sociologist Mathieu Deflem of the University of South Carolina has organized a course titled "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame" since the spring of 2011 with the objective of unravelling "some of the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga."

Contrary to her outré style, the ''New York Post'' described her early look as like "a refugee from ''Jersey Shore''" with "big black hair, heavy eye makeup and tight, revealing clothes." Lady Gaga is a natural brunette; she bleached her hair blonde because she was often mistaken for Amy Winehouse. She has nine tattoos on the left side of her body (her father has banned etchings on her right): a unicorn head with a ribbon wrapped around its horn that says "Born This Way"; a small heart with "dad" written inside it; several white roses; a treble clef; three daises; "Tokyo Love" with a little heart; "Little Monsters" written in cursive; a peace symbol, which was inspired by John Lennon, who she stated was her hero; and a curling German script on her left arm quoting the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, her favorite writer, commenting that his "philosophy of solitude" spoke to her. Towards the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of Lady Gaga and recording artist Christina Aguilera that noted similarities in their styling, hair, and make-up. Aguilera stated that she was "completely unaware of [Gaga]" and "didn't know if it [was] a man or a woman." Lady Gaga released a statement in which she welcomed the comparisons due to the attention providing useful publicity, saying, "She's such a huge star and if anything I should send her flowers, because a lot of people in America didn't know who I was until that whole thing happened. It really put me on the map in a way."

When interviewed by Barbara Walters for her annual ABC News special ''10 Most Fascinating People'' in 2009, Gaga dismissed the claim that she is intersex as an urban legend. Responding to a question on this issue, she stated, "At first it was very strange and everyone sorta said, 'That's really quite a story!' But in a sense, I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny." In addition to Aguilera's statement, comparisons continued into 2010, when Aguilera released the music video of her single "Not Myself Tonight". Critics noted similarities between the song and its accompanying music video with Lady Gaga's video for "Bad Romance". There have also been similar comparisons made between Lady Gaga's style and that of fashion icon Dale Bozzio from the band Missing Persons. Some have considered their respective images to be strikingly parallel although fans of Missing Persons note that Bozzio had pioneered the look more than thirty years earlier. Nonetheless, Gaga was named one of Vogue.com UK's Best Dressed people of 2010 while her stylist, Dazed & Confused creative director Nicola Formichetti, won the Fashion Creator of the Year Award at the British Fashion Awards.

Part of the reasoning for Gaga's Best Dressed achievement was her attire worn to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards: a dress supplemented by boots, a purse and a hat – each fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal. The dress, named ''Time'' magazine's Fashion Statement of 2010 and more widely known as the "meat dress", received divided opinions – evoking the attention of worldwide media but invoking the fury of animal rights organization PETA. Lady Gaga denied any intention of causing disrespect to any person or organization and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community. In addition to this unconventionality, in a question posed about the necessary procedure to attach the prosthetics to give the appearance of recent horn-like ridges on her cheekbones, temples, and shoulders, Gaga responded, "They're not prosthetics, they're my bones." She also clarified that they were not the result of plastic surgery, believing such surgery to only be the modern byproduct of fame-induced insecurity to which she does not subscribe. The interviewer's further probing brought Gaga to the conclusion that they are an artistic representation of her inner inspirational light and part of the "performance piece" that is her musical persona: an inevitability of her becoming who she now is. When Gaga briefly met with US president Barack Obama at a Human Rights Campaign fundraiser, he described the interaction as "intimidating" as she was dressed in 16-inch heels making her undoubtedly the tallest woman in the room.

Gaga often refers to her fans as "Little Monsters" and in dedication, has had that inscription tattooed on "the arm that holds my mic." Her treatment of her "Little Monsters" has inspired criticism, due to the highly commercial nature of her music and image. To some, this dichotomy contravenes the concept of outsider culture. Camille Paglia in her 2010 cover story "Lady Gaga and the death of sex" in ''The Sunday Times'' asserts thatGaga "is more an identity thief than an erotic taboo breaker, a mainstream manufactured product who claims to be singing for the freaks, the rebellious and the dispossessed when she is none of those." Writing for ''The Guardian'', Kitty Empire opined that the dichotomy "...allows the viewer to have a 'transgressive' experience without being required to think. At [her performance's] core, though, is the idea that Gaga is at one with the freaks and outcasts. The Monster Ball is where we can all be free. This is arrant nonsense, as the scads of people buying Gaga's cunningly commercial music are not limited to the niche worlds of drag queens and hip night creatures from which she draws her inspiration. But Gaga seems sincere."

Philanthropy

Besides her career in music, Gaga has also contributed to various charities and humanitarian works. In 2011, she launched her own non-profit organization, the Born This Way Foundation, which focuses on youth empowerment and issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring, and career development. "My mother and I have initiated a passion project. We call it the Born This Way Foundation," Gaga said in a statement about the foundation, which takes its name from the eponymous 2011 single and album. "Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment." The foundation will work with a number of partners, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

For natural disasters, Gaga has also helped various relief efforts. Although declining an invitation to appear on the single "We Are the World 25" to benefit victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she donated the proceeds of her January 24, 2010 concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall to the country's reconstruction relief fund. All profits from her official online store on that day were also donated. Gaga announced that an estimated total of $500,000 was collected for the fund. Hours after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011, Gaga tweeted a message and a link to Japan Prayer Bracelets. All revenue from a bracelet she designed in conjunction with the company was donated to relief efforts. As of March 29, 2011, the bracelets raised $1.5 million. However, attorney Alyson Oliver filed a lawsuit against Gaga in Detroit in June 2011, noting that the bracelet was subject to a sales tax and an extra $3.99 shipping charge was added to the price. She also believed that not all proceeds from the bracelets would go to the relief efforts, demanding a public accounting of the campaign and refunds for people who had bought the bracelet. Lady Gaga's spokesperson called the lawsuit "meritless" and "misleading". On June 25, 2011, Gaga performed at MTV Japan's charity show in Makuhari Messe, which benefited the Japanese Red Cross.

Gaga also contributes in the fight against HIV and AIDS with the focus upon educating young women about the risks of the disease. In collaboration with Cyndi Lauper, Gaga joined forces with MAC Cosmetics to launch a line of lipstick under their supplementary cosmetic line, Viva Glam. Titled Viva Glam Gaga and Viva Glam Cyndi for each contributor respectively, all net proceeds of the lipstick line were donated to the cosmetic company's campaign to prevent HIV and AIDS worldwide. In a press release, Gaga declared, "I don't want Viva Glam to be just a lipstick you buy to help a cause. I want it to be a reminder when you go out at night to put a condom in your purse right next to your lipstick." The sales of Gaga-endorsed Viva Glam lipstick and lipgloss have raised more than $202 million to fight HIV and AIDS.

With the performance of the bilingual song "Americano" from her second studio album ''Born This Way'' (2011), Gaga jumped into the debate surrounding SB 1070, Arizona's immigration law. She premiered the tune for the first time on the Guadalajara, Mexico stop of her Monster Ball tour telling the local press that she could not "stand by many of the unjust immigration laws" in the United States.

LGBT advocacy

Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered to be a gay icon. Early in her career she had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase." She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of ''The Fame'', saying, "I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team." One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network Logo, where she sang her song "Just Dance". In June of the same year, she performed the song again at the San Francisco Pride event.

After ''The Fame'' was released, she revealed that the song "Poker Face" was about her bisexuality. In an interview with ''Rolling Stone'', she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality, saying "The fact that I'm into women, they're all intimidated by it. It makes them uncomfortable. They're like, 'I don't need to have a threesome. I'm happy with just you'." When she appeared as a guest on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' in May 2009, she praised DeGeneres for being "an inspiration for women and for the gay community". She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009 National Equality March rally on the National Mall was "the single most important event of her career." As she exited, she left with an exultant "Bless God and bless the gays," similar to her 2009 MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech for Best New Artist a month earlier. At the Human Rights Campaign Dinner, held the same weekend as the rally, she performed a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" declaring that "I'm not going to [play] one of my songs tonight because tonight is not about me, it's about you." She changed the original lyrics of the song to reflect the death of Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered because of his sexuality.

Gaga attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four service members of the United States Armed Forces (Mike Almy, David Hall, Katie Miller and Stacy Vasquez), all of whom, under the United States military's "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy, had been prohibited from serving openly because of their sexuality. In addition, Gaga wore a dress fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal to the awards ceremony. Gaga wished that the dress, more widely known as the "meat dress", was interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community adding that "If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones." She later released three videos on YouTube videos urging her fans to contact their Senators in an effort to overturn the policy. In late September 2010 she spoke at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's "4the14K" Rally in Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine. The name of the rally signified the number – an estimated 14,000 – of service members discharged under the DADT policy at the time. During her remarks, she urged members of the U.S. Senate (and in particular, moderate Republican Senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins) to vote in favor of legislation that would repeal the DADT policy. Following this event, editors of ''The Advocate'' commented that she had become "the real fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians, one that Barack Obama had promised to be.

Gaga appeared at Europride, a pan-European international event dedicated to LGBT pride, held in Rome in June 2011. In a nearly twenty-minute speech, she criticized the intolerant state of gay rights in many European countries and described homosexuals as "revolutionaries of love" before performing acoustic renderings of "Born This Way" and "The Edge of Glory" in front of thousands at the Circus Maximus. She stated that "Today and every day we fight for freedom. We fight for justice. We beckon for compassion, understanding and above all we want full equality now". Gaga revealed that she is often questioned why she dedicates herself to "gayspeak" and "how gay" she is, to which, she told the audience: "Why is this question, why is this issue so important? My answer is: I am a child of diversity, I am one with my generation, I feel a moral obligation as a woman, or a man, to exercise my revolutionary potential and make the world a better place." She then joked: "On a gay scale from 1 to 10, I'm a Judy Garland fucking 42."

Discography

''The Fame'' (2008)

''The Fame Monster'' (2009)

''Born This Way'' (2011)

Filmography

''Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden'' (2011)

''A Very Gaga Thanksgiving'' (2011)

Concert tours

The Fame Ball Tour (2009)

Fame Kills: Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga (2009–10) (canceled)

The Monster Ball Tour (2009–11)

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Lady Gaga

Honorific nicknames in popular music

List of best-selling music artists

References

Further reading

Monster Anthems (2011) by Robert Christgau

External links

Slide show ''Vanity Fair''

Category:1986 births Category:American contraltos Category:American dance musicians Category:American electronic musicians Category:American female pop singers Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:American performance artists Category:American pop singer-songwriters Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Androgyny Category:Bisexual musicians Category:Brit Award winners Category:Echo winners Category:English-language singers Category:Feminist musicians Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Interscope Records artists Category:Keytarists Category:LGBT Christians Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:LGBT rights activists Category:Living people Category:People from Manhattan Category:Pseudonymous musicians Category:Singers from New York City Category:Sony/ATV Music Publishing artists Category:Synthpop musicians Category:Tisch School of the Arts alumni Category:Wonky Pop acts

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Brett Domino is the alter-ego of Youtube musician Rob J. Madin. As Brett Domino, he is a musician, internet celebrity and TV presenter from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He is best known for his YouTube videos, in which he plays mostly covers and medleys of popular songs on the Stylophone and keytar - sometimes with his band, 'The Brett Domino Trio'. The band are notable in that its members (Brett Domino, Steven Peavis and Mitch Hutchinson) all play exclusively keyboard instruments. In a number of recent videos, however, Brett and Steven have diversified to incorporate other instruments, such as ukulele, theremin, recorder, accordion, kalimba and Skoog. Brett and the band have been featured a number of times as part of BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles Show, and in 2009 the band appeared on ITV's Britain's Got Talent, performing live as the house band on two episodes of ITV2's sister show, Britain's Got More Talent, in the final week.

Brett's Youtube videos have received over 7,000,000 views. A recent video, the Justin Timberlake Medley featuring Trabasacks was posted by Justin Timberlake on his Twitter page and official website.

Brett has also been featured on the websites of Lady Gaga and Ellie Goulding. Another musical alter-ego of Rob J Madin has recently surfaced on YouTube with the name 'Rocco La Bête'. The visual style and editing techniques are very similar to those of the Brett Domino videos.

On November 22, 2010, Brett Domino released a song called "Gillian McKeith", a humorous take on the celebrity during her time in the 10th series of the ITV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!. The YouTube video has had over 1,000,000 views. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 29 on November 28, 2010.

On February 18, 2011, Brett played a specially written song on ''The Chris Moyles Show'' for Chris Moyles' Birthday

On June 10, 2011, Rob J Madin has recently surfaced on Youtube with the name 'C-Bomb', a 'cousin' of Brett Domino's. Here, playing in a style of Dubstep, unlike other Madin videos, 'C-Bomb' is not seen playing any instruments, but does dance, in a similar style to Brett Domino's Lady Gaga - Bad Romance. It also appears that 'C-Bomb' writes his own compositions, as seen with his Youtube video 'Irresistible'

Singles

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center; |- !rowspan="2"| Year ! rowspan="2" style="width:200px;"| Single !| Peak chart positions !rowspan="2"| Album |- !style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|UK |- |rowspan="2"| 2010 |align="left"| "Gillian McKeith" | style="text-align:center;"| 29 | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| ''non-album singles'' |- |align="left"| "Fairytale of New York" (cover, with Alexa Goddard) | style="text-align:center;"| — |}

Albums

Songs Off Youtube

Release date: 1 March 2011

Track listing:

Beat It (2011 Version)

Justin Timberlake Medley

I Feel for You

We Speak No Americano

1980s Stylophone Medley

Bad Romance

Jurassic Park Theme

Ellie Goulding Medley

Hip-Hop Medley

Nelly Furtado Medley

Michael Jackson Medley

Korn / 50 Cent / Tenna Marie Medley

Now 75 Medley

Party In the Park (Radio Aire) Medley

William Tell Overture (Live)

Track By Track Commentary

References

External links

Category:English keyboardists Category:People from Leeds Category:Living people Category:English multi-instrumentalists

bgcolour	orange
name	Nicola Formichetti
birth date	May 31, 1977
birth place	Tokyo, Japan
field	fashion direction, editing, design,creative direction, art direction
awards	2010 Isabella Blow Award
website	}}

Nicola Formichetti (; born 31 May 1977) is an internationally prolific fashion director and fashion editor of mixed Italian and Japanese heritage. He is most widely known as the new creative director for the French fashion house MUGLER, and for being a frequent collaborator with singer-songwriter and performance artist Lady Gaga. Formichetti is also known as fashion director of ''Vogue Hommes Japan'', is a contributing editor of several other fashion magazines, and is fashion director for the clothing company Uniqlo. In November 2010 he was named one of the "most influential creative forces working in fashion today." The following month he was awarded the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator at the 2010 British Fashion Awards.

Early life

The son of a Japanese stewardess and an Italian pilot, Formichetti was born in Japan and grew up in Rome and Tokyo, attempting to assimilate in both cultures. As a child he trained as a classical pianist (and still plays for relaxation). But moving to London became his great desire and he used the excuse of attending an architecture school to which he was accepted in order to get there. Formichetti has explained that instead of attending he "literally walked in the front door of the architecture school and then ran out of the back one to go clubbing for three years." He became a student of the nightlife and street fashions, and began working at a fashionable boutique called 'The Pineal Eye' where he would become art director and head buyer for two years.

Career

While working at 'The Pineal Eye' Formichetti was spotted by fashion editor Katy England and she offered him a monthly page at ''Dazed & Confused'' called "Eye Spy," and after being named the magazine's fashion director in 2005 would eventually be promoted to become its creative director 2008. His work at ''Dazed & Confused'' led to other fashion magazines, including ''V'', ''Another Magazine'', ''Arena Homme +'', and ''Harper's Bazaar USA''. Among fashion designers he has worked with Kim Jones, collaborating with him on his collections and shows, and has worked with fashion houses such as Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen, Gareth Pugh, Carri "Cassette Playa" Mundane, Prada, Missoni, Iceberg, and brands such as Nike, Umbro, Puma, Stussy, Topman, H&M;, and Edwin. Among fashion photographers Formichetti has worked with Nick Knight, Hedi Slimane, Terry Richardson, Steven Klein, and Oliviero Toscani, as well as others.

Lady Gaga

2009-2010

His collaboration with Lady Gaga as her stylist, or more appropriately fashion director, began in early May 2009 at a shoot with photographer Sebastian Faena for the July 2009 issue of ''V Magazine'' (''V60''), Formichetti saying that "It was an instant love." This was soon followed by a cover shoot for ''V61'' (September issue) with Mario Testino. The following June he was fashion director for her performance at the 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards, and following that for the majority of Lady Gaga's important performances and appearances in the second half of 2009, including at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in September, where she appeared in four dresses by Jean-Paul Gaultier and one by Alexander McQueen, then on ''Saturday Night Live'' in October, where she appeared in a metal orb structure designed by Nazir Mazhar, and later at the Royal Variety Performance in December, where she appeared in a latex dress, by Atsuko Kudo, designed to resemble those worn by Elizabeth I of England, for Gaga's introduction to her namesake Elizabeth II. In the fall she also appeared in the third volume of ''Vogue Hommes Japan'', the editorial titled "Lady Gaga & Araki's Tokyo Love" shot by Nobuyoshi Araki, with the fashion direction naturally by Formichetti. Their first collaboration in a music video together, the immensely successful Bad Romance, directed by Francis Lawrence, would later be voted Video of the Year and then win the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. In this Gaga appears in several outfits and footwear by Alexander McQueen, reappears in the orb by Nazir Mazhar, as well as in a "diamond crown" outfit by Franc Fernandez, and one by her creative team, the "Haus of Gaga" itself, among other pieces. Formichetti is also credited as stylist for her album ''The Fame Monster'' (shot by Hedi Slimane), and has been fashion director for her sold-out The Monster Ball Tour.

2010

In late January 2010 he was stylist/fashion director for Lady Gaga's music video Telephone, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, which was later released in March. Immediately after this video was filmed came her appearance at the 52nd Grammy Awards (where Gaga performed with Elton John), for which Formichetti was also fashion director. In February he was again for her appearance at the 2010 BRIT Awards, where she dedicated her performance to their friend Alexander McQueen, who had committed suicide only five days earlier. Following their collaboration for several more appearances and performances over the next months came Formichetti's styling for her video Alejandro, directed by his collaborator in the past Steven Klein, and for the associated cover shoot by Terry Richardson for the mid-July issue of ''Rolling Stone''. Her ''American Idol'' performance of "Alejandro" in early May was also styled by Formichetti. Among other projects, next came the styling for Richardson's shoot of Gaga (in a meat bikini) and Nick Knight's shoot of model Jo Calderone (Gaga in "drag") for the fifth volume of ''Vogue Hommes Japan''. Around the same time Richardson shot Gaga as styled by Formichetti for the company Supreme NYC, but the shoot would wait until 2011 to be released both in the Supreme ad campaign and in the French magazine ''Purple''. Knight then photographed her again, styled by Formichetti, for the upcoming September issue of ''Vanity Fair''. In August the three would appear yet again in collaboration for the 30th birthday issue of the magazine ''i-D'' (the shoot itself actually dating from 2009), Formichetti also giving a short interview for the Gaga piece following hers. Then in September came her celebrated appearance, for which he did the styling, at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, where she wore (among other outfits) the famous "meat dress" by Franc Fernandez. Also in September the Fall issue of ''V Magazine'' (''V67'') appeared on newsstands, with Gaga, styled by Formichetti and shot by Mario Testino, on the cover with Marc Jacobs.

At the end of 2010 she was named Best-Dressed of the Year by ''Vogue''.

2011

After several months largely out of the spotlight (except on tour) Gaga returned in January 2011 to begin the serious promotion for her upcoming album ''Born This Way'' and Formichetti has been fashion director for the project. The music video for the title track "Born This Way" was directed later in January by Nick Knight, with Formichetti responsible for the styling. In February came her performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards where they collaborated with designer Hussein Chalayan on her appearance and performance. Gaga, interested in the concept of rebirth, sent Formichetti a picture of a human embryo, and he was first inspired to create, as he told her, "egg [shaped] shoes—like you were born that way, with eggs as feet." She took the idea further, resulting in the egg or "vessel" (designed by Chalayan) in which she was carried down the red carpet and later onto the stage, hatching out in a yolk-coloured latex outfit to perform her new single "Born This Way". She was wearing, as he tweeted, "Mugler by Nicola Formichetti." A "Born This Way"-associated shoot called "Alien Excess" done in January by photographer Mariano Vivanco for the Spring 2011 (March) issue of ''i-D'' features Gaga in a latex coat from the new Mugler menswear collection, with Formichetti responsible for the styling. A shot from the same session with Vivanco, but with different styling, also by Formichetti, appeared on the cover of ''Billboard'' in February.

He has also done Gaga's styling (shot by Nick Knight) for her as spokesperson for the MAC VIVA GLAM Campaign of the MAC AIDS Fund. A new project called "The Masterpiece" has been announced in which Formichetti will collaborate with her for MAC to create a "wearable piece of art" composed of the profile photos of fans who join the campaign.

MUGLER

After months of rumours, in September 2010 Formichetti was announced as the new creative director for the Parisian fashion house founded by the celebrated designer Thierry Mugler (who has largely retired from the business), which he has renamed to MUGLER. He has said that it was in fact Lady Gaga who persuaded him to go for the job, when they were looking through pieces from the Mugler archive when shooting the video for "Telephone". At MUGLER Formichetti oversees designers Sébastien Peigné for womenswear and Romain Kremer for menswear. Joël Palix, director general of the company, said "We were looking for a young talent who could really bring energy to the brand... Nicola is a multiculural, techno-savvy expert involved in fashion, communication, image and entertainment. He and the appointed talented designers will represent a new direction for French fashion."

Menswear

The menswear, a collaboration with Romain Kremer, of Formichetti's debut (Fall/Winter) collection "Anatomy of Change" premiered during the Men's Paris fashion week on 19 January 2011. This was accompanied by a video shot by Mariano Vivanco, featuring Formichetti's new muse, the full-body tattooed Canadian model Rick Genest, and by a remix by Lady Gaga, as musical director for the menswear project, of a new track ("Scheiße") from her upcoming album ''Born This Way''. The clothes, worn by Rico Genest and other models on the runway, recall those by Mugler himself from earlier decades, in such ways as the use of the colours navy blue and bright orange, or "hyper-modern"-style jackets lacking lapels. The collection also features some not-so-conventional latex pieces such as biker jackets, gloves, and even latex trousers. On the overall vision, Cathy Horyn of ''The New York Times'' describes Formichetti creating a "mechanical man" in the tradition of Mugler's fantastical woman, yet Adam Tschorn of the ''Los Angeles Times'' found plenty of the pieces surprisingly wearable. Formichetti himself says on the collection "I want to say something that has the past and the future, but what is really important to me is the present." Returning to Rico Genest, it was his discovery by Formichetti and then Gaga's urging which actually resulted in the menswear show, something not originally planned. Genest's discovery also influenced the collection itself. The show was streamed live from Paris on the Internet.

Genest can be seen styled in MUGLER by Formichetti and shot by Mariano Vivanco in the sixth volume of ''Vogue Hommes Japan'', the editorial being titled "Hard To Be Passive". In the Spring/Summer 2011 issue of ''GQ Style'' (UK) Formichetti is interviewed on the future of the brand, with Genest (also interviewed) shot in MUGLER by Karim Sadli for the editorial.

Womenswear

On March 2 the womenswear, a collaboration with Sébastien Peigné, premiered. Lady Gaga was again musical director, previewing the track "Government Hooker" from her upcoming album as well as including the already released title track "Born This Way" in the soundtrack. But this time she actually performed on the runway in person for Formichetti's show, modelling pieces from his collection, called "Anatomy of Change Femme – Mode Sans Frontiers." Additionally, Rick Genest from the menswear collection made a reappearance on the runway among the models. The reaction of critics to the clothes was generally similar to their reaction to the menswear two months previously. Formichetti offers a silhouette in the Mugler tradition, "minimally rendered" as described by Cathy Horyn, and with sculptured shoulders (for the appropriate pieces), Alex Fury of SHOWstudio.com describing them as "architectonic". For the show Formichetti employed Rein Vollenga to contribute sculptural elements to the silhouette, Atsuko Kudo skin-like items of torn-up latex, and Franc Fernandez for Gaga's two hats. She herself gave input for the collection, associated with her ''Born This Way'' projects and performances, but is not financially involved with Formichetti's MUGLER. As he says, "It's just friends helping each other... I think when you start talking about money, it stops the whole creative process for me."

Although there was worry it might, Gaga's appearance did not prevent Formichetti's audience from noticing the clothes, variously described as "shiny and sexy", and "taut and futuristic", or like the menswear "surprisingly wearable", in particular the jackets and dresses. He chose to go mainly with the colours black, white, electric/royal blue, and beige. The set he designed for the show was composed of clustered columns from which rose arches to form a structure resembling the long central interior of a Gothic Cathedral, the nave and its flanking aisles, through which the models, Genest and finally Gaga strutted. While it was found by critics among Formichetti's audience who were physically present at the show that both the architecture and lighting made it difficult to properly see the collection, the performance was as much or more for the millions around the world watching it streamed live on the Internet, like the menswear collection, but this time on the brand's Facebook page, and featuring forty five minutes live behind the scenes preshow. In fact he believes the future of the brand is a digital one, Formichetti saying "I design digitally, I communicate digitally, and I live digitally, and I wanted to incorporate that into the brand." For him Gaga's performance fits in the "new Mugler world", a "fantasy world" fusion of high fashion and pop with an existence both real and digital. The performance continued with her wearing a leopard print see-through catsuit from his collection out on a Paris street and into the celebrated restaurant Maxim's for the afterparty.

Vogue Hommes Japan

Uniqlo

MAC

In addition to his collaboration with Lady Gaga for the MAC VIVA GLAM Campaign, Formichetti has styled Irina Lazareanu, shot by Miles Aldridge, for MAC's ''Quite Cute'' collection.

Philosophy and influence

In the fifth volume of ''Vogue Hommes Japan'', Lady Gaga had the following to say about what she and Formichetti desire for the future of fashion:

Formichetti has repeatedly declared he is "not an elitist" in fashion, instead wanting to share what he does with everyone, using the Internet for this purpose. Like Gaga, who has inspired him to do so, he also interacts with and is inspired by his followers, and usually works in collaboration with others. He sees himself not as a "stylist", which term he rejects, but rather as an art director "whose job it is to create moods, oversee an overall image." As he further told ''Vice'':

His influence is varied. Before his MUGLER collections even premiered he was ranked the most influential stylist in the world (even if he dislikes the term), in no small part because of the enormous volume of his fashion magazine work, including making ''Vogue Hommes Japan'' "the most powerful Japanese-language publication in the global fashion industry", and because of his consulting for a number of fashion houses and other brands. It is with and through Lady Gaga as her fashion director, however, that Formichetti's influence on culture is greatest. Previously the role and influence of stylists was more limited, and while others have become designers, he is the first to take control of a major fashion house, interpreted as the most prominent example of a stylist becoming a power broker within the industry. Formichetti's eclectic selection for the avant-garde Gaga of pieces from designers ranging vastly from the great, such as Giorgio Armani, to the obscure, has influenced what has been described as a "cultural phenomenon" of imitation, extending even into "provincial backwaters".

He frequently meets and is very hopeful for many younger talents who are interested in fashion today.

References

External links

Official Website

Blog (for fashion credits)

MUGLER

Vogue Hommes Japan

Uniqlo

VivaGlam

Models.com

Gaga Fashionland (in-depth fashion credits and interviews)

Category:1977 births Category:People of Italian descent Category:People of Japanese descent Category:Magazine editors Category:People in fashion Category:Costume designers Category:Lady Gaga Category:Living people

id:Nicola Formichetti it:Nicola Formichetti mk:Никола Формичети