"Born This Way" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga, from her second studio album of the same name. Written and produced by Gaga, Fernando Garibay, Jeppe Laursen and DJ White Shadow, it was developed while Gaga was on the road with The Monster Ball Tour. Inspired by the 1990s empowering music for women and the gay community, Gaga explained that "Born This Way" was her freedom song. She had sung part of the chorus at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in 2010 and announced the song as the lead single from the album. The single was released on February 11, 2011.

The electropop song is backed by rumbling synth sounds, a humming bass and additional chorus percussion, with sole organ toward the end. The lyrics discuss self-empowerment and feature the names of LGBT communities, including "chola" and "orient", which drew criticism from Asian and Hispanic communities. Critics who favored the song called it a "club-ready anthem", while it faced criticism for having similarities with Madonna's 1989 single "Express Yourself". The song reached number one in 19 countries. It became her third single to top the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and the 1000th song by any artist. It became the fastest-selling song in iTunes history, selling one million copies in five days. "Born This Way" has sold 8.2 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time.

Born This Way is the second studio album by American recording artist Lady Gaga, which was released on May 23, 2011, by Interscope Records. The album is a follow-up to her internationally-successful albums The Fame (2008) and The Fame Monster (2009). As co-producer of every track on the album, Gaga collaborated with numerous producers, including RedOne and Fernando Garibay, with whom she had previously worked, and newcomers such as DJ Snake, DJ White Shadow, Jeppe Laursen, Robert John "Mutt" Lange and Clinton Sparks. She also included artists like E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons and Queen guitarist Brian May on tracks from the album.

The music of Born This Way stems from the synthpop and dance-pop oriented styles of her previous albums, yet it incorporates different forms of instrumentation which have not been used on her previous releases; electro-rock and techno are examples. It also incorporates a broader range of various musical genres such as opera, heavy metal, disco, house and rock and roll while its lyrical topics include sexuality, religion, freedom, feminism, and individualism. Despite dividing opinion amongst some religious and conservative commentators, the album was well-received by music critics; points of acclaim went to the varying musical styles in the album and Gaga's vocals. However, others felt Gaga was trying too hard to please everyone through the album's self-empowerment message. Several publications included the album in their year-end critic lists. Born This Way received three Grammy Award nominations, including Gaga's third consecutive nomination for Album of the Year.

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (/ˈstɛfəniː dʒʌrməˈnɑːtə/ STE-fə-nee jurr-mə-NAH-tə; born March 28, 1986), 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 was signed with Streamline Records by the end of 2007. During her employment 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 The Fame Ball Tour, she followed the album with The Fame Monster (2009), which spawned the worldwide hit singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro". The album's success 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, including "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory". Besides her musical career, she involves herself with humanitarian causes and LGBT activism.

Tyler Ray Ward (born March 12, 1989), is a singer/songwriter and producer known for his covers of hit songs by artists including Adele, Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry. Tyler is also well known for his original songs such as Everything, The Hardest Thing, The Rescue, Paper Heart and Our Story's Told. Although Ward often sings and produces his own music, he also works with his backing band on many projects and on tour, members include his instrumental band whom he met during a small gig in 2007 along with rapper Eppic, singer/songwriter Alex G and rapper and brother Derek Ward... He has also worked and produced music for many people across Youtube including Boyce Avenue, Megan Nicole and Katy McAllister..

Tyler Ward is best known for his cover with fellow YouTubers, Megan Nicole and Eppic of Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie" which has had more than 17 million views as of July 1, 2012. His first video was a mix of the current top 40 songs of 2008 which has 600 thousand views to date. Since then, Ward has amassed over 900,000 subscribers and more than 250 million views on his channel.

Maria Lourdes Aragon (born July 17, 2000) is a singer from Manitoba, Canada, of Filipino descent. Aragon gained fame after a YouTube video of her performing Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" went viral.

On February 16, 2011, a video of Aragon performing a cover of "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga was posted to her sister's YouTube channel to showcase her talent to friends and family. The video caught Lady Gaga's attention when entertainment blogger Perez Hilton sent Gaga her Born This Way Cover, and she was so impressed by Maria's performance that she retweeted a link to the video. In a week, her video reached over 11 million views. As of April 29, 2012, the video had over 50 million hits.

During an interview on HOT 103 in Winnipeg, Lady Gaga called into the show to tell Maria how moved she had been by her performance. Lady Gaga then invited an already surprised Aragon to perform "Born This Way" with her at The Monster Ball Tour concert in Toronto. In Toronto, Canada, 99.9 Virgin Radio called Maria and offered to fly her to Toronto for free. On March 3, 2011, Aragon joined Lady Gaga on stage at the Air Canada Centre, where they performed an acoustic duet of "Born this Way" with Maria sitting on Gaga's lap, playing piano, singing and Lady Gaga working the pedals. Aragon later rejoined Lady Gaga and her team of back up dancers for an uptempo finale version of "Born this Way".