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Bad Romance

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"Bad Romance"
Song

"Bad Romance" is a song by American pop singer, Lady Gaga. It is the first single from the 2009 album and re-release The Fame Monster.[1] The track was produced by RedOne and was inspired by the love monster that she had faced while touring through the previous year. After the demo version of the song leaked, Gaga premiered the song at Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2010 Paris Fashion Week show on October 6, 2009 followed by the release of the cover art. Composed in a similar tempo to her previous singles, "Bad Romance" features a sing-and-tell bridge and a full-mouthed chorus. The song talks about exploring the joys of a bad romance while referencing Alfred Hitchcock films in some of the verses.

Contemporary critics gave a mixed review of the song, comparing it to Gaga's second single "Poker Face". It has since reached the top ten of countries like United States, Australia, United Kingdom and Sweden, while becoming Gaga's third number-one single on the Canadian Hot 100. The accompanying music video takes place in a white bathhouse where Gaga is kidnapped by a group of supermodels who drug her and then sell her off to the Russian mafia for sex slavery. The video received positive response for its treatment and innovation, critics noting it more its craziness and symbolic plot. Gaga had performed a snippet of "Bad Romance" on piano during her Saturday Night Live performance.

Background

"Bad Romance" was confirmed as the first single from the The Fame Monster, the re-release of Gaga's debut album.[2] Before its official release, a demo version of the song leaked on the internet, prompting Gaga to comment via Twitter, "leaked next single is makin my ears bleed. Wait till you hear the real version."[3] A brief portion of the song was performed on Saturday Night Live on October 3, 2009, along with other songs like "Poker Face" and "LoveGame".[4][5] "Bad Romance" premiered during the finale of fashion designer Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2010 Paris Fashion Week show on October 6, 2009.[6] The cover art was released on October 15, 2009. 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."[7] The official album version of "Bad Romance" was uploaded to Lady Gaga's MySpace profile on October 21, 2009 and had over 1 million plays in two weeks.[8] Gaga explained that "Bad Romance" was one of the songs she wrote in 2008 while touring. Those songs were all about the various monsters she faced during the time. One of those was the love monster and the inspiration for "Bad Romance".[9]

Music and Lyrics

According to MTV, the song is similar in tempo to Gaga's previous single "Poker Face". The song opens with Gaga singing a portion of the chorus that then transitions into the "Rah, rah, rah-ah-ah/ Rah, mah, rah-muh-muh/ Ga, ga, oh là là." hook. It is followed by the sound of drum beats and keyboard arrangement.[3] The bridge is in a sing-and-tell format with Gaga voicing the line "You know that I want you/ And you know that I need you." It is followed by the full-throated chorus, where Gaga sings "You and me could write a bad romance [...] Caught in a bad romance."[3] According to About.com the music is best suited for viewing fashion designs and on the runway.[9] The lyrics in general talk about exploring the joys of a bad romance but this idea changes during the intermediate bridge when the lyrics talk about fashion.[10] While being interviewed on the November 2, 2009 episode of It's On with Alexa Chung, Gaga pointed out that she was listing Alfred Hitchcock films in the verse, "I want your psycho, your vertigo schtick/ Want you in my rear window, baby you're sick." She stated, "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."[11]

Critical reception

The song has received mixed reviews. Bill Lamb from About.com 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."[9] Gil Kaufman from MTV commented that 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."[3] Daniel Kreps from Rolling Stone, while writing about the song's initial leak, commented that the "single doesn’t deviate far from the blueprint mapped out by those other hits, especially “Poker Face”, to which “Bad Romance” bears a striking resemblance."[10] Christopher John Farley from The Wall Street Journal praised the song saying "It’s particularly hard to resist the Jabberwockian catchiness of the 'Bad Romance' hook."[12]

Chart performance

"Bad Romance" debuted at number nine on the November 14, 2009 chart of the Billboard Hot 100, making it the highest-debuting song on the chart for the week, selling 142,000 paid digital downloads in its first week.[13] It became Gaga's fifth consecutive top ten hit on the Hot 100. "Bad Romance" debuted on the Pop Songs chart at thirty-eight[14] and moved to a peak of twenty-five.[15] On the Canadian Hot 100, it debuted at number fifty-eight.[16] The following week it reached number one, making it the third song by Gaga to top the Canadian chart.[17]

The song debuted in Australia on the ARIA Charts at number sixteen on the issue dated November 2, 2009[18] and at number thirty-three on the New Zealand RIANZ charts.[19] The next week, "Bad Romance" was the greatest gainer on the ARIA charts and moved to a peak of three.[18] It also charted within the top twenty on the UK Singles Chart at number fourteen on its first week, climbing to ten the following week.[20] On the issue dated October 29, 2009, "Bad Romance" made debut on the Irish Singles Chart at number twenty.[21] Next week, the song then moved up eleven places to nine.[22] The song debuted on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles at number forty.[23] In Sweden, the song debuted at three while across Europe the song bubbled under the main charts in countries like Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Austria and Czech Republic.[24]

Music video

File:GagaBadRomancevideo.jpg
Gaga lying on a bed beside the burnt skeleton of her customer. She wears a pyrotechnic bra and smokes a cigarette.

During an interview with Rolling Stone, Gaga confirmed that movie director Francis Lawrence had directed the music video, and that she was "impressed" with herself and the outcome of the music video.[25] She explained, "I knew [Lawrence's] ability as a director is so much higher than what I could [do]."[26] Her creative team Haus of Gaga managed the art direction for the video.[25] The music video premiered on November 10, 2009.[27] Gaga further explained her experience of working with Lawrence as,

"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."[26]

Gaga created a pair of razor-blade sunglasses as she believed that it portrayed a tough female spirit. She emphasized that "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 sprit 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.'"[26]

The main idea behind the video is that of Gaga being kidnapped by a group of supermodels who drug her, and sell her off to the Russian mafia. It takes place in a white bathhouse.[26][28] The video begins with Gaga sitting in a white throne, wearing a golden dress and glasses made from razor blades. She is surrounded by several people and her signature harlequin great dane. She has her finger on the mute button of an iPod speaker, and when she presses it, "Bad Romance" begins to play. Light begins to pan across the walls of a bath house, and a sign is shown that reads: "Bath Haus of GaGa". A group of dancers wearing white long-sleeved leotards with knee high boots and matching crowns crawl out of white, egg-shaped pods with the word "Monster" written on them and the dancers begin to dance behind Gaga who is wearing a similar outfit. When the chorus of the song begins, two women pull her out of a bathtub, rip her clothes off and force her to drink a glass of vodka. As the second verse begins, Gaga seductively dances for a group of men bidding on her. She straddles one of the men and performs somewhat of a lap dance on him. Afterwards, he raises his bid and becomes the highest bidder for Gaga. When the chorus is played for the third time, Gaga is shown wearing a jacket made of a polar bear hide. She walks toward the man, who is sitting on a bed, unbuttoning his shirt. 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. The video ends with Gaga laying beside a smoldering skeleton on top of the destroyed bed with ashes everywhere. She smokes a cigarette, while her pyrotechnic bra goes off.

Reception

Tim Stack from Entertainment Weekly compared some of the dance choreography of the video with the music video of "Thriller". According to him, Gaga "has ever looked prettier than in the close-ups where she’s more stripped down. On the flip side, I love those crazy dilated pupils she sports for much of the video. [...] This video is amazing."[29] Jennifer Cady from E! was also imressed 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."[30] Daniel Kreps from Rolling Stone felt that the scenes from the music video were reminiscent of the work of Stanley Kubrick. He went on to add that "'Bad Romance' has Gaga providing fans with perhaps her craziest, brightest canvas yet [...] all while dressed in some of the most outrageous outfits she’s ever worn (and that’s saying a lot)."[31] Jocelyn Vena from MTV believed that the video was symbolic and portrayed that the "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." He further believed that "[the video was] a testament to her brilliance as an artist that Gaga is using [it] as the jump-off point for the next leg of her career. These days, it seems like pop stars all too rarely put this much thought into their vision and their products.[32] The Wall Street Journal noted that Gaga "seems to be one of the few pop stars these days who really understands spectacle, fashion, shock, choreography—all the things Madonna and Michael Jackson were masters of in the 1980s."[12] 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. Lady Gaga continues to break down barriers and take us all to new places. In a music industry that too often seems to want to revisit whatever might have been successful in the past without breathing new material and elements into it, Lady Gaga remains a powerful force to observe.[33]

Live performances

A portion of the song was performed on the Saturday Night Live on October 3, 2009. Gaga wore a complex outfit called "The Orbit", designed by Nasir Mazhar and her production group "Haus of Gaga".[5] 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".[3][34]

Charts

Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[18] 3
Austrian Singles Chart[24] 23
Belgian FL Bubbling Chart[24] 1
Belgina Wa Bubbling Chart[24] 27
Canadian Hot 100[17] 1
Czech Airplay Chart[35] 49
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles[23] 40
Finnish Singles Chart[24] 6
Irish Singles Chart[22] 9
New Zealand Singles Chart[19] 9
Swedish Singles Chart[24] 3
Swiss Singles Chart[24] 34
UK Singles Chart[20] 10
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[13] 9
Preceded by Canadian Hot 100 number-one single
November 14, 2009 - November 21, 2009
Succeeded by

Release history

Region Date Format
United Kingdom[36] October 26, 2009 Digital Download
United Kingdom[37] November 23, 2009 CD Single
United States[38] October 26, 2009 (2009-10-26) Digital download
November 10, 2009[39] Airplay
Worldwide[40] October 27, 2009 Digital download

References

  1. ^ ""Bad Romance" Video Out Now!". Interscope Records. November 11, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-11. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Harding, Cortney (2009-10-01). "Lady Gaga: First Lady". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  3. ^ a b c d e Kaufman, Gil (2009-10-02). "New Lady Gaga Track 'Bad Romance' Leaks". MTV. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  4. ^ Reporter, RS (2009-09-29). "Lady Gaga Readies New Single for "SNL," "The Fame" Re-Release". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  5. ^ a b Reporter, RS (2009-10-05). "Lady Gaga Fights Madonna, Debuts "Bad Romance" on "Saturday Night Live"". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
  6. ^ "SHOWstudio presents Alexander McQueen S/S10 Live". SHOWstudio.com. 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  7. ^ Lamb, Bill (2009-1016). "Lady GaGa's "Bad Romance" Cover Art - Out in Less Than Two Weeks". About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2009-10-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Lady Gaga on MySpace Music". MySpace. Fox Interactive Media. 2009-10-21. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  9. ^ a b c Lamb, Bill (2009-10-20). "Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"". About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  10. ^ a b Kreps, Daniel (2009-10-02). "Is Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" Bound for "SNL"? New Track Hits the Web". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  11. ^ Anitai, Tamar (2009-11-02). "Lady Gaga On MTV's 'It's On With Alexa Chung'". MTV. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  12. ^ a b Farley, Christopher John (2009-11-11). "Lady Gaga: "Bad Romance" Plus Crowns, Kinkiness and Choreography". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
  13. ^ a b Pietroluongo, Silvio (2009-11-05). "DeRulo Tops Hot 100 But Swift Swoops In". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
  14. ^ Taylor, Chuck (2009-10-26). "Chart Highlights: Pop, Country, Tropical Songs". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
  15. ^ Trust, Gary (2009-11-04). "Lady Gaga: Billboard Chart 'Monster'". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
  16. ^ "Canada Singles Top 100". Billboard. acharts.us. 2009-11-07. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
  17. ^ a b "Canadian Hot 100 - Week of November 14, 2009". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 2009-11-14. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
  18. ^ a b c "Australia Singles Top 50". Australian Recording Industry Association. acharts.us. 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  19. ^ a b "New Zealand Singles Chart: Chart #1694". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. RIANZ.org.nz. 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  20. ^ a b "Lady Gaga - Bad Romance - UK Singles Chart". The Official Charts Company. ChartStats. 2009-11-08. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
  21. ^ "Ireland Singles Top 50". Irish Recorded Music Association. acharts.us. 2009-10-29. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
  22. ^ a b "Ireland Singles Top 50". Irish Recorded Music Association. acharts.us. 2009-11-05. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
  23. ^ a b "Billboard Eurochart Hot 100 Singles". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 2009-11-14. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g "Lady Gaga - Bad Romance (song)". Ultratop 50. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
  25. ^ a b Hiatt, Brian (2009-10-21). "Inside The Monster Ball: Lady Gaga Reveals Plans for Ambitious New Tour". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  26. ^ a b c d Vena, Jocelyn (2009-111-09). "Lady Gaga Says 'Bad Romance' Video Is About 'Tough Female Spirit'". MTV. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-11-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ ""Bad Romance" Video Premiere!". Haus Of Gaga. LadyGaga.com. 2009-11-06. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  28. ^ Dinh, James (2009-11-11). "Lady Gaga Fans React To 'Bad Romance' Video‎". MTV. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
  29. ^ Stack, Tim (2009-11-11). "Lady Gaga's new 'Bad Romance' video: Her best yet?!‎". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
  30. ^ Cady, Jennifer (2009-11-11). "Lady Gaga Brings the Crazy in "Bad Romance" Video". E!. Comcast. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
  31. ^ Kreps, Daniel (2009-11-11). "Lady Gaga Premieres "Bad Romance," Her Craziest Video Yet". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
  32. ^ Vena, Jocelyn (2009-11-11). "Lady Gaga Launches Her Next Phase With Eye-Grabbing 'Bad Romance Video". MTV. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
  33. ^ Lamb, Bill (2009-10-11). "Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" Video - Almost Overwhelming". About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
  34. ^ Aswad, Jem (2009-10-04). "Lady Gaga, Madonna Catfight, Almost Kiss On 'Saturday Night Live'". MTV. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
  35. ^ "RADIO TOP100 Oficiální - Lady Gaga Bad Romance". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. IFPIcr.cz. 2009-11-05. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  36. ^ "Bad Romance UK Release iTunes Date". iTunes. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
  37. ^ "Bad Romance UK Release iTunes Date". iTunes. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
  38. ^ "Bad Romance hits UK iTunes". iTunes. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
  39. ^ "R&R :: Going For Adds :: CHR/Top 40". Radio & Records. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
  40. ^ "Bad Romance AUS Release iTunes Date". iTunes. Retrieved 2009-10-27.