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Born This Way (song)

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"Born This Way"
Song

"Born This Way" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her second studio album of the same name. Released as the album's lead single on February 11, 2011,[3] the song was written by Lady Gaga and Jeppe Laursen[2], and it was produced by Gaga, Laursen, Fernando Garibay, and DJ White Shadow.[1]

"Born This Way" received generally positive reception from critics, being described as a "club-ready anthem", although it faced some criticism due to its similarities to other songs. It reached number one in 15 countries. In the United States, it became her third single to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Additionally, "Born This Way" is the 1000th number-one song on the Hot 100 and only the nineteenth to debut at number-one. It is the fastest-selling single in iTunes history, selling one million copies in five days.[4] Gaga first performed the song live at the 53rd Grammy Awards.

Background

While accepting the Video of the Year award (for "Bad Romance") at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga, after announcing her forthcoming album's title, sang a few lines from the song: "I'm beautiful in my way, 'cause God makes no mistakes; I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way."[5] As a Christmas "gift" to her fans,[6] at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day 2011, she announced that the forthcoming album and its first single would be released on May 23, 2011 and February 13, 2011 respectively. The song, however, was released on February 11, two days prior to its planned release.[7] Prior to its release in late January, Gaga released the full set of lyrics to "Born This Way" onto the Internet.[8]

On February 8, 2011, Gaga tweeted the French words "Trois Jours" ("Three Days") along with a picture of the official single artwork (via TwitPic, an online image host).[9] Described by Charlie Amter from The Hollywood Reporter as harkening back to the "classic record covers from the 1980s (think Missing Persons, Roxy Music or Duran Duran) or even the 1970s", a naked Gaga appears on the black-and-white cover art revealing her tattooed back while wearing heavy make-up with sharp edges bulging from her face and shoulder; her hair: air-blown.[9][10][11] Tanner Stransky from Entertainment Weekly gave a positive review of the cover art, saying that "it’s quite the doozy of a photo: Doesn’t Gaga look almost animalistic in this shot? It’s – dare I say the word, especially after Perez [Hilton] used it to describe the art, too – totally and completely fierce. And really, would you expect anything less? Gaga’s hair flows mane-like, and it almost seems like you might find the creature she’s channeling somewhere in the African jungle."[11] However, Archana Ram from the same publication felt that the cover art was too similar with that of Kylie Minogue's cover art for her 2007 single, "2 Hearts".[12] Nicole Eggenberger from OK! felt that "In true Gaga fashion, the singer styles some pointy shoulders, horns and lovely hairdo. If though it’s still on the wild side, it looks like Gaga also kept it glam with the makeup!"[7] Leah Collins from Dose believed that the extreme make-up and tattoos are an ironic play on the title of the song.[13] Bill Lamb from About.com opined that the "emphasis of cheekbones and angular lines in the makeup gives the image an androgynous feel somewhere between male and female. In that way it brings to mind the classic David Bowie Young Americans album cover." He added that a sense of vulnerability was added with the lack of clothes in the image.[14]

Reception

Critical response

Reviews of the song have been positive, though The Hollywood Reporter and TIME summarized the reaction as "mixed" initially after the song's release.[15][16] The Guardian wrote that the song "is a thumping, almost disco anthem that stomps along until the chorus crashes in with the weight of a discarded meat dress."[17] Rick Florino of Artistdirect gave the song 5 out of 5 stars and labeled the song as "an immediate pop classic," commenting that "no one can carry a hook like Lady Gaga, and the chorus on 'Born This Way' is nothing short of a monster."[18] People added that "the club-ready anthem, complete with a few A Capella chants and Italian lyrics, shows off Gaga's powerhouse vocal chords—and knack for powerful songwriting."[19] Billboard was also positive, commenting that the track "is an immediate dancefloor anthem that marries big beats with Gaga's powerful, distinctive vocals and in-your-face lyrics about race and sexuality."[20] Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the song five out of five stars, describing it as a "life-affirming equality anthem, a straight-up club pumper and a flat-out fantastic pop song."[21] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine also gave the song a positive review, adding "there's a sense [that] Gaga has tapped into something truly special, maybe even important. The song's message is certainly one that the world's youth needs to hear now more than ever. And I can't think of a better messenger."[22] Meghan Casserly of Forbes gave the song a positive review, commenting that "'Born This Way' had better be the biggest, best anthem ever written—it follows the recipe precisely. An anthem that speaks to every person on the planet."[23] Popjustice gave a positive review, and pointed out the influence of Madonna's "Deeper and Deeper," "Express Yourself" and "Vogue."[24] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone acknowledged the influences of Madonna but pointed out that they were not that prominent to overshadow the song, giving the song four stars out of five, and commenting that "'Born This Way' sums up all the complex Gaga mythos, all her politics and Catholic angst and smeared lipstick, in one brilliant pop blast. [The song is] an event, a statement, the most anticipatrended song in the history of recorded music, or at least since Britney’s 'Hold It Against Me'."[25] Rich Crosby, a Christian writer based in the UK, praised the song for its musical style but commented that, "In the words of Lady Gaga herself, ‘There’s nothing wrong with loving who you are, cause He made you perfect babe.’ Unfortunately that’s [God creating everyone perfect] just not true."[26]

Amplifier on Yahoo! Music, however, criticized "Born This Way," stating that the song was "overworked, overwrought, noisy, cheesy, and very, very derivative," specifically noting the similarities to "When Love Takes Over," "Waterfalls," and three of Madonna's songs: "Express Yourself," "Ray of Light," and "Vogue."[27] Annie Yuan of The Hollywood Reporter labeled the song "a hodge-podge of other pop tunes."[15] Kevin O'Donnell of Spin gave a mixed review, pointing out lyrical similarities to Michael Jackson's "Black or White" but going on to say that "based on all the hype surrounding the single, you'd think Gaga was releasing a song as epic and instantly classic as the Beatles' 'A Day in the Life' or Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' Imagine what she'd come up with if she'd spent more than ten minutes writing [the song]."[28]

Comparisons to "Express Yourself" and allegations of racism

Fans and critics alike noticed many similarities to Madonna's "Express Yourself".[29] While some reviewers surmised that the similarities would damage the song's appeal, others felt that “Born This Way” was nonetheless a completely separate piece of work. Neil McCormick of the Daily Telegraph noted that the imitative nature of the song would affect perceptions of Gaga's artistry, commenting that song was "[basically] a reworking of Madonna's 'Express Yourself' with a touch of 'Vogue,' which is a bit too much Madonna for someone who is trying to establish her own identity as the, er, new Madonna."[30] Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times, however, concluded that “Born This Way” had an entirely different message from the Madonna songs it was being compared to and further defended the song by saying, “Whether its sound comes too close to one or another Madonna song seems beside the point; what current pop hit doesn't go green by recycling something familiar?”[31] Similarly Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone dismissed the comparison and defended Lady Gaga in his review of the song by saying, “You can complain all you want about the tip of the leather cap to "Express Yourself," which was just Madonna’s knock-off of the Staple Singers’ ‘Respect Yourself.’”[32] Gaga herself further addressed the comparisons on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, explaining that she "got an e-mail from [Madonna's] people and her sending me their love and complete support on behalf of the single.” Gaga then proclaimed, “...if the Queen says it shall be, then it shall be.”[33] CNN later reported that Madonna's representative was "not aware that Madonna sent Gaga an e-mail."[34]

The song has garnered criticism from some claiming that the lyrics' use of the terms "chola," and "orient" to describe Latino and Asian communities is offensive and derogatory. In response to the lyrics, Robert Paul Reyes of Newsblaze.com stated that while he agreed with the lyrics' pro-gay stance, he questioned the use of the term "chola," asking: "Are Latinos supposed to be grateful that a white superstar, born of privilege, included a racist shout out to our community? Not all Latino ladies are 'cholas' in the barrio, some of them are teachers, writers, engineers and nurses and doctors."[35]

Chart performance

In the United States, "Born This Way" debuted at the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100, on the issue dated February 26, 2011. The song became her highest debut on the Billboard chart since "Bad Romance" debuted at number nine in October 2009. The song became the 1000th number-one single in the chart's history, and the nineteenth song to debut at number one. "Born This Way" became Lady Gaga's eighth consecutive top-ten single, first to debut at number one and third number-one single. The song sold 448,000 digital downloads in three days, the most downloads in a first week by a female artist. The record was previously held by Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me". It was also the third-highest debut on the Hot Digital Songs chart of any artist.[36] The single remained at number-one the following week, selling 509,000 copies in its first full week of release, becoming the first song to enter the Hot 100 at number-one and hold that position for a second week since Clay Aiken's "This Is The Night" in 2003.[37] It simultaneously became the first number-one debuting song on the Hot 100 Digital Songs chart to show an increase in downloads in its second week since Beyoncé Knowles' 2008 single, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)".[38] Subsequently the song has held the number one spot for four weeks making it the only song to debut at number one and stay there for a month since Aerosmith’s "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" in 1998, almost 13 years later.[39] "Born This Way" went onto break the record for fastest selling song in iTunes history, selling 1,000,000 copies worldwide in 5 days.[4] The song has sold over 1.474 million digital downloads according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Lady Gaga and her dancers performing "Born This Way" for the first time at "The Monster Ball Tour", in February 2011, Atlantic City.

The song debuted at number fourteen on Billboard's Pop Songs chart with 4,602 plays after three days of availability, the highest detections total by a debuting song in the chart's history. It was the second-highest debut on that chart, behind Mariah Carey's "Dreamlover" (1993) which debuted at number twelve.[40] The following week the song broke into the top-ten at number six, becoming the eighth song to reach the top-ten in two weeks.[41] It has so far peaked at number-four. In addition, the song broke the overall airplay debut record with a first week audience of 78.5 million debuting at number six on the Radio Songs chart; this feat surpassed Janet Jackson's "All for You" (2001) which debuted at number nine with 70 million spins.[36] It has since, peaked at number-four. When asked by Billboard about having the 1000th Hot 100 number one, Gaga called it "the greatest honor of my career."[36] "Born This Way" took the first position in its debut week also in Canada.[42] Since than, "Born This Way" have been atop of the chart for a complete month (four weeks), to date.

On February 20, 2011, the single debuted number one in Australia on the official ARIA Singles Chart, becoming Gaga's third number-one single there. "Born This Way" was certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipment of 70,000 copies of the single.[43] Australia's TMN Hot 100 Airplay Chart saw "Born This Way" rise to number one in two weeks, faster than any other international single on record.[44] Though, the song felt off the first position later, to Rihanna's single "S&M". The single also debuted at number one on the New Zealand RIANZ charts, becoming Gaga's second number-one single there after "Poker Face" (2008).[45] and remained at number-one the following week, being certified gold in the second week of sales. In the UK Singles Chart the song peaked at number 3 after just 36 hours of availability. When the official chart was published, "Born This Way" logged first week sales of 60,000 digital copies, landing it at number three behind Jessie J's "Price Tag" and Chipmunk's "Champion" featuring Chris Brown. The next week if dropped off the top five, at number-eight.[46]

Elsewhere in Europe, the song debuted atop of the charts in Spain,[47] Finland,[48] Ireland,[49] Switzerland and the Netherlands.[50] "Born This Way" debuted at number two in the Italian Singles Chart.[51] The song had also opened at number two in the French Singles Chart,[52] Swedish Singles Chart,[53] VG-lista (Norway),[54] Austria, Germany and in the Belgian Ultratop 50.[55] In addition, it debuted at number-four in Denmark and then moved to the second spot[56] and at number ten in Slovakia (the highest debut in that country of all time), peaking, so far, at number-three.[57] Moreover, it entered the charts in Czech Republic and Hungary (becoming a top twenty there) and peaked at number-one in South Korea, being the fourth international song to reach the top since the chart was introduced.[58]

In the second week after its release, "Born This Way" entered the U.S. Billboard's Adult Top 40 at number sixteen (peaking at #11), Adult Contemporary chart at number thirty (peaking at #27),[59] Hot Dance Club Songs at number forty-nine (peaking at #13) and Latin Pop Airplay at number twenty-four.[59] The single made its debut on the Japan Hot 100 at number-four and then it felt three positions.[59]

Music video

Development and release

The video was shot the weekend of January 22–24, 2011, and is described to be a "profound, so inspiring and so incredibly beautiful" music video.[60] The video was directed by Nick Knight.[61] Make up artist Billy Brasfield, who works with Gaga on all of her videos, described the clip as “the most amazing thing ever," and cried upon his first view.[60] The music video was released on Monday, February 28 at 11:00 am EST (4:00 p.m UTC) on Vevo.

In an interview with Billboard, Gaga described the video saying, "It . . . looks completely different than everything I've ever done [...] it is the birth of the new race. Really deep stuff."[62]

A second music video featuring an acoustic version of the song will be released on iTunes at a later date. The proceeds generated by it will go to anti-bully organizations.[63]

Synopsis

File:LadyGagaBornThisWay.JPG
Lady Gaga as "Mother Monster" in the video's prologue, the mother of a new race which is born without prejudice.

The video begins with a brief shot of a unicorn's silhouette in a steamy alley, inside a pink triangle frame. The triangle transitions to a shot of Lady Gaga sitting in an ornate glass throne amidst a star-filled space. Bernard Herrmann’s prelude to the movie Vertigo plays while Gaga declares, "This is the manifesto of Mother Monster," and she begins telling the prologue of the video—a story of the creation of an extraterrestrial race which "bears no prejudice, no judgment, but boundless freedom." Gaga is shown sitting in the throne above a planet, with her legs spread apart, giving birth to a "new race within the race of humanity." But as she continues, Gaga explains that on the same day the new race was born, evil was also born. As a result of the birth of evil, Gaga is split in half while being pulled between the two opposing forces of good and evil. Her new half gives birth to an assault rifle and begins to fire it. The prologue concludes with Gaga questioning, "How can I protect something so perfect, without evil?"

As the song begins, numerous people are shown on their hands and knees in a motionless, organized pattern in a seemingly endless black space. Gaga appears in a black bra and underwear with shoulder and facial protrusions. She begins walking in an eccentric manner amongst them with raised "paw", before contently nodding her head and crouching on her hands and knees to join them. When the first verse begins, everyone raises their heads and begins dancing to elaborate choreography. The scenes alternate between Gaga and her dancers and Gaga singing on her throne in space. As the second verse begins, Gaga and model Rick Genest (Zombie Boy) are both shown wearing tuxedos, with her face painted to mirror his full-body zombie tattoos. Alternating clips show Gaga caressing and attempting to dance with Genest while he stays expressionless and motionless for the most part. When the chorus plays for the second time, Gaga sings in a room of mirrors, while her head is displayed in a glass box among several oddly distorted mannequin heads. In the succeeding shots, she is once again shown on her throne giving birth to more members of the new race. Several more choreographed routines are performed by Gaga and her dancers, and when the song ends, they all gather in a circle and embrace in a hug.

In the video's conclusion, a person's silhouette dances and struts in an alley, a tribute to Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" video.[64] The silhouette is revealed to be Gaga, though her face is drastically misconstrued, with sharp horns protruding from her face, glowing eyes, uneven hair, and a distinct gap between her front teeth; some considered the presence of the gap as a tribute to Madonna.[65] She sheds a single tear while still looking blissful nonetheless. The pink triangle frame appears again, and inside it, a silhouette of Gaga sitting atop the sparkling unicorn seen at the beginning of the video is shown. A city is seen in the background and a rainbow appears above her and the unicorn. The final shot is a closeup of Gaga in her zombie makeup, chewing bubble gum and blowing a bubble, and the pink triangle zooms away.

Reception

The music video has received universal acclaim from fans and critics alike. James Montgomery of MTV praised the overall concept of the music video. In a review, he went on to write, ""Born This Way" [...] is quite the spectacle. Part space odyssey, part creationist yarn, it involves the formation of not just an entirely new universe, but an entirely new race of humanity, too. It sort of makes sense, it sort of doesn't, but that 100 percent doesn't really matter much. This is Gaga at her most fabulous, her most out-there, her most, well, Gaga."[66] In conclusion of his review, he wrote, "It's part fantasy, part hopeful reality. It's about the future and the past [...], but really, all of that pales in comparison to the sheer spectacle of the thing. And that sort of makes sense, because after thoroughly dominating this world, with "Born This Way," Lady Gaga seems content to create brand-new worlds to tower over. Welcome your new overlord.[66] Myrddin Gwynedd of the New Zealand Herald said that Gaga "takes her penchant for eccentric and provocative imagery to the extreme in the video for her new single".[67] Entertainment Weekly also praised the video: "From sexy in lingerie to morbid in tuxedos, Gaga and her dancers give a dazzling performance in this new video".[68] Billboard said that the video bares similarities to Madonna's "Vogue" and "Borderline", while saying that the video "is more of a high-fashion short film than a conventional music video".[69] The video has been noted for its cultural references and artistic similarities, not only to other recording artists such as Michael Jackson and Madonna, but to Greek mythology, surrealism and the work of the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen.[70][71]

Live performances and cover versions

Lady Gaga performing "Born This Way" on tour for the first time at "The Monster Ball Tour", in February 2011, Atlantic City.

On February 9, 2011, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, DeGeneres alongside singers Justin Bieber and James Blunt performed their own rendition of the song, improvising the music, while singing the chorus from the song.[72] Also, she confirmed an upcoming performance via telephone with Ellen DeGeneres on her show, that she will perform it on there sometime in the near future.[73][74]

Gaga performed "Born This Way" for the first time at the 53rd Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011. She arrived at the awards ceremony in a giant incubating vessel that was carried onto the red carpet by numerous fashion models. She later emerged from another bigger egg on stage,[75] symbolizing the full growth of the embryo and the arrival of the time of birth. The "Born This Way" performance was introduced by Ricky Martin. In the first seconds, Lady Gaga broke the "egg" after performing the intro of the song ("It doesn't matter if you love Him, or capital H-I-M"), her emergence from the incubator symbolizing her 'rebirth.' She was dressed in a translucent yellow raincoat and hat which she quickly shed to reveal matching translucent yellow bra and full-length skirt. Before the "No matter gay, straight or bi" line of the song, Gaga incorporated a short improvisation based upon the famous organ music Toccata and Fugue, commonly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. During this part of the performance, Lady Gaga whipped her hair in a manner similar to Willow Smith. In an interview with Jay Leno Gaga confirmed Smith was, indeed, her inspiration.[76][77] Throughout the performance, Gaga sported four flesh-colored protrusions on her cheeks and forehead in addition to one on each of her shoulders.

At the February 19, 2011 date of The Monster Ball Tour, after hinting to the crowd during "Bad Romance" ("You better not leave when this song is done, there may be a surprise") Gaga performed the song as a second encore using the same general attire and choreography as the Grammy performance, however the incubation vessel was not present and slight alterations were made in the outfits of her dancers.[78] The track was then added to the set-list of the concert tour.[79]

On March 3, during her concert in Toronto, Canada, she performed a stripped version of the song along with 10-year-old Maria Aragon, who impressed Gaga after posting a video of her singing "Born This Way".[80] The song was also covered by fellow singer Katy Perry, on the March 7 date of her California Dreams Tour, in Paris.[81]

Track listing

Personnel

Source:[85]

Charts and certifications

Radio and release history

Country Date Format
United States[103] February 11, 2011 Mainstream, rhythmic airplay
Australia[104] March 4, 2011 CD single
Germany[105] March 11, 2011
United Kingdom[106] March 14, 2011
Greece[107]
United States[108] March 15, 2011
Japan[109] March 16, 2011

See also

References

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