Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” first YouTube video to hit 200 million views

Bad Romance Lady Gaga

Writer(s): Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga), Nadir “RedOne” Khayat (see lyrics here) Released: October 26, 2009 First Charted: October 25, 2009 Peak: 2 US, 12 RR, 20 AC, 4 A40, 12 UK, 15 CN, 2 AU, 10 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 5.9 US, 1.2 UK, 13.26 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.5 radio, 1852.87 video, 1173.77 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Lady Gaga followed her hugely successful debut The Fame (which produced #1 songs “Just Dance” and “Poker Face”) with 2009’s The Fame Monster. Despite having enough songs (8) to be considered a new album, it was originally packaged as an extended version of The Fame and later as a separate EP. Whatever the new product was called, it was promoted with four singles, the first of which was “Bad Romance.” The song, “which is imbued with elements of German-esque house and techno,” WK was a collaboration with RedOne, with whom she also co-wrote “Just Dance” and “Poker Face.” The lyrics explore the idea of being attracted to people with whom romance never works. She references several Alfred Hitchcock films, explaining that “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.” WK Rolling Stone called it “the best song in Gaga’s discography” and noted that the song was simultaneously joyful and melancholy. WK USA Today’s Edna Gundersen called it “a ferocious club thumper.” WK Billboard’s Monica Herrera said it wasn’t as catchy as previous Gaga efforts, but had “wicked sex appeal.” WK “Bad Romance” topped the charts in over 20 countries WK and was the top-selling single of 2010 in Europe. SF It was also the most-played song in the UK in 2010 SF and earned Grammys for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video. It also won MTV’s Video of the Year award and Billboard magazine readers voted it the best video of the 2000s. WK The video finds Gaga kidnapped and sold as a sex slave. In the end, she incinerates the man who buys her. WK On May 9, 2010, it became the first YouTube video to reach 200 million views. WK It surpassed one billion views by the end of 2018. WK Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 4/11/2024.

Lady Gaga hit #1 with “Poker Face”

Poker Face Lady Gaga

Writer(s):Stefani Germanotta/ Nadir “RedOne” Khayat (see lyrics here) Released: September 23, 2008 First Charted: November 17, 2008 Peak: 11 US, 15 RR, 12 A40, 75 RB, 13 UK, 19 CN, 18 AU, 10 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 1.8 UK, 28.5 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.5 radio, 1367.70 video, 1216.46 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: As her follow-up single to the #1 “Just Dance,” Lady Gaga had her work cut out for her with “Poker Face.” With lyrics about gambling and her own experiences with bisexuality, she wasn’t exactly going for the most radio-friendly theme either. She told Fashionista 101 that the song was about “playing with guys as if she was a poker player.” SF As she said to an audience at an April 11, 2009, performance in Palm Springs, California, the song was about being “with a man but fantasizing about a woman, hence the man in the song needs to read her ‘Poker Face’ to understand what is going through her mind.” WK No worries, though – the song not only followed “Just Dance” to the top of the U.S. charts, but peaked at #1 in sixteen other countries as well. WK It made Gaga the first artist to top the U.S. charts with her first two entries since Christina Aguilera did it nearly a decade earlier WK with “Genie in a Bottle” and “What a Girl Wants.” It became “the song with which she placed her stamp on the waning months of the decade.” LR Producer RedOne, with whom Gaga wrote “Poker Face” and “Just Dance,” told Billboard magazine how the two clicked immediately. “We’re not overthinking. We just do what we feel right.. Before you know it the song is pretty much done…We wrote ‘Just Dance’ in one hour. Done. ‘Poker Face’? One hour. It just happened. Magic.” SF Both songs sold 4 million downloads in the U.S., making her the first artist in digital history to do so. WK The songs have gone on to sell six million each. Another 900,000 downloads in the U.K. also made “Face” the most downloaded song in Britain since they introduced the download chart in 2004. WK Resources: LR LowResolution.blogspot.com (1/4/2010). “Retrospecticus: 100 Favorite Songs of the Decade” SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 3/15/2020; last updated 4/11/2024.

Lady Gaga hit #1 with “Just Dance”

Just Dance Lady Gaga with Colby O’Donis

Writer(s): Lady Gaga, Nadir "RedOne" Khayat, Aliaune "Akon" Thiam (see lyrics here) Released: April 8, 2008 First Charted: August 16, 2008 Peak: 13 US, 14 DG, 11 RR, 28 AC, 7 A40, 72 RB, 13 UK, 15 CN, 11 AU, 12 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 11.0 US, 1.2 UK, 19.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.5 radio, 251.08 video, 625.05 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Lady Gaga’s music and persona wasn’t new. A quarter century earlier, Madonna established herself as the Queen of dance pop, fueled by a revolving-door sense of fashion and overt sexuality capable of drawing controversy like a lightning rod. However, when “Just Dance” emerged on the scene, it was clear the world was ready for a new queen. Critics praised the song as a synth-pop club anthem WK “with an irresistible hook and a sly lyric.” MX RedOne, the co-writer and producer of “Just Dance,” said the song “was essentially a rock track but with synths instead of guitars. Big drums. The vocals were the melody, with a simple chorus.” SF Stefani Germanotta (who took her stage name from the Queen song “Radio Ga Ga”) SF said “That record saved my life. I was in such a dark space in New York. I was so depressed, always in a bar. I got on a plane to LA to do my music..I never went back.” WK She was hung-over when she wrote it in about ten minutes with RedOne during her first time in a Hollywood studio. WK She sings about getting drunk and disoriented at a night club, but that everything will be okay if she just dances. SF The song took 22 weeks to ascend to the top in the U.S., the longest trip since Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open” hit #1 in November 2000 in its 27th week on the charts. SF The song also hit #1 in Australia, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. WK It was a top five hit in the Czech Republic, Hungary, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Spain, and Sweden. WK Resources: MX Atlanta Metromix (11/24/09) Best songs of the decade SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 4/24/2023.