Alexander Rodriguez, Senior
Ten years ago today on October 23rd, 2009, Lady Gaga released one of her biggest hits, Bad Romance.
Bad Romance was released as the lead single from Lady Gaga’s sophomore effort, The Fame Monster. Within a month of its release, the song peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Lady Gaga her second top five hit of her career. This song would become one of the biggest as well as most memorable songs of the 2000’s. The success of Bad Romance is attributed to the talents of Lady Gaga along with her producers; the momentum that she had built up during her The Fame era, along with her big promotion, helped to propel this song to its massive success. Despite not hitting the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, the song’s longevity as well as its unique sound have allowed it to be remembered highly and favorably.
Lady Gaga began working on Bad Romance during the summer of 2009 after her concert in Russia as part of her “The Fame Ball Tour.” She worked on the song mainly with producer Red One. Recording for the song took place in Amsterdam as well as Los Angeles. The song is about loving someone so much that you want everything about them, even the things that are bad. The second verse lists Alfred Hitchcock films, and the song contains a sample of Ballanation by DJ Dean.
Bad Romance hit the music industry in a very different way than her previous hits. At the time of the songs release, it sounded very different from a large majority of other pop songs, which allowed it to stand out. With the music video that would debut a few weeks later, a new concept was introduced into pop culture involving a more heavy collaboration between fashion and music. Other elements of its impact includes a cover on Glee, one by Linda Perry, as well as one by Meryl Streep for Ricki and the Flash.