Bad Romance
Encyclopedia
"Bad Romance" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga
. It was released as the lead single
from her third extended play
(EP), and second major release The Fame Monster
(2009). Written by Lady Gaga and produced by RedOne
, the track was inspired by Gaga's fear of negative love relationships and the paranoia
that she experienced while touring the globe from 2008 to 2009. Following a demo leak, Gaga premiered the finished version at Alexander McQueen
's show at the Paris Fashion Week
in October 2009, followed by the release of the single's cover art. Musically, "Bad Romance" features a spoken bridge
, a full-throated chorus
and sung lyrics that concern the situation of being in love with one's best friend. The song, containing elements of the music from the 1980s and the 1990s and influences of German house-techno music, has been described by Gaga as a pop experimental record.
"Bad Romance" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
, Irish Singles Chart
, Canadian Hot 100
and the Swedish, German, Austrian and Danish charts, also peaking at number two in countries such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the song has sold 9.7 million copies worldwide in 2010. "Bad Romance" was praised by most critics, who compared it to Gaga's second single, "Poker Face
". It was also ranked the ninth best song by Rolling Stone
in their list of the "25 Best Songs of 2009" and received the Grammy Award
for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
.
The accompanying music video features Gaga inside a surreal white bathhouse
. There, she gets kidnapped by a group of supermodels who drug her and sell her to the Russian mafia
for sexual slavery
. The music video ends with Gaga killing the man who bought her. The video received positive responses for its artistic treatment and visual imagery; critics complimented its provocative and symbolic plot. It was nominated for ten awards at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards
, eventually winning seven of those, including the Video of the Year
. The video also won a Grammy
for Best Short Form Music Video
. Gaga has performed "Bad Romance" on television shows, including Saturday Night Live
and Gossip Girl
as well as award shows such as the 2009 American Music Awards
. It was the closing song of Gaga's The Monster Ball Tour
, during which, she performed it while standing inside a giant gyroscope.
, Gaga's follow-up to her debut album The Fame
. Before its official release, a demo version of the song was published illegally on the internet, prompting Gaga to comment via Twitter
, "leaked next single is makin my ears bleed. Wait till you hear the real version." She had initially performed a brief portion of the song on Saturday Night Live
on October 3, 2009, along with "Poker Face
" and "LoveGame
". The actual version of "Bad Romance" was premiered during the finale of fashion designer Alexander McQueen
's 2010 Paris Fashion Week
show, followed by the song being released on October 19, 2009. Gaga explained that "Bad Romance" was one of the songs she wrote in 2008 while touring. The songs composed during that time are about the various "monsters" (paranoia
s) she faced during the tour. One of them was the "love monster" and the inspiration for "Bad Romance". Gaga explained that she generally felt lonely when she was in relationships, and concluded that she gets drawn to men with whom the romance never works out. Hence "Bad Romance" was the song that detailed whether she preferred such lonely relationships, or it was her wrong choice in men. In Grazia
magazine, Gaga further detailed her inspiration,
The cover art was released on October 15, 2009, and shows Gaga in a red dress, with her face down and covered by the dress fabric. 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".
in Los Angeles and FC Walvisch Recording Media Studios at Amsterdam. According to Gil Kauffman from MTV
, "Bad Romance" is similar in tempo
to Gaga's previous single "Poker Face
". The song opens with Gaga singing a portion of the chorus
, then transitioning into the "Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah, Roma-roma-mah, Gaga-ooh-la-la" hook
. It is followed by the sound of drum beats and the sound of keyboards
. After the first verse, the prechorus
follows, with Gaga voicing the line "You know that I want you, And you know that I need you, I want your bad, your bad romance". The full-throated chorus then follows, where she sings "I want your love, And I want your revenge, You and me could write a bad romance [...] Caught in a bad romance". During the interlude, Gaga sings the verses from the chorus in French: "Je veux ton amour, Et je veux ta revanche, Je veux ton amour".
At About.com
, Bill Lamb writes that the music is well suited for playing at fashion designer shows and on the runway
. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine
said that the music consists of New Wave
synths and a number of endless hooks. Simon Price from The Independent
felt that the chorus has influences of the music of Boney M
while The Guardian
reviewer Kitty Price wrote that "Bad Romance" recalled the music of Depeche Mode
's 1986 album, Black Celebration
. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing
, "Bad Romance" is set in common time
with a metronome of 119 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A minor
with Gaga's vocal range spanning from the low-note of E3 to the high-note of A5. The song follows in the chord progression
of Am–C–F–C–G in the verses and F–G–Am–C–F–G–E–Am in the chorus.
The lyrics address aspects of a bad relationship but also discuss fashion in the line "Walk, walk fashion baby, Work it move that bitch crazy." In an interview, Gaga pointed out that she was listing Alfred Hitchcock
films in the verse, "I want your psycho, your vertigo
shtick, Want you in my rear window
, Baby, you're sick." She said, "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."
called it the greatest Lady Gaga song ever, praising the song's catchy chorus and "pummeling club beat power a song that's grand and tawdry and joyful and melancholy". Lamb listed the song as one of the top tracks from The Fame Monster, and 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." Gil Kaufman from MTV
described 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". Other critics also found references to music from the 1980s. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine
characterized the song as one of the album's highlights and explained that "if melodies could be time-stamped, [this] would have '80s branded on [its ass]". Kitty Empire of The Guardian
wrote that singles like "Bad Romance" make Gaga more comparable with Madonna
.
Referring to her emerging popularity, Jon Dolan from Rolling Stone said that "'Bad Romance' makes [Gaga's] name a Teutonic chant". Christopher John Farley from The Wall Street Journal
praised the catchiness of the hook of "Bad Romance", and Michael Hubbard from MusicOMH
felt that the chorus of the song is Gaga's best yet. Pitchfork Media
placed "Bad Romance" at number 39 in its top 100 tracks of 2009, saying it was "epic in construction". The dark nature of the music was noted by Simon Price in The Independent
, who said that the first line of the song "I want your ugly, I want your disease" set the tone for the Gothic nature of The Fame Monster. Likewise, Edna Gundersen
of USA Today
commented that "Synth-powered 'Bad Romance' is a ferocious club thumper with a sordid underbelly". The Boston Public Health Commission
rated "Bad Romance" as number 10 on its list of "Top 10 List of Songs with Unhealthy Relationship Ingredients".
Mikale Wood of Los Angeles Times
called the song "Europoppy", and at the BBC
, Paul Lester stated the song as "cheesy", while comparing it to the music of Andy Warhol
. Monica Herrera from Billboard stated that "Bad Romance" was not as catchy as Gaga's previous songs, but it had "wicked" sex appeal. Jon Blistein from L Magazine
wrote about the organization of the song. He felt that "'Bad Romance' revels in the nightmare it tries to create with Hitchcock references and somber vocals," but the song lacked cohesion. Blistein called it an amalgamation of Cher
song, faux-European accented verses, power disco chorus and a bland spoken-word bridge. Daniel Kreps from Rolling Stone
, while writing about the song's initial leak, felt that the song was comparable to "Poker Face" and was not on par with her other singles. Rolling Stone also ranked the song at number nine on its list of the "25 Best Songs of 2009". On February 13, 2011, the single won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
.
on November 14, 2009, making it Gaga's highest debuting song on the chart until then. It sold 142,000 paid digital downloads
in its first week. After two weeks the song moved from number eleven to number two, which became its peak. The movement was spurred by 49 percent digital gain, thus pushing the song to the top of the Hot Digital Songs
chart selling 209,000 copies. "Bad Romance" became her second highest peaking song on the Hot 100, behind "Just Dance" and "Poker Face
". The song was certified four-times platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA), for shipment of a four million copies of the single. The song has sold over 4,939,000 paid digital downloads in the United States to date according to Nielsen Soundscan
, making Gaga the first artist in digital history to have three singles—along with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face"—pass the four million mark in digital sales. "Bad Romance" debuted on the Pop Songs chart at number 38 and moved to the number one position, making it Gaga's fifth consecutive number one single on the chart. The same week it also topped the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. According to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems
, "Bad Romance" set the record for most weekly plays in the 17-year history of the Pop Songs chart, registering 10,859 plays from 130 radio stations monitored for the chart. The record was later broken by Kesha
, with her song "Tik Tok".
The song debuted on the ARIA Charts
of Australia at number 16, and at number 33 on the New Zealand RIANZ
charts. The next week, "Bad Romance" was the greatest gainer on the ARIA charts and moved to position three. On its seventh week on the chart, the song reached a new peak of two in Australia, and a peak of three in New Zealand. The song was certified four-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA) for shipment of 280,000 copies of the single. On October 29, 2009, "Bad Romance" debuted on the Irish Singles Chart
at number 20; it reached the top in its seventh week. On the Canadian Hot 100
, "Bad Romance" debuted at number 58. The following week it reached number one, making it the third song by Gaga to top the Canadian chart. After being replaced by "Tik Tok" for two weeks, "Bad Romance" again claimed the top spot on the chart. The Canadian Recording Industry Association
(CRIA) certified "Bad Romance" seven-times platinum, for shipment of 280,000 copies of the single.
After its release in the United Kingdom, "Bad Romance" debuted at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart
. In December 2009, the song reached the top spot, making it Gaga's third UK number one single. She became the first female in British chart history to have three number one singles in one year. Two weeks later, in the first week of 2010, "Bad Romance" returned to the number one spot, making her only the second female artist of the 21st century to have two separate runs at the top spot. "Bad Romance" was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry
(BPI) for shipment of 400,000 copies of the single. In Sweden, the song debuted at number three and after two weeks, reached the top of the chart. Across Europe the song debuted on the main charts of Austria, Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland
(to be on top 50 for 65 weeks from late 2009 to early 2011), Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. The song debuted on the European Hot 100 Singles
at number 40 and on January 23, 2010, "Bad Romance" topped the chart, remaining there for two weeks. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the song has sold 9.7 million copies across the world in 2010.
, Gaga confirmed that film director Francis Lawrence
had directed the music video for "Bad Romance", and that she was impressed with the final version. She explained, "I knew [Lawrence's] ability as a director is so much higher than what I could [do]." Her creative team Haus of Gaga managed the art direction, and the final video premiered on November 10, 2009. Gaga described her experience of working with Lawrence:
The concept of the music video was a joint collaboration between Gaga and Lawrence. Originally, the video was going to be shot in New York City
, with more elaborate sets, including ones outdoors. The idea was scrapped, however, due to budgetary issues, as the budget for the video was low and there was no product placement. Because of Gaga's schedule, the video was shot in Los Angeles
over a two-day period. Lawrence described Gaga's work ethic and creativity during the video shoot:
Gaga created a pair of razor-blade sunglasses—which she believed portrayed tough female spirit—to wear in the video, explaining "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 spirit 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.' The white latex suits in the video were inspired by the wolf costume from the film Where the Wild Things Are
. Gaga also wore designer Alexander McQueen
's 12 inches (304.8 mm) high shoes and the famous "Alien" shoes.
for a million ruble
s. It takes place in a fluorescent white bathhouse. The video begins with Gaga sitting on a white throne in a brightly lit white room. The scene shows her wearing the razor blade glasses and surrounded by people and a harlequin Great Dane
. She has her finger on the mute button of an iPod
speaker, and as she releases it, "Bad Romance" begins to play and a dimly lit bath house is shown. A bright light pans across the walls, activating fluorescent lighting, that shines through a sign reading "Bath Haus of GaGa". As the first hook of the song begins, a group of female dancers wearing white long-sleeved leotards with knee high boots and matching crowns crawl out of white, coffin
-like pods. The center pod has "Mons†er" written on it, and Gaga emerges wearing a similar outfit to the others, who begin to dance behind her. A pastiche of following scenes alternates between Gaga singing to herself in front of a mirror and lying in a bathtub.
When the chorus of the song begins, two women pull Gaga out of the bathtub, rip her clothes off and force her to drink a glass of vodka
. As the second verse begins, Gaga, wearing a diamond-covered outfit topped with a crown, seductively dances for a group of men bidding for her
. She straddles one of the men, played by Slovenian model Jurij Bradač
, and performs a lap dance
for him. Afterwards, the man raises his bid and becomes the highest bidder for her. When the chorus is played for the third time, Gaga is shown wearing a faux polar bear
hide jacket. She walks towards the man, who is sitting on a bed and unbuttoning his shirt, while drinking a glass of vodka. 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 and Gaga sinisterly sings in front of the flames. The video ends with her lying beside a smoldering skeleton, on top of the destroyed bed, covered in ashes. With soot smeared across her body, she calmly smokes a cigarette, while her pyrotechnic
bra activates.
called the video "amazing." He said, "I don't think Gaga has ever looked prettier than in the close-ups where she's more stripped down." Jennifer Cady of E!
was also impressed 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." Issie Lapowsky of New York Daily News
thought Gaga laid the "theatrics on thick" in the video and complimented Gaga without makeup, calling it "refreshingly normal." Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times
said the video brought back his faith in performance art and "Gaga brings enough of it [drama] on her own, thank you very much." He also thought the set for the video was "worthy of a feature-length film." Daniel Kreps from Rolling Stone felt that the scenes from the music video were reminiscent of the work of Stanley Kubrick
. He added that in "Bad Romance" Gaga portrays her craziest ideas yet. Jocelyn Vena from MTV believed that the video was symbolic and portrayed that "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." She further believed that the video was a testament to Gaga's brilliance "as an artist that uses the video art form as the jump-off point for the next leg of their career." In 2011, Claire Suddath of Time
said that although later Gaga videos were more elaborate, "Bad Romance" was Gaga at her best. In Lady Gaga: Behind the Fame, Emily Herbert drew comparisons between the underlying theme of the video and the theme of The Fame Monster: the relationship with fame. "Was this the price that Gaga had to pay for the fame she so desired? Did she feel as if she'd had to prostitute herself in some way? The themes were all based around sex, decadence, and corruption; alcohol and even cigarettes, twenty-first century society's biggest no-no, were present, and so by implication, [...] drugs."
The Wall Street Journal
noted Gaga as one of the few pop stars of present time, who really understood spectacle, fashion, shock, choreography—all the things Madonna and Michael Jackson
were masters of in the 1980s. 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." In 2011, "Bad Romance" was voted the best video of the 2000s by readers of Billboard
, narrowly beating Britney Spears
's "Toxic
." Time Magazine also included "Bad Romance" on its list of the best music videos since the 1980s.
compared some of the dance choreography of the video with the music video of "Thriller
" Issie Lapowsky from New York Daily News compared the pods in the video to coffins and called the dance "zombie-like". Gaga "[stole] a page from Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video," she said. Los Angeles Times said the video had some "twitchy, 'Thriller'-like dance moves." The Wall Street Journal compared the shock art of "Bad Romance" to the shock art of Michael Jackson during the 1980s. Evan Sawdey of PopMatters also compared the video to "Thriller", but was not sure whether the homage was intentional by Gaga or "just another excuse for Gaga to wear the mostweirdass outfits ever designed by mankind".
in the categories of Best Cinematography
, Best Editing
, Best Art Direction
, Best Special Effects
, Best Choreography
, Best Direction
, Best Dance Video
, Best Pop Video
, Best Female Video
, and Video of the Year, tied with Peter Gabriel
's song "Sledgehammer
" for the record for most nominations for a single video in the history of MTV Video Music Award. It went on to win seven of the categories. The video also won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video
.
on October 3, 2009. Gaga wore a complex outfit called "The Orb", designed by Nasir Mazhar and her production group "Haus of Gaga". 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". She performed the song on the TV show Gossip Girl
episode "The Last Days of Disco Stick
". The performance took place at a private show arranged by the character Blair Waldorf
. In an interview with MTV, Gaga explained that the decision to perform on the show was inspired by her sister. She stated that she did not want the performance to be out-of-tune with the storyline of the show, so she worked with the script-writers to incorporate it into the plot. The performance included many ladders, symbolizing bad luck; it featured Gaga wearing a 35 feet (10.7 m) long dress. According to the show's executive producer Stephanie Savage, the song incorporated a few Gossip Girl specific lyrics. The performance began with her emerging from two giant doors in a large red gown. She climbed up a ladder, from where she sang parts of the song. Her male dancers danced around the ladder as she continued to sing.
"Bad Romance" was also performed at the 2009 American Music Awards
, where she coupled it with "Speechless
", from The Fame Monster. Gaga was dressed in a flesh colored bodysuit wrapped with white piping, and embedded with flashing lights, imitating ribs
and spine
. The performance started with "Bad Romance" and Gaga dancing around the stage, ultimately breaking open a glass door with the microphone stand. It was performed on The Jay Leno Show
where Gaga wore a pair of black sunglasses and a black jacket with shoulder pads that extended above her head. Her male backup dancers were dressed in black suits and S&M inspired headgear. Both "Bad Romance" and "Speechless" were performed at The Ellen DeGeneres Show
on November 25, 2009. Gaga performed "Bad Romance" on the British TV show The X Factor
on December 6, 2009. The performance had her singing inside a four meter long bath tub as well as playing the piano while sitting on a toilet. "Bad Romance" was performed as the last song of Gaga's The Monster Ball Tour
. She performed the song in an '80s-inspired white power suit with exaggerated high shoulders and highwaisted pants. The performance was done while standing in a human sized gyroscope. On January 15, 2010, Gaga performed "Bad Romance" as part of a three song medley on The Oprah Winfrey Show
. Gaga was dressed in a metallic jacket and had spikes in her hair. She carried a spiked ball dangling from a chain in her hand. "Bad Romance" was also performed at NBC's Today Show, along with "Alejandro
", "Teeth" and her later, 2011 single release called "You and I". In May 2011, Gaga performed the song during Radio 1's Big Weekend in Carlisle, Cumbria. She also performed the song on Good Morning America
as a part of their "Summer Concert Series". It was the opening song of the show and Gaga entered the stage, flying on a harness, and stretching out her hands towards the audience as steam billowed from the center-stage. Once she reached the song started and Gaga's dancers removed the white cape she was wearing, to reveal her in red fishnet stockings with black felt pieces, a red leotard and black lace boots.
from Nightwish
covered the song on the Finnish choir singing TV show Kuorosota. Hayley Williams
, the lead singer from the band Paramore
covered a piano version of the song and posted it on her Twitter on March 28, 2010. On March 29, 2010, 30 Seconds to Mars
covered the song in BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge
. Glee
performed it on one of the episodes titled "Theatricality
"; it was a group number for which the actors donned Lady Gaga outfits. When glee club New Directions member Rachel Berry
discovers that rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline are planning on performing a Lady Gaga number at Regionals, the character Will
(Matthew Morrison
) sets the club a Gaga assignment. The girls and Kurt
then create costumes inspired by Gaga and perform "Bad Romance". The version sold 48,000 digital downloads according to Nielsen Soundscan
, and entered the Billboard Hot 100 at 54, staying on the chart for one week. Pop group Evil Adam covered the song and made it available to stream and download. Lissie
posted a cover of the song on YouTube
. Her version of "Bad Romance" received praise from filmmaker David Lynch
and The Washington Post
writer David Malitz, who included it on "Click Track – Singles Files", the paper's weekly playlist. Singer Lulu
and actor Cuba Gooding, Jr.
performed a version of "Bad Romance" as a duet on the August 5, 2011, episode of Channel 4
's Chris Moyles' Quiz Night
.
Credits adapted from The Fame Monster album liner notes.
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better 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...
. It was released as the lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...
from her third extended play
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
(EP), and second major release The Fame Monster
The Fame Monster
The Fame Monster is the third EP by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released on November 18, 2009 through Interscope Records. Initially planned to be included on a re-release of Gaga's debut studio album, The Fame, she announced that the eight tracks would be included on a standalone...
(2009). Written by Lady Gaga and produced by RedOne
RedOne
Nadir Khayat , known by the stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan producer and songwriter. Renowned for co-producing hit singles such as "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "LoveGame", "Bad Romance", "Alejandro" and "Judas", he is attributed by some as the key to Lady Gaga's success...
, the track was inspired by Gaga's fear of negative love relationships and the paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
that she experienced while touring the globe from 2008 to 2009. Following a demo leak, Gaga premiered the finished version at Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen
Lee Alexander McQueen, CBE was a British fashion designer and couturier best known for his in-depth knowledge of bespoke British tailoring, his tendency to juxtapose strength with fragility in his collections, as well as the emotional power and raw energy of his provocative fashion shows...
's show at the Paris Fashion Week
Paris Fashion Week
Paris Fashion Week is a famous fashion week held semi-annually in Paris, France with Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter events held each year. Dates are determined by the French Fashion Federation...
in October 2009, followed by the release of the single's cover art. Musically, "Bad Romance" features a spoken bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
, a full-throated chorus
Chorus effect
In music, a chorus effect occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly the same pitch converge and are perceived as one...
and sung lyrics that concern the situation of being in love with one's best friend. The song, containing elements of the music from the 1980s and the 1990s and influences of German house-techno music, has been described by Gaga as a pop experimental record.
"Bad Romance" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...
, Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
and the Swedish, German, Austrian and Danish charts, also peaking at number two in countries such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the song has sold 9.7 million copies worldwide in 2010. "Bad Romance" was praised by most critics, who compared it to Gaga's second single, "Poker Face
Poker Face (Lady Gaga song)
"Poker Face" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her debut album, The Fame. Produced by RedOne, it was released as the album's second single in late 2008 for some markets and in early 2009 for the rest of the world...
". It was also ranked the ninth best song by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
in their list of the "25 Best Songs of 2009" and received the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance is the latest in a series of awards recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. The award goes to the artist...
.
The accompanying music video features Gaga inside a surreal white bathhouse
Public bathing
Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness. The term public may confuse some people, as some types of public baths are restricted depending on membership, gender, religious affiliation, or other reasons. As societies have changed, public baths have been replaced as private bathing...
. There, she gets kidnapped by a group of supermodels who drug her and sell her to the Russian mafia
Russian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
for sexual slavery
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
. The music video ends with Gaga killing the man who bought her. The video received positive responses for its artistic treatment and visual imagery; critics complimented its provocative and symbolic plot. It was nominated for ten awards at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards
2010 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 12, 2010 at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, honoring the best music videos from the previous year...
, eventually winning seven of those, including the Video of the Year
MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year
The MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year is the main award handed out at the yearly MTV Video Music Awards. It was first awarded in , when The Cars won it, and has been given out since. Eminem has been the most nominated solo artist, male solo artist, and act in this category, having been...
. The video also won a Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Short Form Music Video
Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video
The Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos...
. Gaga has performed "Bad Romance" on television shows, including Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
and Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl (TV series)
Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...
as well as award shows such as the 2009 American Music Awards
American Music Awards of 2009
The 37th American Music Awards took place on November 22, 2009 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The nominees were announced on October 13, 2009. For the first time in history, there was no host for the year's ceremony. Instead, various celebrities introduced the performers similar...
. It was the closing song of Gaga's The Monster Ball Tour
The Monster Ball Tour
The Monster Ball Tour was the second worldwide concert tour by American recording artist Lady Gaga. Staged in support of her album The Fame Monster and comprising a set list of songs from that and her debut album The Fame , the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 2009 through 2011...
, during which, she performed it while standing inside a giant gyroscope.
Background
"Bad Romance" was the first single from The Fame MonsterThe Fame Monster
The Fame Monster is the third EP by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released on November 18, 2009 through Interscope Records. Initially planned to be included on a re-release of Gaga's debut studio album, The Fame, she announced that the eight tracks would be included on a standalone...
, Gaga's follow-up to her debut album The Fame
The Fame
The Fame is the debut studio album by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released on August 19, 2008 through Interscope Records. After joining Kon Live Distribution and Cherrytree Records in 2008, Gaga began working on the album with different producers, primarily RedOne, Martin...
. Before its official release, a demo version of the song was published illegally on the internet, prompting Gaga to comment via Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, "leaked next single is makin my ears bleed. Wait till you hear the real version." She had initially performed a brief portion of the song on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
on October 3, 2009, along with "Poker Face
Poker Face (Lady Gaga song)
"Poker Face" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her debut album, The Fame. Produced by RedOne, it was released as the album's second single in late 2008 for some markets and in early 2009 for the rest of the world...
" and "LoveGame
LoveGame
"LoveGame" is an electropop song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her debut album, The Fame . Produced by RedOne, the track was released as the album's third single in North America and Europe and the fourth single in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden after "Eh, Eh "...
". The actual version of "Bad Romance" was premiered during the finale of fashion designer Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen
Lee Alexander McQueen, CBE was a British fashion designer and couturier best known for his in-depth knowledge of bespoke British tailoring, his tendency to juxtapose strength with fragility in his collections, as well as the emotional power and raw energy of his provocative fashion shows...
's 2010 Paris Fashion Week
Fashion Week
A fashion week is a fashion industry event, lasting approximately one week, which allows fashion designers, brands or "houses" to display their latest collections in runway shows and buyers and the media to take a look at the latest trends. Most importantly, these events let the industry know...
show, followed by the song being released on October 19, 2009. Gaga explained that "Bad Romance" was one of the songs she wrote in 2008 while touring. The songs composed during that time are about the various "monsters" (paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
s) she faced during the tour. One of them was the "love monster" and the inspiration for "Bad Romance". Gaga explained that she generally felt lonely when she was in relationships, and concluded that she gets drawn to men with whom the romance never works out. Hence "Bad Romance" was the song that detailed whether she preferred such lonely relationships, or it was her wrong choice in men. In Grazia
Grazia
Grazia is an Italian weekly women's fashion and celebrity gossip magazine, with international editions printed in France, Serbia, Australia, United Kingdom, Greece, Portugal, Japan, the Netherlands, India, Bulgaria and Germany....
magazine, Gaga further detailed her inspiration,
I wrote ['Bad Romance'] when I was in Norway, on my tour bus. I was in Russia, then Germany, and spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe. There is this amazing German house-techno music, so I wanted to make a pop experimental record. I kind of wanted to leave the '80s a little bit, so the chorus is a '90s melody, which is what the inspiration was. There was certainly some whisky involved in the writing of the record. It's about being in love with your best friend.
The cover art was released on October 15, 2009, and shows Gaga in a red dress, with her face down and covered by the dress fabric. Bill Lamb from About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
praised the cover art saying, "Gaga is maintaining her hitting streak of generating powerful images to accompany her music and stage presentations".
Composition
"Bad Romance" was written by Lady Gaga and RedOne, while the latter produced it. The song was recorded at Record Plant StudiosRecord Plant Studios
The Record Plant was a series of three famous recording studios which were founded by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone, beginning in New York City in 1968. The next year, Kellgren and Stone opened a second studio in Los Angeles. In 1972, the company expanded again with a third location in Sausalito,...
in Los Angeles and FC Walvisch Recording Media Studios at Amsterdam. According to Gil Kauffman from MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, "Bad Romance" is similar in tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
to Gaga's previous single "Poker Face
Poker Face (Lady Gaga song)
"Poker Face" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her debut album, The Fame. Produced by RedOne, it was released as the album's second single in late 2008 for some markets and in early 2009 for the rest of the world...
". The song opens with Gaga singing a portion of the chorus
Chorus effect
In music, a chorus effect occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly the same pitch converge and are perceived as one...
, then transitioning into the "Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah, Roma-roma-mah, Gaga-ooh-la-la" hook
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
. It is followed by the sound of drum beats and the sound of keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
. After the first verse, the prechorus
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
follows, with Gaga voicing the line "You know that I want you, And you know that I need you, I want your bad, your bad romance". The full-throated chorus then follows, where she sings "I want your love, And I want your revenge, You and me could write a bad romance [...] Caught in a bad romance". During the interlude, Gaga sings the verses from the chorus in French: "Je veux ton amour, Et je veux ta revanche, Je veux ton amour".
At About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
, Bill Lamb writes that the music is well suited for playing at fashion designer shows and on the runway
Runway (fashion)
Runway or catwalk describes a narrow, usually flat platform that runs into an auditorium, used by models to demonstrate clothing and accessories during a fashion show In fashion jargon, "what's on the catwalk" or similar phrasing can refer to whatever is new and popular in fashion.- Exclusive...
. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
said that the music consists of New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
synths and a number of endless hooks. Simon Price from The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
felt that the chorus has influences of the music of Boney M
Boney M
Boney M. is a Eurodisco group created by German record producer Frank Farian. Originally based in Germany, the four original members of the group's official line-up were Jamaicans Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, Maizie Williams from Montserrat and Bobby Farrell from Aruba...
while The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
reviewer Kitty Price wrote that "Bad Romance" recalled the music of Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
's 1986 album, Black Celebration
Black Celebration
Black Celebration is the fifth studio album by Depeche Mode. Released by Mute Records on 17 March 1986, it further cemented the darkening sound that was initially hinted towards on their album Construction Time Again and Some Great Reward. Black Celebration was cited as one of the most influential...
. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing is a music publishing company co-owned by The Michael Jackson Family Trust and Sony. The organisation was originally founded as Associated TeleVision in 1955 by Lew Grade. In 1957, ATV acquired Pye Records as a wholly owned subsidiary...
, "Bad Romance" is set in common time
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
with a metronome of 119 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A minor
A minor
A minor is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The harmonic minor scale raises the G to G...
with Gaga's vocal range spanning from the low-note of E3 to the high-note of A5. The song follows in the chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
of Am–C–F–C–G in the verses and F–G–Am–C–F–G–E–Am in the chorus.
The lyrics address aspects of a bad relationship but also discuss fashion in the line "Walk, walk fashion baby, Work it move that bitch crazy." In an interview, Gaga pointed out that she was listing Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
films in the verse, "I want your psycho, your vertigo
Vertigo (film)
Vertigo is a 1958 psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A...
shtick, Want you in my rear window
Rear Window
Rear Window is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder"...
, Baby, you're sick." She said, "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."
Critical reception
"Bad Romance" received mostly positive reviews from critics. In 2011, Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
called it the greatest Lady Gaga song ever, praising the song's catchy chorus and "pummeling club beat power a song that's grand and tawdry and joyful and melancholy". Lamb listed the song as one of the top tracks from The Fame Monster, and 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." Gil Kaufman from MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
described the "minimal beat [of the song] stays at a low boil for most, [...] rising up in an ecstatic, Erasure
Erasure
Erasure are an English synthpop duo, consisting of songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer Andy Bell. Erasure entered the music scene in 1985 with their debut single "Who Needs Love Like That"...
-esque throb during the chorus, but lacking the immediate pull of some of Gaga's biggest hits to date". Other critics also found references to music from the 1980s. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
characterized the song as one of the album's highlights and explained that "if melodies could be time-stamped, [this] would have '80s branded on [its ass]". Kitty Empire of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
wrote that singles like "Bad Romance" make Gaga more comparable with Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
.
Referring to her emerging popularity, Jon Dolan from Rolling Stone said that "'Bad Romance' makes [Gaga's] name a Teutonic chant". Christopher John Farley from The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
praised the catchiness of the hook of "Bad Romance", and Michael Hubbard from MusicOMH
MusicOMH
musicOMH is a United Kingdom-based website which publishes independent reviews, featues and interviews from across all musical genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.-History:...
felt that the chorus of the song is Gaga's best yet. Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
placed "Bad Romance" at number 39 in its top 100 tracks of 2009, saying it was "epic in construction". The dark nature of the music was noted by Simon Price in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, who said that the first line of the song "I want your ugly, I want your disease" set the tone for the Gothic nature of The Fame Monster. Likewise, Edna Gundersen
Edna Gundersen
Edna Gundersen is an American journalist who is a longtime music writer and critic for USA Today.Gundersen grew up in El Paso, Texas. She attained a degree in journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso and then wrote features and entertainment news for the El Paso Times from 1977 to 1987...
of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
commented that "Synth-powered 'Bad Romance' is a ferocious club thumper with a sordid underbelly". The Boston Public Health Commission
Boston Public Health Commission
The Boston Public Health Commission, the oldest health department in the United States, is an independent public agency providing a wide range of health services and programs. It is governed by a seven-member board of health appointed by Boston's Mayor...
rated "Bad Romance" as number 10 on its list of "Top 10 List of Songs with Unhealthy Relationship Ingredients".
Mikale Wood of Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
called the song "Europoppy", and at the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, Paul Lester stated the song as "cheesy", while comparing it to the music of Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
. Monica Herrera from Billboard stated that "Bad Romance" was not as catchy as Gaga's previous songs, but it had "wicked" sex appeal. Jon Blistein from L Magazine
L Magazine
The L Magazine is a free bi-weekly magazine in New York City featuring investigative articles, arts and culture commentary, and event listings...
wrote about the organization of the song. He felt that "'Bad Romance' revels in the nightmare it tries to create with Hitchcock references and somber vocals," but the song lacked cohesion. Blistein called it an amalgamation of Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
song, faux-European accented verses, power disco chorus and a bland spoken-word bridge. Daniel Kreps from Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, while writing about the song's initial leak, felt that the song was comparable to "Poker Face" and was not on par with her other singles. Rolling Stone also ranked the song at number nine on its list of the "25 Best Songs of 2009". On February 13, 2011, the single won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance is the latest in a series of awards recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. The award goes to the artist...
.
Chart performance
In the United States, "Bad Romance" debuted at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
on November 14, 2009, making it Gaga's highest debuting song on the chart until then. It sold 142,000 paid digital downloads
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
in its first week. After two weeks the song moved from number eleven to number two, which became its peak. The movement was spurred by 49 percent digital gain, thus pushing the song to the top of the Hot Digital Songs
Hot Digital Songs
The Hot Digital Songs chart ranks the best-selling digital singles in the United States, according to Billboard.Beginning in February 2005, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboards music single charts. It was decided to do so mainly because of the dramatic rise in popularity of...
chart selling 209,000 copies. "Bad Romance" became her second highest peaking song on the Hot 100, behind "Just Dance" and "Poker Face
Poker Face (Lady Gaga song)
"Poker Face" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her debut album, The Fame. Produced by RedOne, it was released as the album's second single in late 2008 for some markets and in early 2009 for the rest of the world...
". The song was certified four-times platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA), for shipment of a four million copies of the single. The song has sold over 4,939,000 paid digital downloads in the United States to date according to Nielsen Soundscan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
, making Gaga the first artist in digital history to have three singles—along with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face"—pass the four million mark in digital sales. "Bad Romance" debuted on the Pop Songs chart at number 38 and moved to the number one position, making it Gaga's fifth consecutive number one single on the chart. The same week it also topped the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. According to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems
Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems
Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, better known as BDS, is a service that tracks monitored radio, television and internet airplay of songs based on the number of spins and detections...
, "Bad Romance" set the record for most weekly plays in the 17-year history of the Pop Songs chart, registering 10,859 plays from 130 radio stations monitored for the chart. The record was later broken by Kesha
Kesha
Kesha village is a small village nestled in the mountains of Yongshun County, northwestern Hunan province, China, located at latitude 29 05' 50", longitude 109 57' 9". The name is pronounced in Standard Chinese. The official language is Manderin Chinese....
, with her song "Tik Tok".
The song debuted on the ARIA Charts
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
of Australia at number 16, and at number 33 on the New Zealand RIANZ
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...
charts. The next week, "Bad Romance" was the greatest gainer on the ARIA charts and moved to position three. On its seventh week on the chart, the song reached a new peak of two in Australia, and a peak of three in New Zealand. The song was certified four-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA) for shipment of 280,000 copies of the single. On October 29, 2009, "Bad Romance" debuted on the Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...
at number 20; it reached the top in its seventh week. On the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
, "Bad Romance" debuted at number 58. The following week it reached number one, making it the third song by Gaga to top the Canadian chart. After being replaced by "Tik Tok" for two weeks, "Bad Romance" again claimed the top spot on the chart. The Canadian Recording Industry Association
Canadian Recording Industry Association
Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada...
(CRIA) certified "Bad Romance" seven-times platinum, for shipment of 280,000 copies of the single.
After its release in the United Kingdom, "Bad Romance" debuted at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. In December 2009, the song reached the top spot, making it Gaga's third UK number one single. She became the first female in British chart history to have three number one singles in one year. Two weeks later, in the first week of 2010, "Bad Romance" returned to the number one spot, making her only the second female artist of the 21st century to have two separate runs at the top spot. "Bad Romance" was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
(BPI) for shipment of 400,000 copies of the single. In Sweden, the song debuted at number three and after two weeks, reached the top of the chart. Across Europe the song debuted on the main charts of Austria, Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
(to be on top 50 for 65 weeks from late 2009 to early 2011), Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. The song debuted on the European Hot 100 Singles
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles
The European Hot 100 Singles has been compiled by Billboard and Music & Media magazine since March, 1984. The chart is based on national singles sales charts in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium , Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden,...
at number 40 and on January 23, 2010, "Bad Romance" topped the chart, remaining there for two weeks. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the song has sold 9.7 million copies across the world in 2010.
Development
During an interview with Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Gaga confirmed that film director Francis Lawrence
Francis Lawrence
Francis Lawrence is an American music video and film director.-Life and career:Lawrence was born in Vienna, Austria. His father is a physicist who taught at California State University, Northridge and his mother is V.P. Technology at a PR agency. He moved to Los Angeles at the age of three...
had directed the music video for "Bad Romance", and that she was impressed with the final version. She explained, "I knew [Lawrence's] ability as a director is so much higher than what I could [do]." Her creative team Haus of Gaga managed the art direction, and the final video premiered on November 10, 2009. Gaga described her experience of working with Lawrence:
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 LegendI Am Legend (film)I Am Legend is a 2007 post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith. It is the third feature film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name, following 1964's The Last Man on Earth and 1971's The Omega Man. Smith plays virologist Robert...
and I'm a huge Will SmithWill SmithWillard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...
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.
The concept of the music video was a joint collaboration between Gaga and Lawrence. Originally, the video was going to be shot in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, with more elaborate sets, including ones outdoors. The idea was scrapped, however, due to budgetary issues, as the budget for the video was low and there was no product placement. Because of Gaga's schedule, the video was shot in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
over a two-day period. Lawrence described Gaga's work ethic and creativity during the video shoot:
She loves the art form of music videos and she is a real creative partner and has great ideas and really cool and unique tastes. She has a great team working with her as well, helping build really fantastic things that she wears. She works hard, she shows up on time and she's pretty spontaneous [...] it was great [...] if she had a new song and wanted to do something, I would do it in a second. She was really fun to work with.
Gaga created a pair of razor-blade sunglasses—which she believed portrayed tough female spirit—to wear in the video, explaining "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 spirit 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.' The white latex suits in the video were inspired by the wolf costume from the film Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are (film)
Where the Wild Things Are is a 2009 American fantasy drama film directed by Spike Jonze and adapted from Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book Where the Wild Things Are. It combines live action, performers in costumes, animatronics, and computer-generated imagery...
. Gaga also wore designer Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen
Lee Alexander McQueen, CBE was a British fashion designer and couturier best known for his in-depth knowledge of bespoke British tailoring, his tendency to juxtapose strength with fragility in his collections, as well as the emotional power and raw energy of his provocative fashion shows...
's 12 inches (304.8 mm) high shoes and the famous "Alien" shoes.
Synopsis
The main idea behind the video is that of Gaga getting kidnapped by a group of supermodels who drug her, and then sell her off to the Russian mafiaRussian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
for a million ruble
Russian ruble
The ruble or rouble is the currency of the Russian Federation and the two partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Formerly, the ruble was also the currency of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union prior to their breakups. Belarus and Transnistria also use currencies with...
s. It takes place in a fluorescent white bathhouse. The video begins with Gaga sitting on a white throne in a brightly lit white room. The scene shows her wearing the razor blade glasses and surrounded by people and a harlequin Great Dane
Great Dane
The Great Dane , also known as German Mastiff or Danish Hound , is a breed of domestic dog known for its giant size...
. She has her finger on the mute button of an iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
speaker, and as she releases it, "Bad Romance" begins to play and a dimly lit bath house is shown. A bright light pans across the walls, activating fluorescent lighting, that shines through a sign reading "Bath Haus of GaGa". As the first hook of the song begins, a group of female dancers wearing white long-sleeved leotards with knee high boots and matching crowns crawl out of white, coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
-like pods. The center pod has "Mons†er" written on it, and Gaga emerges wearing a similar outfit to the others, who begin to dance behind her. A pastiche of following scenes alternates between Gaga singing to herself in front of a mirror and lying in a bathtub.
When the chorus of the song begins, two women pull Gaga out of the bathtub, rip her clothes off and force her to drink a glass of vodka
Vodka
Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....
. As the second verse begins, Gaga, wearing a diamond-covered outfit topped with a crown, seductively dances for a group of men bidding for her
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
. She straddles one of the men, played by Slovenian model Jurij Bradač
Yuri Bradac
Jurij Bradač , better known by his stage name Yuri Bradac, is a Slovenian actor and model.-Career:His career began in television in the 2005 and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
, and performs a lap dance
Lap dance
A lap dance is a type of sex work performed in some strip clubs in which a naked or topless dancer performs an erotic dance either in immediate contact with a seated patron, or within a very short distance. With full-contact lap dances, the stripper may engage in non-penetrative sexual contact...
for him. Afterwards, the man raises his bid and becomes the highest bidder for her. When the chorus is played for the third time, Gaga is shown wearing a faux polar bear
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
hide jacket. She walks towards the man, who is sitting on a bed and unbuttoning his shirt, while drinking a glass of vodka. 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 and Gaga sinisterly sings in front of the flames. The video ends with her lying beside a smoldering skeleton, on top of the destroyed bed, covered in ashes. With soot smeared across her body, she calmly smokes a cigarette, while her pyrotechnic
Pyrotechnics
Pyrotechnics is the science of using materials capable of undergoing self-contained and self-sustained exothermic chemical reactions for the production of heat, light, gas, smoke and/or sound...
bra activates.
Reception
After the video's release, the response from critics and fans was overwhelmingly positive. Tim Stack from Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
called the video "amazing." He said, "I don't think Gaga has ever looked prettier than in the close-ups where she's more stripped down." Jennifer Cady of E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
was also impressed 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." Issie Lapowsky of New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
thought Gaga laid the "theatrics on thick" in the video and complimented Gaga without makeup, calling it "refreshingly normal." Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said the video brought back his faith in performance art and "Gaga brings enough of it [drama] on her own, thank you very much." He also thought the set for the video was "worthy of a feature-length film." Daniel Kreps from Rolling Stone felt that the scenes from the music video were reminiscent of the work of Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
. He added that in "Bad Romance" Gaga portrays her craziest ideas yet. Jocelyn Vena from MTV believed that the video was symbolic and portrayed that "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." She further believed that the video was a testament to Gaga's brilliance "as an artist that uses the video art form as the jump-off point for the next leg of their career." In 2011, Claire Suddath of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
said that although later Gaga videos were more elaborate, "Bad Romance" was Gaga at her best. In Lady Gaga: Behind the Fame, Emily Herbert drew comparisons between the underlying theme of the video and the theme of The Fame Monster: the relationship with fame. "Was this the price that Gaga had to pay for the fame she so desired? Did she feel as if she'd had to prostitute herself in some way? The themes were all based around sex, decadence, and corruption; alcohol and even cigarettes, twenty-first century society's biggest no-no, were present, and so by implication, [...] drugs."
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
noted Gaga as one of the few pop stars of present time, who really understood spectacle, fashion, shock, choreography—all the things Madonna and Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
were masters of in the 1980s. 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." In 2011, "Bad Romance" was voted the best video of the 2000s by readers of Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
, narrowly beating Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
's "Toxic
Toxic (song)
"Toxic" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears, co-written and produced by Bloodshy & Avant, from her fourth album, In the Zone. It was released on January 12, 2004, by Jive Records as the second single from the album. After trying to choose between " Boom Boom" and "Outrageous" to...
." Time Magazine also included "Bad Romance" on its list of the best music videos since the 1980s.
Thriller comparisons
The video and its choreography also drew many comparisons to Michael Jackson's Thriller, both with robotic, zombie-like arm movements and morbid themes. Tim Stack from Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
compared some of the dance choreography of the video with the music video of "Thriller
Thriller (song)
"Thriller" is a song recorded by American recording artist Michael Jackson, composed by Rod Temperton, and produced by Quincy Jones. It is the seventh and final single from his sixth studio album Thriller. It was released on January 23, 1984 by Epic Records...
" Issie Lapowsky from New York Daily News compared the pods in the video to coffins and called the dance "zombie-like". Gaga "[stole] a page from Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video," she said. Los Angeles Times said the video had some "twitchy, 'Thriller'-like dance moves." The Wall Street Journal compared the shock art of "Bad Romance" to the shock art of Michael Jackson during the 1980s. Evan Sawdey of PopMatters also compared the video to "Thriller", but was not sure whether the homage was intentional by Gaga or "just another excuse for Gaga to wear the mostweirdass outfits ever designed by mankind".
Awards
On August 3, 2010, the video received 10 nominations at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards2010 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 12, 2010 at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, honoring the best music videos from the previous year...
in the categories of Best Cinematography
MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Award winners for Best Cinematography in a Video. Madonna is the biggest Winner in this category with 3 wins....
, Best Editing
MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Editing in a Video. Five artists are tied for the record of biggest winner in this category, each having won the award twice: Peter Gabriel, R.E.M., Madonna, The White Stripes, and Gnarls Barkley. The latter two, in fact, won...
, Best Art Direction
MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Award winners for Best Art Direction in a Video. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are the biggest winners in this category with three wins in 1992, 2000, and 2006....
, Best Special Effects
MTV Video Music Award for Best Special Effects
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Special Effects in a Video....
, Best Choreography
MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Choreography in a Video....
, Best Direction
MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Direction in a Video. In 2007, the award was briefly renamed Best Director, but it returned to its original name for the 2008 awards....
, Best Dance Video
MTV Video Music Award for Best Dance Video
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Dance Video was first awarded in 1989, and it was one of the original four genre categories that were added to the MTV Video Music Awards that year. With a revamp of the awards in 2007, the category was cut out along with several others, yet it returned for the...
, Best Pop Video
MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop Video
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop Video was first given out in , as MTV began to put several teen pop acts in heavy rotation. Nominations, however, were not just limited to pop acts, as dance, R&B, pop/rock, and, most recently, reggaeton artists have also received Best Pop Video nominations...
, Best Female Video
MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video is one of the original general awards that has been handed out every year since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, however, the award was briefly renamed Female Artist of the Year, and it awarded the artist's whole body of work...
, and Video of the Year, tied with Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
's song "Sledgehammer
Sledgehammer (song)
"Sledgehammer" is a song by British musician Peter Gabriel from his 1986 album So. It hit number one in Canada on 21 July 1986 where it spent four weeks; number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States on 26 July 1986; and number four in the UK singles chart, thanks in part to a...
" for the record for most nominations for a single video in the history of MTV Video Music Award. It went on to win seven of the categories. The video also won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video
Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video
The Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos...
.
Live performances
A portion of the song was performed on Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
on October 3, 2009. Gaga wore a complex outfit called "The Orb", designed by Nasir Mazhar and her production group "Haus of Gaga". Described by Gaga as a "fashion installation", it consisted of concentric metallic rings that revolved around her. After finishing her performance of "LoveGame
LoveGame
"LoveGame" is an electropop song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her debut album, The Fame . Produced by RedOne, the track was released as the album's third single in North America and Europe and the fourth single in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden after "Eh, Eh "...
", Gaga sat at her piano and played an acoustic version of the chorus of "Bad Romance". She performed the song on the TV show Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl (TV series)
Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...
episode "The Last Days of Disco Stick
The Last Days of Disco Stick
"The Last Days of Disco Stick" is the 53rd episode of the CW television series, Gossip Girl. It was also the tenth episode of the show’s third season. It aired on November 16, 2009, and was written by Leila Gerstein and directed by Tony Wharmby...
". The performance took place at a private show arranged by the character Blair Waldorf
Blair Waldorf
Blair Cornelia Waldorf is the main character of Gossip Girl, introduced in the original series of novels and also appearing in their television and manga adaptations. Described as "a girl of extremes" by creator Cecily von Ziegesar, she is a comical overachiever who possesses both snobbish and...
. In an interview with MTV, Gaga explained that the decision to perform on the show was inspired by her sister. She stated that she did not want the performance to be out-of-tune with the storyline of the show, so she worked with the script-writers to incorporate it into the plot. The performance included many ladders, symbolizing bad luck; it featured Gaga wearing a 35 feet (10.7 m) long dress. According to the show's executive producer Stephanie Savage, the song incorporated a few Gossip Girl specific lyrics. The performance began with her emerging from two giant doors in a large red gown. She climbed up a ladder, from where she sang parts of the song. Her male dancers danced around the ladder as she continued to sing.
"Bad Romance" was also performed at the 2009 American Music Awards
American Music Awards of 2009
The 37th American Music Awards took place on November 22, 2009 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The nominees were announced on October 13, 2009. For the first time in history, there was no host for the year's ceremony. Instead, various celebrities introduced the performers similar...
, where she coupled it with "Speechless
Speechless (Lady Gaga song)
"Speechless" is a song written and performed by American recording artist Lady Gaga, from her third EP The Fame Monster. The song was written by Gaga to convince her father, Joseph Germanotta, to undergo open-heart surgery, in order to repair his malfunctioning aortic valve, and as a reminder for...
", from The Fame Monster. Gaga was dressed in a flesh colored bodysuit wrapped with white piping, and embedded with flashing lights, imitating ribs
Human rib cage
-See also:*Terms for bones*Terms for anatomical location*Articulation of head of rib-References:* Clinically Oriented Anatomy, 4th ed. Keith L. Moore and Robert F. Dalley. pp. 62–64...
and spine
Vertebral column
In human anatomy, the vertebral column is a column usually consisting of 24 articulating vertebrae, and 9 fused vertebrae in the sacrum and the coccyx. It is situated in the dorsal aspect of the torso, separated by intervertebral discs...
. The performance started with "Bad Romance" and Gaga dancing around the stage, ultimately breaking open a glass door with the microphone stand. It was performed on The Jay Leno Show
The Jay Leno Show
The Jay Leno Show is an American comedy show created by and starring Jay Leno, that aired from September 14, 2009 to February 9, 2010 on NBC following the May 29, 2009 conclusion of Leno's first tenure as host of The Tonight Show...
where Gaga wore a pair of black sunglasses and a black jacket with shoulder pads that extended above her head. Her male backup dancers were dressed in black suits and S&M inspired headgear. Both "Bad Romance" and "Speechless" were performed at The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...
on November 25, 2009. Gaga performed "Bad Romance" on the British TV show The X Factor
The X Factor (UK series 6)
The sixth series of British television music competition The X Factor started on ITV on 22 August 2009 and was won by Joe McElderry on 13 December 2009. Cheryl Cole emerged as the winning mentor for the second consecutive year, the first time in the show's history that a mentor has won back-to-back...
on December 6, 2009. The performance had her singing inside a four meter long bath tub as well as playing the piano while sitting on a toilet. "Bad Romance" was performed as the last song of Gaga's The Monster Ball Tour
The Monster Ball Tour
The Monster Ball Tour was the second worldwide concert tour by American recording artist Lady Gaga. Staged in support of her album The Fame Monster and comprising a set list of songs from that and her debut album The Fame , the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 2009 through 2011...
. She performed the song in an '80s-inspired white power suit with exaggerated high shoulders and highwaisted pants. The performance was done while standing in a human sized gyroscope. On January 15, 2010, Gaga performed "Bad Romance" as part of a three song medley on The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
. Gaga was dressed in a metallic jacket and had spikes in her hair. She carried a spiked ball dangling from a chain in her hand. "Bad Romance" was also performed at NBC's Today Show, along with "Alejandro
Alejandro (song)
"Alejandro" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released as the third single from her third extended play and second major release The Fame Monster...
", "Teeth" and her later, 2011 single release called "You and I". In May 2011, Gaga performed the song during Radio 1's Big Weekend in Carlisle, Cumbria. She also performed the song on Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
as a part of their "Summer Concert Series". It was the opening song of the show and Gaga entered the stage, flying on a harness, and stretching out her hands towards the audience as steam billowed from the center-stage. Once she reached the song started and Gaga's dancers removed the white cape she was wearing, to reveal her in red fishnet stockings with black felt pieces, a red leotard and black lace boots.
Cover versions
On March 14, 2010, Marco HietalaMarco Hietala
Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala is a heavy metal vocalist and bassist. Internationally, he is most known as the current bassist, male vocalist and composer, of the symphonic metal band Nightwish...
from Nightwish
Nightwish
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. Formed in 1996 by songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former vocalist Tarja Turunen, Nightwish's current line-up has five members, although Tarja has been replaced by Anette Olzon and the...
covered the song on the Finnish choir singing TV show Kuorosota. Hayley Williams
Hayley Williams
Hayley Nichole Williams is an American singer, songwriter, and the lead vocalist of the band Paramore.- Life and career :...
, the lead singer from the band Paramore
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York...
covered a piano version of the song and posted it on her Twitter on March 28, 2010. On March 29, 2010, 30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since 2007, the band has consisted of actor Jared Leto , Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević...
covered the song in BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge
Live Lounge
The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio station BBC Radio 1. Originally hosted by Jo Whiley on her mid-morning radio show and now hosted by Fearne Cotton, it exhibits well-known artists usually performing one song of their own and one by another artist, in an acoustic format...
. Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
performed it on one of the episodes titled "Theatricality
Theatricality
"Theatricality" is the 20th episode of the American television series Glee. The episode was written and directed by series creator Ryan Murphy, and premiered on the Fox network on May 25, 2010. In "Theatricality", glee club member Tina Cohen-Chang has an identity crisis...
"; it was a group number for which the actors donned Lady Gaga outfits. When glee club New Directions member Rachel Berry
Rachel Berry (Glee)
Rachel Berry is a fictional character and de facto female lead from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Lea Michele, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Rachel was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad...
discovers that rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline are planning on performing a Lady Gaga number at Regionals, the character Will
Will Schuester
William "Will" Schuester, often referred to as Mr. Schue, is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actor Matthew Morrison and has appeared in Glee since its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Will was developed by Glee...
(Matthew Morrison
Matthew Morrison
Matthew James "Matt" Morrison is an American actor, director, musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, and most notably for his Emmy and Golden Globe nominated...
) sets the club a Gaga assignment. The girls and Kurt
Kurt Hummel
Kurt Hummel is a fictional character and one of the male leads in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. Series creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan initially conceived of him as a fashionable gay countertenor who is routinely bullied at school...
then create costumes inspired by Gaga and perform "Bad Romance". The version sold 48,000 digital downloads according to Nielsen Soundscan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
, and entered the Billboard Hot 100 at 54, staying on the chart for one week. Pop group Evil Adam covered the song and made it available to stream and download. Lissie
Lissie
Elisabeth Maurus , known by her stage name Lissie, is an American folk rock artist and Paste Magazine's #1 best new solo artist of 2010. She released her debut EP, "Why You Runnin'", in November 2009. Her debut album, Catching a Tiger, was released in June 2010.-Early life and career:Lissie was...
posted a cover of the song on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. Her version of "Bad Romance" received praise from filmmaker David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
writer David Malitz, who included it on "Click Track – Singles Files", the paper's weekly playlist. Singer Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
and actor Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Cuba M. Gooding, Jr. is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's 1996 film Jerry Maguire, and his critically acclaimed performance as Tré Styles in John Singleton's 1991 film Boyz n the Hood.-Early life:Gooding was born...
performed a version of "Bad Romance" as a duet on the August 5, 2011, episode of Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's Chris Moyles' Quiz Night
Chris Moyles' Quiz Night
Chris Moyles' Quiz Night is a British television comedy game show, presented by Chris Moyles. It was first broadcast on 22 March 2009 and is in its fifth series....
.
Track listing
- Digital download
- "Bad Romance" – 4:54
- Digital download EP
- "Bad Romance" – 4:54
- "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Remix) – 5:11
- "Bad Romance" (Chew Fu Remix) – 7:13
- "Bad Romance" (StarsmithStarsmithStarsmith is a songwriter, producer, remixer and DJ. He studied a classical music degree at the University of Surrey majoring in performance on saxophone...
Remix) – 4:55 - "Bad Romance" (Music Video) – 5:14
- Promo CD Single
- "Bad Romance" (Short Radio Edit) – 4:00
- "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:22
- "Bad Romance" (Main) – 4:54
- EU CD Single
- "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:24
- "Bad Romance" (Main) – 4:54
- Germany Remix Version
- "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:21
- "Bad Romance" (Chew Fu Remix) – 7:13
- "Bad Romance" (Starsmith Remix) – 4:55
- "Bad Romance" (Grum Remix) – 4:50
- "Bad Romance" (Bimbo JonesBimbo JonesBimbo Jones is a UK dance music group comprising producers Lee Dagger and Marc JB and vocalist Katherine Ellis. Known for their remix work and white label releases, they produced a remix of Meck's 2006 UK number-one single "Thunder in My Heart Again"...
Radio Remix) – 3:58 - "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Remix) – 5:11
- "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Dub Remix) – 5:11
- "Bad Romance" (Music Video) – 5:14
- French CD Single
- "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:21
- "Bad Romance" (Bimbo JonesBimbo JonesBimbo Jones is a UK dance music group comprising producers Lee Dagger and Marc JB and vocalist Katherine Ellis. Known for their remix work and white label releases, they produced a remix of Meck's 2006 UK number-one single "Thunder in My Heart Again"...
Radio Remix) – 3:58 - "Bad Romance" (Chew Fu Remix) – 7:13
- UK CD Single
- "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:22
- "Just Dance" (Deewaan Mix ft. Ashking, WeDis, Lush, Young Thoro) – 4:16
- UK 7" picture disc
- "Bad Romance" (Radio Edit) – 4:21
- "PaparazziPaparazzi (Lady Gaga song)"Paparazzi" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released as the final single from her debut album The Fame . Written by Rob Fusari and Gaga, the song portrays Gaga's struggles in her quest for fame, as well as balancing success and love...
" (DJ DanDJ DanDJ Dan is an American electronic house music DJ and producer. Dan previously released works through the Moonshine label....
Club Remix) – 6:37
- US Digital Remix EP
- "Bad Romance" (Chew Fu H1N1 Fix) – 7:13
- "Bad Romance" (KaskadeKaskadeRyan Raddon , better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ and record producer. On October 20, 2011, DJ Magazine announced the results of their annual Top 100 DJ Poll, with Ultra Records Kaskade placed at #30...
Remix) – 4:20 - "Bad Romance" (Bimbo Jones Radio Remix) – 3:58
- "Bad Romance" (SkrillexSonny MooreSonny John Moore is an American electronic dance music producer who is widely known by his professional name Skrillex. Moore is also a former frontman for the American band From First to Last. In late Autumn of 2007 he embarked on his first tour as a solo artist, the Team Sleep Tour with Team...
Remix) – 4:23
- US Digital The Remixes EP Part 2
- "Bad Romance" (Grum Remix) – 4:50
- "Bad Romance" (Richard VissionRichard VissionRichard "Humpty" Vission is a house music producer, remixer and DJ born Richard Gonzalez in Toronto, Ontario. He was raised in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles, California....
Remix) – 5:22 - "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Remix) – 5:12
- "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Dub Remix) – 5:12
- "Bad Romance" (DJ Dan Remix) – 3:44
- US 'The Remixes' CD Single
- "Bad Romance" (Chew Fu H1N1 Fix) – 7:13
- "Bad Romance" (KaskadeKaskadeRyan Raddon , better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ and record producer. On October 20, 2011, DJ Magazine announced the results of their annual Top 100 DJ Poll, with Ultra Records Kaskade placed at #30...
Remix) – 4:20 - "Bad Romance" (Bimbo Jones Remix) – 3:58
- "Bad Romance" (Skrillex Remix) – 4:23
- "Bad Romance" (Grum Remix) – 4:51
- "Bad Romance" (Richard Vission Remix) – 5:23
- "Bad Romance" (Hercules & Love Affair Remix) – 5:12
Credits and personnel
- Lady GagaLady GaGaStefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better 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...
– vocals, songwriterSongwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, co-producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, vocal arrangementArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
, background vocals - RedOneRedOneNadir Khayat , known by the stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan producer and songwriter. Renowned for co-producing hit singles such as "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "LoveGame", "Bad Romance", "Alejandro" and "Judas", he is attributed by some as the key to Lady Gaga's success...
– songwriter, producer, vocal editing, vocal arrangement, background vocals, audio engineeringAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, instrumentationInstrumentation (music)In music, instrumentation refers to the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and to the properties of those instruments individually...
, programmingProgramming (music)Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...
, recordingSound recording and reproductionSound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
at Record Plant StudiosRecord Plant StudiosThe Record Plant was a series of three famous recording studios which were founded by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone, beginning in New York City in 1968. The next year, Kellgren and Stone opened a second studio in Los Angeles. In 1972, the company expanded again with a third location in Sausalito,...
, Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and FC Walvisch, AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population... - Johny Severin – vocal editing
- Dave Russell – audio engineering
- Eelco Bakker – audio engineering
- Mark "Spike" StentMark StentMark 'Spike' Stent is a British record producer, and audio engineer who has worked with The KLF, Björk, Keane, Depeche Mode, Muse, Erasure, Hard-Fi, Massive Attack, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Marilyn Manson, Pet Shop Boys, Dave Matthews, No Doubt/Gwen Stefani, CSS, Beth Orton,...
– audio mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Gene Grimaldi – audio masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
at Oasis Mastering, Burbank, CaliforniaBurbank, CaliforniaBurbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
Credits adapted from The Fame Monster album liner notes.
Weekly charts
| Chart (2009–10) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
2 |
| Austrian Singles Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... |
1 |
| Belgian Singles Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... (Flanders) |
2 |
| Belgian Singles Chart Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 singles, often just Ultratop 40, is the weekly chart of best-selling singles in Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region, the french-speaking parts of Belgium. Its equivalent covering the Flanders region is Ultratop 50. Both charts are produced and published by the Ultratop organization... (Wallonia) |
4 |
| Brazil Billboard Hot 100 Airplay Billboard Brasil Billboard Brasil is a monthly Brazilian magazine launched on October 10, 2009, with a print-run of over 40,000 copies. It is distributed nationwide by Brazil's biggest distributor Dinap... |
6 |
| Bulgarian Airplay Chart Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, better known as BDS, is a service that tracks monitored radio, television and internet airplay of songs based on the number of spins and detections... |
1 |
| Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... |
1 |
| Czech Airplay Chart Rádio Top 100 Oficiální Rádio Top 100 Oficiální is the name of the Czech national airplay chart published by the IFPI Czech Republic on a weekly basis.Besides the main Top 100 record chart, also two component charts are effective. While the Rádio CZ 50 Oficiální features songs released exclusively by Czech and/or Slovak... |
1 |
| Danish Singles Chart Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... |
1 |
| Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
7 |
| European Hot 100 Singles | 1 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 1 |
| French Singles Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
1 |
| German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
1 |
| Hungarian Airplay Chart Mahasz Mahasz is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. Mahasz hands out the Hungarian Music Awards and maintains the music charts for Hungary.... |
1 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
1 |
| Italian Singles Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
1 |
| Japan Hot 100 Japan Hot 100 The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com .... |
9 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
2 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
1 |
| Polish Dance Chart Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry The Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry is the organization that represents the interests of the music industry in Poland, and the Polish chapter of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry... |
3 |
| Romanian Top 100 Romanian Top 100 The Romanian Top 100 is the national airplay-based singles chart of Romania. It is weekly and it started running in 1996. It is recognized as an official chart by the European division of Billboard, Music & Media.... |
1 |
| Slovak Airplay Chart Rádio Top 100 Oficiálna Rádio Top 100 Oficiálna is the name of the Slovakian national airplay chart published by the IFPI Czech Republic on a weekly basis since the cancellation of the Slovakian national section on December 31, 2009.... |
1 |
| Spanish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
1 |
| Swiss Singles Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
2 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
2 |
| US Adult Contemporary | 20 |
| US Adult Pop Songs | 7 |
| US Hot Dance Club Songs | 1 |
| US Hot Latin Songs Hot Latin Songs Hot Latin Songs is a record chart published by Billboard magazine. It is often recognized as the most important music chart for Spanish language Latin music in the American music market. It was established by the magazine on September 6, 1986 with La Guirnalda by Rocío Dúrcal being the first song... |
15 |
| US Pop Songs Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart... |
1 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2009) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 31 |
| Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders) | 86 |
| Danish Singles Chart | 42 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 10 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 18 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart New Zealand Top 50 Singles of 2009 This is a list of the Top 50 singles in 2009 in New Zealand, as listed by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand .-Chart:Songs in grey shading indicates a song of New Zealand origin. Smashproof's "Brother" was the longest-running song in 2009, peaked at number one in eleven weeks in a row... |
29 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 12 |
| UK Singles Chart | 17 |
| Chart (2010) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 26 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 9 |
| Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders) | 31 |
| Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia) | 10 |
| Canadian Hot 100 | 3 |
| Danish Singles Chart | 28 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 57 |
| European Hot 100 | 1 |
| German Singles Chart | 17 |
| Hungarian Airplay Chart | 5 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 9 |
| Japan Hot 100 | 26 |
| Romanian Top 100 | 13 |
| Spanish Singles Chart | 6 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 13 |
| UK Singles Chart | 26 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 8 |
| US Adult Contemporary | 48 |
| US Hot Dance Club Songs | 2 |
| US Pop Songs | 3 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification |
|---|---|
| Australia Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
4× Platinum |
| Belgium | Gold |
| Canada Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada... |
7× Platinum |
| Denmark | Platinum |
| France Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
Platinum |
| Germany Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
Platinum |
| Italy Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
Multi Platinum |
| Japan Recording Industry Association of Japan The Recording Industry Association of Japan is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved the music industry... |
Gold (cell) |
| Country | Certification |
|---|---|
| Japan Recording Industry Association of Japan The Recording Industry Association of Japan is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved the music industry... |
Gold (PC) |
| New Zealand Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
2× Platinum |
| Russia Russian Music Charts The Russian Music Charts are Russian music industry standard popularity rankings compiled weekly by 2M and Tophit . Albums and tracks rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through retail data captured electronically each week from Russian music retailers... |
Gold |
| Spain | 2× Platinum |
| Sweden | Platinum |
| Switzerland | Platinum |
| United Kingdom British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
Gold |
| United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
4× Platinum |
Release history
| Region | Date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | October 26, 2009 | Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
| United States | ||
| United Kingdom | November 23, 2009 | CD single |
| Australia | November 27, 2009 | |
| United States | December 22, 2009 | The Remixes – Digital download |
| January 12, 2010 | The Remixes – CD single | |
| France | January 18, 2010 | CD single |
| United States | February 9, 2010 | The Remixes Part 2 – Digital download |
See also
- List of number-one hits of 2009 (Austria)
- List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2009 (Canada)
- List of number-one hits in Denmark
- List of number-one singles (Sweden)
- List of number-one singles of 2009 and 2010 (Finland)
- List of number-one hits of 2009 (Italy)
- List of number-one singles of 2009 and 2010 (Ireland)
- List of number-one singles of 2009 and 2010 (UK)
- List of European number-one hits of 2010
- List of number-one hits of 2010 (France)
- List of number-one hits of 2010 (Germany)
- List of number-one singles of 2010 (Hungary)
- List of number-one singles (Romania)
- List of number-one dance singles of 2009 (U.S.)
- List of number-one dance airplay hits of 2010 (U.S.)
- List of Mainstream Top 40 number-one hits of 2010 (U.S.)
- List of number-one singles of 2010 (Spain)
- List of best-selling singles worldwide
External links
- Lady Gaga : Video : Bad Romance Interscope RecordsInterscope RecordsInterscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...