Bad Romance

"Bad Romance" started on a tour bus in Norway. Lady Gaga and RedOne were on the European leg of her Fame Ball tour in the summer of 2009, and the two wrote the song in a few hours between stops. The chorus hook, that string of nonsense syllables, came to Gaga almost fully formed. She has said she wanted something that sounded like it was being sung by a woman who had lost her mind over someone. RedOne built the track around a four-on-the-floor kick, a burbling synth arpeggio, and a beat that sounds like a haunted house version of a Eurodance record.

The song is the lead single from The Fame Monster, the reissue of her debut album that arrived as a standalone EP in November 2009. Interscope, Cherrytree, and Kon Live put it out on October 26. It runs 4 minutes and 54 seconds, which is long for a pop single, and the length is part of why it works. The track takes its time getting to the chorus, and the payoff is that much bigger when it lands. Gaga described the song as the "Fear of Love Monster," one of the eight fears she wrote about for the EP.

The music video, directed by Francis Lawrence, premiered on November 23, 2009. It opens with Gaga in a white bathrobe, sitting on a white couch in a white room, surrounded by models in black suits. From there it moves through a bathhouse, a kidnapping, a diamond-encrusted bathtub, and a finale where she sets the man who bought her on fire. The video has passed 1.8 billion views on YouTube. Its choreography, especially the monster claw hands, became a dance that fans still perform at her shows. [edit]