Explaining the Genius of Lady GagaUsing Music Theory Slate Articles by Owen Pallett April 1, 2014

Roll over, Tchaikovsky.

Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

Our mission: to dissect chart-topping pop singles and weigh their trembling

flesh on the scales of Western music theory. Today I am typing about the unique

genius of Lady Gagas Bad Romance.

From her early singles onwardJust Dance (U.S. No. 1), Poker Face (U.S.

No. 1), LoveGame (U.S. No. 5), Paparazzi (U.S. No. 6), Bad Romance (U.S.

No. 2), Alejandro (U.S. No. 5), and Judas (U.S. No. 10)Gaga and her

primary songwriting partner, RedOne, set rigorous guidelines as to what Gaga

singles would or would not do:

1. Gaga is meant to convey a sexy, spooky energy. Result: Gaga would not release

any major-key singles. Minor keys only. None of these seven singles is in a major

key.

2. Gagas presence on the charts is monolithic, immovable. Result: Gaga would

begin every verse (and most choruses) on the establishing i chord, that is, the

root chord of the minor-key the song is in, suggesting permanence, an

inevitability.

3. Gagas gaze upon the pop landscape is unflinching, unblinking. Result: Gaga

would never do a single that modulated to another key. (Exception: Paparazzi)

4. Gaga is human, obeys her base impulses, with no uplifting effervescence or

fluttery naivet. So, despite the best advice of certain music writers, Gaga would

never allow any of her dance-floor fillers to feature syncopated rhythms. Only

repetitious juggernaut eighth-note patterns, please. (Exception: LoveGame.)

5. Gaga isnt above high-fiving a stereotype once in a while. So, many of these

singles feature spoken-word breakdowns with overtones of wide-eyed

infantilism (disco stick, bluffin with my muffin) or French-maid fetishism

(Alejandros intro, jveux ton amour et je veux ton revanche [sic]).

6. Gaga has her sights set on the world stage, not just English-speaking

countries. Result: All of these singles repeat the song title enough times so as to

penetrate the language barrier. On her first five singles, she sings the songs title

18, 30, 34, nine, and 36 times, respectivelyI gave up counting by the time I got

to Alejandro.

But all of these songs sound the same, you protest. You are correct. From song

to song, Gaga likes simple, laserlike single-pitch melodiescompare I want to

hold them like they do in Texas please with I want your ugly, I want your

disease with When he comes to me I am ready.

She loves the interval of a perfect fifthcompare Bad Romances Gaga ooh la

fanfare with Paparazzis We are the crowd / Were c-coming out with Judas

Judas Judaaaaas.

Regarding her chord choices, well, I penciled them down, and Ill give you the

tl;dr version: She and RedOne keep it simple.

Some poppets may take this consistency of tone to be indicative of a lack of

creativity on Gagas end. Me, I see it as strong branding. Yes, these seven singles

are mechanically indistinguishable, but I hear L-A-D-Y on the left, G-A-G-A on

the right, knuckles in your face, your inner ear is branded. Gaga is a fighter, not a

lover.

Bad Romance is Gagas magnum opus, a summation of her musical

vocabulary.

I like this monomania, too, as it definitively establishes Gagas own voice as a

songwriter. She works with co-writers, as do most pop singer-songwriters, but

her own writing voice is indelible. I respect performing artists and songwriters

equally, but I extend extra good will to those artists who take on both roles. This

is not because of any desire for authenticity of authorship, but because I, as an

audience member, like superheroes.

And you cannot deny the efficacy of her narrow compositional vocabulary. I use

the word genius without reservation. She is one of the most successful

participants in the culture industry, resonating worldwide with people in all

walks of life. If you wish to debate the worth of this industry, or whether or not

genius can exist within it, we can do so at another time. Here is a video of

Haitian kids singing and dancing to Poker Face:

All of the scene-setting of The Fame was to prime the world for Lady Gagas best

and (as time will surely show us) most enduring pop single: Bad Romance.

Bad Romance is Gagas magnum opus, a summation of her musical

vocabulary, that expands upon the foundation of her first singles, and towers

over her more recent ones.

I have to mention three non-music-theory-related points about Bad Romance

in passing. First: The vocals on the chorus are cunningly mixed far louder than

the verses, just to make sure we hear how great a chorus it is. Second: The

signature spoken-word breakdown is no longer reminiscent of crass Peaches, but

sexy Janet. Third: Bad Romance is, to the best of my knowledge, the only Gaga

single to have its final chorus overdubbed with pop-diva-style vocal improvs.

This raised seventh does something that would make Tchaikovsky proud.

The distinguishing compositional features of Bad Romance are mutations, odd

alterations to her business as usual. Chiefly, the chorus (and song) begin on a VI

chord instead of her favorite i chord. Structurally, the song is an epic, packing

many parts into itself, reordering the structure and modifying the breakdown, a

mutation on a mutation.

The chorus itself shifts and changes. It appears right off the top as the wordless

oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhha melisma, a normal enough occurrence in pop, but Gaga

hasnt done melisma before or since. This melisma is just foreshadowing for the

chorus proper, where it is replaced with the hook I want your love and I want

your revenge / you and me could write a bad romance.

About that hook: Gaga has till now never used a raised seventh, which is

unusual for someone who writes exclusively in minor keys. Now she does. In this

chorus there is a changing accidentalthe seventh note of the a-minor scale

appears both as a G-natural and as a G-sharp.

Now, this raised seventh does something that would make Tchaikovsky proud.

The melody appears twice per chorus, but over two distinctly different chord

progressions (VI-VII-i-III the first time, VI-VII-V-i the second). The first time,

bad appears as G-natural, leaping down a fourth to romance. The second

time, bad appears as a G-sharp, leaping down a tritone.

That G-sharp wants to go upward. It wants to rise to the A, resolving the cadence

as a music school freshman would have done. But Gaga goes down, leaving that

bad leading note hanging. Why? Because she herself is bad. Further

accentuating the badness of that bad: That interval, the tritone, is historically

linked to sexual desire and the devil. Whether or not Lady Gaga is familiar with

the specifics of Tchaikovskys Sixth Symphony is irrelevant; she has scored a

textbook-worthy usage of Western music theorys favorite signifier for

EVILDOING.

Aside from these important deviations, all the key features of Gagaism are here,

those rules listed above. And this is why Bad Romance will endure forever,

because all six of these other singles will only be heard as inferior sketches and

imitations of the masterworkin Judas case, a poor photocopy, melismatic

ohhh included. Bad Romance stands on the shoulders of these other,

identically dressed, homelier singles, the star cheerleader, No. 1.

Before I get off this boat, I have to patch a couple of holes. Ive been limiting my

focus to the RedOne collaborations, plus Paparazzi.* A few words about the

Gagas other singles:

Born This Way (U.S. No. 1) is Gagas biggest smash, her first in a major key.

Now, I personally believe that originality in songwriting can extend outside the

boundaries of melodic and harmonic creativity, but as far as Western music

theory is concerned, that song was written by Madonna.

Telephone (featuring Beyonc) (U.S. No. 3) and Do What U Want (featuring

R. Kelly) (U.S. No. 13) are stylistically divergent duets, so they dont count.

Applause (U.S. No. 4), the first single from Artpop, conforms to most of the

traditional tenets of Gagas writingstraight eighths, minor-key, repetitious

simplicityand it was a respectable success. In contrast, Born This

Ways strange and nonconforming misstep Yo and I (U.S. No. 6 but lower

elsewhere) was a minor hit by Gaga standards.

My most glaring omission, however, is The Edge Of Glory (U.S. No. 3), a big,

exciting, major-key hit, which, honest to God, Id heard and enjoyed a hundred

times before typing this article but wouldve never guessed was Gaga. I am on a

bus, I hum the chorus to the people sitting on both sides of me, and they know

the song, but they also guess wrong. They thought it was Kelly Clarkson. I cite

this as further proof of the efficacy of Gagas branding. Thanks for reading.

*RedOne is only featured on one track on Artpop, Gypsy; the scaling-down of

his involvement was what inspired this piece.