Bad Romance

Album: The Fame Monster (2009)
Charted: 1 2
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Songfacts®:

  • This club banger is the lead single from the expanded version of Lady Gaga's debut album, The Fame: Monster. Lyrically the song celebrates the kind of lusty passion and desire found in a bad romance novel.
  • Lady Gaga debuted part of this song on the October 2, 2009 edition of Saturday Night Live. The full version was unveiled four days later at the finale of fashion designer Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2010 Paris Fashion Week runway show.
  • Moroccan/Swedish producer RedOne helmed the song and wrote it with GaGa. He also collaborated with Lady Gaga on her smash hits "Just Dance," "Lovegame" and "Poker Face."
  • Gaga told Rolling Stone that The Fame: Monster is not about cashing in on a successful album. She said: "I think re-releases are unfair. It's artists sneaking singles onto an already finished piece of work in an effort to keep the album afloat. Originally [my label] only wanted me to put out three songs and now it's much more than that. It's a new album's worth of material."
  • The song's music video was directed by Francis Lawrence, who's helmed clips for the likes of Britney Spears, Janet Jackson and Gwen Stefani. Lady Gaga told MTV News that she knew she wanted to work with Lawrence: "It was collaborative. He's a really pop video director and a filmmaker. He did I Am Legend and I'm a huge Will Smith fan, so I knew he could execute the video in a way that I could give him all my weirdest, most psychotic ideas," she said. "But it would come across to and be relevant to the public."
  • The clip features Gaga with some razor-blade sunglasses. She explained to MTV News: "I wanted to design a pair for some of the toughest chicks and some of my girlfriends - don't do this at home! - they used to keep razor blades in the side of their mouths. That tough female sprit 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.'"
  • When this reached #1 in the UK, Lady Gaga became the first solo female artist to have three chart-toppers in a calendar year.
  • There's a healthy bit of gibberish in the lyrics ("Roma Roma-ma"), as well as some French. The French part is: "Je veux ton amour et je veux ta revanche," which translates to "I want your love and I want your revenge."
  • A congratulary ra ra to Lady Gaga is in order as when this song climbed to the top of Billboard's Top 40 Airplay Chart dated January 17, 2010, the New York hitmaker became the first artist in the tally's 17-year history to send her first five singles to the #1 spot. Said Gaga to Billboard magazine, "Just six months ago, 'Bad Romance' was nothing but a dream, a recurring melody, a lyric hidden on a napkin on my tour bus. Now, it's my fifth #1 record, and a reminder to fans to always follow their dreams. I would like to thank all my beautiful little monsters and my incredibly supportive team for the most memorable year of my life. To have had such a phenomenal reception to my second album, The Fame Monster, is life-changing. I'm so happy I could die."
  • In the video Gaga's eyes were digitally altered to make them look bigger and bolder. Several Asian contact lens companies manufacture a product known as 'circle lenses,' which covers part of the white area in the eyes to make the pupil look larger. Encouraged by Gaga's wide-eyed look, American teenagers flocked to buy these lenses online in the aftermath of the clip's release, despite opticians warning that the lack of quality control could lead to problems like eye infections, damage to vision, and even loss of sight.
  • The song's promo received ten nominations at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, tying with Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" for the record of most nominations for a single video. It went on to win seven of the categories including the prestigious Video of the Year award.
  • This won Best Song at the 2010 MTV European Music Awards. The singer also won the trophies for Best Pop and Best Female at the ceremony.
  • This was the top-selling single of 2010 in Europe, according to the Billboard European Hot 100. Runner up was Kesha's "TiK ToK" and in third place was the Black Eyed Peas' "Meet Me Halfway."
  • The Fame Monster was the best-selling album of 2010 worldwide. The extended version of Gaga's 2008 debut The Fame scored 5.8 million sales around the world in 2010, finishing ahead of Eminem's Recovery, which came in second with sales of 5.7 million and Justin Bieber was in third place with combined sales of My World and My World 2 totalling 5.7 million.
  • This was a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Gaga performed her song "Born This Way" at the ceremony, where The Fame Monster also won for Best Pop Vocal Album.
  • Music licensing company PPL announced that this song had the most plays on radio and in public places in the UK in 2010. In second place was Eminem's "Empire State of Mind and in third another Gaga tune, Alejandro."
  • At Bill Clinton's 65th birthday celebration held at the Hollywood Bowl on October 15, 2011, Lady Gaga performed a special version of this song for the former president reworked as "Bill Romance." Gaga then told him, "If someone had told me so many years ago I'd be doing that right in front of you... I would have given them a good American 'F--k you.'"
  • Gaga closed out her halftime performance at the 2017 Super Bowl with a rendition of this song, rocking a football theme with a very fashionable set of shoulder pads. Her backup dancers also wore designer helmets and pads.
  • Grammar geeks cringe when they hear the offending lyric, "You and me could write a bad romance." Me is an objective pronoun and can't perform an action like writing, so the subjective pronoun I is needed: "You and I could write a bad romance." After all, you would never say, "Me could write a bad romance."

    Gaga made a similar error on her hit "You and I."
  • This was chosen by the writers of Billboard magazine in July 2018 as their best video of the 21st century to date. They explained that it "went beyond the kind of spectacle" that rising artists such as Lady Gaga "had the resources to pull off."

    Billboard added: "It offered a glimpse into an entire cinematic world that thrilled and disturbed in equal measure, expanding the possibilities of what a music video could achieve - and challenging other stars to step their game up at the same time."
  • This is Adele's favorite karaoke song. During one of her 2023 Weekends With Adele residency shows in Las Vegas, Adele enlightened the audience about her favorite tunes to perform on more intimate stages. With a gleam in her eye, she proclaimed, "You know what's the best karaoke song to do? 'Bad Romance' by Lady Gaga."

    Adele couldn't contain her enthusiasm as she burst into the iconic gibberish introduction of Gaga's 2009 smash hit: "Ra ra ah ah ah, roma ro ma ma." She joyfully shared how much fun she has when belting out the track.

    Adele playfully admitted that there is one aspect of the song that still poses a challenge for her. With a shrug and a smile, the megastar confessed, "When she starts speaking French, I've got no idea what she's saying."

Comments: 53

  • Ben Diver from UkLike all her music it's extremely derrivitive and essentially just a pre-existing song with words changed.

    Usually she picks Madonna songs to plagiarise, but in this case it's Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics with different lyrics. Not original but what is these days?

    You're welcome.
  • Juven from PhilippinesLove this song. Probably Lady Gaga's best musical performance.
  • Shandroise De Laeken from Davao City, PhilippinesWondering why there are people here who say this sounds like 80's. Umm, maybe disco 80's?
    To those who are saying she's bringing the issue of human trafficking to awareness through this music video, how sure are you? How would someone promote the stop of sexual human trafficking by wearing skimpy, almost next-to-nothing clothes in her music videos and most of the time she appears on media? I think she's promoting girls to become more seductive and engage in immorality. Terrible. Horrific. Loathesome.
  • Don from B G, KySome parts of this song sound like Coldplay's song VIVA LA VIDA to me.
  • Megan from Stevenson, AlThis is probably her best song, other than You and I. Love the lyrics, the music, the video...:)
  • Camille from Toronto, OhLady Gaga's best song and video. I was at a very good place in my life when this was song was at its height in popularity, so it always reminds me of good things. Love the music and the visuals in the video. Perfection.
  • Brendan from Dublin, Irelandlady gaga's music is quite superficial and its not original at all,it sickens me when i see so many original bands fail cos they are apparently not radio material or mtv material,not like she is,she sings about blowing people and all that bolox
  • Breanna from Henderson, NvThey play this song alot at my local Rocky Horror shows. On their April Fool's one they played it when Brad and Janet are driving down the road before their tire blows out. They played the video this month and had the whole cast and aduience come up and dance to it, and had Virgins do their best interpertation of it as apart of Virgin Sacrifise.
  • Ivy from Springfield, NeThis is an ok song, but wayyy too overplayed, and so I hate it now. i have it on cd. 6/10
  • Caca from Arlington, Ohbramdon u only like her cuz she has a penis
  • Mamaboy from Willshire, AzThe starting hook 'gaga oollala' is a rip off of Electrical Funeral Riff by Black Sabbath -_-
  • Austin from Pingree, NdHer music's horrible and it pisses me off for her having no talent and yet is topping charts. WHAT HAS THE WORLD COME TOO?
  • Mariah from Rainier, OrLady GaGa scares me! She's cool and all but she's kinda freaky.
  • Paul from Christchurch, New ZealandOkay I consider myself a pretty big fan of music in general, I have a pretty vast knowledge of music and have heard a lot of different artists, genres etc. Just gonna put this out there, This is the most INFECTIOUS song I have ever heard, it is almost eerie the way that hook in the chorus just sucks you in... weird. I wouldn't be surprised if all those gibberishey bits where shes goin 'Ga, ga... oooh la la' had subliminal messages in them. I don't mean like evil 'stab your mother' ones but just like 'You will love this song, buy 100 copies of Fame Monster' sort of thing lol. I do like the song by the way, but like I said there is something unsettling about how hypnotic it is. Shes in my home-country of New Zealand at the moment doing a couple of concerts. Honestly I would enjoy going but it would be too embarassing, I'm a 19 year old guy and it just wouldn't be all that cool of me to go to some pop divas little lip synch fest, a sprawling festival of estrogen and lip balm. LOL
  • Kylie-marie from Whetstone, Azthis song totally makes sense, shes saying that she wants to have atleast one dirty, raunchy, sex fantasy before she dies!!!!!T0t@77Y part of the 80s theme. love it, love, love her music!!!!!
  • Mirna from Newark, El SalvadorShe's crazy and wild but thats what makes an artist
  • Sarah from Columbia, ScI personally think this song is about BDSM, which is a sexual lifestyle. It stands for Bondage/Discipline/Dominant/Submissive/Sadism/Masochism.Basically, it's sex where one partner is dominated by the other. It involves bondage and whipping and even weapons. Pain is a major turn-on in BDSM.
  • Jennifer from Chicago, IlI LOVE Lady GaGa. She's just so out there, and she does'nt let what people say about her stop her from living her dreams. She's accomplished so much in just her first year. She's recognized throughout the world and is known for the head-turning outfits. She's inspired so many Fashion Designers such as Alexander McQueen and many famous artists want to collaborate with her (Rihanna). Even MICHAEL JACKSON wanted to do a song with her, too bad he died. She's changing the world, one sequin at a time!
  • Stephanie from Eva, Ali don't understand why every1's fighting over the meaning of this song. yes it probable has a true meaning but music is art and art can mean what ever you want it to
  • Nicole from Houston, MsLady Gaga is wonderful, she is gunnah go places! i love her!!!
  • Brandon from Lexington, TnLady GaGa said in a recent interview that the song was about falling in love with your best friend. She wants more than just a friendship and she is saying that she loves them so mush she wants to share the darkest parts of herself with him and in turn learn the darkest parts of him. It's truelly a romanctic song but most people don't see the poetic lyrics because of the pop melody.
  • Drew from Wilmington, NcIts not about sex trafficking. its about the bad romance between the record labels and the artist (they're being whored off) its a metaphor not a activists plea. human trafficking is bad no doubt, but that's what movies like 'Taken' are for, raising awareness (right?).
  • K from Nowhere, OnI have to say, Lady Gaga got old after her second song. Sure, people still love her, but I'm tired of it all. I don't bother watching music TV or listening to the radio anymore. We get it, Lady Gaga. You're weird. Now go away for a while.
  • Lacey from Chicago, Ilquestionable video...catchy song
  • Si from Auckland, New ZealandPersonally to me, this song is about the destructive passion that could engulf people. It is about the sort of self-destructive love like Amy Winehouse's marriage. You know it's bad for both of you, but you can't stop, the dark side of love.
  • Caitlyn from Dallas, TxI saw this video and thought "80's!" I wasn't even alive in the 80's, but it's so crazy to see trends my mother used to like surface up in music videos!
  • Chris from Enid, OkCome on people. Don't be so dense. This video is about being a slave for the music industry, but in the end...having the last say so. "Bad Romance" is about her relationship with the music industry. It is NOT really about sex or love. It amazes me that how dumb people can be when it comes to symbolism or art. If it isn't made simple enough for a child to understand it, they don't even try. The SONG however is about accepting someone regardless of all the things ugly or beautiful. Isn't that what most of us do with people we love? My explination might be wrong, but at least I used a couple of brain cells to try and figure it out.
  • Zoe from London, Lai think this video is discusting! although i agree that sex trafficing is a hidden and contravercial issue that needs to be adressed in society this is a foul way to do it. GaGa and sexualized herself throughout making human sex trafficing seem glamorous which is unsensitive and neive. the idea that she is stripped and drugged is such a seductive mannor i feel not only sexualises trafficing but makes it look appealing as she is "acting up" for the men, surly a poor representation to portray to young women. trafficing is treated much like mental illness in the media, it is shown in an unrealistic way. although i enjoy GaGas music i was appaled when i saw this video.
  • Emily from Around Chicago, IlYou know, when I heard this song for the first time I immediatly thought "Not Bad Romance--Bad Song" But, I have to admit, the music and lyrics have grown on me. It's actually pretty good now :D
  • Katie from San Angelo, TxLady gaga is extremely weird and a "freak bitch baby", she's so fearlessly out there. I love her for that because no other artist exists that could pull of what she doing for the music industry.
  • Emma from Adelaide, Australiai love Lady Gaga. she doesnt listen to other people's negativity and she keeps doing what SHE wants to do, not letting a record label take over her. clearly a music sensation.
  • Nicole from Manchedter, NhLet wazzo fill u guys in, the Bad Romance video portrays human sex trafficking, I'm so glad that Lady Gaga did this because human sex trafficking is modern day slavey in its most vile form. This issue needs to be addressed, why not by one of todays most popular artists. Gaga I'm not sure if this is what u intended to portray but thank u for doing so, I LOVE THIS SONG I also love your song DANCE IN THE DARK you talk about Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Sylvia Plath, Jean Benet Ramsy and Princess Diana all Beautiful women who left this earth to soon again u rock so much!!!
  • Vinnie from Los Angeles, CaIt is being said that the song "Bad Romance" is actually about becoming a home wrecker....she wants to have sex with a man already taken, period end of story...and i love her just the same , she is major talent. all seeing eye, carry on .
  • Angelica from Boynton Beach, Flthis is also lady gaga interpretation of "THRILLER"
  • Ryan from London (y), United KingdomLike Denise said; This song is about falling in love with someone percieved as ugly or bad; Whether that be personality, bad-boy persona or even looks.
    Hence it being a 'bad' romance. And as a side-note the video is about human-trafficking. Kinda irelevant to the song it self but who cares when it's L-Ga²! She is a true artist which comes through in her videos, music and her stunning looks x
  • Denise from Richmond, VaI was watching an interview with Lady GaGa and she said it's about loving the most disgusting part of someone that they think no one else can love.
  • Martin from Calhoun, Gacool song!!
  • Martin from Calhoun, Gathe son is realy cool and the beat is bad!! she just makes some crazy ass videos whats next sex in a video!!
  • Tabitha from Lake Havasu City, AzThis song is so catchy! I think it's my favorite by her so far. The video is random, and it doesn't get much better than that. :)
  • Camille from Toronto, OhLady Gaga has brought something new & interesting to the video scene & I like it so. She brings the macabre, the mystique & the bizarre to the wearisome, worn-out version of "sexy female" singer & it works well. It's so refreshing. This particular tune seems to have a bit of "Ukranian folk song" chant (or Jewish if you wish) to its sound (think: Hava Nagilah) with its oo-la-oo-rah-rahs & then the play on her name, Ga ga. It's catchy.
  • Tanya from La Verne, CaI love this song! It takes me back to the 80s.
  • Bella from Essex, United Kingdomthis video is too creepy ...
  • Kevin from New York, NyLOVE IT!!! Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Roma-roma-mamaa!Ga-ga-ooh-la-la!
  • Bre from Pound, VaThis song is great and Lady Gaga is awesome. This video makes plenty of sense. Like Laura from VA said, it is about human trafficking, like the movie Taken! From Lady Gaga herself, the song is about falling in love with a best frriend and wanting something more than a friendship. She explained this when she hosted the top20 countdown on 20on20 XM channel.
  • Laura from Prince George, Vathis song isn't about her having a affair with a married guy(at least the video isn't i know).it's about traffic.at the part where she is dancing for the men and the numbers go up for her name it is where they are bidding on her.in the end she kills the guy who bought her basically saying "screw trafficking" GO GAGA!!
  • Susanna from Leesburg, VaThe video doesn't make much sense, but then again, there aren't many ,usic videos that DO make sense. I love this song though! (even thogh she is a slut)
  • Sara from Kingman, AzThis song is great,but all of Lady Gaga's songs are great she's so different thats what makes her so great and yes this song makes sense keep listening maybe one day your get it!!!
  • Maria. from Montclair, Cathe video for this song is crazy!
    i think this song is just about what it says.
    i love Lady GaGa!
  • Garrett from Pittsburgh, PaThis song is about her having an affair with a guy whos married.
  • Ally from Edgefield, ScI freakin love this song! It's so good and it just makes you want to get up and dance despite the dreary lyrics!
  • Maria Castaneda from Montclair, Cai love this song!
    Gaga-0oh-la-la!
    Want Your Bad Romance.
  • Sam from Chicago, IlBad romance. It doesn't make any sense
  • Theresa from Murfreesboro, TnThis song is amazing, Lady Gaga is a genius!
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