CottageHore Posted August 21 Posted August 21 Gaga dropped DWUW, a collab with a man who shall no longer be named as the second official single off ARTPOP in 2013 and now the song has been virtually removed from every platform and can't be found anywhere, due to the R Smelly controversy. But the song was a bop and the way she used sex as a euphemism for the way the media objectifies her and pokes and prods at her insecurities with false headlines was clever. Had she made it a solo song or had a better artist featured, it would've been remembered as the BOP it is. The Xtina remix simply doesn't do it for me, I fear! 1 2
Gov Hooka Posted August 21 Posted August 21 It's one of her best songs (both xtina remix and solo) but She's absolute trash for collabing with R Kelly for that song. And no I don't buy her bullshit reasoning behind why she did that. She wanted to cause controversy, and she knew exactly what message that collab (and lyrics with that POS singing them) would send, and she purposefully did that vile AMAs performance… Hands down the most vile stain in her career. 10 1 2
Popular Post cartierdelrey Posted August 21 Popular Post Posted August 21 The OG is the best version lol. I don't really like how many LMs act obtuse to the fact that Gaga was very well aware what she was doing when she wrote this song and tacked on R K*lly. Thank god that music video never saw the light of day because… 14 1
Sheep Posted August 21 Posted August 21 (edited) DWUW is amazing and I still have a pirated version in my apple music library. That being said it deserved even less. Gaga spoke at length in the aftermath of ARTPOP about how former members of her team coaxed her into making choices that were bad for her career and well being in the name of short term gains and I think this is the most obvious example of that. R Kelly is a musical genius but he's also a rapist and she gave him a platform to literally make a song about that. She's a survivor herself, specifically at the hands of someone in the industry, so I'm sure the whole thing was genuinely traumatizing and she was just trying(or coerced) to make questionable moves to sustain the careers of herself and her team by using any shock tactics necessary. If the originally planned ARTPOP era came to fruition she would rightfully no longer be famous in 2024. The wordplay in that song is not cute at all and was an If You Seek Amy'd thinly veiled way to sneak a song about non-consensual sex acts onto radio and she deserves to be shamed for it, even if it's a catchy track with great vocals from two legends. DWUW was a wake up call and that's the nicest thing I can say about it's place in her career. Edited August 21 by Sheep 1 1 1
SweetTalker Posted August 21 Posted August 21 It's truly her best song when you think about it. The lyrics. Production. Her vocals. Timeless pop perfection. I wish she'd randomly release the solo version
Sprite Posted August 21 Posted August 21 I love the original! It's one of only maybe 3 songs from the album that I don't find loud and annoying! (Maybe bc it's R&B instead of trash pop) 1
Sheep Posted August 21 Posted August 21 (edited) Also to the people still talking about the solo and the other duet version of that song as an unproblematic alternative, R Kelly wrote that song with Gaga and is credited on every version. It's a song by a pedophile about rape in any version. It's okay to consume art without taking moral stances but don't try to sanitize it. Edited August 21 by Sheep 3
Roberto Posted August 21 Posted August 21 A 2024 version with The Weeknd instead of R K**** is what we need, tbh. 1
Rino Posted August 21 Posted August 21 (edited) this is not going to be a popular take but I think Gaga truly believed the rumors about R Kelly were not true at the time. it's not entirely impossible to suggest that a woman, who had media/fellow celebs questioning her actual gender and other nasty stuff said about her, wouldn't believe outrageous rumours spoken about someone else. she had to learn the hard way that rumors of that kind have to be treated with a certain level of responsibility, which she neglected and is fully guilty because of it. Edited August 21 by Rino 2 1
Gov Hooka Posted August 21 Posted August 21 3 minutes ago, Sheep said: Also to the people still talking about the solo and the other duet version of that song as an unproblematic alternative, R Kelly wrote that song with Gaga and is credited on every version. It's a song by a pedophile about rape in any version. It's okay to consume art without taking moral stances but don't try to sanitize it. Wait I did not know that he was credited on every version. Trashhhhh 1
Gov Hooka Posted August 21 Posted August 21 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Rino said: this is not going to be a popular take but I think Gaga truly believed the rumors about R Kelly were not true at the time. it's not entirely impossible to suggest that a woman, who had media/fellow celebs questioning her actual gender and other nasty stuff said about her, wouldn't believe outrageous rumours spoken about someone else. At a press conference in Japan in 2013, Gaga defended the collaboration, saying: "R Kelly and I have sometimes had very untrue things written about us, so in a way this was a bond between us." ^^thats what she said buttt I find it hard to believe that she thought they were just rumors. Literally only two years later she recorded til it happens to you…. Edited August 21 by Gov Hooka 1 1
Sheep Posted August 21 Posted August 21 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Gov Hooka said: Wait I did not know that he was credited on every version. Trashhhhh R Kelly is one of the greatest songwriters ever and Gaga sold her soul to the literal devil for an immaculate track. It is what it is unfortunately. The Xtina version probably isn't in her control because of the collaborative aspect and previous agreements. I doubt she wants it out there. Edited August 21 by Sheep 1 1
Rino Posted August 21 Posted August 21 1 minute ago, Gov Hooka said: At a press conference in Japan in 2013, Gaga defended the collaboration, saying: "R Kelly and I have sometimes had very untrue things written about us, so in a way this was a bond between us." I bet she regrets saying this now 1
Punky Rooster Posted August 21 Posted August 21 As her last good single, yes… however she is pretty scummy supporting and defending Mr Kelly so possibly it got all it deserved.
QuanticXplosion Posted August 21 Posted August 21 The Xtina version Is fire. I love it and prefer it over the original.
Summerboy95 Posted August 21 Posted August 21 10 minutes ago, Rino said: this is not going to be a popular take but I think Gaga truly believed the rumors about R Kelly were not true at the time. it's not entirely impossible to suggest that a woman, who had media/fellow celebs questioning her actual gender and other nasty stuff said about her, wouldn't believe outrageous rumours spoken about someone else. she had to learn the hard way that rumors of that kind have to be treated with the level of responsibility they require. I believe this is true as well but does not work as an excuse, even more considering she's a SA victim herself. She deserves the backlash and it's good she removed it from all platforms and it seems she did a LOT on her end to remediate it with positive and sincere activism. 4 1
Rino Posted August 21 Posted August 21 4 minutes ago, Summerboy95 said: I believe this is true as well but does not work as an excuse, even more considering she's a SA victim herself. She deserves the backlash and it's good she removed it from all platforms and it seems she did a LOT on her end to remediate it with positive and sincere activism. yes, it's not an excuse at all. I choose to believe she was misguided rather than malicious. 1
ATRL Moderator MissedTheTrain Posted August 21 ATRL Moderator Posted August 21 100%. It's a fantastic song and it's so unfortunate that it's been tainted so badly. The solo version is better anyway and actually does a better job at explaining what the song is about. I wish she would have just replaced it with the solo version but I guess it brings back some bad times for her and she felt it was the right thing to just remove it entirely, so I get it. That said, the duet would have worked if she had someone like The Weekend (who was just starting to get some buzz at the time) or Bruno on it. 1
ChooseyLover Posted August 21 Posted August 21 (edited) Honestly, both versions are pop perfection. But also both versions are obviously a song written by R. Kelly and some of us who are familiar with his catalogue can easily tell. It's a masterpiece that would never exist without the involvement of the worst person in the music industry. It is what it is. It deserved to be a hit based on quality, and not only that but a signature one in her career at that. Obviously, she was lucky it wasn't. My stance is consuming the Xtina version illegally. That song, Outrageous by Britney, I Look To You by Whitney, Aaliyah's debut album and You Are Not Alone by Michael Jackson are the only R. Kelly penned tracks I can listen without feeling physically sick and it's because his voice isn't in them. Edited August 21 by ChooseyLover
ATRL Moderator MissedTheTrain Posted August 21 ATRL Moderator Posted August 21 19 minutes ago, Rino said: this is not going to be a popular take but I think Gaga truly believed the rumors about R Kelly were not true at the time. Eh, I don't know about that. I do think it's important to note that the most egregious of R Kelly's crimes didn't surface until a few years later, but the stuff that was out there at the time was swept under the rug by society for some reason. People still collaborated with him and listened to him, and the stuff that we knew about him was just an asterisk rather than the looming cloud it should have been. But yeah, the worst/bulk of the stuff first surfaced in 2016. Who knows what Gaga was thinking at the time, she was going through a bad patch of a lot of unresolved trauma bubbling up while there was also drama in her career. Thankfully, owned up to it and has made an effort to make amends.
BornUnbroken Posted August 21 Posted August 21 (edited) The biggest stain in her career, despite the OG song being an absolute earworm. I don't know what Troy Carter was thinking when he made that happen, but I have no doubt that he was the one making all the connections over the collaborations. He was one of the execs against the policy against hateful conduct on Spotify when he was CEO, which basically de-playlisted artists like R Kelly and XXXtentacion. Not excusing Gaga, she absolutely deserves the backlash for it and for also employing Terry Richardson. I'm glad she's learned from this. But Troy Carter, along with many other industry execs, are also the ones pulling the strings on a lot of these terrible decisions and keeping abusers in the industry employed. to answer the op: no, we deserved Venus as the proper 2nd single instead Edited August 21 by BornUnbroken
Solar Posted August 21 Posted August 21 A sad chapter & wake up call on her mistakes. She did the right thing with her public statement and erasing the song from all platforms, both physical and digital. It is what it is and no hindsight can change that.
terrorblade Posted August 21 Posted August 21 (edited) i still believe it would've revitalized the era if she had followed thru w the mv Edited August 21 by terrorblade
Sugar-Rush Posted August 21 Posted August 21 It was a bop and it's a shame that R. Kelly's involvement in the song tainted its legacy. Wish Bruno or The Weeknd had been the featured male vocalist instead.
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