G.U.Y.
"G.U.Y." is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her third studio album, Artpop. She co-wrote and co-produced the song with Zedd. It debuted on French radio as the album's third and final single on March 22, 2014. "G.U.Y." was developed while Gaga was touring with her Born This Way Ball, and was recorded a number of times for the final version. It is an EDM track containing elements of industrial, contemporary R&B, and house music whose lyrics address a number of subjects like sexual dominance, submission, and gender roles.
"G.U.Y." received mixed reviews from music critics, who complimented the composition of the track and Gaga's vocals, but criticized her production. The song debuted on the record charts of a few countries, but failed to enter the top forty in many of them. In the United States, "G.U.Y." became one of Gaga's lowest charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 76. It reached the top ten on Bulgarian airplay chart, the Billboard Greek Digital Songs chart, and the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
The music video for the song was shot at Hearst Castle, located near San Simeon. The video featured reality TV show stars like The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and works of artist Nathan Sawaya and Minecraft YouTuber SkyDoesMinecraft. Running for over 11 minutes, the video shows Gaga as a wounded fallen angel who is revived by her followers in a pool. Once rejuvenated, she takes revenge on the men who hunted her and replaces them with clones known as G.U.Y. The video received positive reviews for its visuals and its references to Greek mythology. Gaga has performed "G.U.Y." at her seven-day concert residency at Roseland Ballroom in March 2014 and on her ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour; in both places she emulated the choreography from the music video on stage, and received a positive critical response. Gaga also performed the song on the Late Show with David Letterman on April 2 of the same year.
Background and development
Development of Gaga's third studio album, Artpop, began shortly after the release of her second one, Born This Way, and by the following year, the record was already being recorded. "G.U.Y." was confirmed in an interview with Stylist magazine where Joanna McGarry asked Gaga about her views on feminism. Gaga told McGarry that the song is about new-age feminism, which she wanted to explore, where being subordinate to a man is the transfer of strength:
I actually wrote a song about it on my album, it's called 'GUY' and it stands for 'Girl Under You'. So wearing make-up, smelling delicious and having suckable, kissable, edible things between your limbs is something I find strengthening because I know that when I pick the right guy, I can let him have it. Some women feel oppressed by make-up and clothing, and here's to them, they have every right to feel that way as well.
On her social media website Littlemonsters.com, Gaga later corrected the song title, saying that it is actually "G.U.Y.", an acronym for "Girl Under You". She also revealed that the song was written and produced with musician Zedd, who had been touring with Gaga for her Born This Way Ball. Zedd had previously done a remix of her single "Marry the Night" for her remix album, Born This Way: The Remix, and Gaga had contributed vocals on an alternate version of Zedd's track, "Stache". The musician told MTV News that they "both love nothing more than making music, so it was just kind of natural for us to just work on music". He also confirmed that around ten songs were composed with Gaga and was almost finished, although he was not sure which would be available on the final track list for Artpop.
By January 2013, Zedd clarified that due to their busy schedules it was difficult to complete the project and work progressed mainly during the tour. Talking to Sirius XM Radio in December 2013, where she gave an in-depth analysis of each song from the album, Gaga further expanded on the concept of new-wave feminism: "The record's all about being comfortable underneath, because you are strong enough to know that you don't have to be on top to know you're worth it," she concluded.
Recording and composition
Initial recording sessions for Artpop coincided with the Born This Way Ball. Zedd was not happy with the initial outcome of the recordings and so he suggested Gaga to re-do the whole process. Gaga's idea of recording the songs with Zedd was to not limit themselves with the intention of creating a staple radio hit, instead be creative in whichever way they wanted. He explained to Rolling Stone that they did not "try to make an EDM album – but, at the same time, we didn't try not to make an EDM album. I've done a lot of stuff that's really outside of what I usually do. There was one song that started from her just giving me, like, 10 words to describe an emotion, and then I had to make this into music. It's been a very experimental way of approaching music."The song was recorded at Record Plant Studios, Hollywood, California, by Dave Russell with assistance from Benjamin Ladder. Zedd did the mixing of the track at Zeddl. The instructional voice at the beginning of the song was done by Sonja Durham. Assisting with the whole process was Ryan Shanahan and Jesse Taub. Finally, Rick Pearl did the additional programming and Gene Grimaldi did the audio mastering at Oasis Mastering Studios in Burbank, California.
According to Musicnotes.com, "G.U.Y." is set in the time signature of common time, with a dance-pop tempo of 110 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of C minor with Gaga's vocals spanning the tonal nodes of D3 to C5. "G.U.Y." is an EDM song with industrial, R&B, and house elements. Jason Lipshutz of Billboard described the track as a "shuddering dance siren that makes the distinction between gender equality and willful sexual submission". Caryn Ganz from Rolling Stone called the song a "gothy grinder".
Its composition is reminiscent of the songs on Gaga's first album, The Fame, with MTV News' John Walker noticing a number of topics being addressed by the lyrics, including sexual preferences, dominance and submission and gender roles. There is also a glimpse of baroque music in the composition which Ed Power of Hot Press described as landing "its blows with agreeable fervor". The song opens with Gaga playing the role of a hostess, which Maura Johnston of Spin found similar to the 1993 erotic album, Cyborgasm. It begins with a spoken word introduction about Eros, the god of sexual desire.
Critical response
Following its release, "G.U.Y." received mixed reviews from music critics. Positive comment came from Lipshutz, who commended Zedd's production of the song, noticing that it complimented Gaga's vocals and the hook was relatable, making "G.U.Y." the first standout track from Artpop. Robert Copsey from Digital Spy praised the song's "grinding bass and darting synths" and "hypnotic chorus". Andy Gill of The Independent felt that Gaga's "robotic" vocal delivery in the song made the theme of sexual attraction "seem grimly denatured". Walker praised the track's lyrics and gave "G.U.Y" four out of five rating, but was less pleased with its instrumentation. Owen Myers of Dazed & Confused complimented the entendres present in the song, saying that "this pop wonder" would have worked better as the lead single from Artpop. Harper's Bazaar magazine's Justin Miller shared this opinion, and believed that both the dance music composition and the lyrics catered most to the Venus inspiration behind the album. In a retrospective review, Claire Lobenfeld of Pitchfork stated that "G.U.Y." was "Gaga's career-best dance track up until her Ariana Grande-featuring trauma-balm 'Rain on Me' was released in 2020."Johnson described the song as "a seriously banging pop EP", and a welcome departure from the first two tracks of the album, "Aura" and "Venus". She described the song to be "an ode to taking on the submissive role in a relationship". Stacy-Ann Ellis from Vibe deemed the song "almost clever". Brian Tank from The Buffalo News called the track a "catchy and fun" song which made one "feel happy and dance along". Writing for Fact, William Bennett described the song as incredible. Mikael Wood from Los Angeles Times felt that "G.U.Y." helped the Artpop album have a "fresh" sound. Annie Zalenski of The A.V. Club praised it as one of the album's highlights. The song was called an "instant hit" by Mike Driver from Clash who found the usage of handclaps and the chorus as addictive. Clare Considine from Time Out found the song to be inspired by the work of Madonna and David Bowie, in its "cosmic pansexual playfulness". Brad Wheeler from The Globe and Mail noted the erotic elements associated with the track, jokingly adding that "one imagines Gaga's choreographer is busy at work on the song's live erotica possibilities as we speak."
Negative reviews came from Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, who criticized the song, saying that it did not portray Gaga as an artist moving forward with her music, and did not contribute anything musically to distinguish itself from other sexual songs. Kevin Fallon of The Daily Beast opined that "G.U.Y." is a "complicated" track where the production is so chaotic that it drowned the commendable hook of the song, making it sound like a "whirring bee's nest". Melinda Newman from Hitfix gave the song a "C" rating and criticized its production as "clunky". Preston Jones from Fort Worth Star-Telegram called the song "blunt", and believed that it showed Gaga "has been, all along, more or less creatively bankrupt". Allan Moses Rodricks from The Hindu felt that too much experimenting with the music led to a low quality production on the song. Allison Stewart from The Washington Post criticized the song's lyrics for including "role playing, bad puns, a killer hook". Stewart also characterized it as "highly sexualized, which is different from saying it's sexy, because Gaga's air of sexual detachment rivals Rihanna's." Chris Bosman from Time found the song's sexual themes to be "very similar" and redundant to those from "Venus". Lydia Jenkin from The New Zealand Herald was unsure whether the lyrics were interesting or "just confused".