"Telephone" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her third extended play (EP), The Fame Monster (2009)—the reissue of her debut studio album, The Fame (2008). Featuring American singer Beyoncé, it was released as the EP's second single on January 26, 2010. Gaga and Beyoncé wrote "Telephone" with Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, and Lazonate Franklin. Jerkins was responsible for the production, with Gaga co-producing with him. Gaga originally wrote the song for Britney Spears, who recorded a demo. "Telephone" conveys Gaga's fear of not finding time for fun given the increasing pressure for her to work harder as an artist. Musically, the song consists of an expanded bridge, verse-rap, and a sampled voice of an operator announcing that the phone line is unreachable. Beyoncé appears in the middle of the song, singing the verses in a "rapid-fire" way and accompanied by double beats.
"Telephone" received positive reviews from critics who called it a stand-out track from The Fame Monster and praised Gaga's chemistry with Beyoncé. Several critics included it in their best-of list of 2010. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, and it won a ASCAP Pop Music Award and a BMI Award. Following the album's release, the song charted in many countries, including Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, and Hungary. Peaking at number three in the US, it was particularly successful in Europe where it topped the charts in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, and the UK. The song sold 7.4 million digital copies worldwide in 2010, making it the year's fourth-best-selling single.
The accompanying music video for "Telephone", shot as a short film, was filmed in an intense two-day shoot across multiple locations, with minimalist lighting and meticulous planning, allowing 150 setups per day to be captured. It is a continuation of the video for "Paparazzi" (2009), the fifth single from The Fame. It follows Beyoncé as she bails Gaga out of prison for killing her boyfriend; they go to a diner and poison the customers' breakfast. The video ends as they attempt to escape a high-speed police chase. It references Quentin Tarantino and his films Pulp Fiction (1994) and Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003). The video received generally positive reviews and was nominated for three awards at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year. In January 2015, Billboard named it the best video of the first half of the decade. NME listed it as one of the 100 greatest music videos of all time. Retrospective reviewers analyzed the video's themes, including feminism, lesbianism, and commentary on fame and celebrity culture.
In memory of fashion designer and friend Alexander McQueen, Gaga performed an acoustic rendition of "Telephone" at the 2010 BRIT Awards. She also sang it during the Super Bowl LI halftime show, and many of her concert tours and other live appearances. The song was covered by several artists, as well as characters from the television show Glee.
Background and release
Lady Gaga originally wrote "Telephone" for Circus (2008), singer Britney Spears's sixth studio album, yet Spears rejected it. Taking the song for herself, Gaga wanted Spears to be its guest vocalist though Beyoncé became the final choice. Gaga recorded "Telephone" with her for the extended play (EP) The Fame Monster (2009)—the reissue of her debut studio album, The Fame (2008). It was released as the EP's second single on January 26, 2010. The two previously collaborated on a remix of Beyoncé's "Video Phone" (2009).
The song was mainly inspired by Gaga's fear of not finding the time to have fun. She described it as a feeling of "suffocation—something that I have or fear is never being able to enjoy myself, [...] 'Cause I love my work so much, I find it really hard to go out and have a good time. [...] I don't go to nightclubs, [...] You don't see pictures of me falling out of a club drunk. I don't go—and that's because I usually go and then, you know, a whiskey and a half into it, I got to get back to work."
In May 2011, Gaga said her "emotional connection" with "Telephone" was difficult. When asked if it was because the song was originally written for Spears, she answered: "Well that's not exactly what happened, but I don't want to delve into that. I could delve into it if you turn [the recorder] off[...] But ultimately the mix and the process of getting the production finished was very stressful for me. So when I say it's my worst song it has nothing to do with the song, just my emotional connection to it."
Music and lyrics Gaga wrote "Telephone" with Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, Lazonate Franklin, and Beyoncé. Jerkins served as the main producer, with Gaga co-producing with him. With Matty Green's assistance, the song was mixed at Chalice Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California) by Jerkins and Spike Stent. For the recording, Paul Foley was hired. Gene Grimaldi, Larry Ryckman, and Ari Blitz did the song's mastering at Oasis Mastering (Burbank, California), AfterMaster Recording, and Mastering Studios (Los Angeles). Mike "Handz" Donaldson recorded Gaga's vocals at Darkchild Studios (Los Angeles), and Hisashi Mizoguchi did Beyoncé's at Studio Groove (Osaka, Japan). Takayuki Matsushima assisted the latter recording. Special effects and additional vocal production were handled by Donaldson.
A dance-pop song, "Telephone" starts slowly as Gaga sings in a solemn voice over a harp melody, which changes immediately to a pounding beat. Beyoncé delivers her verse in a "rapid-fire" way accompanied by double beats. She sings her lyrics through a brief interlude and later backs the chorus during the rest of the song. "Telephone" consists of an expanded bridge, a verse-rap and an epilogue where a voice announces that the telephone line is unreachable at that moment.
The lyrics express Gaga's preference for dancing in the club to answering her boyfriend's persistent calls. Mikael Wood from the Los Angeles Times felt that the song is a meticulous reflection on this frustrating experience. Gaga describes the feeling as leaving "her head and her heart on the dance floor". According to Gaga, the phone addressed in the lyrics is not just a physical phone but also a person in her head telling her to keep working harder. "That's my fear—that the phone's ringing and my head's ringing, [...] Whether it's a telephone or it's just the thoughts in your head, that's another fear."
Exploring the history of telephone songs and their relationship with female empowerment in popular music, Lisa Colton, professor of musicology, saw "Telephone" as a modern interpretation of the relationship between technology, gender, and power. She argued that the telephone has been a popular subject in many songs due to its social history and function that are closely associated with issues such as gender equality. For example, in the past, women's roles were limited to that of operators or low-status employees, and the telephone was a source of controversy as some men worried it gave women more independence and opportunities for romantic engagements.
In his book Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal, J. Jack Halberstam suggested that "Telephone" is not just a simple pop song but a deeper commentary on the role of technology in human lives, media manipulation, and the emergence of new forms of gender and sexuality in the digital age. The song explores the darker side of stalking, exemplified by the line "stop calling, stop calling". Halberstam wrote that Gaga and Beyoncé use the metaphor of the telephone to comment on the influence of technology on modern relationships, suggesting that heterosexuality may be becoming an outdated concept.
Critical reception The song garnered positive reviews from music critics. Nicki Escuerdo from Phoenix New Times, Michael Hubbard from MusicOMH and Evan Sawdey from PopMatters deemed it an album highlight. Many journalists centered their praise towards the song's structure and production. This includes Sawdey, who wrote that because of the rapid-fire beat and energetic verses, "Telephone" delivered an adrenaline-fueled experience. Popjustice had similar sentiments, writing: "It's a little bit like Gwen's 'What You Waiting For?' meets Timbaland's 'The Way I Are' meets about fifty other things [...] The structure's quite exciting". Hubbard praised Beyoncé's rapping, the bridge and the ending, calling it "maddeningly great".
Gaga's chemistry with Beyoncé was mostly praised; Sawdey and Billboard Melanie Bertoldi wrote that the song's quality was enhanced due to this chemistry. Bertoldi found that it creates an atmosphere catchy enough to elicit some dancing from the listener. For Adam White of The Independent, "Telephone" showcased the duo at their "most basic", but deliberately so, as it was crafted for "nightclub frivolity", epitomizing the essence of "trash-pop, a noisy and glitchy slab of energy and dial tones resting entirely on their shared charisma". Billboard Jason Lipshutz named the song Gaga's second best collaboration and called it her "most dynamic duet — and arguably the most compelling pop star team-up of the '00s". On the contrary, Sarah Hajibagheri from The Times and Brian Linder of IGN disliked Beyoncé's part; the former believed that her inclusion negatively added to the song's feeling of complete disorder. Armond White from the New York Press also expressed disappointment, writing that the song "celebrates a heedless refusal to communicate; to mindlessly, heartlessly indulge pop culture—Tarantino style".
In an early review, Yahoo! Music's Chris Willman compared "Telephone" with the duo's other collaborative song, "Video Phone", and wrote: "Maybe it's because the lack of a video for Gaga's 'Telephone' leaves more to the imagination, but if this were a contest, I'd have to say her tune trumps Beyonce's. It's not just that Jerkins has come up with such a feisty track, but that Gaga has the [atti]tude to go with it."
Several media outlets ranked "Telephone" as one of Gaga's best songs. Calling it "a shuttering electro-pop banger", Billboard acknowledged the song as "an ass-kicking piece of empowerment pop during Gaga's most prolonged win streak". Vulture similarly recognized the song's feminist message in that Gaga "does things her way, with no regard for the male gaze or the music industry's gatekeepers". The website further wrote that the song "didn't just elevate Gaga as a pop star — it made her a new American icon".
Chart performance In November 2009, "Telephone" charted in Ireland, Australia and the UK, debuting at number 26, 29 and 30, respectively. In the US, the song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs and the Billboard Pop Songs chart, becoming Gaga's sixth consecutive chart-topper on the lattermost. It also became Beyoncé's sixth number-one on Pop Songs. With this, Gaga and Beyoncé tied with Mariah Carey for most number-ones since the Nielsen BDS-based Top 40 airplay chart launched in 1992. "Telephone" has sold 3.5 million digital downloads in the US.
"Telephone" reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart on March 14, 2010, and climbed to number one the following week. It has sold 1.6million copies and gained 107million streams there and was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), making it Gaga's sixth-best-selling song in the region. According to a 2015 list by the Official Charts Company, "Telephone" was the third-best-selling vinyl single in the UK for the 2010s. The song reached number one in Ireland, number two in Sweden and number three in Hungary.