"Marry the Night" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter Lady Gaga for her second studio album, Born This Way (2011). The track was initially released for promotion on FarmVille, six days before the release of Born This Way. It was released as the fifth and initially final single from the album (until the much later release of "Bloody Mary" in 2022) on November 11, 2011, by Interscope Records. The song was written and produced by Gaga and Fernando Garibay, and was recorded on the tour bus during The Monster Ball Tour. Revealed in February 2011, "Marry the Night" was inspired by the energy of Gaga's previous songs like "Dance in the Dark" and her love for her hometown, New York City.
"Marry the Night" is a dance-pop and synth-pop song influenced by electro rock and house music. The track features electronic church bells, a driving electro organ sound, techno beats and a funk rock influenced breakdown. The lyrics are a tribute to Gaga's love of the nightlife and partying, while serving as a homage to her hometown. "Marry the Night" received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its grand and euphoric dance nature. They furthermore found influences of Italian disco music producer Giorgio Moroder and American rock musician Bruce Springsteen in the song. After the release of Born This Way, "Marry the Night" charted in some nations due to digital sales from the parent album.
Gaga directed the music video, which was filmed in New York City. It tells the story of when she was signed by her label Interscope Records after being dropped from her former record label, Def Jam Recordings, with scenes in a clinic, a dance studio, her own New York apartment and on a car's rooftop at a parking lot. She sports outfits by Calvin Klein Collection, Yves Saint Laurent and Stéphane Rolland. Prior to its release, the music video was teased with video stills and previews. Critics wrote positively on the clip, deeming it creative and ambitious, while lauding its narrative theme. Gaga has performed the song at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards, The X Factor, and as the final song of her Born This Way Ball tour (2012–2013). She also recorded an acoustic version for her Thanksgiving Day special, A Very Gaga Thanksgiving.
Writing and recording "Marry the Night" was written by Lady Gaga and Fernando Garibay while on the road for The Monster Ball Tour, and was produced by both. It was first mentioned by Gaga as a track from her album, Born This Way on Ryan Seacrest's radio show, where she described it as one of her favorite songs from the album. Gaga and Garibay had worked previously on the song "Dance in the Dark" (2009), from Gaga's previous release, The Fame Monster. Before starting work on "Marry the Night", Gaga listened to "Dance in the Dark" and decided she wanted to top that song's energy with her new collaboration with Garibay. "I remember being backstage and hearing the concert start, so I go out there and hear 'Dance in the Dark' open up the whole concert, and I wanted to outdo that feeling. I wanted to outdo that moment that opens up the show. I'm just that way."
Wanting to have a new style of music, Gaga made it clear she did not want her fans to like the song. She wanted to write a song that could define where she was with Born This Way and her life. In an interview with NME, Gaga explained that the main inspiration behind the song was singer Whitney Houston and also added: "This song is about me going back to New York. I wrote this about the courage it took for me to say 'I hate Hollywood, I just wanna live in Brooklyn and make music'".
As Gaga performed on The Monster Ball Tour, Garibay started working on the music of the song. After the show was over, Gaga came back to her studio bus and asked him about the progress. Garibay then explained that he had concocted a different kind of music for the song, and played the church-bell inspired music to Gaga. After first hearing it, the singer said that she started to cry, noticing the vastness of the music, and she started writing the lyrics for "Marry the Night". "Marry the Night" was originally recorded on the Bus Studio in 2010, but was later mixed at The Mix Room in Burbank, California by Dave Russell, assisted by Paul Pavao. Gaga described the song as a "massive, gas-station, disco record", and she recorded it immediately after completing the lyrics. According to Garibay, Gaga meditated for a few minutes and then asked him to hand over a recording microphone to her, completing the process within an hour.
Composition
"Marry the Night" is a dance-pop and synthpop song with electro rock and house influences. The song starts out with electronic church bells and Gaga softly singing "I'm gonna marry the night/I won't give up on my life/I'm a warrior queen/Live passionately tonight." Soon the beat changes into a dance one, accompanied with techno beats, handclaps and funk music, and moves to the chorus, where Gaga stutters the line "Ma-ma-ma-marry/Ma-ma-ma-marry/Ma-ma-ma-marry the night". It was compared by Tim Jonze from The Guardian to the Eurodance song, "It's My Life" by Dr Alban, while Nicola James from MTV compared the chorus with Jennifer Lopez's 1999 single "Waiting for Tonight". In a pre-release review of certain album tracks, Peter Robinson from the NME blog wrote that Gaga channels "Whitney Houston-esque pop euphoria" into the song, notably that from the singer's musical peak.
The chorus is followed by a funk-rock influenced breakdown, where Gaga sings the line: "Nothing's too cool/To take me from you/New York is not just a tan that you'll never lose." According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Marry the Night" was written in the time signature of common time, with a slow tempo of 64 beats per minute for the intro, followed by a driving pop beat of 132 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A minor with Gaga's vocal range spanning from G3 to E5. It follows a basic sequence of Am–Dm/A–F/A–G as its chord progression. The church bells in the song were meant to draw parallels between Gaga's fans and members of a religion or a cult. The lyrics are about partying and wreaking havoc during the night, and serves as a homage to the New York City downtown music scene. Evan Sawdey from PopMatters described the lyrics as a "'let's take the night' rallying cry."
Release "Marry the Night" was planned to be the lead single from Born This Way, but was cancelled in favor of the title track. "Marry the Night" was then supposed to be the third single, but was cancelled yet again, this time in favor of "The Edge of Glory". Gaga first premiered "Marry the Night" on the HBO Monster Ball Special, which aired on May 7, 2011. While backstage, she sang a cappella: "I'm gonna marry the night/ I won't give up on my life/ I'm a warrior queen/ Live passionately tonight." During the promotional appearances for Born This Way, Gaga released "Marry the Night" to the online game FarmVille on May 17, 2011. The song was released on Gagaville, a subdivision of Farmville that Gaga helped design with game promotion company Zynga. Four months since the release of Born This Way, "Marry the Night" was confirmed as the fifth single from the album by Gaga herself. In September 2011, Interscope Records, Gaga's label, stated that while "Marry the Night" is sure to be released as the fifth single internationally, they were undecided which song would serve in its place in the US. Gaga confirmed the single's UK release for November 21, 2011, which included remixes. The date was pushed back to December 11, 2011, however. Gaga's label later decided to release "Marry the Night" in the United States as well; it was added to the playlists of rhythmic and mainstream music radio on November 15, 2011.
On October 17, 2011, Gaga revealed the official artwork for "Marry the Night" via TwitPic, citing the lyrics from the bridge of the song, "New York Is Not Just A Tan That You'll Never Lose". The artwork shows her sitting atop a rain-soaked car while another vehicle burns in the background. She is wearing a pair of over-the-knee leather boots, a sculpted top and shorts while shaking her blond hair. AOLs Contessa Gayles described the artwork as a "mysterious night-crawler."
Critical reception
Since its release, "Marry the Night" has garnered generally positive reviews; Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the song a positive review, saying it "glistens with a neon pulse". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine named "Marry the Night" a stand-out track on the album and called it "a worthy successor to 'Dance in the Dark'". BBC Music's Mark Savage called "Marry the Night" as perfect as "a straightforward fist-pumping entry into a colossus can be." Christian Blauvelt of Entertainment Weekly compared the song with the work of Italian record producer Giorgio Moroder. Caryn Ganz of Spin was impressed with the track, calling it a "four-on-the-floor banger." Tim Jonze of The Guardian compared the chorus of the song "It's My Life" by Dr Alban and felt that it was easily forgotten compared to some of the bigger dance songs on the album. Rolling Stones was impressed with the fact that "Marry the Night" just seemed to get "bigger, and bigger" to her, while listing pop and glam metal and artists like Pat Benatar, Bonnie Tyler and Bon Jovi as its influences. According to Kitty Empire of The Observer, "'Marry the Night', is a blowsy carpe [noctem] affair which draws on hi-NRG club-pop for its modus operandi."
Evan Sawdey from PopMatters gave the song a negative review, saying "'Marry the Night' very much wants to be top-notch Justice knockoff, but by adding a bridge of upbeat platitudes and an utterly pointless instrumental section after the 3:30 mark, she ultimately winds up weakening the power of her 'let's take the night' rallying cry". Kerri Mason from Billboard found influences of gothic rock in it, but went on to call it an "unapologetic disco-powered pop" that could have been a production number on Gaga's debut album, The Fame (2008). Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph gave an analogy with rock musician "Meat Loaf going to the disco", while describing the song. NMEs Dan Martin felt that the song, although impressive, was conservative as the opening song of Born This Way. He further found similarities to the work of Moroder and influences of Bruce Springsteen's 1975 single, "Born to Run".
Robert Copsey of the website Digital Spy called the song an "electro-thumping number with euphoric synths and uplifting melody" which according to him further drew comparison to Gaga's own song "Born This Way". Copsey further stated that "This is no bad thing, as it's less in-yer-face, and it's 'M-m-m-marry the night' hook is equally as catchy." Awarding the song with four out of five stars Lewis Corner of the same website wrote: "'I'm gonna marry the night/ I won't give up on my life/ I'm a warrior queen, live passionately, tonight,' GaGa calls out over a suitably grand introduction of deistic bells and rumbling techno synths – the result not to dissimilar, we imagine, to Paul Van Dyk playing an organ at a wedding ceremony. Defiant and epic, the track feeds into Stef's cult-focused fan base like a prophet calling upon their disciples – and given it's the single they've been waiting for, we have no doubt they'll come in their droves."