"Applause" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her third studio album, Artpop (2013). It was released as the album's lead single through Interscope Records on August 12, 2013. Written and produced by Gaga, DJ White Shadow, Dino Zisis, and Nick Monson, additional songwriters included Martin Bresso, Nicolas Mercier, Julien Arias and William Grigahcine. "Applause" was inspired by the cheering of her fans, which kept her motivated during the months she toured with the Born This Way Ball in pain, before cancelling it due to a hip injury, and pays respect to the art of performance. It is an electropop, dance-pop and Eurodance song built around synthesizers and hi-NRG beats, with lyrics addressing how Gaga is dependent upon her fans' adoration and how she lives to perform.
The song received positive reviews for its catchy chorus, likened to Gaga's debut album, The Fame (2008). "Applause" topped charts in Greece, Hungary, Lebanon, and Spain and reached the top 10 in numerous countries. It was certified multi-platinum in Canada, Sweden, and the U.S.
An accompanying music video directed by fashion photography duo Inez and Vinoodh was released on August 19, 2013, and broadcast on jumbotrons across Times Square. The video received positive reviews from critics, who saw it as a profile of Gaga herself and noted references to German Expressionist cinema and Andy Warhol. To promote the record, Gaga opened the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards with a performance of the song in which she represented her career through several on-stage wardrobe changes. She also performed it live on Good Morning America, Saturday Night Live, and many of her tours and residencies.
Background and writing Development of Artpop began shortly after the release of Born This Way (2011), and by the following year, the album's concepts started building as Gaga collaborated with producers Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow. Initial recording sessions for Artpop coincided with the Born This Way Ball: up to fifty songs were written and considered for inclusion. Gaga herself admitted that she intended to make audiences have "a really good time" with Artpop, engineering the album to mirror "a night at the club".
A hip surgery in February 2013 caused the singer to take a six-month hiatus, during which she studied literature and music with her creative team, the Haus of Gaga. It also allowed her to review and enhance her musical direction, which she described as a meticulous "gazing process". "Applause" was written and produced by Gaga and DJ White Shadow, along with Nick Monson and Dino Zisis while on the road for her Born This Way Ball tour in 2012. Other songwriters working on the track included Martin Bresso, Nicolas Mercier, Julien Arias and William Grigahcine. Talking to Sirius XM Radio, Gaga explained the inspiration behind the songwriting of "Applause": "I realized it was the applause of the fans that really kept me going. Because I would be ready to go onstage and just be crying hysterically not understanding even how I was feeling. I was feeling very dizzy, I had a lot of vertigo, I had pain but it's like fuck if I know what hurts the most because I'd been on tour for a year. But I didn't want to let them down and I just couldn't cancel because the thought of leaving 50,000 kids in the arena just broke my heart. So I went out every night and I played and I played and I played until I couldn't walk one night."
Recording and composition
Recording sessions for the song took place at Record Plant Studios, Hollywood, California, and Platinum Sound Recording Studio, New York City by Dave Russell, with Benjamin Rice and Andrew Robertson working as assistants. Russell also did the mixing of the track at Record Plant and at Heard It! Studios. Additional mixing was carried out by Bill Malina, with assistance from Rice and Ghazi Hourani. Rick Pearl performed the additional programming and Gene Grimaldi completed the audio mastering at Oasis Mastering Studios in Burbank, California.
"Applause" is set in the time signature of common time and has a tempo of 140 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of G minor, following the chord progression of Gm–F–E–Cm–F–Gm, with Gaga's vocals spanning from F3 to A5. The record has been pinned to the electropop, dance-pop and Eurodance music genres, and has been cited as returning Gaga to her career roots by mirroring the sounds of her debut album. Evan Sawdey of PopMatters described it as "closer to 'Just Dance' in style over any of her Born This Way-era hits, but in a much more aggressive fashion, catering to the gradual EDM-stranglehold of pop radio." Erin Coulehan of Rolling Stone concurred, calling it "a throwback to 'LoveGame'-era Gaga".
The song's production is primarily centered around hi-NRG beats, "stuttering synthesizers", and hard snares. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times observed that the song's "sleek Euro-house vibe" recalled Gaga's early hits, including "Poker Face" and "Bad Romance". The Guardians Michael Cragg described the song's composition as "brilliantly camp – all squelchy synths and juddering beats" and likened it to a "ridiculous glam-rock song given a techno makeover". The chorus has been noted to contain "a solid mixture of EDM-influenced pop, glitchy k-pop-lite euphoria and just a twinkle of that original joy of The Fame" and features Gaga singing the lines, "Give me that thing that I love / Put your hands up, make 'em touch". Her vocal acrobatics during the song's verses have been compared to those of David Bowie, Annie Lennox, and Grace Jones.
Lyrically, "Applause" is about how Gaga is dependent upon her fan's adoration, and "what it means to live your life as a canvas", while also serving as "a kiss-off to critics". Bradley Stern of MuuMuse opined that "Unlike 'Born This Way', 'Applause' is about celebrating no one but Mother Monster herself". According to Gaga, the song addresses the distinction between being an artist and a celebrity. She elaborated, "I live for the applause but I don't live for the attention in the way that people just love you because you're famous. I live for actually performing for people and then them applauding because they've been entertained."
Artwork and release During the process of picking the lead single from Artpop, Gaga played numerous songs for Jimmy Iovine, an executive at Interscope Records. Of the 40 songs she played for Iovine, he preferred "Applause", the last song played. Gaga revealed that "Applause" was almost excluded from the final cut of Artpop, due to an abundance of recorded material, until the meeting with Iovine. Gaga confirmed "Applause" as the upcoming single, and announced that it would be released on August 19, 2013. The official artwork for "Applause" was debuted on Women's Wear Dailys website on July 29, 2013. The cover features Gaga's face smeared with multi-colored paint and surrounded by a white sheet. Gaga explained that she chose the smeared makeup look for the cover to symbolize the moment at the end of a show when the performer is vulnerable and longing for the audience's approval. The artwork was compared to the cover of David Bowie's 1980 album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps).
On August 10, 2013, snippets of the song began leaking online. Gaga urged fans to "please take these down as much as possible" and provided instructions on how to report information regarding the unauthorized distribution of her song to her label's parent company, Universal Music Group. In response, fans reported websites seen distributing or linking to the snippets of the single, with nearly 2,500 individuals sending a singular link to Universal's takedown page. However, despite such efforts, a leak was imminent, so Gaga released the song a week early onto various radio stations across America. The single was made available in most countries just before midnight (EST) on the iTunes Store, coupled with a pre-order of Artpop. Following day, Gaga was seen in goth costume with clown-like face paint similar to the "Applause" artwork, at various promotional events. The Huffington Post compared the style-shift to Marilyn Manson, saying: "With her black hair slicked back, a face full of white powder and her black blazer and shirt combo, Gaga could have easily been mistaken for Manson if it wasn't for her towering heels." Gaga also premiered a short clip of "Applause" that quoted harsh journalism that attacked her credibility as an artist. In the video, Gaga was seen sitting naked in a white room and wearing a transparent visor. The sound of an audience booing and jeering was heard in the background. Direct quotations from critics and detractors appeared at the bottom of the video, which included "Lady Gaga is over" and "Do not buy Lady Gaga's new single 'Applause'". The clip was construed as an attempt at reverse psychology.
Due to the proximity of the single's leak to fellow pop singer Katy Perry's "Roar", "Applause" was fervently compared to it, in addition to rumors spreading of a "feud" between the two. Gaga received negative press after news arose of her attempting to artificially increase the single's placement on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, which some sources reported as an attempt to beat the sales of "Roar". She was criticized for tweeting fans and encouraging them to purchase numerous copies of the single, with the chance to meet the singer in London offered as an incentive. The tweet provoked criticism from Billboards Editorial Director Bill Werde, who opined that "An artist tweeting out and Facebooking a link that enables a fan to hit play and leave their computer is not in the spirit of what we chart". Following this, Gaga stated that she would be rewarding the fans with the most creative ideas, and not those who purchased the most copies of "Applause".
Critical reception
"Applause" received favorable reviews from music critics. Chris Richards of The Washington Post wrote, "It's good. Maybe even slow clap good. Because while so many (too many!) of Gaga's songs have been designed to boost the esteem of her flock, this song finds her openly pining for the mass-adulation that all superstars need to survive." Jason Lipshutz of Billboard lauded the song's hook and remarked, "As always, Gaga has turned a lofty idea into a jingle for the masses." The Guardian Michael Cragg felt "it houses one of her most uplifting choruses, with Gaga sounding delirious throughout." Lewis Corner from Digital Spy gave the song four out of five stars, stating that "Lady Gaga makes no secret that she's after mass adoration, and as far as lead singles go, her next grand spectacle is off to a strong start." The Huffington Post writer Baggers described it as "pop at its best: instant, euphoric, joyful and impossible to get out of your head".