"Dope" is a song recorded by American singer Lady Gaga for her third studio album, Artpop (2013). It was released on November 4, 2013, by Interscope Records as the second promotional single from the record, following "Venus". It was written by Gaga, Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, Dino Zisis, and Nick Monson and produced by Gaga and Rick Rubin. Following her hip surgery and cancellation of the Born This Way Ball tour, Gaga became addicted to drugs, which helped her get relief from the pain of surgery and also to cope with her sabbatical. "Dope" was written about this addiction and evolved from a song she had previously composed for her fans, about her confessions. It was added to Artpop because Gaga felt the album needed something more autobiographical.
The song received mixed reviews, with some critics complimenting its simple production and vocals, and others labelling the lyrics inept. An electronic rock lament, in the vein of Irish folk ballad rue, "Dope" is a bittersweet song centered on a dark theme. It has a minimal production and is only composed off Gaga's vocals sung in an intoxicated slur. Lyrically it talks about substance abuse and the yearning for a long lost love. Prior to the release, Gaga uploaded an image of herself on Instagram, wearing a snapback featuring the word DOPE. She also posted the song's lyrics there, triggering the social media website's concern. The artwork featured Gaga with a big blazer, her face covered with a hat and a grill that made her teeth appear larger. Media outlets found the picture to be "odd" and compared it to different horror films.
Gaga performed the song at the 2013 YouTube Music Awards, and later on all dates of her residency, Lady Gaga Live at Roseland Ballroom, and her ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour (2014). After its release, "Dope" reached the top of the music charts in Hungary and Spain, while attaining top-ten positions in Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg. The streams from the YouTube Music Awards performance helped the song become Gaga's 13th top-ten on the Billboard Hot 100 reaching number eight, as well as her highest charting promotional single to date.
Background and writing After Gaga suffered a labral tear of her right hip in February 2013 during her Born This Way Ball tour, which she had embarked to promote her second studio album, Born This Way (2011), she cancelled the remainder of the tour and underwent surgery. She subsequently had to be on rest for the next six months. The singer later told Attitude magazine that she had a serious marijuana addiction during that time in order to bear the pain of the surgery. "I would break the habit and it would sneak back in, and I would break it and sneak back in," Gaga confessed, adding that her life had become a smoke-filled cycle: sleep, sing, smoke. Having cancelled the tour and taken a sabbatical, Gaga started working on the songs for Artpop. "I was just numbing, numbing, numbing myself then sleeping it off, then getting on stage, killing it in pain, then getting off and smoking, smoking, smoking, not knowing what pain was. Fuck, if I know what hurts the most, you know? I would break the habit and it would sneak back in and I would break it and sneak back in." —Gaga talking about her addiction to drugs. Following her comeback with lead single "Applause" from the album, Gaga performed few songs from the record at the iTunes Festival in London in September 2013. One of the songs, known as "I Wanna Be with You", was performed as an acoustic version on the festival; Gaga called it an ode to her fans and about how much she had missed them while recuperating from the surgery. The song, later reworked into "Dope", was written by Gaga, Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, Dino Zisis and Nick Monson and produced by Gaga and Rick Rubin. Described by Gaga as an electronic ballad, it was revealed to be "the evolution of a fan song that became a deep confession in me." In an interview with Kiss FM (UK) Gaga said that "Dope" was the most personal song she had ever created. Feeling that the album needed something more autobiographical and confessional and a song which would show her vulnerable side, Gaga worked with Rubin who let her do the song in the way she wanted and just assisted in recording it. He had contacted Gaga for producing the track, while she was on her sabbatical; Gaga consulted with Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, her main producer for Artpop and then decided to enlist Rubin's help. Dope' is actually about me battling all sorts of addiction since I was growing up", she explained to the interviewers.
Recording and composition
"Dope" was recorded at Shangri-La Studios, Malibu, California, by Jason Lader, Ryan Hewitt and Sean Oakley, with Lader also working on the digital editing of the song and playing keyboards for it. Bill Malina completed the additional recording for the track at CRC Recording Studios, Chicago, Illinois with Steve Faye. The mixing for "Dope" was performed by Manny Marroquin at Larrabee Sound Studios, North Hollywood, California, with assistance from Chris Galland and Delbert Bowers, additional mixing being done by Andrew Scheps at Punker-Pad Mobile Studios. Other instrumentation for "Dope" included piano by Gaga and Adam MacDougall at keyboards. Finally, Gene Grimaldi did the audio mastering at Oasis Mastering Studios in Burbank, California. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "Dope" is set in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 66 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of E major with Gaga's vocals spanning the tonal nodes of D3 to E5. The chorus of the song follows a basic sequence of E–B–Cm–A as its chord progression.
According to Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine, "Dope" is an electronic rock lament, in the vein of Irish folk ballad rue. Rolling Stone said that "Dope" reveals a "dark mood" of Gaga as she plays the piano and utters the lyrics. She begins the song with intoxicated, slur-like vocals and the lines, "I promise this drink is my last one / I know I fucked up again / Because I lost my only friend". Amy Sciarretto of PopCrush described "Dope" as a dramatic, piano-driven power ballad, comparing its melody to Gaga's "Hair" (2011) because of its "epic and contemplative nature". She also likened its combination of piano, powerful vocals and lyrics to Rihanna's "Stay" (2013). There is not much instrumentation accompanying the singer's vocals, except for piano sounds and distant synths, making Gaga's singing the focal point of "Dope". In order to give the production an intimate feeling and make it emotional, Rubin did not apply any pitch correction to Gaga's vocals, as noted by Jon Pareles from The New York Times.
The lyrics talk about substance abuse and the yearning for a long lost love more than drugs. "Just one last puff and two last regrets/Three spirits and 12 lonely steps", Gaga sings, before uttering the hook, "I need you more than dope". "Dope" is one of the most personal songs of Gaga, according to Joe Lynch from Fuse. With lines like "I promise this drink is my last one / I know I fucked up again / Because I lost my only friend", Lynch believed that Gaga was referring to her former assistant Jennifer O'Neil who had months ago moved to court against the singer for unpaid wages.
Release and artwork
Gaga had posted two handwritten notes of the lyrics to "Dope" on social media site Instagram. The verses, then believed to be from the song, included references to drug intake with lines such as "Been hurtin' low from living high, Toast one last puff and two last regrets" and "each day I cry, I feel so low, from living high", along with the hashtag #DOPE. The images raised concern from Instagram who felt that Gaga needed help and decided to reach out to her. They mailed the singer with the following message: "Hi, Members of the Instagram community have raised concern for your well-being after seeing posts you've shared. We're reaching out to provide you with some important safety information." Gaga mockingly responded to the letter and was dismissive of their concern; she posted on her Twitter account about the mail from the social media. Following the release of the full track list for Artpop, Gaga posted an image of herself on Instagram, wearing a snapback hat, emblazoned with the NASA "meatball" insignia, but replacing the word NASA with DOPE, referring to the design label with the same name.
On October 31, 2013, Gaga revealed via Twitter that "Dope" would be the final song available for purchase before the release of Artpop, accessible for digital download from November 4. The single's cover art was also revealed, depicting Gaga wearing a black floppy hat with her brunette hair falling over her shoulders, an oversized "boxy" double-breasted blazer, sheer underwear, one black leather boot and a grill that made her teeth appear larger. Her eyes are covered by a scarf and she has bruises on her belly and around her crotch area. John Walker from MTV News compared the cover to director Tim Burton's works and called it "terrifying". He described Gaga's face and the grills as "[resembling] the gum-less teeth of a long-buried skull cast in titanium" and believed that the hands and legs were prosthetic. Walker concluded by saying that the cover reminded him of a "bizarro world" version of singer Janet Jackson's infamous shot for a 1993 Rolling Stone issue. Lily Harrison from E! Online complimented Gaga for taking the fashion of grills to a "whole new level". She further commended her ability to portray her toned figure in spite of the "odd ensemble". Fashion website Refinery29's Leila Brillson felt that the artwork was more of a surrealist move which made Gaga look like a "nightmarish" version of virtual band Gorillaz. Brillson was also unclear if the bruises were related to the song. Matthew Jacobs from The Huffington Post found the cover relatively modest compared to the previous single covers of songs from Artpop.
Critical reception Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine was initially dismissive of the version performed at the iTunes Festival due to its "bland" arrangement and "elementary" melody, but reacted well to the new version on Artpop, saying: "Gaga has been very public about her supposed battle with addiction, and whether or not it's just another costume for the singer to wear, she's nonetheless composed a convincing anthem of remorse." Michael Cragg from The Guardian, who was granted an early listen to Artpop, felt that the song was an emotional highlight of the album, denoting it as the record's "one real moment of calm" and "the album's most tender moment". However, Cragg was skeptical about the line "I need you more than dope", feeling it to be a less impressive comparison. Adam White of The Independent described "Dope" as "undeniably moving", though he felt it was not a song listeners would necessarily return to more than once. Jon Pareles from The New York Times found "Dope" to be similar to piano ballads by singer Elton John.
Alex Young from Consequence of Sound praised Gaga's vocals and deemed the track "easily the best track to surface from Artpop thus far". Jason Lipshutz from Billboard called the song a "Broadway show-stopper", adding that Gaga's broken vocals are brilliant and bruising. Jim Farber from New York Daily News felt the song expressed "great need in the lyrics while displaying only bravado in her delivery." Kory Grow of Rolling Stone felt that the emotional high point of "Dope" is its chorus, and is a turning point for the song. Leila Brilson from Refinery29 felt that with "Dope" Gaga allowed her "operatic voice" to soar; the song itself is a heart-aching ballad and an unforgettable moment on Artpop. This view was shared by Spencer Kornhaber from The Atlantic who added that the song was "a histrionic piano ballad".