Why Didn't 'Judas' Hit Harder?

[Bogdan 164]

Religious people didn't buy the song. I bet she even lost a bunch of 'fans' when she released the song.

I really don't like people who put their religion in front of everything, loyalty, love and respect included.

[Computer 10,973]

I never heard it on the radio so I assumed it wasn't a radio hit.  Would have been cool to hear it.  I didn't expect Judas to be a huge hit though.  It didn't seem as relatable and the "Juda-juda-ah-ahh" seemed awkward to me until I got used to the song.  So I could see the gp having trouble getting into it.  Although it remains one of my faves.

[Thomas P 18,479]

Honey it's not Like a Prayer. It never has nor will qualify as one of the most controversial songs ever. The video was controversial, but there are even gaga videos that caused a bigger controversy. The reason why isnbecause it's not a song that appeals to the public like at all. Plus she had just come off of a major high with BTW and the world needed a break (emphasis on THE WORLD)    

[Swando 300]

Well she was begining to get over-exposed. That, mixed with stuff like it being so heavily religious and using the same structure as Bad Romance. Not to mention the easily misunderstood metaphor. It overall made it too provocative to be a modern pop smash.  

You also have to keep in mind how people outside the pop scene viewed her at this time. 

The pop scene was pretty much the only one supporting her. Judas is not a brain-dead pop song. Stuff like that can be dangerous for a new icon trying to "be more".  

 

 

 

 

[Lemonade 2,382]

7 hours ago, Naor Daniel said:

One of her best songs and one of her best hits. It had a huge impact. 

I bet she'll drop it from Joanne tour because now she's a conservative white Christian 

She better not

[elijahfan 26,489]

8 hours ago, Helxig said:

Religious controversy...

I think we can't explain everything with this - when you think about it, Like A Prayer, that was surrounded by the biggest religious controversy ever in pop music with its video (burning crosses and interracial sexual fantasies with priests, anyone?), reached n°1 worldwide and became a landmark in Madonna's decade-spanning discography. And religious subjects were even more problematic 30 years ago than what they are today.

The truth is, Judas was quite innovative in the pop landscape in the sense that it was pretty hardcore for radio - I mean, BTW as a whole is a really noisy and exhausting album to listen to. It was a gamble for Gaga to come up with an album like that, it wasn't an obvious hit, and I think its numbers and sales are absolutely fantastic when you think about the musical landscape it got released into.

[Pacify Him 9,073]

9 hours ago, kevindjibouti said:

But what about Alejandro? The controversy was almost the same, and it's still one of the biggest hits in history. It will never die. Everybody knows and loves it.

There are no religious commentary in the song tho. The MV has it and it's probably already a hit before it was made 

[John Slayne 4,154]

#JusticeForJudas tbh  one of her best singles 

[Fiona Apple 13,006]

Her best single eva

[King Baldwin IV 29]

Back then people were very upright about religion. They looked at her as if she was a devil worshiper. One of her best songs/videos. People just couldn't get over the lyrics. 

[Bio 23,538]

It's annoying and repetitive. She wanted to repeat Bad Romance's formula and it didn't work.

[Guest]

At least in my country (Austria) Judas wasn't played very much by radio - I can only remember it being played a few times though the stations here were still obsessed with Gaga and her being the "new release-new #1 hit"- phenomenon. The reason that radios paid few attention to Judas after its first airplay weeks was probably because the GP wasn't into the heavy up-beat tunes the song had, also the lyrics itself aren't that easy either to follow for someone who isn't a native English speaker. So Judas just had a short-lived impact for collecting more controversy/haters arround her, which wasn't really supporting the track either to become more GP-friendly. 

I have to admit that TEOG was nearly OVERPLAYED by the radios when it was released. They absolutely loved it! It's certainly her best song she's ever released imo. TEOG becoming the first/second single really would've stepped up her game and enhanced her image as a Pop-star with undoubtedly great vocals. 
Her image had needed it very badly unfortunately.

[AlexanderLevi2 5,849]

I can't believe people took it so offensively 

Like it's an obvious metaphor but this also around the time when the Illuminati **** was believed by the masses.

[Edonis 28,950]

Overexposure was really the big issue. Radios didn't really play it because of the potential religious controversies, and non stans were kind of turned off by the hard hitting beat. Mind you, this was before the big EDM craze that saturated the market in the coming months, but still, the main issue came with overexposure. She just released a single 2 months prior, so why release one then. Ideally she should've released the 2nd single around the album release (so May) and then take off from there. I think in general the release pattern for BTW was very messy in a way; too many rushed singles and all basically released in a span of 6 months rather than a year. If she spaced them out properly (so that the 3rd and 4th single were released during autumn and winter, and the final 5th single around spring of the following year, the whole overexposure thing may have been slightly combatted. But meh, it is what it is. 

[xoxo cupcakke 4,781]

9 hours ago, GrandeVersace said:

It's one of my favourite singles and her best video. One of the most controversial though? Not even. Like a prayer is 100X more controversial and it still hit #1.

I'd say they're about even in terms of controversy. Madonna and Gaga were both using religious imagery, but Gaga was appropriating the story of Judas' betrayal of Jesus in the video which a lot of Christaholics took as religious blasphemy because Gaga was portraying herself as a "*****" pining after a traitor of their revered religious official

Like A Prayer was controversial because of burning crosses, black Jesus, stigmata and people's overtly racist and misogynistic ways then. Definitely, a lot of people were more prudish then, but it didn't hurt Madonna commercially as it hurt Gaga because I feel there was already a massive stigma against Gaga for admitting to be a gay icon, whereas Madonna was like a Katy through True Blue until she made a name for herself with Like A Prayer, the song and the album

On another note, oh my God, I just watched Like A Prayer again because you're post reminded me of the video that I haven't seen in forever. I don't know why, the music and the video is so beautiful, I started crying out of nowhere when that guy got caught for a crime he didn't commit. Who knew that video could be so relevant even into, it's so disheartening that this is our reality still