A sensitive discussion about Do What U Want (feat. R K*lly)

[brooklyngypsy 125]

TW; sexual assault, r*pe

So we all know Lady Gaga said she made a mistake in featuring R. Kelly on Do What U Want and that she wasn't in a good place:

"I stand behind these women 1000%, believe them, know they are suffering and in pain, and feel strongly that their voices should be heard and taken seriously. What I am hearing about the allegations against R. Kelly is absolutely horrifying and indefensible. As a victim of sexual assault myself, I made both the song and video at a dark time in my life, my intention was to create something extremely defiant and provocative because I was angry and still hadn't processed the trauma that had occurred in my own life. The song is called 'Do What U Want (With My Body).' I think it's clear how explicitly twisted my thinking was at the time."

https://www.eonline.com/news/1003711/lady-gaga-apologizes-for-twisted-r-kelly-song-do-what-u-want

Working with pretty much confirmed sexual predators, R. Kelly and Terry Richardson, for the scrapped music video was clearly a deliberate choice. Putting it right before Swine on the tracklist seems really revealing of her mentality, somewhere along the lines of having them work for the video almost as a morbid, sick, twisted joke unbeknownst to the two aforementioned men.

But I personally don't think Lady Gaga regrets it and had to remove the song more due to studio pressure and the rise in the #METOO movement. Of course I'm not disagreeing with the choice to openly decry R. Kelly -- that should've been done earlier imo, but I think she would still stand by her choices in it, rightfully so as a survivor of sexual assault herself.

 

[NFRatwell 23,290]

3 minutes ago, BrooklynGypsy said:

Putting it right before Swine on the tracklist seems really revealing of her mentality, somewhere along the lines of having them work for the video almost as a morbid, sick, twisted joke unbeknownst to the two aforementioned men.

[Daylight Jokers 14,958]

5 minutes ago, BrooklynGypsy said:

But I personally don't think Lady Gaga regrets it and had to remove the song more due to studio pressure and the rise in the #METOO movement.

[Venus Rose 5,638]

So...what are we discussing? 

[Awrah999 4,269]

It’s still a BOP and showcases some of Gaga‘s best vocals IMO. It’s sad that with cancel culture that we can’t appreciate a song and a moment without considering all the sins of every person involved, but for Gaga I think the intention and ideas were clear that she wanted to make a play on words “do what you want with my body” given how body shamed she was and how much physical and sexual trauma she has been through, in the glossy facade of an R&B/pop gem. I still think it’s a genius song despite how horrid R Kelly’s actions are, and I still play it to this day. 

[brooklyngypsy 125]

1 minute ago, NFRockwell said:

I see ARTPOP more as an interlude 

[Royksopp 1,791]

whats the point of this thread? what is the discussion here? 

[Brecht 7]

There was ARTPOP in between DWUW and Swine and working with them was not a morbid joke. At the time she was very good friends with Terry and she said people wrote lies about R Kelly on the media and that's why he was on the song.

[Ricardo 7,754]

it was a bad choice, that's it, there's no need to read too much into it 

[DoremonLove 8,147]

15 minutes ago, BrooklynGypsy said:

, but I think she would still stand by her choices in it, rightfully so as a survivor of sexual assault herself.

 

What do u mean by this part. Genuinely confused

[Noir 16,664]

Gaga obviously regrets it? I don't understand the point you're trying to make

[Dramatica 13,681]

What are we discussing girls?

[ice bear 1]

20 minutes ago, BrooklynGypsy said:

I see ARTPOP more as an interlude 

the best track an interlude? 

[gagzus 15,702]

I think the more so truth is; she put R Kelly on the song because her and Tara used to like listening to his music during the creation of the album and whilst on tour. Paul had contacts that could get in touch with him, Gaga, Paul and Tara regarded him as the king of R&B so they wanted a “legend” on the track.

Obviously the song is about the media and them body shaming her, and Gaga and Tara obviously didn’t believe he was a sexual predator- Gaga has implied this when talking about the song back when the album came out. Terry was her longtime friend and they were working together all the time during late TFM and the Born This Way era, from what we know the video was never fully edited up; the footage TMZ got was predominantly from the Behind the Scenes 4K package that she was doing in collaboration with BitTorrent. 

i have my own theory about the video based on what we’ve seen; the video was supposed to be about realty vs fantasy, the video started off with over sexualised imagery of her in full makeup, glamorous and sexy while she was in hospital with R Kelly, working out etc and would be about how the media perceived her to be during the BTWB and afterwards after she was recovering from her hip injury, then the video would transition into the reality of her vomiting backstage, unable to walk from her hip injury, in her wheelchair and more spliced in between footage of her with her flannel, no makeup etc with R Kelly as the “real” woman.

The videos scenarios of her in her blonde wig, the newspaper dress, makeup etc acting overly sexual were clearly meant to be a parody and sarcasm imo.

[gagzus 15,702]

26 minutes ago, BrooklynGypsy said:

I see ARTPOP more as an interlude 

I think because she said it’s the midpoint of the album it separates up the fun, sexual, pop tracks from the beginning of the album with frivolous meanings aka the music people wanted from her vs the music afterwards which is more serious about r*pe, media perception, drug abuse, the feeling of strength her persona gives her, the regrets and then celebrating her fans.