Didymus 34,379 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 (edited) We've had plenty of discussion (read: complaints) about how fans are being too chart obsessed and generally negative and we've also had relatively superficial "omg this song is what we've been waiting for, yas omg DARKGA!!!" praise, but I've seen surprisingly little discussion about what the song is actually about, so... I guess I'm making a thread about it (If this flops, expect several rants about how the "omg why can't we celebrate Gaga and her music??" crew is equally shallow and basic as the chart stans. Yes, this is a test.) Edit: Gaga has now given us a first official explanation so let's focus on that and keep the rest of this post as an optional tangent: "I think a lot about the relationship I have with my own inner demons. It's never been easy for me to face how I get seduced by chaos and turmoil. It makes me feel claustrophobic. Disease is about facing that fear, facing myself and my inner darkness, and realizing that sometimes I can't win or escape the parts of myself that scare me. That I can try and run from them but they are still part of me and I can run and run but eventually I'II meet that part of myself again, even if only for a moment. Dancing, morphing, running, purging. Again and again, back with myself. This integration is ultimately beautiful to me because it's mine and l've learned to handle it. I am the conductor of my own symphony. I am every actor in the plays that are my art and my life. No matter how scary the question, the answers are inside of me. Essential, inextricable parts of what makes me me. I save myself by keeping going. I am the whole me, I am strong, and I am up for the challenge." Spoiler So, Disease's lyrics are quite mysterious in that they are rather vague but also very reminiscent of a previous Gaga song, The Cure. In fact, upon closer look, Disease seems like a lyrical (and perhaps musical) inversion of The Cure, something the title opposition might be hinting at as well. I thought it would be a nice starting point of the conversation if we distinguished between some lyrical features of these songs, so we can get closer to the core of this latest single together. For the sake of convenience, I decided to highlight some themes: Shared Theme #1: DESIRE Both songs explicitly mention this word, The Cure in a heartfelt, cozy kind of way, where she "undresses" and "covers" the other person "as they desire", seemingly before bed ("when you fall asleep inside my arms"). Note also the later lyric "anything you want could not be wrong". In Disease she beckons the other person, rather, to "bring her their desire". There is, though, no element of warm, heartfelt comfort here. Disease frames this desire in a context of ecstasy, where the other person's eyes roll to the back of their head when Gaga kinkily "lays them down", "playing the doctor", which brings us to the next obvious shared theme. Shared Theme #2: GAGA IS A CURE Both songs have Gaga both identify with a cure to another person's disease and, alternatively, claiming access to a cure ("I'll be your cure" - "if I can't find the cure, I'll fix you with my love" / "I could be your antidote"; "I can cure your disease"). This cure seems to be of a rather miraculous kind in both cases, as in The Cure the medicine seems perhaps difficult to impossible to find, and in Disease the scarcity of the medicine ("runnin' out of medicine") is creating a fast deteriorating situation ("I heard you beggin' for life"; "you're worse than you've ever been"; "like you're gonna die"; "poison on the inside"). A striking difference, however, is that The Cure emphasizes love and nurturing as the real cure, while Disease describes no features of the cure. Rather than loving-kindness, Gaga claims to "know all their secrets", which allows her to "smell" the disease and apply the correct antidote. While in The Cure, then, she paints herself as a servant and rescuer, in Disease she emphasizes her position of power over the other person. The most glaring lyric displaying this power dynamic is "If you were a sinner, I could make you believe". While The Cure paints a picture of her actually being able to "heal" the person, Disease is more ambiguous. After all, Gaga only mentions she can be their antidote for one night... Shared Theme #3: SLEEP Peculiarly, both songs mention the presence of sleep, with The Cure containing a reference to Gaga writing a "lullaby" as part of her treatment, telling the other person to "close their eyes". As mentioned above, there is also the description of the other person actually falling asleep in her arms. In Disease sleep carries a very different atmosphere. Sleep does not come as the result of being treated with love and comfort, sleep is accompanied with "torture" and being "plagued with memories", resulting in them "screaming" for Gaga to bring relief. This relief, then, is not being calmed to sleep like in The Cure. The relief is lying down, yes, but with "eyes rolling back in ecstasy", a significant alteration. Shared Theme #4: PAIN Both songs paint the picture of a person in pain. in The Cure, the person is described as "crying" and "tired". In Disease the other person is, actually past the point of crying ("there are no more tears to cry") and, as mentioned, they are now "screaming", "begging for life" and attempting to "reach out" while finding "no one there". Interestingly, the latter song describes this with the metaphor of a "god without a prayer". This might be significant, as most people would think of the opposite scenario: where a person in pain reaches out to God to heal them. Here, it is a god in pain who reaches out to common people to pray to them. The song might allude, then, either to people who think of themselves as powerful and important but are really fragile and sick in some way, or people who the world thinks of as powerful and important while failing to see they are hurting. What do we make of this? We know The Cure was written in response to a perception of "evil in the world" ("when you're a creative person you do your best to try and combat evil with creative stuff" - DJWS). Gaga herself said that the song actually described the healing quality of the love she felt from her fans, making her the person who was being treated with a miraculous cure. Could it then be possible that in Disease she is actually (also) identifying with the diseased person, the "god without a prayer"? If so, does this song paint a reversal of the feelings she had while working on The Cure? Discuss Edited October 30 by Didymus 11 8 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackout19 10,447 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 Vino cu noi în bucătărie, adu cu tine și o farfurie. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyanLights 15,503 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 I have a feeling she is singing to herself. Like her older self sending her younger self a message that she will achieve what she wants and stuff. 14 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donatellah 1,856 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 (edited) it's about sex and feeling cawnt Edited October 29 by Donatellah 7 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrangea 5,073 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 It’s about f*cking someone with the flu Say goodnight, angel eyes 30 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
63grekke 1,153 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 Getting a Vampire vibe. Like a vampire singing to someone who’s down bad 2 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambino 24,058 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 1. Sex: her lover is so so desirable of her it's like a disease, and she's going to treat him.. 2. Fame: Her younger self is eager to have fame and success so bad it's like a disease and the more mature Gaga is guiding the meat-dressing pop star to fame. Idk 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decodekid 26,663 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 ****ing the pain away Long Live Gretchen 1 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefanotta 674 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 Disease is a journey to The Cure, like a new creative direction with inverted lyrics, exactly like the whole LG7 will be a retrospective into her whole carrer. Imo My biggest enemy is me. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAMROD 104,092 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 Upon initial listening, it might just be about sex. But after listening it for thousands of times now, literally. There might be something darker lies in there. Could this be a song about how one is/was getting groomed, gaslighted, then used and abused? And the abuser using sex and adulation as form of power to put the victim under their control. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ✧*:･ﾟ 𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 17 (*´艸｀*) ♡♡♡ 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dopega 3,686 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 It's about having hot vampire sex 1 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anduin 999 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 Its about a disease 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy232000 9,870 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 The Cure: I’ll fix you with my love Disease: I’ll fix you with my *** Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
palma 7,416 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 It reminded me of when my ex cured my cold sore by kissing because he is genetically incapable of getting the virus (idk about the science behind it I majored in languages) so yeah Is there some reason my LG7 isn't here? Has she died or something? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auther 22,067 Posted October 29 Share Posted October 29 She is singing to herself. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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