G.U.Y - A feminist song?

[Cherry Blues 450]

Is G. U. Y a modern lovely feminist song, right? It's about a woman which can put up make-up and use perfume and still be on top, can still be strong? What are your interpretations of the song? 

Edited 13 hours ago by Cherry Blues

[Ladle Ghoulash 54,441]

I think the video also suggests the song is also, in part, about Gaga “power bottoming” in the music industry: giving male execs what they want on the surface while, ultimately, controlling her image and setting the agenda.

[elegidadedios 5,058]

6 minutes ago, Cherry Blues said:

Is G. U. Y a modern lovely feminist song, right? It's about a woman which can put up make-up and use perfume and still be on top, can still be strong? What are your interpretations of the song? 

I think that's the interpretation she wanted to give to the song after but it's purely about gay sex and/or being on top of a guy while having intercourse as a woman

Edited 13 hours ago by elegidadedios

[Cherry Blues 450]

25 minutes ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

I think the video also suggests the song is also, in part, about Gaga “power bottoming” in the music industry: giving male execs what they want on the surface while, ultimately, controlling her image and setting the agenda.

That's why she talked during ARTPOP about big corporations. Brave girl, she tricked them  

Edited 12 hours ago by Cherry Blues

[Cherry Blues 450]

11 minutes ago, elegidadedios said:

I think that's the interpretation she wanted to give to the song after but it's purely about gay sex and/or being on top of a guy while having intercourse as a woman

I heard several times it's about power bottoms. So it's about a man which can emulate the feeling of a woman, interesting. The double meaning of the video is then even more exciting. She wants to dominate the men's world in the video through her clones. 

Edited 13 hours ago by Cherry Blues

[gagzus 23,626]

It’s about third-wave feminism and being wilfully submissive. She said so herself when it came out as a single.

The music video though also made it into being about the fact she was “at the bottom” career wise and she was okay with it. (Even if we all know that was contrary to what actually happened else her rebrand would never have happened after.)

[gagacabana 7,803]

I've always seen the song as a bi4bi funny anthem. And also, now that I'm reading these other meanings, the "i wanna be the grave and earth you" makes all the more sense. "Our sex doesn't tell us no lies"; mirrored with Janelle Monáe's "everything is sex, except sex, which is power, you know power is just sex" Screwed lyrics, it's an interesting reshaping of power dynamics. Women (and those who are seen as women) are the subjected; earthlings; there couldn't be more to their life than that. But their power has strong roots and endless seeds, and if their will to endure, to fight, to persist, is resilient enough to want to be the grave of the men who subjected them, then it's worth it. 

[27monster27 15,936]

It has a few meanings:

1. Power bottoming s3xually. Being on the bottom, but still being in control during intercourse.

2. Power bottoming literally. Often not being seen as "in control" due to her being a woman in the music industry, but not letting that get to her because she still is able to control her image and other elements of her career.

3. After workr, Lady Gaga sometimes likes to let the man in the relationship take control in the house just because she likes to have a moment where she isn't the one calling the shots like with her career.

4. It also talked about how she knows her worth in spite of the charts. The song was written (likely) in late Spring 2012 like with some of the other Zedd tracks. This was at a time when Lady Gaga was already being called a flop because Born This Way didn't sell as much as The Fame and The Fame Monster, so Lady Gaga is saying that she still is happy because she knows her talents will always outweigh how well she does with numbers. ("I don't need to be on top to know I'm worth it 'cause I'm strong enough to know the truth.") This meaning in particular leans more into some of the anti-capitalist themes explored in the album.

This all is why I like this song so much. It is very in depth about her career and personal philosophy at the time. I completely agree with @gagzus in that this song was very important in predicting how she would rise back to the top again. There was a popular article from the late 2010s written about it actually. Tomorrow I will see if I can find it so I can link it here.

[Apec 335]

10 hours ago, Cherry Blues said:

I heard several times it's about power bottoms. So it's about a man which can emulate the feeling of a woman, interesting. The double meaning of the video is then even more exciting. She wants to dominate the men's world in the video through her clones. 

I agree that the surface read is that she, the woman in this case, is a power bottom ie. she's dictating her own terms, she's not a woman lying down and taking whatever - I don't need to be on top/To know I'm worth it 'cause I'm strong enough to know the truth is the lyric explicitly saying that, but can be taken in a multitude of directions. She's using power bottoming as a metaphor for confidence, self-worth and yes, gender equality (with a big caveat) here in my opinion. She knows she's a strong woman who knows what she wants in all areas of her life and in her relationship(s), a certain s*x position won't change that. Or she likes willful submission in the sheets, and being a boss in the streets.  I wanna be the grave and earth you (oh, yeah)/Our sex doesn't tell us no lies.

I agree with @Ladle Ghoulash about the video adding the corporate element. It's more hidden in others, but she's used that analogy long before ARTPOP. The Bad Romance video for example (whilst exploring much deeper received heteropatriarchal notions also), isn't it explicitly about a young woman being sold, packaged and bought until SHE turns the tables? Well, in this MV, after all she's been through, we see her attacking the old guard who don't care about her as a person with money guns and bazookas (inspired choice) to be replaced with the men/the clones she finds to be "ideal men" - ie. This indeed reads as a way women have to sometimes negotiate in a man's world: make the man who sees you as lesser (consciously or unconsciously) think you're in agreement with everything, then hold the strings as much as possible yourself, for Gaga (quoting Ladle because this sentence is perfect!): giving male execs what they want on the surface while, ultimately, controlling her image and setting the agenda. Aka the Truth she's talking about knowing: Knowing yourself, what you want and how you want to do it. Many of us navigate life this way because otherwise we'd be in constant fights.  

Some people might see that as empowering in and of itself (Third Wave Feminism), some might prefer much more serious change than shaky not-for-everyone workarounds than what we've got - so enlarged action than the semi-status quo described here (no pun intended  - Second and hopefully Fourth wave), some don't care and just love lyrics about power-bottoming. While definitely not my favorite MV or song of hers it does shed light on her thinking - and as she said in Five Foot Two, execs wanted her to go more and more sexy so she dressed more and more "absurd" (with the implication being: until they gave up). It's an insight of many women's/marginalized people's learned ways of grabbing the little power they can and promises even more interpersonally: I'm gonna wear the tie/Want the power to leave you/I'm aiming for full control of this love. 

But I personally see it only as actively feminist in bits and pieces, if that makes sense! When taking into context the corporate angle, for example, the lyrics make more sense, and the meaning behind stretching this ethos to all parts of life does too. It's not empowering women to go shoot their board of directors (duh) and take over their companies, but it's also not about collective action for change... It's also not explicitly or implicitly asking for progress on women's rights. It's more about her, which is fine! So imho, not really feminist, just communicating her views at that point in time. She's done much more actively feminist and LGBTQ+ feminist songs/MV's.

As for examples, look no further than Mayhem - coded like what GOE means in my head and very open like SOAM, where she cleverly uses the notoriously misogynist (even for his time) Plato and his Allegory of the Cave against him. 

9 hours ago, gagacabana said:

I've always seen the song as a bi4bi funny anthem. And also, now that I'm reading these other meanings, the "i wanna be the grave and earth you" makes all the more sense. "Our sex doesn't tell us no lies"; mirrored with Janelle Monáe's "everything is sex, except sex, which is power, you know power is just sex" Screwed lyrics, it's an interesting reshaping of power dynamics. Women (and those who are seen as women) are the subjected; earthlings; there couldn't be more to their life than that. But their power has strong roots and endless seeds, and if their will to endure, to fight, to persist, is resilient enough to want to be the grave of the men who subjected them, then it's worth it. 

Ooh love this reading!  Woman inherits the earth. - Ellie Sattler /end fitting but random Jurassic Park quote

Edited 2 hours ago by Apec

[mlmc1995 112]

3 minutes ago, Apec said:

I agree that the surface read is that she, the woman in this case, is a power bottom ie. she's dictating her own terms, she's not a woman lying down and taking whatever - I don't need to be on top/To know I'm worth it 'cause I'm strong enough to know the truth is the lyric explicitly saying that, but can be taken in a multitude of directions. She's using power bottoming as a metaphor for confidence, self-worth and yes, gender equality (with a big caveat) here in my opinion. She knows she's a strong woman who knows what she wants in all areas of her life and in her relationship(s), a certain s*x position won't change that. Or she likes willful submission in the sheets, and being a boss in the streets.  I wanna be the grave and earth you (oh, yeah)/Our sex doesn't tell us no lies.

I agree with @Ladle Ghoulash about the video adding the corporate element. It's more hidden in others, but she's used that analogy long before ARTPOP. The Bad Romance video for example (whilst exploring much deeper received heteropatriarchal notions also), isn't it explicitly about a young woman being sold, packaged and bought until SHE turns the tables? Well, in this MV, after all she's been through, we see her attacking the old guard who don't care about her as a person with money guns and bazookas (inspired choice) to be replaced with the men/the clones she finds to be "ideal men" - ie. This indeed reads as a way women have to sometimes negotiate in a man's world: make the man who sees you as lesser (consciously or unconsciously) think you're in agreement with everything, then hold the strings as much as possible yourself, for Gaga (quoting Ladle because this sentence is perfect!): giving male execs what they want on the surface while, ultimately, controlling her image and setting the agenda. Aka the Truth she's talking about knowing: Knowing yourself, what you want and how you want to do it. Many of us navigate life this way because otherwise we'd be in constant fights.  

Some people might see that as empowering in and of itself (Third Wave Feminism), some might prefer much more serious change than shaky not-for-everyone workarounds than what we've got - so enlarged action than the semi-status quo described here (no pun intended  - Second and hopefully Fourth wave), some don't care and just love lyrics about power-bottoming. While definitely not my favorite MV or songs of hers it does shed light on her thinking - and shesaid in Five Foot Two, execs wanted her to go more and more sexy so she dressed more and more "absurd" (with the implication being: until they gave up). It's an insight of many women's/marginalized people's learned ways of grabbing the little power they can and promises even more interpersonally: I'm gonna wear the tie/Want the power to leave you/I'm aiming for full control of this love. 

But I personally see it only as actively feminist in bits and pieces, if that makes sense! When taking into context the corporate angle, for example, the lyrics make more sense. It's not empowering women to go shoot the board of directors (duh) and take over their companies, but it's also not about collective action for change... So imho, not really feminist, just communicating her views at that point in time. She's done much more actively feminist and LGBTQ+/feminist merger songs/MV's.

Ooh love this reading!  Woman inherits the earth. - Ellie Sattler /end fitting but random Jurassic Park quote

Love this analysis in general but the JP quote completes it

[Helxig 45,440]

[27monster27 15,936]

@gagzus @ShapeOfACelebrity @Apec

I found it! This Paper magazine article goes into depth about how G.U.Y. described her career philosophy, and how it predicted how she would rise back to the top. It's a really great read.

https://www.papermag.com/lady-gaga-guy-ARTPOP-5-years#rebelltitem2

[NewEnglandWitch 97]

I try not to really read into it too much. It’s definitely more sexual than political though. Even as an ARTPOP stan, it’s one I consistently skip alongside J&D/MANiCURE