"
Judas" is a song by American recording artist
Lady Gaga, taken from her second studio album
Born This Way (2011). The song was released worldwide on April 15, 2011, four days ahead of its scheduled release, by
Interscope Records. Written and produced by Lady Gaga and
RedOne, "Judas" is a dance song that speaks of a woman in love with a man who betrayed her. The song also embodies all the incidents that have haunted Gaga in the past, thus its core meaning referring to things that are bad and inescapable for her. Gaga further explained that the song was also about honoring one's inner darkness in order to bring themselves into the light, "You have to look into what’s haunting you and need to learn to forgive yourself in order to move on."
[2]"Judas" has a similar sound to Gaga's previous singles like "
Poker Face", "
LoveGame", "
Bad Romance", and "
Alejandro", and contains three distinct
hooks and a
break down, influenced by
house music. The breakdown also contains influences of
tribal-techno music and
dubstep. Gaga explained that the lines spoken during the breakdown talks about her being beyond the ability to redeem herself, in terms of the traditional views of what a woman is supposed to be. The artwork for the single was designed by Gaga in
Microsoft Word and features a black background with the word "Judas" written in red capital letters. After designing the cover, Gaga took a picture of it with her cell phone, to add further texture.
Critics noted similarity between "Judas" and "Bad Romance", but praised the musical production of the song, complimenting its energy and the robotic break down. "Judas" initially had a strong sales opening, but eventually was less successful commercially in comparison to Gaga's previous singles. The song reached the top-ten of the charts in most major music markets, but failed to attain the top position in any of them. It only reached the top of the charts in South Korea and the
Hot Dance Club Songs chart of
Billboard, in the United States.
A music video for the song was filmed in early April, co-directed by Gaga and
Laurieann Gibsonand co-starring
Norman Reedus. It included a Biblical storyline where Reedus played
Judas Iscariot and Gaga played
Mary Magdalene. The video portrayed them as modern day missionaries going to Jerusalem. It included the Biblical story of Judas
betraying Jesus, and ended with Gaga as Magdalene getting stoned to death. Prior to its release, the
Catholic Leaguecondemned Gaga for the alleged use of religious imagery and her role in the video. However, critics in general praised the video for its overall delivery and did not find anything offending about it. The video has been noted for its artistic and cultural references, such as to
Sandro Botticelli's
The Birth of Venus, the symbolic
Eye of Horus, and several films, such as
The Wild One and
Romeo + Juliet, amongst others.
[3][4] Gaga has performed "Judas" on a number of television shows, including
The Graham Norton Show,
Saturday Night Live,
Good Morning America's "Summer Concert Series", as well as the French
X Factor.
