Bloody Mary (Lady Gaga Song)

"Bloody Mary" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her second studio album, '' Born This Way'' (2011). The song was written by Gaga, Fernando Garibay, and Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, while produced by herself and Blair, with additional co-production by Garibay and Clinton Sparks. It is an electropop song with elements of synth-pop and trance, featuring Gregorian chants. Although the song's title is an epithet mostly associated with the English queen Mary Tudor, Gaga instead assumes the role of biblical figure Mary Magdalene in its lyrics, whom she considered as a "feminine force" she had worshipped since her childhood in a Catholic girl school. It is one of several tracks on the album with religious undertones.

Critical reception towards "Bloody Mary" was generally positive, with reviewers branding it "gothic" and "spooky", and highlighting its productional values. Gaga performed the song live first at her 2012–2013 concert tour, the Born This Way Ball, where she was "floating" above stage in a white outfit along with two of her similarly dressed dancers. During the Joanne World Tour (2017–2018), she donned a bold red puffer coat and eye mask for the performance. English rock band the Horrors' take on "Bloody Mary" was included on Gaga's second remix album, '' Born This Way: The Remix'' (2011).

In 2022, following the release of the Netflix comedy horror series ''Wednesday'', the titular character's dance and its fan recreations to the song went viral on video sharing service TikTok. This resulted in a large increase in plays of the song on Spotify and "Bloody Mary" was sent to French and Italian radio as a single in December 2022, eleven years after the release of the album that featured it. The following month, it was also sent to US pop and adult contemporary radios. After becoming a single, the song has reached the top 40 in several charts around the world, including Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, in addition to cracking the top 20 in Italy, Poland, Hungary, Greece, and on the pop and hot adult contemporary radio formats in the United States.

Influences and lyrical content

On May 23, 2011, Lady Gaga released her second studio album, '' Born This Way''. One of the record's main lyrical topic is religion, making references to Christianity in various songs, such as "Judas", the second single of the album, and "Bloody Mary", in which Gaga assumes the role of Mary Magdalene, who witnesses the crucifixion of Jesus. ''NME'' described "Bloody Mary" as a "serene flipside" to "Judas", using another biblical character "to do much the same job". The song's title is an epithet mostly associated with England's Queen Mary I, as well as a ghostly figure based in folklore and urban legends. Gaga, however, took to Mary Magdalene for inspiration, referring to her as "the ultimate rockstar's girlfriend" on her social media, where she also revealed that "Bloody Mary" is "about living halfway between reality and fantasy." In an interview with Popjustice, after being asked why she is so fascinated with Magdalene and how the song came about, Gaga discussed her upbringing in a Catholic girl school. Although she was instructed to pray to God and Jesus, she found it easier to worship "a more feminine force" in her life, therefore she decided to pray to women – Mother Mary or Mary Magdelene, or her late aunt, Joanne, who she believed became an angel working beside God. Since becoming a pop singer, she always found strength by praying to them. She also talked about how "women were always the target", being stoned for "adultery or for doing inappropriate things" in biblical times, which made her thinking about her faith to make herself brave while creating ''Born This Way''. Regarding the lyrics of "Bloody Mary", she said that it is written from the point of view of Magdalene, and disclosed:

The lyrics are Mary sort of talking... If you listen to the lyrics and the way the cadence goes, the way I'm actually singing, I start quite sweetly then I go into these quite demonic tones, then I come back to sweetness, and then the chorus is me ultimately, publicly singing, "I won't cry for you, I won't crucify the things you do, I won't cry for you when you're gone I'll still be Bloody Mary". I'll still bleed, is what I'm trying to say. I guess I'm fascinated by her. ..In my belief Mary was in it all along. I think she knew what was going to happen. But I also believe that she loved him, and I believe there was a moment when she cried. So she says "I won't cry for you" but in the rest of the song, in the way that it feels, it's sad and ... t soundslike a death dirge... There's that kind of quality to it. It's about me having to be a superstar.

Talking with ''NME'', Gaga also alluded to Mary Magdelene as a superstar, who "must have cried too". She elaborated: "I believe that Mary Magdalene was both fully divine and fully human. She has to be strong when Jesus fulfills the prophecy to die for everyone's sins, but she still has the moment of humanity where she's upset to let him go." In a Twitter post, Gaga also cited her red Rolls-Royce Corniche III car as an inspiration for the song. Purchased in 2009, it was her only car at that time, and she called it "Bloody Mary".

Thematic analysis

Sean Adams of ''Drowned in Sound'' believed part of Gaga's "charm" is the way she contrives a "grand historical context for herself", and listed "Bloody Mary" in a line of songs from ''Born This Way'' which "finds her setting up her stall alongside monarchs and martyrs" ("Government Hooker", "Black Jesus + Amen Fashion" and "Judas" being other examples). Ann Powers from NPR felt that an overarching theme of the album is revisiting "demons every feminist artist has faced", such as Christianity, with "Bloody Mary". ''Vulture'', an online blog associated with ''New York Magazine'', argued that Gaga is "casting Mary as a graceful, eternal icon of feminine suffering", adding that the track "could be sacrilegious, but like in '' The Last Temptation of Christ'', humanizing icons only makes them more relatable." In an article by ''American Songwriter'', Alex Hopper opined that Gaga as Magdelene "chooses to focus on the love he spread in the world as opposed to the tragedy before her. Despite her grief, she promises to pick up that mantle and spread love in her own way: drying her tears and dancing through the night."

Recording and composition

"Bloody Mary" was written by Gaga, Fernando Garibay, and Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, and produced by herself and Blair, with additional co-production by Garibay and Clinton Sparks. The song started off as a demo made by Blair in Sydney's Studios 301. Gaga played it to Garibay while they were in Australia, and then they "put their stamp on the song" in his studio in Los Angeles, where Gaga finalized many tracks for ''Born This Way''. Garibay noted that they only polished the song by adding a few parts, and the album version isn't far from the demo one.

"Bloody Mary" is a slow-tempo electropop track that contains " plucked strings" and "filthy beats", and a "synthy tune" with elements of trance. The song also features Gregorian chants, with a "highly computerized" monklike chorus repeatedly saying 'GA-GA', "before it’s glitched in a euphoric beatdown". ''NME'' described it as a "dark, pulsing and atmospheric, almost funereal electroballad". Parts of the lyrics are in French and Spanish. Gaga's vocals in the song range from E₃ to C₅. Her screaming in the track resembles a "death metal vocal bit". For ''MuuMuse'' Bradley Stern, "Bloody Mary" invoked "David Bowie's space-pop". ''Glamour'' coloumnist Jenn Selby found it one of the tracks on the album which has "the unmistakable mark of Madonna". ''The Independent'' Andy Gill opined that the "monkish vocoder-chanting ..recalls Romanian techno-classicist Enigma". ''Rolling Stone'' Rob Sheffield noted the song for its "Chic bassline".

Critical reception

''NME'' Dan Martin picked "Bloody Mary" as one of the highlights from ''Born This Way'', calling it "a classy, graceful moment on an album not exactly pre-occupied with being either classy or graceful." Robert Copsey of Digital Spy found it a "decadent number with the same ecclesiastical tone as 'Judas' – though unlike its cousin, it doesn't try to be anything other than graceful and effortless pop." Owen Myers from ''Pitchfork'' highlighted the song's Gregorian chants as some of the album's "enjoyably over-the-top gothic flourishes". Writing for ''The Telegraph'', Neil McCormick called "Bloody Mary" a "sweet love song", noting "an elegant almost ethereal melody flows gently even as choirs of monks intone 'Ga Ga. Caryn Ganz from ''Spin'' called the song "hypnotically sleazy". A ''Vulture'' article found "Blood Mary" a "ruthlessly danceable" track.

''Prefixmag'' Craig Jenkins said "the somewhat sedate" song, along with album tracks " Scheiße" and "Government Hooker", "cuts the karaoke crap and kicks ass on the dance floor" and "eschew ''Born This Way'' time traveling ethos in favor of a more modern approach." Adam White of ''The Independent'' praised "Bloody Mary", writing: "Great production, beautiful production. Amid the howling, echoes and general spookiness here, there are two lines in which Gaga's vocals appear to melt and curdle, and it's sort of brilliant." ''The Boston Globe'' James Reed said the track "trims some of the production fat, and even with its pseudo-religious premise .. it's refreshing to hear Gaga retreat into the song's sensuality." In a retrospective review in 2021, Bianca Gracie of ''Uproxx'' described "Bloody Mary" as "one of the most sonically wicked tunes" in Gaga's catalogue.

''Rolling Stone''s Jody Rosen was less positive, highlighting the song's "sluggish tempo, goofy 'goth' atmospherics and a lyric that sounds like bad high school poetry: 'We are not just art for Michaelangelo to carve/He can't rewrite the agro of my furied heart.'." At ''Drowned in Sound'', Sean Adams called the "oddly plodding" song one of the album's fillers. Evan Sawdey of ''PopMatters'' opined that "despite its fancy string-pluck opening, 'Bloody Mary' is a remarkably average club track (save its liquid bass line), playing its religious angle very heavily but without much payoff".

Single release and media appearances

In November 2022, the song went viral after a sped up version was used in videos on TikTok, depicting Wednesday Addams' (Jenna Ortega) dance from the Netflix TV series ''Wednesday'' and its fan recreations. It originated from a clip of Addams dancing to the Cramps' 1981 song "Goo Goo Muck", but with the audio replaced with "Bloody Mary". This quickly caused a massive spike in streams and on December 2, 2022, it was sent to French radio as a single, followed by a single release in Italy on December 23. On January 17, 2023, the song was sent to US pop radio, followed by adult contemporary formats on January 30. On March 15, 2023, Interscope is releasing "Bloody Mary" in vinyl format, with parts of the lyrics etched on it.

Gaga herself later posted a black-and-white video on TikTok, recreating the viral dance wearing goth makeup and an outfit similar to the one worn by Wednesday in the show. The sped up version of "Bloody Mary" got featured in Netflix's teaser for Season 2 of ''Wednesday''.

Commercial performance

Following the song's initial release as part of its parent album in May 2011, the song only entered one music chart globally, reaching number one on Lebanon's Top 20 Airplay chart. As reported by ''Billboard'', "Bloody Mary" was gradually building up worldwide streams since August 18, 2022, when it garnered 561,000 streams.

In the first week of the track's surge, which began two days after the premiere of ''Wednesday'' (November 23, 2022) and ended on December 1, it garnered 1.8 million global streams, gaining 509% in official on-demand streams and 1,133% in sales. The week after, it gained 144% in streams and 201% in sales, debuting at number 168 on the ''Billboard'' Global Excl. US chart, a version of the Global 200 chart that does not account for the United States. The percentage of the song's rise in the two weeks following the initial surge combined was 537% in streams and 144% in sales globally, and 412% and 140% in the US. It later entered the top 40 on both charts, so far peaking at number 31 on the Global 200 and at 28 on the Excl. US chart. After initially failing to enter the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart due to the popularity of Christmas songs at the time of its initial surge, the song entered the chart at number 68 on the issue dated January 14, 2023. The song climbed to number 54 before reaching a new peak of 47 in its eighth week on the chart. Additionally, the song has so far reached number 29 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart, number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Mainstream Top 40 chart and 10 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Top 40 chart. In Canada, "Bloody Mary" has been certified Gold by Music Canada for moving at least 40,000 units. The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Canadian Hot 100 at number 74 on the chart dated December 17, 2022. After fluctuating on the chart for five weeks, the song rose to its current peak of 50 in its seventh week on the chart.

Following the song's release as an official single, it entered music charts throughout Europe. In the United Kingdom, the song entered the UK Singles Chart on December 16, 2022 at number 57. After remaining in the top 75 for the following two weeks, the song entered the top 40 at number 22 in its fourth week on the chart, becoming the seventh track from ''Born This Way'' to reach the top 40, eleven years after the release of the previous single, "Marry the Night". In Italy, one of the first countries where the song was officially sent to radio, the song debuted at number 87 on the Top 100 Singles chart. In its fifth week, the song reached a new peak of number 20. Later, "Bloody Mary" was certified Gold in the country for moving at least 50,000 units. The song has reached the top 40 on various other European countries' singles charts, including number 31 on the German Singles Chart, number 30 on the Swedish Singles Chart, number 29 on the Swiss Singles chart, number 23 on the Finnish Songs Chart, number five on Hungary's Top 40 Singles chart, and number two on Poland's Airplay Top 100 chart.

Remix versions

On November 18, 2011, Gaga released her second remix album, '' Born This Way: The Remix'', which included a remix of "Bloody Mary" by English rock band the Horrors. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic listed the track as one of the record's highlights. In an album review by ''Billboard'', the remix was called "a lush, haunting affair, with Gaga lost in the darkness of the dance floor." Nick Levine of BBC Music felt that "Bloody Mary" was turned into "vampire disco floor-filler". ''Exclaim!'' Sarah Murphy found it an "eerie" rendition, where "the gothy British shoegazers slow the track down and add their signature air of creepiness to it." Chris Eggersten of ''Uproxx'' thought it was "a pretty bold reinvention of the song (almost all of Gaga's lyrics have been discarded)", describing it as a "moody, almost meditative spin to the original track".

Clinton Sparks, who coproduced the original album version of "Bloody Mary", later independently issued his own remix of the song, which is a dance club version "full of raw, industrial thumping bass, groaning synths..., and a twirling tempo".

Live performances

Gaga performed "Bloody Mary" during her third headlining concert tour, the Born This Way Ball (2012–2013). She appeared in a white dress and helmet, along with two of her female dancers dressed in the same outfits. The three then moved around a circular runway on remote-controlled platforms, with the illusion of floating above stage. Gaga's male dancers followed them wearing miniskirts. ''The Line of Best Fit'' Charlie Ivens opined that Gaga appeared as a "cosmic beekeeper" during the "absurdly bouncable beats" of "Bloody Mary". Chase Wade of ''The Dallas Morning News'' thought Bloody Mary' unnerved as she delivered operatic vocals in an all-white gown while gliding like some kind of automaton bride."

The track was also included on the set list of the Joanne World Tour (2017–2018), Gaga's fifth concert tour, where she performed it while wearing a bold red Norma Kamali "sleeping bag" puffer coat with a 10-foot-long train and an eye mask. She was accompanied by her dancers wearing outfits in matching color. Lauren Alexis Fisher of ''Harper's Bazaar'' felt that Gaga brought back "the avant garde looks she's always embraced" with the outfit, following a more stripped-down era in her career. ''Variety'' Alex Stedman found the inclusion of the track on the setlist a "welcome surprise". Mikael Wood from the ''Los Angeles Times'' opined that Gaga's "Bloody Mary" performance "had the look of a spirited satanic orgy", and noted that it provided "the elaborate set pieces her fans expect". Tom Murray from the ''Edmonton Journal'' thought that Gaga's dancers were "tumbling after her like the asylum inmates in '' Marat Sade''" during the song.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Born This Way''.
* Lady Gaga – vocals, songwriter, producer, background vocals
* DJ White Shadow – songwriter, producer, programming, keyboards
* Fernando Garibay – songwriter, co-producer, programming, keyboards
* Clinton Sparks – co-producer, keyboards
* Kamau Georges – programming
* Bill Malina – audio engineering
* Dave Russell – recording at Studio 301, Sydney, Australia; audio mixing at The Mix Room, Burbank, California
* Chris Gehringer – audio mastering at Sterling Sound, New York City
* Paul Pavao – assistant
* Jordan Power – assistant

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control

2011 songs
2022 singles
Lady Gaga songs
Songs written by Fernando Garibay
Song recordings produced by Fernando Garibay
Song recordings produced by Lady Gaga
Songs written by Lady Gaga
Internet memes introduced in 2022
Cultural depictions of Mary Magdalene