When Gaga debuted this song at the iTunes Festival in September 2013, I was floored. It was one of the most incredible performances I had ever seen. Up until that point, Gaga had built her image with elaborate costumes, makeup, and wigs. Yet, despite wearing a massive wig, the performance was raw and stripped-down. The song itself was mesmerizing, and I fell in love with it instantly.
Unfortunately, we live in a time where leaks online are rampant, including entire studio sessions from famous artists. While I don’t condone this illegal activity, as a fan and professional music producer, having access to something like the full multitrack for Artpop was exhilarating. I’m hesitant to even admit I have it, since it’s technically stolen material, but when it appeared on a Gaga fan site, I couldn’t resist diving into it.
Using this multitrack, I embarked on a passion project to reproduce and remix this amazing piece of music. Once the audio was finished, I naturally moved to the video, using footage from the iTunes Festival performance as the visual foundation. I devoted more time to this project than I might otherwise because I loved every second of working on it. I hope you enjoy both the audio and video that resulted from this obsession—and I also hope Gaga doesn’t have me arrested.