Lady Gaga - "Born This Way" (2011)

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

Her second studio album released by Interscope Records on May 23, 2011. She mainly worked with producers Fernando Garibay and RedOne. Born This Way debuted atop in various major music chart worldwide, including the US Billboard 200, where the record sold 1.108 million copies in its first week—the highest first-week album sales in five years; an estimated 440,000 copies were sold on Amazon in two days of its first week at a price of 99 cents. In 2020, Rolling Stone included it in their updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. As of 2021, it has more than 5.8 billion global streams, 5.2 million physical copies sold, and 31 million digital tracks sold.

The music on the album was heavily inspired by a plethora of artists such as Madonna, Whitney, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Iron Maiden, Kiss, Queen, TLC, Pat Benatar, and En Vogue. What are your fave tracks from the album? Share your fave memories from this era.

This is my fave album by her and I likened it as a soundtrack to the lowest point of my life. I love the 80s-early 90s inspo. Absolutely rank this top if I were to compile a list of all the studio albums she has ever done. I remember the nights I would spend out in the patio just blasting this album through my ears from my iPod. My spirit was so broken up inside. 2011 was one of the most challenging years of my life. I literally felt like I was going out of my mind like I was a prisoner in shackles. I had this sudden strong desire to escape to NYC. It was all I kept dreaming about. I don't really feel that anymore these days since I feel a bit more peaceful now, but listening to that album back then in my early 20s when I felt absolutely lost, indecisive, absent minded, nonchalant, broken, rebellious, angsty, bitter, and often uncertain about life, was a nice escape and a good coping mechanism in my most incredibly vulnerable moments. My most played tracks were Bad Kids, Judas, Black Jesus + Amen Fashion, Scheibe, Electric Chapel, Government Hooker, Bloody Mary, and Heavy Metal Lover.

As for the era, I remember when it was promoted through FarmVille on Facebook, like it included items like a unicorn, a chapel, and trees with electrical lights on it. Gaga was seemingly inescapable around this time, like the monsters just couldn't get enough of her. I even remember one time I saw these two guys on a motorbike with a tiny rainbow flag in the back and "Bad Kids" was playing in the background.

The videos, of course, were pretty iconic, as well.

 

"Born This Way" #1 Hot 100, #22 A/C, #7 Adult Top 40, #1 Dance Club Songs, #10 Latin Pop Airplay, #1 Mainstream Top 40, #12 Rhythmic

"Judas" #10 Hot 100, #40 Adult Top 40, #1 Dance Club Songs, #22 Latin Pop Airplay, #15 Mainstream Top 40, #36 Rhythmic

"The Edge of Glory" #3 Hot 100, #7 A/C, #2 Top 40, #1 Dance Club Songs, #3 Mainstream Top 40, #27 Rhythmic

"You and I" #6 Hot 100, #15 A/C, #6 Adult Top 40, #1 Dance Club Songs, #7 Mainstream Top 40

"Marry The Night" #29 Hot 100, #27 Adult Pop Songs, #1 Dance Club Songs, #14 Mainstream Top 40