You can’t deny that Lady Gaga songs make you want to “Just Dance.” Believe it or not, she has been a household name for more than a decade. Oh, how time flies when you’re enjoying Grammy-winning music. Lady Gaga raised the bar for pop music and we have listed five of the best Lady Gaga songs in the history of her eccentric career.
Lady Gaga is no stranger to having chart-topping songs, but did you know that a new study reveals that the volume of lead singers in chart-topping songs has gradually decreased over the past 75 years? Traditionally, music has focused on emphasizing the lead singer’s voice, but researchers have discovered that these vocals are becoming increasingly quieter compared to the rest of the band. Since most recordings are not available as separate tracks for individual instruments, researchers utilized software to divide each song into tracks for vocals, bass, percussion, and other remaining sounds. The program also removed backing vocals to measure the volume of only the lead singer.
But don’t you worry, Lady Gaga’s vocals still stand out among the rest. In fact, “Poker Face” is one of the best songs to sing in your car according to a new survey. The poll of 2,000 motorists in the United Kingdom finds that 78 percent sing in the car, although only 21 percent of those who enjoy belting out tunes think they’re any good. Surely all 78 percent enjoy the song if it is by Lady Gaga.
Wondering if your go-to car song is one of her best? StudyFinds turned to ten expert opinions to find the best Lady Gaga songs. If we missed a favorite that you have on repeat, we’d like to hear about it in the comments below!
The List: Best Lady Gaga Songs, According to Music Fans
1. “Bad Romance” (2009)
“Bad Romance” made an appearance in the top five on eight out of ten expert lists. It is a song that, even just by reading this, will stick in your head. “The pop landscape into which Bad Romance was released in 2009 was overrun with buoyant, hands-in-the-air pep. Gaga had helped prop up the party on The Fame but quickly saw an opportunity to become pop’s gothic-tinged outlier, one who would actively crave an emotionally devastating bad romance, as opposed to delicately unpacking the fallout from it over a club-lite production. On Bad Romance, she stomps petulantly around RedOne’s churning cacophony of ever-expanding synths, veering in and out of dangerous infatuation. It is a song built on layers and layers of undeniable hooks, from the opening ‘Oh, oh, oh’ to the inbuilt chant of her surname (perfect for cementing that cultural ubiquity) to the section where she sings in French for no obvious reason. Delirious, delicious pop perfection,” says The Guardian.
People consider “Bad Romance” Lady Gaga’s theme song. For others, it could just be one of their faves. Either way, The Tab states, “It perfectly encompasses every single thing that makes her unique as an artist and lets her flex her silly and her camp with her untouchably great vocals. The pinnacle of iconic bridges. It hardly gets any better than this.”
Number one on Rolling Stone’s list of best songs, “Bad Romance” was the moment Lady Gaga kicked it into high gear. Perhaps why “Bad Romance” made the perfect new Tik Tok challenge. “‘Bad Romance’ was not Gaga’s first hit, but it was the smash that made her hard to ignore. Both the video and single were memorable, image-making pieces that paid tribute to both the couture fashion world and the art of creating a simple, catchy sing-along-ready pop song. The track won two Grammy Awards and sold 12 million copies worldwide,” says Rolling Stone.
2. “Poker Face” (2008)
Some Lady Gaga fans may arguably state that “Poker Face” was her major breakthrough. With so many chart-topping hits, it tends to get confusing which one was. “The chart-topping, Grammy-winning tune is a naughty twist on the popular Texas Hold ‘Em card game. But rather than playing for chips, Gaga is playing her man who doesn’t know she’d rather be with a woman. And her allure is just as addicting as the song, with its robotic Mum-mum-mum-mah’s, pure pop chorus, and lyrical winks like ‘Cause I’m bluffin’ with my muffin’. ‘Poker Face’ was saved from being too cheesy with Gaga’s theatrical piano rendition that was later covered on hit shows like Glee and sampled on Kid Cudi’s ‘Make Her Say’ single,” boasts UPROXX.
Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” hit number one in nine countries including the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and The United Kingdom. “The song is very radio-friendly. She uses ‘Poker Face,’ as a metaphor for love. She wants her lover to read what’s going on in her mind. It’s also a song about bisexuality. It could be missed unless you pay attention to the lyrics of the song. Lyrically it sounds like it could be about anything. She sings the song in two keys. She starts the song in a deeper tone and goes up in the hook. The hook is easy to remember and can stay in your head. She’s a little hard to understand because she doesn’t enunciate the lyrics well. She also sounds a little robotic in some parts of it, but that’s the beauty of it,” says Classic Rock History.
Landing at number two for The TopTens, they include several quotes from major fans about the impact “Poker Face” had on them, “It’s been 4 years since the release. 4 years later, it’s still my absolute favorite song of all time. The production quality, manipulation through ‘ear candy’ and robotic hooks put together with very simple, yet complex and story-telling lyrics made this song the killer hit that it is and remains to this day!”
3. “Paparazzi” (2009)
Lady Gaga is known to mix horror elements into her music videos. “Paparazzi” is no exception. “A horror-filled pleasure ride is the best way to describe it, simultaneously sounding seductive and dangerous. The final single on her debut album, Paparazzi reached number six on the Hot 100 and topped both the Mainstream Top 40 and Dance Club charts,” says Music Grotto.
In the “Paparazzi” video, Rolling Stone points out the contrast between Lady Gaga as the voyeur and as the it girl. “The shimmering, lush ‘Paparazzi’ showcased higher ambitions for Gaga than the type of grungy house party she’s seen in the ‘Just Dance’ video. The glamorous music video featured Alexander Skarsgard as her leading man who pushes her off a balcony in an effort to become more famous – until she eventually poisons him. As an added bonus, her blood-soaked VMA performance was a career-making moment that shocked the world.”
The Tab coined “Paparazzi” as number one on their list of best Lady Gaga songs. The reason mostly is because of the correlation between the video and her VMA live performance. “It was so intrinsically linked to her VMAs performance that saw her leaking blood from her stomach and then dangling above the stage like a corpse that it’s impossible to get the sight of fake blood out of your brain when listening to it. But that is what makes Lady Gaga so special – she gives us songs that impact the culture in all its forms.”
4. “Judas” (2011)
To some, “Judas” may not be as recognizable of a song title as the others, but it still tops the chart as one of Lady Gaga’s best songs. It is also said to be an attempt to remake “Bad Romance.” “Judas plays out more like that track’s gloriously unhinged, turbo-charged sequel. Gaga alternates between a robotic half-rap, a strange caterwauling shriek, and then, on the Steps-esque chorus, a pure pop vocal perfect for radio ubiquity. Underneath the lyrical blasphemy, RedOne cooks up an industrial-strength soup of house, pummeling electro and, at the 2min 40sec mark, the sound of a synth disintegrating punctured perfectly by a levity-inducing ‘Eww’ from Gaga,” says The Guardian.
So what is “Judas” about? It’s all about betrayal. In the video, Lady Gaga references the religious history of Jesus being betrayed by Judas. “Rather than a simple retelling of Judas Iscariot, Gaga crowns herself as Mary Magdalene as she struggles between choosing Jesus (righteousness) or Judas (temptation). Her lyrics about wanting forgiveness for her past sins are nearly stomped out by intense industrial-inspired synths. Even Gaga herself can’t make up her mind about the sonic direction, alternating between a robotic, quasi-Caribbean tone in the verses and bubbly power pop on the radio-crafted chorus. The gothic undertones come alive in the music video, which reimagines Jesus and his Twelve Apostles as a rowdy biker gang, with Judas played by The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus. If any other pop counterpart attempted to pull off ‘Judas,’ it would fail miserably. But the magic of Mother Monster is that she can make something completely unhinged look beautiful,” says UPROXX.
The fans have some great stuff to say about “Judas” over at The Top Tens, “Honestly this song is almost prolific. It’s about overcoming mean people (according to an interview I saw with Gaga) and it’s also in pace with the times. It talks about how society is changing. It also talks about her love and desire, which are so prominent it’s almost blasphemy to say you can not hear her lust flow from her voice. The tone is absolutely incredible. Seriously this song should be close to, if not, number one! This is coming from a Buddhist who cares not for Judas so please, I love this song rank it higher!”
5. “Just Dance” (2008)
Featured on The Fame CD, “Just Dance” introduced Lady Gaga to the world. Number two on Classic Rock History’s list proves it didn’t do too shabby for a debut single. “The up-tempo song is a combination of electro-pop and dance-pop. It was perfect for pop radio. The track is about being drunk in a club. The song was easy for Lady Gaga to write. Lady Gaga, Akon, and RedOne managed to write an infectious and catchy dance track. Every artist can’t pull off writing a song about being drunk and dancing. There are plenty of songs with the club theme as well as drinking, but she managed to make hers sound different from the others. Just Dance was Lady Gaga’s first number-one single. It hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hit 100 in 2008. It also hit number one in Austria, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Not bad for a debut single. Yeah, Baby!”
Gaga has evolved an outstanding amount since her debut single. Fun fact: Akon was a co-writer on this track. “The constants have been the cleverness of her songwriting and her vocal power. Both are on display in ‘Just Dance,’ a throbbing party cut focused on gyrating your troubles away…does anyone know if Gaga ever found her phone at the club, by the way?” questions Billboard.
Again, what a catapulting start to Lady Gaga’s career! It’s easy to relate to if you are someone who loves to dance and have a great time. “Just Dance served as the lead single for the artist’s debut album, and if you believe, the stories only took Gaga about 10 minutes to write in totality. It’s a simple, happy song about being drunk at the club and having a good time. With over 4.3 million copies sold worldwide, it was one of the best-selling singles of all time. It catapulted Gaga to international fame as soon as her career began,” says Music Grotto.
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Sources:
- The Guardian
- The Tab
- Rolling Stone
- American Songwriter
- UPROXX
- The Top Tens
- Classic Rock History
- Music Grotto
- Gold Derby
- Billboard
Note: This article was not paid for nor sponsored. StudyFinds is not connected to nor partnered with any of the brands mentioned and receives no compensation for its recommendations.