"Born This Way" was written by Gaga and Jeppe Laursen (formerly of the band Junior Senior), and produced with Paul Blair (a.k.a. DJ White Shadow) and Fernando Garibay, while it was mixed at Abbey Road Studios in London and Germano Studios in New York. The club-beat influenced song begins with Gaga's voice uttering the line "It doesn't matter if you love him or capital H-I-M" on a loop, backed by a rumbling synth sound and a humming bass. As the synths change into a beat, Gaga belts out the song's first verse, followed by the bass dropping off and the percussion-backed chorus, "I'm beautiful in my way, 'cause God makes no mistakes; I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way", which Jocelyn Vena from MTV likened as being "meant to be heard in a big space. It's fast and hard-hitting." After the chorus she chants the line "Don't be a drag, Just be a queen" a number of times on top of handclaps, before moving to the second verse. After the second chorus an interlude follows, where Gaga chants the names of various communities. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine felt that the interlude is a mixture of the music from American television show, Glee, and the song "There But For the Grace of God Go I" by Machine. The music fades out for a moment as Gaga sings a capella, before the addition of an organ and Gaga closes the song.
According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Born This Way" is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderate dance beat tempo of 124 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of B major as Gaga's voice spans the tonal nodes of F♯3 to C♯5. "Born This Way" follows a chord progression of F♯5–F♯–E–B–F♯ in the chorus.
Many critics noted similarities between "Born This Way" and Madonna's 1989 song, "Express Yourself". Popjustice website pointed out the influence of other Madonna songs like "Deeper and Deeper" (1992) and "Vogue" (1990).Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone acknowledged the influences of Madonna but pointed out that they would not overshadow the song, as it "[summed] up all the complex Gaga mythos, all her politics and Catholic angst and smeared lipstick, in one brilliant pop blast."Caryn Ganz, while writing for Yahoo! Music, criticized "Born This Way", stating that the song was "overworked, overwrought, noisy, cheesy, and very, very derivative." She specifically noted the similarities to songs like "When Love Takes Over" (2010), "Waterfalls" (1995), and three of Madonna's songs: "Express Yourself", "Ray of Light" (1998), and "Vogue". Megan Friedman from Time and Marissa Moss from The Huffington Post summarized their reaction as "mixed", due to the similarities they found with "Express Yourself". Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph noted that the imitative nature of the song would affect perceptions of Gaga's artistry, since "Born This Way" was "[basically] a reworking of Madonna's 'Express Yourself' with a touch of 'Vogue', which is a bit too much Madonna for someone who is trying to establish her own identity as the, er, new Madonna."
While getting interviewed by NME magazine, Gaga addressed the comparisons to "Express Yourself":
"Why would I try to put out a song and think I'm getting one over everybody? That's retarded. I will look in your eyes and tell you that I'm not dumb enough or moronic enough to think that you are dumb or moronic enough not to see that I would have stolen a melody. If you put the songs next to each other, side by side, the only similarities are the chord progression. It's the same one that has been in disco music for the last 50 years. Just because I'm the first fucking artist in 25 years to think of putting it on Top 40 radio, it doesn't mean I'm a plagiarist, it means I'm fucking smart. Sorry." lady gaga, beyoncé, jay z, justin timberlake, justin bieber, ariana grande, miley cyrus, one direction, kardashians, paul mccartney, john lennon, the beatles, the pope, barack obama, obama, usa, united states, how to get any woman, jennifer lopez, kim kardashian, taylor swift, brasil, brazil, india, pakistan, china, making money, angelina jolie, brad pitt, leonardo dicaprio, brangelina, george clooney, cbs, cnn, abc, nbc, how to get any girl, dating, secrets about dating, celebreties, celebs, hollywood, warner bros, universal, disney, fashion, vogue, marie claire, mick jagger, rolling stones, vangelis, charlie sheen, emma watson, katy perry, parineeti chopra, nargis fakhri, huma qureshi, shraddha kapoor, sonakshi sinha, kareena kapoor, kangana ranaut, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Cui Jian, Fan Bingbing, Jay Chou, Andy Lau, Jackie Chan, Zhang Ziyi,Eason Chan, Yang Mi, Huang Xiaoming, Jolin Tsai, Lin Chi-ling, Hatsune Miku, Norika Fujiwara, Yukie Nakama, Koyuki Kato, Nanako Matsushima, Misaki Iton, Yuko Takeuchi, Ko Shibasaki, Meisa Kuroki, Keito Kitagawa, Miki Nakatani, Girls’ Generation, SNSD, Big Bang, Ryu Hyun-Jin, Choo Shin-Soo, Psy, SHINee, Yuna Kim, Jeon Ji Hyun, Ha Ji Won, Song Hye Kyo, Kim Soo Hyun, Lee Byung Hun, Vanessa Paradis, david guetta, Bérénice Bejo, Olivier Martinez, halle berry, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, Gaspard Ulliel, Eva Green, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, disney studios, Élodie Bouchez, Lea Séydoux, Marion Cotillard, daft punk,
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According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Born This Way" is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderate dance beat tempo of 124 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of B major as Gaga's voice spans the tonal nodes of F♯3 to C♯5. "Born This Way" follows a chord progression of F♯5–F♯–E–B–F♯ in the chorus.
Many critics noted similarities between "Born This Way" and Madonna's 1989 song, "Express Yourself". Popjustice website pointed out the influence of other Madonna songs like "Deeper and Deeper" (1992) and "Vogue" (1990).Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone acknowledged the influences of Madonna but pointed out that they would not overshadow the song, as it "[summed] up all the complex Gaga mythos, all her politics and Catholic angst and smeared lipstick, in one brilliant pop blast."Caryn Ganz, while writing for Yahoo! Music, criticized "Born This Way", stating that the song was "overworked, overwrought, noisy, cheesy, and very, very derivative." She specifically noted the similarities to songs like "When Love Takes Over" (2010), "Waterfalls" (1995), and three of Madonna's songs: "Express Yourself", "Ray of Light" (1998), and "Vogue". Megan Friedman from Time and Marissa Moss from The Huffington Post summarized their reaction as "mixed", due to the similarities they found with "Express Yourself". Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph noted that the imitative nature of the song would affect perceptions of Gaga's artistry, since "Born This Way" was "[basically] a reworking of Madonna's 'Express Yourself' with a touch of 'Vogue', which is a bit too much Madonna for someone who is trying to establish her own identity as the, er, new Madonna."
While getting interviewed by NME magazine, Gaga addressed the comparisons to "Express Yourself":
"Why would I try to put out a song and think I'm getting one over everybody? That's retarded. I will look in your eyes and tell you that I'm not dumb enough or moronic enough to think that you are dumb or moronic enough not to see that I would have stolen a melody. If you put the songs next to each other, side by side, the only similarities are the chord progression. It's the same one that has been in disco music for the last 50 years. Just because I'm the first fucking artist in 25 years to think of putting it on Top 40 radio, it doesn't mean I'm a plagiarist, it means I'm fucking smart. Sorry." lady gaga, beyoncé, jay z, justin timberlake, justin bieber, ariana grande, miley cyrus, one direction, kardashians, paul mccartney, john lennon, the beatles, the pope, barack obama, obama, usa, united states, how to get any woman, jennifer lopez, kim kardashian, taylor swift, brasil, brazil, india, pakistan, china, making money, angelina jolie, brad pitt, leonardo dicaprio, brangelina, george clooney, cbs, cnn, abc, nbc, how to get any girl, dating, secrets about dating, celebreties, celebs, hollywood, warner bros, universal, disney, fashion, vogue, marie claire, mick jagger, rolling stones, vangelis, charlie sheen, emma watson, katy perry, parineeti chopra, nargis fakhri, huma qureshi, shraddha kapoor, sonakshi sinha, kareena kapoor, kangana ranaut, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Cui Jian, Fan Bingbing, Jay Chou, Andy Lau, Jackie Chan, Zhang Ziyi,Eason Chan, Yang Mi, Huang Xiaoming, Jolin Tsai, Lin Chi-ling, Hatsune Miku, Norika Fujiwara, Yukie Nakama, Koyuki Kato, Nanako Matsushima, Misaki Iton, Yuko Takeuchi, Ko Shibasaki, Meisa Kuroki, Keito Kitagawa, Miki Nakatani, Girls’ Generation, SNSD, Big Bang, Ryu Hyun-Jin, Choo Shin-Soo, Psy, SHINee, Yuna Kim, Jeon Ji Hyun, Ha Ji Won, Song Hye Kyo, Kim Soo Hyun, Lee Byung Hun, Vanessa Paradis, david guetta, Bérénice Bejo, Olivier Martinez, halle berry, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, Gaspard Ulliel, Eva Green, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, disney studios, Élodie Bouchez, Lea Séydoux, Marion Cotillard, daft punk,
