Fajarbook: Lady Gaga

"Paparazzi" is a song by American pop recording artist, Lady Gaga from her debut album, The Fame. Written by Rob Fusari and Gaga, the song served as the album's third single in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy, the fourth single in North America and fifth single in Australia. It was released on July 6, 2009 in the United Kingdom, and on July 10, 2009 in Australia. Initially, "LoveGame" had been planned to be released as the third single in the United Kingdom, but it was decided that "Paparazzi" would be released instead because of the potentially controversial lyrics and video of "LoveGame". The song was written by Gaga to portray her struggles and her love for fame. A mid-tempo dance song, the lyrics of "Paparazzi" depict the idea of a stalker following somebody to grab attention and fame.

"Paparazzi" has been critically acclaimed for its fun-filled, club-friendly nature and is deemed the most memorable and telling song from the album. The accompanying music video for the song is a mini-movie starring Gaga as a doomed starlet who is hounded by the photographers and in the process is almost killed by her boyfriend. The video shows how she survives and makes a comeback while taking revenge on her boyfriend. It portrays the situations that a person goes through in order to be famous. The song has charted in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, becoming a top five single in their charts. Gaga performed the song in a number of live appearances including her first headlining Fame Ball tour where she performed it as the opening number of the show, wearing a geometric patterned shaped black dress.

Writing and inspiration

In an interview with About.com, Gaga was told that there were different interpretations of the single. She responded by stating:

Well I'm so glad there are a few different interpretations, that was the idea. The song is about a few different things – it's about my struggles, do I want fame or do I want love? It's also about wooing the paparazzi to fall in love with me. It's about the media whoring, if you will, watching ersatzes make fools of themselves to their station. It's a love song for the cameras, but it's also a love song about fame or love – can you have both, or can you only have one?

With the Melbourne Herald Sun, Gaga further elaborated that the song was also about struggling to balance success and love.

^{Music And Lyrics}

"Paparazzi" has a similar up-tempo composition like previous singles "Just Dance and "Poker Face" and carries a sultry beat. The song has a moderate electro-synth groove and it is composed in the key of C minor with a tempo of 116 beats per minute. The song is set in common time, and Gaga's vocal range spans from G₃ to Eb₅. The song has the following chord progression, Cm—Ab—Cm—Ab—Cm—Ab—Eb—Fm–Db.

Lyrically "Paparazzi" deals with stalking and refers to the trappings of "Fame". The dictionary meaning of "Paparazzi" refers to them as a freelance photographer, especially one who takes candid pictures of celebrities for publication. But the lyrics of "Paparazzi" portray a different meaning especially the lines "I'm your biggest fan/I'll follow you until you love me/Papa-paparazzi/Baby there's no other superstar/You know that I'll be your/Papa-paparazzi." The idea portrayed is that of a stalker who is following somebody being his/her biggest fan. The lyrics also portray the desire of capturing the attention of the camera as well as achieving fame, with those lines.

Critical Reception

Jill Menze of Billboard, while reviewing The Fame Ball Tour complimented Gaga's vocals on the song by saying "... the fame-obsessed ballad 'Paparazzi' showed how adept she can be with her range." Alex Petridis of The Guardian said that "You may quickly tire of hearing the album's theme constantly reiterated, but the tune of Paparazzi takes up residence in your brain and refuses to budge." Matthew Chisling of Allmusic called the song as desirous and said that it "salt[s] and pepper[s] the album with a nasty, club-friendly feeling of fun and feistiness that an excellent, well-produced dance album should have." Ben Norman of About.com said "My favourite tracks on the album are 'Paparazzi,' 'Paper Gangsta,' and 'Brown Eyes.'" He also went on to define the term Paparazzi and its significance claiming it to be about stalking. He went on to comment that the song was amazing. Priya Elan of The Times felt that "even the trio of songs that provides the core of the album's celebrity theme ('Paparazzi', 'Beautiful Dirty Rich' and the title track) don't ruminate on the addictive inanity of fame, choosing instead to observe passively."

Evan Sawdey of PopMatters.com said that both "Paparazzi" and previous single "Poker Face" are comparable with the musical styles of first single "Just Dance" but went on to add that "never once does it feel like Gaga is deliberately repeating herself; instead, her faults only come from covering territory that she’s obviously not prepared for." Freedom du Lac of The Washington Post said that even though Gaga turns somewhat serious while singing disapprovingly "Paparazzi", the song comes across as flat and faceless as well as vapid. Erika Howard of the New Times Broward-Palm Beach called it the most telling track from the album. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times said that "'Paparazzi' is a love letter from camera to subject but stops short of admitting that the affection runs both ways. Any notion that Lady Gaga is sketching an elaborate stunt is stopped cold at the lyric sheet, a perverse flaunting of simplicity that betrays no cynicism whatsoever."

Chart performance

"Paparazzi" debuted on the official Australian Singles Chart at number seventy-three on the issue dated June 1, 2009 based solely on downloads and leaped to twenty-seven the next week. The song has so far peaked at number two, giving Gaga her fourth top five single in Australia and her third top two single. On the issue dated July 26, 2009, the song was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for sales of 35,000 copies. On the issue dated for June 20, 2009, Paparazzi also made its debut on the Canadian Hot 100 at number ninety-two and moved up to fifty seven the following week becoming the weeks greatest digital gainer. The song has reached a peak of four.

The song made its debut on the UK Singles Chart at number ninety-nine in February 2009 due to digital downloads after the release of The Fame. The song reached number thirteen for the issue dated June 21, 2009 after jumping from forty-three to this position from the last week. The next week the song further climbed to eight and has peaked at four. The song has also debuted at number thirty-eight on the Irish Singles Chart for the issue dated May 14, 2009 and has so far peaked at number four. In New Zealand, "Paparazzi" debuted at number twenty-three on the issue of June 22, 2009 and has reached a peak of seven. The song also debuted on the Dutch Top 40 at number twenty-seven on the issue dated July 18, 2009. It has so far peaked at number seven on its third week on the chart.

^{Music Video}

The music video was directed by Swedish director, Jonas Åkerlund, who has previously directed music videos for artists like the Smashing Pumpkins, Madonna, Moby and U2. His wife B. Åkerlund was hired as Gaga's stylist for the video. Gaga told MTV that she had finished shooting "[..] my video for 'Paparazzi,' which I really am very pleased with the way that turned out. It's like a short film." In an interview with The Canadian Press on May 26, 2009, Gaga cited her video as "the most amazing creative work that [she's] put together so far." She went on to describe the idea behind the video and the message it gives. She said,

"It has a real, genuine, powerful message about fame-whoring and death and the demise of the celebrity, and what that does to young people.[...] The video explores ideas about "sort of hyperbolic situations" that people will go to in order to be famous. Most specifically, pornography and murder. These are some of the major themes in the video.

The video premiered on June 4, 2009 in the United Kingdom and Ireland broadcast on Channel 4, where the "explicit late night version" of the video was aired. However, while touring in Australia, Gaga posted a message on her Twitter account on May 28, 2009 saying "Stop leaking my mother[fuck]ing videos", which referred to the video being released without the singer's consent.

The music video is an eight minute mini-movie starring Gaga and Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård as her boyfriend. It features a murderous plot line involving a doomed starlet who is constantly followed by photographers. The video opens up with the camera focusing on what appears to be an elegant seaside estate surrounded by roses and Greek statues. Seagulls cry in the background amid tinkling piano notes. Gaga and her boyfriend are shown lying on a bed whispering love talk in Swedish. Also shown are hundred dollar bills with Gaga's face on it. She and her boyfriend start making out and eventually move out in the balcony. As they kiss passionately, a photographer takes pictures of them kissing while remaining hidden. Gaga realizes that her boyfriend has set the paparazzi to photograph her and tries to stop him. However, when it becomes futile, she smashes his face with a champagne bottle. The enraged boyfriend tosses her over the balcony, leaving her in a crumpled heap on the ground below as the paparazzis take pictures of her bloody body and tabloid headlines proclaim that her career is over. According to Rolling Stone this scene is a homage to Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo.

Next she is shown getting down from a limousine, being carried by male dancers to an enhanced wheelchair with jazz hands. Gaga wears a bejeweled neck brace and a side halo on her hair in this sequence. As the dancers gyrate around her, she takes off her black body suit and starts walking down the carpet with the help of a pair of crutches while wearing a metallic bustier and a matching helmet. According to Entertainment Weekly this cyborg like leotard is similar to an outfit in George Michael's "Too Funky" music video. These scenes are interspersed with scenes of dead models including one whose face is wrapped in plastic, one who is hanging from a noose and one who appears to be oozing gold colored blood from her mouth. Alternate scenes of Gaga on a golden couch are also shown where she makes out with a trio of hair metal rockers during the line "Loving you is cherry pie". The trio, known as Snake of Eden, are from reality television dating program Daisy of Love. According to MTV this scene is a reference to the song "Cherry Pie" by American glam band Warrant. This sequence was dedicated to Gaga's initial days as a dancer at rock clubs. The second chorus features Gaga dancing in a parlor, wearing a white jumpsuit with blue extensions resembling a deconstructed flamenco dress. The video continues through the intermediate bridge with Gaga wearing a dress made up of film strips and a towering feathered Mohawk headdress.. Her trademark dogs, two harlequin Great Danes, are also shown during this scene.

In the next scene, Gaga and her eye-patch wearing boyfriend are reading magazines on a sofa in a quaint tea room. Gaga wears a flamboyant outfit of yellow jumpsuit with circular glasses and circular shoulder pads. The Guardian compared this look with that of Minnie Mouse. She finally takes her revenge on her boyfriend by discreetly poisoning his drink with white powder concealed in her ring. As he falls dead she calls 911 and declares that she just killed her boyfriend. The police comes and she gets arrested for the murder. Gaga, wearing a tall, blond, corkscrew wig, walks to the police car as the paparazzi surround her once again. Images flash by with newspapers proclaiming her innocence and that Gaga is back in the spotlight and has regained her fame. The video ends with Gaga posing for mug shots like a fashion model while wearing a tulip shaped metallic dress similar to the single cover. The Daily Mail compared this dress with a similar outfit worn by singer Beyoncé Knowles on her I Am... Tour.

Rolling Stone writer Daniel Kreps compared the video with "November Rain" and the scenes of the dead models as stomach turning while complimented the video for "brimming with cinematic style [so]that it’s hard to take your eyes off it, though it will likely be labeled as a little self-indulgent." He also commented on the leaking of the video saying that it "warranted more than just a simple leak; it deserved a red carpet." Anna Pickard from The Guardian complimented the video saying that "quite a lot of work has gone into it". However, she opined that the length of the video was too long.

^{Live Performance}

Gaga performed "Paparazzi" live on the UK programme, The Album Chart Show on February 14, 2009 as promotion for The Fame. On March 20, 2009, the song was also performed live at the AOL Sessions along with Gaga's other singles such as "Just Dance", "LoveGame", "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" and an acoustic version of "Poker Face". The song was performed at Capital Radio 95.8 FM in an acoustic piano version on May 1, 2009. On June 26, 2009, Gaga performed the song at the Glastonbury Festival emerging from a silver case on stage which was subsequently opened up by dancers to reveal her sporting a silver, robot-style sparkly dress. She played an enormous keytar to end the song while standing on a revolving platform that span round to reveal her buttocks to the crowd.

The song was a major part of Gaga’s performance in her first headlining Fame Ball tour as the opening number of the setlist. The show started with a video intro called "The Heart" where Gaga played an alternate persona called Candy Warhol. As the video got over, a countdown from ten to one happens and the screen drops to reveal Gaga emerging from the middle of the stage holding her hands upward. She wore a silver and black short skirt like a tutu and shaped like peplum on both sides with a triangular piece set on her right breast and high heeled, ultra spike, toeless shoes. Gaga's hair was made an austere blond bob and she wore black sunglasses. She was surrounded by her dancers holding plates which were encrusted with crystals and completely hid them. The plates were angled similar to the dress she wore. As the music started, the plates opened up and Gaga started singing the song while standing on the platform. The stage was surrounded by mechanical fog and heavy lighting was being emitted from the background. The song progressed with Gaga moving her hands in choreographed moves, with her dancers moving the plates in the same rhythm. Pre-recorded music and mixing were provided in the background by DJ Space Cowboy. The performance ended with Gaga bringing out her disco-stick for the performance of next song "LoveGame." The performance was acclaimed for being a strong beginning for the show and the clarity of Gaga's voice.