166-421: Born This Way may refer to: Music [ edit ] Born This Way (album) , a 2011 album by Lady Gaga "Born This Way" (song) , the title song Born This Way: The Remix , a 2011 remix album by Lady Gaga Born This Way: The Collection , a 2011 compilation album that includes the remix album Born This Way (Cookie Crew album) , 1989, as well as
332-602: A BSc degree in physics in 1968 with honours. Following his graduation, May received a personal invitation from Sir Bernard Lovell to work at the Jodrell Bank Observatory while continuing to prepare his doctorate. He declined, choosing instead to remain at Imperial College to avoid breaking from Smile, the London-based band he was in at the time. In 2007, May earned a PhD degree in astrophysics from Imperial College London for work started in 1971. May formed
498-410: A Gregorian chant -inspired male vocal choir is a prominent feature in " Bloody Mary ", guitars and violins in " Americano ", and electric guitars in "Bad Kids". The songs "Hair" and "The Edge of Glory" are distinguishable from the rest of the album, as a saxophone – performed by Clemons, a prominent member of the E Street Band – can be heard throughout. In several interviews, Gaga expressed that she
664-405: A PhD degree in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007, and was Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University from 2008 to 2013. He was a "science team collaborator" with NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission. He is also a co-founder of the awareness campaign Asteroid Day . Asteroid 52665 Brianmay was named after him. In 2023, May contributed to NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission,
830-421: A SHOWstudio interview in the same year, answering what she would call the movie of her life. In another interview, she declared the album "the anthem of [this] generation," as she continued, "It includes the greatest music I've ever written. I've already written the first single for the new album and I promise you, that this album is the greatest of my career." Born This Way was written and recorded while in
996-760: A world tour , the first leg being Europe and the second, Japan and the US in 2006. On 25 May 2006, Queen received the inaugural VH1 Rock Honors at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas , Nevada, and May and Taylor were joined on stage with the Foo Fighters to perform a selection of Queen songs. On 15 August 2006, May confirmed through his website and fan club that Queen + Paul Rodgers would begin producing their first studio album in October, to be recorded at
1162-624: A "secret location". The album, titled The Cosmos Rocks , was released in Europe on 12 September 2008 and in the United States on 28 October 2008. Following the album's release, the band embarked on a tour through Europe and parts of the US, opening on Kharkiv's freedom square in front of 350,000 Ukrainian fans. The show in Ukraine was later released on DVD . Queen and Paul Rodgers officially split up on 12 May 2009. Rodgers did not rule out
1328-412: A "sincere ode to the bedazzled hearts of outsiders past and present". Furthermore, MTV ranked it as the tenth best album of 2011, claiming it is the "first multi-national, multi-hyphenate, multi-sexual pop album of our time", and called it "her grandest mission statement to date". Claiming that through the album, Gaga "thinks pop can still move policy, and she might be right", and describing the record as
1494-639: A 17-track version of Born This Way , and the DVD Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden . "Born This Way", the lead single, was released on February 11, 2011. Acknowledged as a "magical message" by Billboard ' s Jem Aswad, the Gaga and Jeppe Laursen -written song was produced by herself, Laursen, Garibay and DJ White Shadow . It was met with mostly positive reception from critics, who noted
1660-680: A 19-date summer tour of North America on Good Morning America . Because of ticket demand, five dates were soon added. In May 2014, shows in Australia and New Zealand were announced, along with festival performances in South Korea and Japan. The tour was extended to the UK and greater Europe in early 2015. The group performed together in South America in September 2015, including Queen's first performance at
1826-473: A 1995 album by Boy Howdy Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Born This Way . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Born_This_Way&oldid=1151264968 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
SECTION 10
#17328768635671992-593: A Carpenter ". May also performed several other songs that night. In Queen's three-part vocal harmonies, May was generally the lower-range backing vocalist. On some of his songs, he sings the lead vocals, most notably the first verse of "Who Wants to Live Forever", the final verse of " Mother Love ", the middle eight on " I Want It All " and " Flash's Theme ", and full lead vocals on " Some Day One Day ", " She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes) ", " '39 ", " Good Company ", " Long Away ", " All Dead, All Dead ", " Sleeping on
2158-413: A cheap Photoshop job than the most anticipated album of the year." He then commented, "Gone are the futurist sunglasses, the asymmetrical haircuts, even Gaga's newly touted magic horns; instead, a mutant motorbike with Gaga's arms and head, plus a cheesy chrome typeface." He also referenced several messages from fans on Gaga's official forum expressing their dislike for the cover. The special edition cover
2324-533: A damn good thing" that Gaga "doesn't know when to hold back" and complimented her for pushing musical boundaries to its "ultimate degree." Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine opined, "There's nothing small about this album, and Gaga sings the shit out of every single track." Cinquemani compared the album to The Killers ' album Sam's Town (2006), calling it "bloated, self-important, proudly American, an exercise in extraordinary excess." Rolling Stone ' s Rob Sheffield felt that "the more excessive Gaga gets,
2490-537: A dance melody resembling genres such as techno, trance , industrial and post-disco , as well as a hip hop -influenced beat. The song has been compared by Los Angeles Times ' s Randall Roberts to the work of German electronic band Kraftwerk . It is followed by " Judas ", which Gaga confirmed to be influenced by the Biblical Judas Iscariot. The song's lyrics are about being betrayed as well as "honoring your darkness in order to bring yourself into
2656-475: A distinctive sound created through his layered guitar work, often using a home-built electric guitar called the Red Special . May wrote numerous hits for Queen, including " We Will Rock You ", " I Want It All ", " Fat Bottomed Girls ", " Flash ", " Hammer to Fall ", " Save Me ", " Who Wants to Live Forever " and " The Show Must Go On ". Following the death of Mercury in 1991, aside from the 1992 tribute concert ,
2822-507: A feature about Collins for FHM , praising him as "a great guy and an amazing drummer". During the late 1960s, May became an enthusiast of stereoscope photographs, as a child, and first encountered the work of Thomas Richard Williams . In 2003, May announced a search to identify the actual location of the Scenes in Our Village images. In 2004 May reported that he had identified the location as
2988-471: A female artist. The same publication later included it in their 2020 update of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time , on the 484th spot. The album was ranked number 1 on NME ' s list of The 10 Most Pretentious Albums Ever. Born This Way ' s themes of acceptance, sexual orientation, gender identity and intersectional feminism have been of discussion for the past decade (2010s). Nicole Froio from Harper's Bazaar stated that " Born This Way marked
3154-427: A fictional power in the manga JoJolion See also [ edit ] Born This Way Ball , a tour by Lady Gaga in support of her second studio album, Born This Way Born This Way Foundation , a non-profit organization founded in 2011 by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta "I Was Born This Way", a 1946 song by Stubby Kaye " I Was Born This Way ", a 1975 song by Valentino Born That Way ,
3320-482: A gay black religious activist who preached, sung and wrote about being Born This Way." The album contains mainly moderate-tempo dance songs, described by MTV 's James Dinh as "anthemic style melodies with really sledge-hammering dance beats." In the months prior to the release of Born This Way , Gaga characterized her new music as "something so much deeper than a wig or lipstick or a fucking meat dress " and upon hearing it, Akon remarked that she would take music to
3486-582: A guest appearance at the Motörhead 25th Anniversary show at Brixton Academy along with Eddie Clarke (former Motörhead guitarist) for the encore song " Overkill ". As part of the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II celebrations on 3 June 2002, May performed a guitar solo of " God Save the Queen " from the roof of Buckingham Palace , with the performance appearing on the 30th Anniversary DVD edition of A Night at
SECTION 20
#17328768635673652-617: A joint concert with Elton John for the Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation. Queen also performed with Lambert on 3 July 2012 at Moscow's Olympic Stadium , and on 7 July 2012 at the Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw, Poland. In January 2012, May featured on N-Dubz frontman Dappy 's solo single " Rockstar ", providing "rumbling guitar riffs which culminate in an electrifying solo". The pair also collaborated on
3818-480: A live performance of the album's lead single at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. On April 28, Gaga performed "Judas" for the first time on Ellen . "Born This Way" and "You and I" was also sung on Oprah on May 6. After her Grammy performance, in February 2011, Gaga added "Born This Way" to the setlist of The Monster Ball Tour, where she performed it as a second encore , in a very similar outfit and choreography as on
3984-419: A message of feminism, accompanied by a heavy synths, techno beats, as well as Euro disco influences. Dan Martin from NME stated that the song's melody has drawn comparisons to Madonna and electroclash artist Miss Kittin . After "Scheiße" is "Bloody Mary", which is a relatively slow-tempo and dark electropop song containing "plucked strings" and "filthy beats", as well as numerous religious references,
4150-573: A mixed review, Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune felt it was rushed and sounded like "a major artist sprinting to please everyone all the time." Evan Sawdey of PopMatters called it "her weakest album to date" and wrote that it combines "some daring songwriting with some remarkably repetitive themes and beats." Writing for The Washington Post , Chris Richards found the album "boring" and said that, "at its worst, it sounds like reheated leftovers from some '80s movie soundtrack." Randall Roberts of
4316-493: A modernized version of the Biblical story about Judas (portrayed by Norman Reedus ) betraying Jesus, in which ends with Gaga as Mary Magdalene getting stoned to death. The video was generally praised by critics, and received two nominations at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards . The release of the album was preceded by two promotional singles – "The Edge of Glory" on May 9, and "Hair" on May 16, 2011. "The Edge of Glory" became
4482-402: A new era of queer music and performance." She argued that the album is "a pop record, but also a manifestation [...] of queer self-discovery," where Gaga explores her life events "through queer lens", opting for a "transcendent rather than static version of the truth". She also marked the album's "musical transgressions" —pop, opera, heavy metal, disco, house, and rock and roll— as "attractive to
4648-414: A number-one debuting album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Digitally, the album had a 94% drop, selling 38,000 copies. In its third week the album fell to number two being displaced by Adele 's 21 (2011) with 42% sales decrease after having sold 100,000 copies. Born This Way became the third-best-selling album of the year in the United States, with sales of 2,101,000 copies. It
4814-487: A parking lot. "Stuck on Fuckin' You", an outtake from the album, was released as a free YouTube stream on Christmas Day 2011 and thereafter as a free download. In 2022, "Bloody Mary" went viral after being used in videos on TikTok , depicting Wednesday Addams ' dance from the Netflix comedy horror series Wednesday and its fan recreations. This resulted in a large increase in plays on Spotify . In December 2022, it
4980-514: A performance of "We Will Rock You" for BBC Radio 1 's Live Lounge . Queen performed at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on 12 August 2012. May performed part of the " Brighton Rock " solo before being joined by Taylor and solo artist Jessie J for a performance of "We Will Rock You". On 16 September 2012, May appeared at the Sunflower Jam charity concert at
5146-470: A price of 99 cents (at a loss of over $ 3 million) which contributed to its 662,000 digital sales, the largest in Nielsen SoundScan history. Digital downloads accounted for 60 percent of Born This Way ' s first week total. The album had been cited as the reason Billboard instituted a policy of only including sales priced over $ 3.49 during an album's first four weeks. The album also became
Born This Way - Misplaced Pages Continue
5312-551: A queer audience," further explaining that "this kind of pop music is an artistic expression of certain aspects of queerness, a kind of expression that says, 'We can go beyond these tired boundaries we were taught are right'." James Rettig from Stereogum said that Gaga "wanted [her legacy] to be one of acceptance, specifically for the LGBT Q community" and described the album as "a beacon of hope for so many". R.S. from Vulture opined that "with Born This Way , Gaga chose to recast pop as
5478-400: A safe space for vulnerable, misfit, queer kids to find their individuality and reinvent the world in their image." In an interview with Billboard , Gaga said "I want to write my this-is-who-the-fuck-I-am anthem, but I don't want it to be hidden in poetic wizardry and metaphors," in regards to the literal, straightforward style of the album's lyricism. "I want it to be an attack, an assault on
5644-408: A saxophone solo by Clemons which has drawn comparisons to blues music . One of the bonus tracks is "Black Jesus + Amen Fashion", a pop song which draws influences from 1980s and 1990s electronic and club music , including Broadway. "Fashion of His Love" is a 1980s-influenced dance-pop song that contains references to the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen . The last bonus track is "The Queen",
5810-463: A single on the album "Born This Way", a 2014 single by Thousand Foot Krutch from Oxygen: Inhale "Born This Way", a song by Dusty Springfield from Reputation "Born This Way", a song from the 1993 musical Whoop-Dee-Doo! Television [ edit ] Born This Way (TV series) , 2015 "Born This Way" ( Glee ) , an episode of Glee "Born This Way", an episode of Being Erica Other [ edit ] Born This Way,
5976-423: A songwriter slide ever so slightly," AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine complimented Gaga's composing "sensibility" and "considerable dexterity at delivering the basics." In MSN Music , Robert Christgau viewed the album to not be on-par with The Fame (2008) or The Fame Monster (2009), but added that "both of those keep growing, and with its mad momentum and nutty thematics, this one could too." In
6142-472: A strong dance-pop number. It charted in fifteen different countries including the United States, where it peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100. The accompanying music video received critical acclaim as well, being noted by some critics as a "pure spectacle" and as one of Gaga's "biggest epics". It features scenes in a clinic, a dance studio, Gaga's own New York apartment and on a car's rooftop at
6308-439: A success in digital stores, prompting Gaga to make it the third single from Born This Way on May 11, 2011. It was praised by many critics, who deemed it as an album highlight. The song's points of positive reception include the saxophone solo provided by Clemons, the underlying message and Gaga's "throaty" and "soulful" vocals. It charted in the top ten of nineteen countries and became Gaga's tenth consecutive top-ten single in
6474-469: A synth-rock song that talks about self-confidence and bravery. On September 12, 2010, Gaga made an appearance at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards . During the acceptance speech for her Video of the Year award, she announced the title of the album and sang the chorus of its title track. Described by the singer as "a Christmas gift for my fans", Gaga announced the release dates of the album and its lead single at
6640-616: A time when discussions about gay teen suicide were reaching all-time highs." Writing a retrospective of events after the album's release after five years, Jake Hall form Dazed called Born This Way a "misunderstood masterpiece", complimenting its "deliberately literal lyrics" in songs such as "Heavy Metal Lover", "Hair" and "Scheiße". Noticing that it "represents the point in Gaga's career when she deliberately stopped studying her own fame and tried to use it to further her own message", he claimed Born This Way as her "most ambitious musical project to date." Marni Zipper from Audacy stated that
6806-576: A trance-influenced melody, and lyrics infused in French and Spanish. "Bad Kids" contains 1980s synthpop influences and electric guitars. Martin also compared its disco beat to the music of Donna Summer , and noticed that influences of heavy metal music have been found within its composition. "Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)" is Born This Way ' s tenth track. A dance-pop song, it has been noted to have Springsteen influences by Rolling Stone ' s Rosen, as well as powerful drums and synths. The next
Born This Way - Misplaced Pages Continue
6972-595: A virtuoso guitarist by many publications and musicians. He has featured in various music polls of the greatest rock guitarists, and in 2011 was ranked number 26 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the " 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time ". In January 2007, the readers of Guitar World voted May's guitar solos on " Bohemian Rhapsody " and " Brighton Rock " into the "top 50 Greatest Guitar Solos of all time" (No.20 and No.41 respectively). Former Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar stated, "I thought Queen were really innovative and made some great sounding records... I like
7138-411: A week in aid of charity. In 2015, May played guitar on the end credits song "One Voice" from the film A Dog Named Gucci . The song also features the talents of: Norah Jones , Aimee Mann , Susanna Hoffs , Lydia Loveless , Neko Case , and Kathryn Calder . It was produced by Dean Falcone, who wrote the film's score. "One Voice" was released on Record Store Day , 16 April 2016, with profits from
7304-416: Is "Heavy Metal Lover", a song of electropop and techno tendencies, which has been noted to contain elements of house music, electro-industrial beats, and has been compared to the power pop of the 1990s. Synthesizers are used as a focal point for the song. Following "Heavy Metal Lover" is " Electric Chapel ", a heavy metal-influenced pop song noted to contain elements of Europop that has been compared to
7470-473: Is also the fifth best-selling digital album of all time in the United States, with 877,000 copies sold, as of January 2012. The album received quadruple platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold 2.43 million copies in total in the US as of March 2019. Following Gaga's Super Bowl LI halftime show performance, Born This Way re-entered
7636-542: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Born This Way (album) Born This Way is the second studio album by American singer Lady Gaga , released by Interscope Records on May 23, 2011. It was co-written and co-produced by Gaga with other producers, including Fernando Garibay and RedOne , who had previously worked with her. She also worked with artists such as E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons and Queen guitarist Brian May . Gaga and Garibay are
7802-898: Is the only child of Ruth Irving ( née Fletcher) and Harold May, who worked as a draughtsman at the Ministry of Aviation . His mother, who was Scottish , married his father, who was English , at Moulin in Perthshire, Scotland in 1946. May attended the local Hanworth Road state primary school, and at the age of 11 won a scholarship to Hampton Grammar School , then a voluntary aided school. During this time, he formed his first band, named 1984 after George Orwell 's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four , with vocalist and bassist Tim Staffell . At Hampton Grammar School, May attained ten GCE Ordinary Levels and three GCE Advanced Levels in physics, mathematics, and applied mathematics. He studied mathematics and physics at Imperial College London , graduating with
7968-621: The 2011 MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto on June 19 and the 2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan on June 25. Afterwards, Gaga performed on Japanese shows SMAP×SMAP and Music Lovers , before playing concerts in Taichung (July 3), Singapore (July 7), and at the Sydney Town Hall in Sydney (July 13). In the latter, she also performed on TV show A Current Affair on July 11. Gaga came back to
8134-613: The Another World album. The Conway character was retired at the end of the tour. In May 1999, May recorded lead guitars for the Guns N' Roses song "Catcher in the Rye" on Chinese Democracy , but his performance was removed from the album by the time it was released in 2008. From his last solo release in 1998, May has been performing as a solo artist, as part of an ensemble, and infrequently as Queen with Roger Taylor. On 22 October 2000, he made
8300-541: The Billboard 200 at number 25, selling 17,000 total album-equivalent units. In September 2021, due to the release of the CD and cassette editions of the album's special tenth anniversary reissue, it re-entered the Billboard 200 and Top Album Sales charts at numbers 162 and 10, respectively, selling 5,000 copies—all versions of Born This Way were combined and nearly all of the sum was provided by CD sales. The album debuted at
8466-459: The Born This Way Ball (2012–2013). In November 2011, Born This Way , and its remix album , Born This Way: The Remix , were packaged as a compilation album titled Born This Way: The Collection . On June 25, 2021, Gaga released Born This Way The Tenth Anniversary , a special anniversary version of the album featuring six renditions of Gaga's songs by artists who are members or allies of
SECTION 50
#17328768635678632-691: The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), selling a total of 1.05 million copies in the UK. The album debuted at number one in Ireland , and Sweden , while debuting at number two in Finland where it was the fifth-best-selling album of 2011. In France, Born This Way debuted at number one on the French Albums Chart and held that spot for two weeks. As of June 2023, the album has sold 237,000 copies and has been certified double-platinum by
8798-932: The Clinton Foundation concert at the Hollywood Bowl , and on the F1 Rocks after party in India , where "Marry the Night" was sung for the first time. Gaga's next performances were at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards held in Belfast , British TV shows The X Factor and Alan Carr: Chatty Man , Children in Need Rocks Manchester telethon in Manchester , and the 2012 Grammy Awards nomination concert in Los Angeles. Songs from
8964-581: The Hot Digital Songs chart with the sale of 162,000 copies while peaking at number ten in the United States, reaching the top ten of twenty countries and peaked at number one on the South Korean charts. The music video for "Judas" was co-directed by Gaga and choreographer Laurieann Gibson , and premiered on May 5, 2011. It includes a motorcycle gang representing the Twelve Apostles , and tells
9130-641: The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Born This Way was the third global best-selling album of 2011. As of 2021, it had more than 5.8 billion global streams, 5.2 million physical copies sold, and 31 million digital tracks sold. Gaga performed songs from the album on different occasions, such as the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards and the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards , as well as on worldwide television and in other events, including her third headlining concert tour,
9296-586: The LGBT community. Lady Gaga released her first studio album, The Fame , in August 2008. It received generally favorable reviews from critics and topped the charts in several countries. After its worldwide success, a reissue of the album, titled The Fame Monster , was released in November 2009, which was also met with positive reviews. Gaga described them as yin and yang because of their contrasting styles and concepts. In March 2010, Gaga disclosed that she
9462-483: The Los Angeles Times opined that Gaga lacks musical adventurousness and that "She's unsubtle in her message, unsubtle in her dress, and, most important, unsubtle aesthetically ... If Gaga had only spent as much time on pushing musical boundaries as she has social ones, Born This Way would have been a lot more successful." Andy Gill of The Independent critiqued that "the broader [Gaga] spreads her net musically,
9628-669: The Rock in Rio Festival since 1985. In 2016, the group embarked across Europe and Asia on the Queen + Adam Lambert 2016 Summer Festival Tour. This included closing the Isle of Wight Festival in England on 12 June where they performed "Who Wants to Live Forever" as a tribute to the victims of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida earlier that day. On 12 September they performed at
9794-682: The Starmus Festival on Tenerife in June 2011, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin 's first spaceflight. May performed "We Will Rock You" and " Welcome to the Black Parade " with the rock band My Chemical Romance at the Reading Festival on 26 August 2011. On 10 October, May made an appearance to celebrate the reunion of rock band The Darkness at an "intimate" 100 Club show with support from Dark Stares . A long-time fan of
9960-546: The Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP). According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Born This Way was the third global best-selling album of 2011. As of 2021, Born This Way had more than 5.8 billion global streams, 5.2 million physical copies sold, and 31 million digital tracks sold. Born This Way was included in several year-end lists by music critics and publications. Rolling Stone , in their list of
10126-482: The UK Albums Chart dated May 29, 2011, selling 215,639 units, which was the highest first-week sales of the year. That week, the album outsold the rest of the top 10 combined and had the best first-week tally of any album by an American female solo artist since Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor debuted with sales of 217,610 copies in 2005. As of May 2021, Born This Way had been certified triple platinum by
SECTION 60
#173287686356710292-643: The Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv, Israel for the first time in front of 58,000 people. In September 2018 the group had a residency in the MGM Park Theater in Las Vegas. Though the collaboration remains active, there are currently no plans to record a studio album, though the three are willing to do so in the future. On 31 March 2020, Queen + Adam Lambert confirmed that their touring dates were postponed until 2021 because of
10458-409: The social network game FarmVille during the next few days prior to the album's release, including "Marry the Night", "Americano", and "Electric Chapel". On April 17, 2011, Gaga tweeted her selection for the cover art of Born This Way , which featured the singer fused into a motorcycle. Gaga's name does not appear on the album cover – the only text is the chrome writing across the top reading
10624-466: The "biggest pop album" of 2011, Spin listed Born This Way as the 29th best album of the year, as well as the best pop album of the year. Digital Spy included Born This Way in their 25 Best Albums of 2011 list, at fifth place, while the Daily Record ranked it at seventeenth out of twenty, commenting on Gaga having gone "full-scale European underground electro disco". Aside from critic polls,
10790-441: The "next level." The album includes references to several religious figures of Christianity, notably Judas Iscariot , Mary Magdalene , and Jesus of Nazareth . Several songs on the album give reference to sexuality and feminism. Other themes referenced in the album include individualism , equality , and freedom . It's like Whitney, but imagine if Bruce Springsteen had a baby with Whitney Houston – that's what it is. And that
10956-432: The 1,000th song to reach the number one spot since the inauguration of the chart in 1958. The accompanying music video, directed by Nick Knight, was released on February 28, 2011. In it, Gaga appears with shoulder and facial protrusions and talks about giving birth to an extraterrestrial race that "bears no prejudice, no judgment, but boundless freedom." It was met with generally positive reception among music critics, and
11122-424: The 50 Best Albums of 2011, ranked it at sixth place, writing "none of Gaga's previous exercises in musical plussizing prepared us for this kind of anything-goes extravagance". The Guardian , in their list of the best albums of 2011, listed Born This Way at 31st. Slant Magazine ranked the album as the third best of 2011 in their list of The 25 Best Albums of 2011, calling it a " magnum opus ", and describing it as
11288-622: The Arizona immigration law Arizona SB 1070 . Critics have noted vaudevillian elements within the song, and it has been compared to the work of Judy Garland by Billboard , with Gaga claiming that she sees influence from French chanson singer Édith Piaf . " Hair " is a song about expressing freedom through one's hair. The song has a dance-pop melody, yet it has influences from rock/heavy metal music artists like Springsteen, Iron Maiden and Kiss. It has also been noted to incorporate disco and Europop. " Scheiße ", contains faux-German lyrics and has
11454-620: The Champions" live on the season finale of American Idol with winner Kris Allen and runner-up Adam Lambert providing a vocal duet. In November 2009, May appeared with Taylor on The X Factor , with Queen mentoring the contestants, then later performed "Bohemian Rhapsody". In April 2010, May founded the "Save Me" 2010 project to work against any proposed repeal of the British fox-hunting ban, and to promote animal welfare in Britain. In February 2011, it
11620-539: The Champions". The collaboration garnered a positive response from both fans and critics, resulting in speculation about future projects together. Queen + Adam Lambert played two shows at the Hammersmith Apollo, London, on 11 and 12 July 2012. Both shows sold out within 24 hours of tickets going on open sale. A third London date was added for 14 July. On 30 June, Queen + Lambert performed in Kyiv , Ukraine at
11786-579: The Good Die Young) " and " Save Me ". After the Live Aid concert in 1985, Mercury rang his band members and proposed writing a song together. The result was " One Vision ", which was basically May on music (the Magic Years documentary shows how he came up with the opening section and the basic guitar riff); the lyrics were co-written by the four band members. For their 1989 release album, The Miracle ,
11952-670: The Opera . May played guitar on the song "Someone to Die For" on the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack in 2004. On the Queen's birthday honours list of 2005, he was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire "for services to the music industry and for charity work". In the same year he played the guitar on the song Il mare... for Italian singer Zucchero Fornaciari , on his album Zu & Co. , and he took part in
12118-519: The Royal Albert Hall, performing alongside bassist John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin ), drummer Ian Paice (of Deep Purple ), and vocalists Bruce Dickinson (of Iron Maiden ) and Alice Cooper . In a 2013 West End run of Spamalot (the musical adaptation of Monty Python 's 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail ), May was among the celebrities who played the part of voicing God for
12284-500: The Sidewalk ", " Leaving Home Ain't Easy " and " Sail Away Sweet Sister " . May frequently wrote songs for the band and has composed many hits such as " We Will Rock You ", " Tie Your Mother Down ", "I Want It All", " Fat Bottomed Girls ", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and " The Show Must Go On " as well as " Hammer to Fall ", "Flash", " Now I'm Here ", " Brighton Rock ", " The Prophet's Song ", " Las Palabras de Amor ", " No-One but You (Only
12450-699: The US Billboard 200 after having sold 1,108,000 copies during the first week, making it the seventeenth album to sell over a million copies in one week . Born This Way was Gaga's first number-one album and the highest first-week total since 50 Cent 's The Massacre (2005) sold 1,141,000 in its first week. Gaga was the fifth woman to sell one million copies in a week, after Whitney Houston ( The Bodyguard Soundtrack , 1992), Britney Spears ( Oops!...I Did It Again , 2000), Norah Jones ( Feels Like Home , 2004), and Taylor Swift ( Speak Now , 2010). Amazon sold an estimated 440,000 copies in its first two days at
12616-465: 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. It has since been certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Four of the album's singles— the title track , " Judas ", " The Edge of Glory ", and " You and I "—charted in
12782-519: The US, supporting Guns N' Roses and headlining a few dates. The tour included dates in North America, Europe (support act: Valentine) and Japan. On 15 June 1993, the band did a show in London that would end up as The Brian May Band 's only release as a collective, namely Live at the Brixton Academy . At the show, May would sing a few lines of "Love of My Life" , and then, as Mercury used to, let
12948-585: The United States and performed on The Howard Stern Show (July 18), as well as So You Think You Can Dance (July 27), Jimmy Kimmel Live! (July 28), and The View (August 1). On August 28, she sang "You and I" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards where she was joined onstage by May, while on September 24, she headlined the 2011 iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Another performance came in October on British TV show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross , during
13114-452: The United States, debuting at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. A music video for the song premiered on June 16, 2011, co-directed by the singer and her production team, Haus of Gaga. It portrays Gaga dancing on a fire-escape and walking on a lonely street, with scenes featuring Clemons. This was his final appearance before he died. Critics highlighted the video for its simplicity in contrast to much of Gaga's past work. "You and I",
13280-644: The United States; Gang Studios in Paris, France; Studios 301 and Paradise in Sydney, Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne, all in Australia; Officine Meccaniche in Milan, Italy; and Livingroom Studios in Oslo , Norway . All mastering happened at Oasis Mastering in Burbank. Brian May , a guitarist of Queen , and Clarence Clemons , a former member of the E Street Band , worked with Gaga on
13446-464: The aftermath of the November 1991 death of Mercury , May chose to deal with his grief by committing himself as fully as possible to work, first by finishing his solo album, Back to the Light , and then touring worldwide to promote it. He frequently remarked in press interviews that this was the only form of self-prescribed therapy he could think of. According to Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott , "It
13612-533: The agency's first successful collection and earth delivery of samples directly from an asteroid (the asteroid Bennu ). May is also an animal welfare activist, campaigning against fox hunting and the culling of badgers in the UK . May was knighted by King Charles III in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to music and charity. Brian Harold May was born in 19 July 1947 at Gloucester House Nursing Home in Hampton Hill , near Twickenham , Middlesex . He
13778-540: The album "cemented the singer as a cultural, musical and fashion icon," while also claiming that its campaign, specifically the music video for "Judas", "[distorted] how Popstars ultimately used fashion to express 'eras' in music." Born This Way has also been noted for bringing electronic dance music into the mainstream. In May 2021, the City of West Hollywood declared May 23 as the Born This Way Day in recognition of
13944-539: The album by Deacon and May began originally in 1992 but was left until a later date due to other commitments. In 1995, May began working on a new solo album of covers tentatively titled Heroes , in addition to working on various film and television projects and other collaborations. May subsequently changed the approach from covers to focus on those collaborations and new material. The songs included Another World , and featured mainly Spike Edney , Cozy Powell, Neil Murray and Jamie Moses. On 5 April 1998, Cozy Powell
14110-412: The album received Grammy Award nominations for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, including Album of the Year , Best Pop Album and Best Pop Solo Performance ("You and I"). Being her third consecutive Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, Gaga is the first artist since British rock band The Beatles to receive three consecutive nominations in the category. Additionally, the album was nominated in
14276-637: The album to be in bad taste and mocking of Christianity. Abdo Abu Kassm, director of the Catholic Information Center of Lebanon, highly criticized the themes of the album, expressing that "if they are going to offend us we are going to cancel the album." He continued, "We will not accept that anyone insult the Virgin Mary or Jesus or Christianity [...]. Call us traditional, call us backward, call us whatever you want. We will not accept it." This ban lasted up until June 9. The music video of "Judas"
14442-405: The album was coming to a close. In an interview with Vogue in February 2011, she confirmed that there would be a total of seventeen tracks on the album, of which fourteen would make the final cut to the standard edition. The other three songs were initially to be released on an exclusive deluxe edition of the album at Target ; however, Gaga later ended her partnership with Target in response to
14608-455: The album was revised "about 50 times", as Gaga wanted to try different genres and sounds. Born This Way opens with " Marry the Night ", a song written as a homage to New York City. It is a dance-pop record which contains church bells , a thumping four on the floor house beat, a funk rock -influenced breakdown, and has been noted to contain elements of disco, techno , funk and Hi-NRG music. Jody Rosen from Rolling Stone compared
14774-496: The album was well received by music critics, who praised the varying musical styles and Gaga's vocals. Several music publications included the album in their year-end best-of lists. Born This Way received three Grammy Award nominations, including Gaga's third consecutive nomination for Album of the Year . In 2020, Rolling Stone included it in their updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time . Born This Way debuted atop in various major music chart worldwide, including
14940-599: The album were also performed on a Thanksgiving television special A Very Gaga Thanksgiving , aired on November 24. Gaga also headlined KIIS-FM Jingle Ball at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on December 3, as well as Z100's Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden in New York City on December 9. She also sang on Ellen once again and the Japanese show Music Station . The promotions for Born This Way continued with
15106-534: The album's musical directors . The music of Born This Way stems from the synth-pop and dance-pop styles of her previous material while incorporating different forms of instrumentation from that on her previous releases, such as electronic rock and techno . It features a broader range of genres, such as heavy metal , disco , house , and rock and roll , while its lyrical topics include sexuality, religion, freedom, feminism, and individualism. Despite divided opinions among religious and conservative commentators,
15272-479: The album's cultural impact. A street painting of the album's title and Daniel Quasar 's re-designed version of the gay flag (which includes trans and queer people of color) has been made on Robertson Boulevard , while the key of the city was awarded to Gaga. Mayor Lindsey P. Horvath said Gaga "has become a cultural icon for our generation [...] through her music and activism," and also thanked her for "encouraging us to love ourselves and be proud." Gaga attended
15438-405: The album's fourth single, was also met with positive critical reaction that complimented the musical composition of the song. The song became Gaga's eleventh consecutive top ten single in the United States, peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The single has received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance . The accompanying music video was also positively received. It
15604-405: The album's name. She explained, "The cover with me half-female, half-motorcycle is meant to be or symbolic of the fact that I'm endlessly always changing in so transformative, many ways." It was shot and had the artistic direction by photographer Nick Night . The cover received a negative response from critics and fans. Sean Michaels of The Guardian expressed that the cover "[looked] more like
15770-442: The album. In terms of musical composition, Born This Way is considered to be a notable departure from Gaga's previous works. It incorporates a broader range of musical genres such as opera , heavy metal , rock and roll , Europop , electro-industrial , disco , and house in addition to featuring a wider variety of instrumentation and musical styles. For example, an organ can be heard as Gaga closes "Born This Way",
15936-541: The audience join in. After the tour ended on 18 December 1993, May returned to the studio with fellow surviving Queen band members Roger Taylor and John Deacon to work on tracks that became Made in Heaven , the final Queen studio album. The band took Mercury's solo album demos and last recordings, which he managed to perform in the studio after the album Innuendo was finished, and completed them with their additions both musically and vocally. After Mercury's death, work on
16102-644: The awards show. In May, she finished The Monster Ball Tour with concerts in Mexico , where she premiered "Americano" by performing the song on the piano, and closed it with a performance of "Judas". After finishing the tour, Gaga performed on the Robin Hood Gala 2011 in New York on May 9. In Europe, she sang "Judas" at the French show Le Grand Journal (May 12), "Born This Way" and "Judas" on The Graham Norton Show (May 13), and "Born This Way" and "You and I" during
16268-463: The band Smile in 1968. The group included Tim Staffell as the lead singer and bassist, and later, drummer Roger Taylor , who also went on to play for Queen. The band lasted for only two years, from 1968 to 1970, as Staffell departed in 1970, leaving the band with a catalogue of nine songs. Smile would reunite for several songs on 22 December 1992. Taylor's band The Cross were headliners, and he brought May and Staffell on to play "Earth" and " If I Were
16434-429: The band had decided that all of the tracks would be credited to the entire band, no matter who had been the main writer. Interviews and musical analyses tend to help identify the input of each member on each track. May composed "I Want It All" for that album, as well as " Scandal " (based on his problems with the British press). For the rest of the album, he did not contribute much creatively. However, he helped in building
16600-425: The basis of "Party" and "Was It All Worth It" (both being predominantly Mercury's pieces) and created the "Chinese Torture" guitar riff. Queen's subsequent album was Innuendo . May's contributions increased, although more in terms of arranging than actual writing in most cases. He did some of the arrangement for the heavy solo on the title track . He added vocal harmonies to " I'm Going Slightly Mad " and composed
16766-402: The beat of the song. I can listen to any player and pantomime their sound, but I can't do Brian May. He's just walking on higher ground. — Steve Vai His tone immediately grabbed me. Brian has his own style and sound, so you can always tell his work. Even in 1971 he had incredible finesse, amazing fluidity. — Andy Powell , Wishbone Ash May has been referred to as
16932-472: The category of Favorite Pop/Rock Album at the American Music Awards of 2011 , losing to Adele's 21 . However, Born This Way beat out 21 at the 38th People's Choice Awards , taking home Favorite Album. At the 2012 Japan Gold Disc Awards , Born This Way won Western Album of the Year and Best 3 Western Albums. In 2012, Rolling Stone called Born This Way the 11th greatest album of all time by
17098-606: The ceremony wearing a Born This Way t-shirt from her own collection and thanked the LGBT community for "[being] the motherfucking key to my heart for a long time [...] I'll honor this and I'll cherish this, and I promise that I'll always be here for this day to celebrate with you." In September 2021, during a marketing campaign, Spotify sponsored nine highways across the United States and named them after iconic songs with billboards, in which they included "Highway Unicorn (Road To Love)" in New York City. On December 13, 2022, after Joe Biden ,
17264-739: The classic song originally co-written by Shepherd. At the end of the month he also performed songs including " All the Young Dudes " with Def Leppard's Joe Elliott at a Mott the Hoople show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire . In 2024, May contributed guitar to a re-release of Mark Knopfler 's " Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero " in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust . Not long after performing with American Idol finalists Kris Allen and Adam Lambert during
17430-601: The company's donation of US$ 150,000 to the conservative political group Minnesota Forward . Prior to the release of Born This Way , the contents of the album were leaked online on May 18, 2011, due to an exclusively stream session for subscribers of the British newspaper Metro . Several non-singles songs were previewed as part of promoting Born This Way . Remixes of "Scheiße" and "Government Hooker" were previewed at fashion shows presented by Thierry Mugler in January and March 2011, respectively. Several songs were released on
17596-737: The concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London held in May 2004, with the other guests of the Italian bluesman. May was a celebrity guest at the Genesis reunion concert at Twickenham Stadium in 2007. May and Genesis frontman Phil Collins worked together on two previous occasions, at The Prince's Trust Rock Gala in 1988 and the Party at the Palace in 2002, when Collins had played drums with Queen. In 2011 he contributed to
17762-566: The creation of the MTV Video Music Award for Best Video with a Message in 2011, of which "Born This Way" was its first winner. Christopher Rosa from Glamour compared the title track to gay anthems such as Christina Aguilera 's " Beautiful " and Katy Perry 's " Firework ", arguing that "they weren't lyrically explicit" and that anyone could relate to them regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, unlike "Born This Way", "a song specifically for LGBTQ people [...] that came at
17928-416: The early promotional tour, Eric Singer replaced him on the 1998 world tour. The 1998 tour saw the brief introduction of a 'support act' known as T. E. Conway. Conway (Brian May in a wig and colourful suit playing the part of a teddy boy crooner) would play several 1950s rock and roll standards before May's 'arrival'. A bonus T. E. Conway EP titled Retro Rock Special was attached to some pressings of
18094-477: The eighth best-selling digital album in United States history after its first week of sales. Born This Way also reached number one on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart, displacing The Fame (2008). In its second week, the album sold 174,000 copies to remain at the top spot on the Billboard 200, but with a sales decrease of 84.27%, set the record for the largest second-week percentage sales drop for
18260-510: The first time in 18 years as "Queen", along with Free / Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers . Billed as " Queen + Paul Rodgers ", the band played throughout 2005 and 2006 in South Africa, Europe, Aruba, Japan, and North America and released a new album with Rodgers in 2008, titled The Cosmos Rocks . This album was supported by a major tour. Paul Rodgers left the band in May 2009. It was not until 2011 that another vocalist, Adam Lambert ,
18426-594: The global COVID-19 pandemic. On 4 June 2022, Queen + Adam Lambert opened the Platinum Party at the Palace outside Buckingham Palace to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II . Performing a three-song set, May appeared in front of the Victoria Memorial monument as they opened with "We Will Rock You" which had been introduced in a comedy segment where the Queen and Paddington Bear tapped their tea cups to
18592-563: The group, May performed three songs onstage with The Darkness, including Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down", at the Hammersmith Apollo on their subsequent "comeback" tour. At the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards on 6 November, Queen received the Global Icon Award , which Katy Perry presented to Brian May. Queen closed the awards ceremony, with Adam Lambert on vocals, performing "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are
18758-434: The issue, because I think, especially in today's music, everything gets kind of washy sometimes and the message gets hidden in the lyrical play." Spencer Kornhaber from The Atlantic agreed with Gaga's claims and argued that "queerness became more visible than ever". He described " Barack Obama 's first years in office" as a "renewed period of forthright political engagement," while linking the release of Born This Way with
18924-472: The less distinctive her art becomes." The Boston Globe said that the songwriting "feels thin" and called the album "the most deflated moment in pop music this year". The Village Voice ' s Rich Juzwiak commented that Gaga's "we-shall-overcome sentiment" is expressed more effectively through the album's "egalitarian use of house beats" than through her "sloganeering", which he found "trite" and "[un]insightful." Born This Way debuted at number one on
19090-454: The light," according to Gaga. It is a dance-pop and house track, with influences of techno, industrial and disco, a 1980s-inspired pop chorus, as well as a breakdown containing elements of dubstep and techno music. The album's fifth track is " Americano ", a mariachi song with techno, house and disco influences. Written in Spanish and English, Gaga composed "Americano" in response to
19256-404: The line-up in 1971. They became one of the biggest rock bands in the world with the success of the album A Night at the Opera and its single " Bohemian Rhapsody ". From the mid-1970s until 1986, Queen played at some of the biggest venues in the world, including an acclaimed performance at Live Aid in 1985. As a member of Queen, May became regarded as a virtuoso musician and was identified with
19422-668: The midst of The Monster Ball Tour (2009–2011). Besides sessions on tour buses, recording sessions and mixing for the album took place at a variety of studios: Abbey Road Studios in London, England; Germano Studios in New York City, The Mix Room in Burbank, California, Studio at the Palms in Las Vegas, Henson Studios in Los Angeles, Larrabee in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, Setai Recording in Miami Beach, Warehouse Productions in Omaha, all in
19588-424: The more honest she sounds." Caryn Ganz of Spin felt that "excess is Gaga's riskiest musical gamble, but it's also her greatest weapon, and Born This Way relentlessly bludgeons listeners' pleasure centres". Adam Markovitz of Entertainment Weekly said it is "rewarding but wildly uneven", although "the album's sprawl still shows off the breadth of her talent." Despite criticizing her for "letting her skills as
19754-508: The musical We Will Rock You . He produced and arranged her debut studio album Anthems (2010), a follow-up to her extended play Wicked in Rock (2008), as well as appearing with Ellis at many public performances—playing guitar alongside her. He also contributed a guitar solo to Meat Loaf 's Hang Cool, Teddy Bear album in exchange for the use of drummer John Miceli . On 20 May 2009, May and Queen bandmate Roger Taylor performed "We Are
19920-457: The new song composition. On 29 March 2019, May inducted Def Leppard into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . He worked with contemporary metal band Five Finger Death Punch and blues artist Kenny Wayne Shepherd to re-record a new version of " Blue on Black " in support of The Gary Sinise Foundation in April 2019. The artists came together to merge country and mainstream rock to re-create
20086-631: The performance of "Heavy Metal Lover", "Marry the Night" and the title track on the Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in Times Square . In April 2012, Gaga embarked on the Born This Way Ball, her worldwide tour promoting the album, which had 98 dates overall. She visited parts of the world she had not been on tour before, including Southeast Asia, Latin America, and South Africa. The singer described
20252-399: The possibility of working together again. On 18 April 2011, Lady Gaga confirmed that May would play guitar on her track " You and I " from her latest album Born This Way , released on 23 May 2011. May joined Gaga on stage during the performance of "You and I" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. May performed with Tangerine Dream at
20418-581: The president of the United States, signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law at the White House , "Born This Way" started playing immediately as planned. Several religious groups have condemned the album for its incorporation of several religious icons of Christianity and its stance on sexuality. In Lebanon , Born This Way was temporarily banned by the General Secretary Department, who deemed
20584-446: The private concert at Annabel's for Belvedere Vodka (May 12). On May 15, she headlined BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend festival, where she sang "The Edge of Glory" for the first time. After returning to the United States, Gaga sang the first three singles from Born This Way on the season 36 finale of Saturday Night Live (May 21) and "The Edge of Glory" on the final show of the tenth season of American Idol (May 25), where she
20750-447: The programme's season finale in 2009, May and Taylor began contemplating the future of Queen after the group's amicable split with frontman Paul Rodgers. At the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards, Queen was presented with that year's Global Icon Award, accepted by May. As part of the broadcast, Queen performed a short set with Lambert, receiving an overwhelmingly welcoming response. Speculation regarding collaboration with Lambert soon arose, with
20916-492: The release of Made in Heaven (1995) and the 1997 tribute single to Mercury, " No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young) " (written by May), Queen were put on hiatus for several years but were eventually reconvened by May and Taylor for further performances featuring other vocalists. In 2005, a Planet Rock poll saw May voted the seventh-greatest guitarist of all time. He was ranked at No. 33 on Rolling Stone 's 2023 list of 250 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2012, he
21082-424: The rock band Queen , which he co-founded with singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor . His guitar work and songwriting contributions helped Queen become one of the most successful acts in music history. May previously performed with Taylor in the progressive rock band Smile , which he had joined while he was at university. After Mercury joined to form Queen in 1970, bass guitarist John Deacon completed
21248-501: The rockin' stuff. I think Brian May has one of the great guitar tones on the planet, and I really, really love his guitar work." Justin Hawkins , lead guitarist of the Darkness , cites May as his earliest influence, saying "I really loved his tone and vibrato and everything. I thought his playing sounded like a singing voice. I wanted to be able to do that. Whenever I went to guitar lessons, I
21414-421: The sale of the single going to benefit animal charities. Welsh electronic musician Jayce Lewis collaborated with May in 2018 on the song We Are One , taken from Lewis' 2018 album release Million . Incorporating a repurposed Finger tapping/Hammering riff from May's solo track Cyborg from his album; Another World (Brian May album) , both artists re-recorded May's guitar at a slower speed, and included it to
21580-529: The similarities with the Madonna song "Express Yourself". "Born This Way" experienced widespread commercial success, topping the charts in over nineteen countries in addition to selling over a million copies worldwide, becoming the fastest selling song in iTunes history. In her native United States, the song became Gaga's third number one hit, where it spent six weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 . It also became
21746-599: The solo for " These Are the Days of Our Lives ", a song for which the four of them decided the keyboard parts together. Two songs May had composed for his first solo album, " Headlong " and " I Can't Live With You ", eventually ended up on the Queen project. His other composition was "The Show Must Go On", which he coordinated and was the primary composer. In recent years, he has supervised the remastering of Queen albums and various DVD and greatest hits releases. In 2004, he announced that he and drummer Roger Taylor were going on tour for
21912-479: The song "When Death Calls" on Black Sabbath 's 14th album Headless Cross , and the Living in a Box track "Blow The House Down" on the album Gatecrashing . Both albums were released in 1989. After the tragic break-up of any band, it feels impossible to continue but I was really glad that Brian did launch a solo career. He had such a lot of music in him and a great deal more to give. — Joe Satriani In
22078-447: The song's sound to that of 1980s pop and glam metal artists, including Bon Jovi , Pat Benatar and Bonnie Tyler . The title track, "Born This Way", is about how everybody is equal, regardless of skin color, sexuality , or creed, and that every person can fulfill his or her dream. Compared to Madonna's " Express Yourself " by some critics, the song features Euro disco beats. "Government Hooker" contains elements of opera music, and
22244-417: The song, opining, "Islam forbids this. We have to abide by the country's laws." Credits adapted from the liner notes of Born This Way . Musicians Production Brian May Sir Brian Harold May CBE (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysicist. He achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of
22410-507: The stroke of midnight on January 1, 2011, via Twitter, supplementing it with a black-and-white photograph in which MTV detailed that Gaga is "nude from the waist down, with her hair blowing about, and sporting a jacket with the name of the album emblazoned in what looks like bedazzled jewels." At a November 2010 show of The Monster Ball Tour in Gdańsk, Poland , Gaga announced that the album could have up to twenty tracks, adding that production for
22576-472: The three formally announcing a short summer tour of Europe in 2012, including three dates at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, as well as shows in Ukraine, Russia and Poland. The collaboration was revived in 2013, when the three performed together at the iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on 20 September. Five months later, May, Taylor and Lambert announced
22742-671: The top spot in Australia , becoming her second number-one album there after The Fame Monster (2009). Born This Way was certified platinum in Australia in its first week by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and has since been certified triple platinum for a shipment of 210,000 copies. Born This Way also debuted at the top spot on the New Zealand Albums Chart , becoming her second album to chart there, after The Fame Monster . The album
22908-451: The top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, where "Born This Way" stayed atop for six weeks. At the time of its release, the title track was the fastest-selling single in iTunes history. The fifth single, " Marry the Night ", charted within the top 30 in the United States. After going viral on the video sharing service TikTok , " Bloody Mary " was released as the album's sixth single in 2022, eleven years after its release. According to
23074-423: The tour as an "electro-metal pop-opera". The stage was modeled after a medieval Gothic castle, featuring viewing towers, intricate carvings and a large catwalk to interact with the audience. During the tour, all of the songs from the album were performed. The Born This Way Ball was well received by critics who praised the stage design, the costumes, Gaga's vocal abilities, and different expressive messages. It
23240-492: The two-day session was a mini album titled Star Fleet Project , which was not originally going to be released. In 1986, May contributed to former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett 's album Feedback 86 , playing guitar on the track "Cassandra" and providing guitar and vocals for "Slot Machine", which May co-wrote. Although produced in 1986, the album was not released commercially until 2000. Another song co-written by May and Hackett during this period, "Don't Fall Away from Me",
23406-592: The village of Hinton Waldrist in Oxfordshire. Along with Elena Vidal , May released a historical book in 2009 titled A Village Lost and Found: Scenes in Our Village . The book is an annotated collection of stereoscopic photographs taken by the Victorian era photographer T. R. Williams . It included a focusing stereoscope . May used a 3D camera to document the history of Queen. May worked extensively with stage actress and singer Kerry Ellis after he cast her in
23572-480: The vinyl. A mosaic poster was also included. Ultimately, it was released as a limited-edition box out of three hundred, featuring the same products but with black box on the outside and lined with velvet on the inside and the vinyls wrapped in a red plastic. Interscope also released a USB drive version on October 3, 2011, comprising the album's deluxe set, music videos, a photo gallery, and more contents. A follow-up remix album , titled Born This Way: The Remix ,
23738-483: The work of Madonna by some reviewers. " You and I ", is a rock and roll ballad which contains elements of country rock music . The song contains a moderato tempo, and Queen guitarist May is also featured on it. The song, furthermore, samples Queen's 1977 single " We Will Rock You ". The fourteenth track is " The Edge of Glory ", which refers to the death of Gaga's grandfather. It is an upbeat song of dance-pop, electronic rock and synthpop tendencies; it also contains
23904-716: Was May on vocals and lead guitar, Powell on drums and percussion, Michael Casswell on guitar, Neil Murray on bass, and Ryder, Stockley and Thompson on backing vocals. This version of the band was together only during the South American support tour (supporting The B-52's and Joe Cocker ) on five dates. May later made significant changes, feeling the group never quite gelled. May brought guitarist Jamie Moses on board to replace Mike Caswell. The backing vocalists, Ryder, Stockley and Thompson, were replaced by Catherine Porter and Shelley Preston . On 23 February 1993, this new line-up of The Brian May Band began its world tour in
24070-459: Was also a commercial success, grossing $ 183.9 million overall, although, because of a hip injury, Gaga had to cancel the last North American leg of the tour. Born This Way received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics . At Metacritic , which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 71, based on 34 reviews. Dan Martin of NME said that "it's
24236-530: Was announced that May would tour with Kerry Ellis, playing 12 dates across the UK in May 2011. At the end of 2004, May and Taylor announced that they would reunite and return to touring in 2005, with Paul Rodgers, the founder and former lead singer of Free and Bad Company. Brian May's website also stated that Rodgers would be "featured with" Queen as Queen + Paul Rodgers, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury. The retired John Deacon would not be participating. Between 2005 and 2006 Queen and Paul Rodgers embarked on
24402-509: Was banned in Lebanon. In Malaysia , where homosexuality is considered a criminal offense, the government criticized the album for its stance on sexuality and feminism. Shortly after the release of the title track, radio stations across the country edited out several lyrics of the song as ordered by the Malaysian government. Rosnah Ismail, the vice-chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah , condemned
24568-602: Was certified platinum in its first week of sales. Born This Way sold 184,000 copies in its first week in Japan, and debuted atop the Oricon chart. It had been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipment of 750,000 copies. Born This Way was the fourth best-selling album of the year in Japan, with sales of 658,554 copies. In the United Kingdom, Born This Way debuted at number one on
24734-528: Was criticized by William Anthony Donohue , the president of the Catholic League , notably for Gaga's portrayal of Mary Magdalene. In an interview with HollywoodLife.com, Donohue expressed discontent towards Gaga's focus on Judas and Mary Magdalene, calling her "increasingly irrelevant" compared to people with "real talent", and attacked her for seemingly purposefully debuting the song and video close to Holy Week and Easter . Shortly after its release, "Judas"
24900-581: Was eventually recorded by Hackett in 1992 for release on his The Unauthorised Biography compilation album. Also in 1986, May worked with actress Anita Dobson on her first album, most noted for the song "Anyone Can Fall in Love", which added lyrics to the EastEnders theme tune and reached number four on the UK Singles Chart in August 1986. May and Dobson married in 2000. In 1988, May contributed guitar solos to
25066-407: Was formally released worldwide on May 23, 2011, by Interscope , KonLive , and Streamline, in two separate editions. On June 7, 2011, it was released as a fan package, including the deluxe version of the CD, LP, and digital download. By August, a collector's edition box set became available with 9 piece 12-inch vinyl picture discs containing all the tracks and a special message from Gaga etched into
25232-495: Was further ranked the second-greatest guitarist in a Guitar World magazine readers poll. In 2001, May was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Queen and, in 2018, the band received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award . May was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for services to the music industry and for charity work. May earned
25398-433: Was it! We made a baby. Finally. After all that fornication, miserably long and tedious, Fernando and I finally conceived. —Lady Gaga, on "Marry the Night" The standard edition of Born This Way includes 14 tracks; the deluxe edition includes eight additional tracks—three original songs, a different version of the title track , and four remixes . Fernando Garibay , one of the producers, revealed that each song on
25564-671: Was joined by Clemons in person. On May 27, she held a concert for Good Morning America at Central Park , where she performed the first three singles from Born This Way and, for the first time, "Hair". Another journey to Europe in June included performances on the season 6 finale of Germany's Next Topmodel , British TV show Paul O'Grady Live , the EuroPride 2011 in Rome , as well as some French shows such as Taratata , X Factor , and Le Grand Journal again. More performances of "The Edge of Glory" and "Born This Way" were held during
25730-502: Was killed in a car accident on the M4 motorway near Bristol , England. This incident caused an unexpected disruption to the upcoming tour for the Brian May Band, which now needed a new drummer on short notice. Steve Ferrone was brought on to help May finish recording the drum tracks and join the band for the early stage promotional tour of five dates in Europe before the world tour. Following
25896-775: Was later released on the Queen album Made in Heaven and won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically & Lyrically in 1996. In late 1992, the Brian May Band was officially formed. May had loosely formed an earlier version of the band for 19 October 1991, when May took part in the Guitar Legends guitar festival in Seville , Spain. The line-up for his performance was May on vocals and lead guitar, Cozy Powell on drums and percussion, Mike Moran and Rick Wakeman on keyboards, and Maggie Ryder , Miriam Stockley and Chris Thompson on backing vocals. The original line-up
26062-432: Was mostly inspired by Madonna , Whitney Houston , and Bruce Springsteen ; other musical influences for the album include Prince , Iron Maiden , Kiss , Queen, TLC , Pat Benatar , and En Vogue . At the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards , while accepting the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for The Fame Monster (2009), Gaga thanked Houston, "I wanted to thank Whitney because when I wrote 'Born This Way', I imagined she
26228-440: Was noted by MTV for its references to the work of Madonna, Michael Jackson , Björk , and the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen, as well as to Greek mythology and surrealism . "Judas" was the album's second single, having been released on April 15, 2011. Critics reacted positively to "Judas", complimenting the song's breakdown, yet noted similarities with " Bad Romance " in its composition. It debuted at number four on
26394-516: Was recruited. Queen + Adam Lambert toured Europe in 2012 and toured the world tour over 2014 and 2015 . Their most recent outing was the 2016 Festival Tour . They also played the Big Ben New Year concert on New Year's Eve 2014 and New Year's Day 2015. During 1983, several members of Queen explored side projects. On 21 and 22 April in Los Angeles, May was in a studio with Eddie Van Halen , with no intention of recording anything. The result of
26560-412: Was released on November 18, 2011. Musically, it is an electronic and dance record; there are also influences of Europop, techno and dubstep within the composition. It had a mixed reception, with the general complaint of critics being that the release was unnecessary. The remix album was also issued as part of box set Born This Way: The Collection , released in the same month, which further included
26726-452: Was released on the same day: it features just Gaga's head from the standard edition cover but the words "Lady Gaga" and "Born This Way" appear in the top left corner of the cover. They are typed in Impact font with "Born This Way" being highlighted in white with black letters. Neither of the words special nor deluxe appear anywhere on the album, as Gaga revealed she disliked them. Born This Way
26892-578: Was sent to French and Italian radio as a single, while in January 2023 to US pop radio . The sped-up version of "Bloody Mary" is featured in the teaser trailer for the second season of Wednesday . The first song from Born This Way performed by Gaga live was "You and I", at the 2010 White Tie & Tiara Ball at Elton John 's house, on Today at Rockefeller Center in New York, and during The Monster Ball Tour. In 2011, she embarked on promotional tours and live performances for Born This Way in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It began with
27058-459: Was shot by Laurieann Gibson in Springfield, Nebraska , and was released on August 16, 2011. It features Yüyi, Gaga's mermaid alter ego, Jo Calderone, Gaga's male alter ego, and Gaga playing on a piano in the middle of a corn field. "Marry the Night" served as the fifth (and at the time final) single from Born This Way . Critical reception towards the song was positive, with reviewers calling it
27224-428: Was singing it because I wasn't secure enough in myself to imagine I was a superstar. So Whitney I imagined you were singing 'Born This Way' when I wrote it. Thank you." In May 2021, during the 10th anniversary of the album, she revealed that it was inspired by Carl Bean and his song " I Was Born This Way ", released in 1977. On her social media, Gaga wrote, " Born This Way , my song and album, were inspired by Carl Bean,
27390-408: Was undoubtedly an enormous and terrible blow to lose someone he was so close to. Personally, I know it ripped the heart out of Brian, but having said that, he was in great spirits after the album was finished." Back to the Light featured the single " Too Much Love Will Kill You ", on which he collaborated as a songwriter with Frank Musker and Elizabeth Lamers. A version with Freddie Mercury's vocals
27556-564: Was working on a new album, saying that she had written most of the songs for this project. Meanwhile, producer RedOne described it as Gaga's "freedom album" as her then-manager, Troy Carter , felt her public image would begin to change after its release. A few months after, Gaga exclaimed that she had finished writing songs for the album: "It came so quickly. I've been working on it for months, and I feel very strongly that it's finished right now. Some artists take years. I don't. I write music every day." She first alluded to Born This Way during
#566433