page_title: Aura (song)
section_title: Recording and composition
hierarchical_section_title: Aura (song) / Recording and composition
caption_attribution_description: English: The DJ Zedd. Português: O DJ Zedd.
context_page_description: "Aura" is a song recorded by American singer Lady Gaga for her third studio album, Artpop. She co-wrote and co-produced the track with Zedd and the psychedelic trance duo Infected Mushroom. Initially entitled "Burqa", an Infected Mushroom demo is the song's backbone. "Aura", which explores different facets of the singer, is a mariachi and EDM song with Western guitar and Middle Eastern musical influences and a dance production. Lyrically, it equates the life of a celebrity and stardom with religious oppression and subjugation.
  Music critics were divided about the song. Reviewers praised its production and innovative composition but criticized its lyrics, which used the word "burqa" in a sexual manner. "Aura" was first performed live during Gaga's headlining iTunes Festival, and it was used in the trailer for Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills. It was also part of the setlist of ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour, and Gaga's Las Vegas reisdency, Enigma. The song entered the US Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart based on streaming activity.
context_section_description: After recording began, Zedd was not pleased with the initial songs and suggested that Gaga redo the whole process. Gaga, not content with creating a staple radio hit, wanted to record creatively. Zedd explained to Rolling Stone that they did not "try to make an EDM album—but, at the same time, we didn't try not to make an EDM album. I've done a lot of stuff that's really outside of what I usually do". "Aura" distributes songwriting and production credit among Gaga, Zedd and Infected Mushroom. The song was recorded at Record Plant Studios in Hollywood by Dave Russell, with assistance from Benjamin Rice. Zedd mixed the track at Zeddl, and Ryan Shanahan and Jesse Taub assisted the process. Rick Pearl did additional programming and Gene Grimaldi the audio mastering at Oasis Mastering Studios in Burbank, California. According to Zedd, "Aura" was the most interesting track on Artpop because its combination of oriental music, guitars and an electronic beat enabled it to "cross over" musical genres.
  A mariachi and EDM song, "Aura" begins with Gaga's filtered vocal against a Western-style guitar: "I killed my former and left her in the trunk on highway ten", followed by dissonant laughter. Sam Lansky of Idolator called it a "terrible Nancy Sinatra affectation". A big-sounding EDM production follows the laughter, its beat reminiscent of Gaga's 2011 "Government Hooker" and its vocal "garbled". As the track reaches a crescendo, Gaga sings its hook: "Do you wanna see me naked, lover? Do you wanna peek underneath the cover? Do you wanna see the girl who lives behind the aura, behind the aura?" against a spare accompaniment. The song, written in common time in the key of F major, has a tempo of 120 beats per minute. Gaga's vocal ranges from F₃ to E♭₅, and the track has a basic F–G♭–F–G♭–E♭m₇–F chord progression. Described by Michael Cragg of the Guardian as a "slightly muddled insight into gender politics", "Aura" ends abruptly with Gaga uttering the words "Dance. Sex. Art. Pop. Tech".
  According to James Montgomery of MTV News, "Aura"'s lyrics equate celebrity and stardom with religious oppression and subjugation. The beginning of the song, implying that the singer destroyed her old self to become Gaga the artist, examines the loss of a private life and constant media scrutiny (noting that they are by choice). The track's central metaphor is a burqa as a "veil of fame", sexualizing it with the line "Do you wanna see me naked, lover?" Montgomery said that criticism of Gaga's use of the word "burqa" is countered in the lyrics, when she sings "Enigma popstar is fun, she wears burqa for fashion". "Aura" expresses Gaga's solidarity with what she considers her sisterhood.
caption: Zedd co-wrote, produced and mixed the track.
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