"do what u want" adalah sebuah lagu oleh artis rekaman amerika lady gaga bersama dengan r. kelly untuk album studio ketiga lady gaga, artpop (2013); dan muncul di trek ketujuh dalam album.
lagu ini ditulis oleh lady gaga, paul "dj white shadow" blair, r. kelly, martin bresso dan william grigahcine.
sebuah potongan "do what u want" pertama kali diperdengarkan di best buy/beats pada 17 oktober 2013.
lagu ini awalnya dibuat tersedia di itunes store menjelang perilisan penuh artpop.
"do what u want" dirilis sebagai singel kedua dari albumnya di amazon.com pada 21 oktober 2013.
"do what u want" diperkenalkan kepada gaga oleh blair sekitar dua tahun yang lalu.
mereka bekerja dan mengembangkan lagu ini hingga tahun 2013, ketika lagu ini sudah ditambahkan ke daftar trek artpop setelah menambahkan vokal kelly.
secara musikal lagu ini adalah sebuah lagu r&b dan synthpop yang mengandung '80s throbbing synths and an electronic beat.
lyrically, the song is straightforward and finds gaga telling off her detractors with the sentiment that her thoughts, dreams, and feelings are her own, no matter what one does with or says about her body.
upon release, the song was met with positive reviews, with critics praising the simplicity of the song with its '80s-inspired production and the commercial appeal.
some compared gaga's vocals to those of tina turner's and christina aguilera's.
in the united kingdom, "do what u want" was deemed ineligible to enter the the official uk singles chart and will be unable to do so until artpop is released.
gaga has performed an acoustic version of the song on the tenth series of the x factor (uk), which prompted complaints to the broadcaster and british media regulator, ofcom, due to gaga's costume, performance and suggestive lyrics, which was broadcast before the 9pm watershed.
penulisan dan perekaman
"do what u want" ditulis oleh lady gaga, blair, penyanyi r&b r. kelly, martin bresso dan william grigahcine.
it was produced by blair and gaga and features vocals by kelly.
gaga had been living in chicago and completing the songs for artpop, which was being influenced by the r&b and hip-hop music predominant there.
after the release of the first single from the album, titled "applause", the singer was determined to create something different and unfamiliar to her past hit singles, and "do what u want" stemmed from that thought.
described as "some space age george jetson r&b sound", blair recalled how in 2011 his friend martin was playing him a particular beat from his own remix project.
blair liked the music and presented it to gaga. the singer also appreciated the tune and started writing the lyrics while on the born this way ball tour throughout europe.
one day, the singer's mother called her and talked about some news article which were discussing about gaga putting on weight.
the singer was enraged and found such journalism extremely shallow.
she decided that the song would take a stance on such incidents and she would dictate whatever she wants to portray instead of being transparent in front of the world.
after the writing was over, the song was left with gaga and blair until a month before its release, when they started discussing it again.
blair felt that kelly would be appropriate as a guest singer; gaga and kelly discussed the song over phone, and decided to record it.
in an interview with mtv news, gaga explained her inspiration behind the song and collaboration with kelly:
"i've been living in chicago and spending a lot of time there, and that's where r.
kelly hails from.
i was working on artpop and i wrote ['do what u want'] on tour.
it was about my obsession with the way people view me. i have always been an r. kelly fan and actually it is like an epic pastime in the haus of gaga that we just get fucked up and play r. kelly.
this is a real r&b song and i [said 'i] have to call the king of r&b and i need his blessing.' it was a mutual love."
release and promotion
on september 3, 2013, gaga started two polls on twitter asking fans to help her choose the second single, the first poll asked to choose between "manicure" and "sexxx dreams" while the second poll asked to choose between "aura" and "swine".
on september 20, 2013, gaga gave an update about the second single, stating that it will be released before the album, adding that: "there is a lot of choices, i want to choose something that's totally me! for me its about choosing the best song".
she concluded by saying: "there's a chance you have not heard the next single".
on october 10, 2013, gaga revealed that "venus" has been chosen as the second single.
in the meantime, a snippet of "do what u want" was first heard in the us on a best buy/beats commercial on october 17, 2013.
following the commercial success of the song on its release, gaga and her label decided to release "do what u want" as the second official single from artpop therefore cancelling "venus" as the single.
dennis dennehy, head of artist strategy and media for interscope records, explained to billboard that gaga had complete control over which single is chosen officially.
"do what u want" officially impacted italian radio stations on october 25, 2013, and five days later on uk radio stations.
the song impacted top 40/mainstream and rhythmic radio stations in the united states the following month on november 5, 2013.
lipshutz commented that this change-up of the single at the last moment was reminiscent of a similar situation faced by gaga in 2011 with her second studio album, born this way. after the second single "judas" was released in april 2011, it soon started to peak commercially.
so in order to keep the momentum going, the label decided to rush release a third single the following month; the song chosen as the third single was the critically acclaimed promo single, "the edge of glory", which later went on to achieve chart success.
the first promotional artwork showed gaga wearing a long burnette wig and naked except moss covering her genitals.
the single's official cover art, released on october 21, shows gaga's backside, wearing a floral thong.
taken by photographer terry richardson, the cover art looks like a polaroid shot according to catherine earp from digital spy. it was also described by leigh silver from complex magazine as reminiscent of andy warhol's polaroid series, where the artist shot pictures of blonds and their rear. a reviewer from metro believed that the singer was again up to her "eyebrow-raising tricks" with the provocative artwork.
louise saunders from daily mail compared the image to a similar photo posted by socialite kim kardashian on her twitter account.
hilary hughes from esquire called the cover art "awful" but felt that the artwork paved way for much imagination in lieu of the suggestive theme of the song.
in an interview with german television station prosieben, gaga said that the reason for choosing the explicit picture was her belief that the general public did not value art and would commercialize it, which she did not fancy.
so the picture of her buttocks was a form of statement from gaga that it was "just another piece of ass for you to buy.
you will not have my heart or mind, because you don't deserve it.
i would give it to my fans because they would received it with love...
when i look at how society has changed, i feel like this is a good time to show you my ass, because its all i choose to give you."
the night before the song's release, gaga took to twitter to publicly and controversially address her critics.
she included lyrics from "do what u want" with each tweet, and spoke about gossip that has surfaced throughout her career, including rumors of the singer being a hermaphrodite, gaining weight in 2012, as well as her drug addiction.
other subjects addressed included the negative comparisons between gaga and madonna, and the media pitting the singer against fellow pop musician katy perry, when gaga's single "applause" and perry's "roar" were released within days of each other.
in response, alex camp from slant magazine felt that it would have been better to let "do what u want" speak against the criticisms, as the stunt highlighted how preoccupied the singer is with her social media status and her public image.
upon release, "do what u want" received positive feedback from reviewers.
critics complimented the simplicity of the song, with some comparing gaga's vocals to those of tina turner and aguilera.
aylin zafar of buzzfeed was favorable toward it, calling it "sexy, fun, and kind of impossible not to body roll to" and adding that "the song is just as hot as the cover."
popjustice rated the song 8/10, drawing parallels to the melodies of the fame monster.
alexa camp, writing for slant magazine, describes the track as "a measured electro banger that smartly doubles as a love song."
lars brandle of billboard complimented the song as "radio-friendly" and concluded that "gaga is in good form."
lipshutz from the same publication wrote that the song is "sonically dissimilar" to all of gaga's previous singles, but felt it was an "instant smash".
he concluded by saying that the song was a "thrilling listen, intoxicatingly defiant" in the arrangement and the sentiments emoted with the lyrics.
writing for the daily beast, kevin fallon was highly enthusiastic toward the song, calling it "pure pop heaven" and giving his praise to its "chorus that will make it a radio hit... and driving, danceable beat throughout."
carl williot of idolator website summarized the song as "a pretty flawless piece of r&b." dharmic x from complex called "do what u want" catchy, and said that it contains a good hook.
latifah muhammad from black entertainment television felt that "between the two, kelly seems the furthest of his sonic comfort zone but nestles into a groove over the dance beat" and described the track as "musical genius".
new york daily newsa mixed review came from kyle anderson from entertainment weekly, who felt that the track did not "come together" since gaga's singing style interfered with the composition of the song as well as kelly's r&b vocals.
anderson also felt that the lyrics sung by kelly were rehash and subpar.
he concluded saying that the song is "an intriguing mind-meld nonetheless".
a writer from spin magazine said that the song was "as usual" about fame but felt that the cover art complemented the theme the song portrayed.
amy sciaretto from popcrush opined that the song was a "rather straight" dance and r&b record, but was not experimental as was expected from artpop.
she also added that the lyrics were relatively subverse.
in the united states, "do what u want" was predicted by industry prognosticators to sell between 150,000 and 160,000 digital downloads in the week ending november 11, 2013.
nielsen soundscan reported that the song had sold 156,000 digital downloads, entering the hot digital songs chart at number three and becoming gaga's 14th top ten on that chart.
consequently it debuted at number 13 on the billboard hot 100.
the song is kelly's 52nd hot 100 entry and highest rank since "i'm a flirt" peaked at number 12 in 2007.
on the pop songs chart, it debuted at number 39 for the issue of november 11, 2013.
it also debuted at number seven on the canadian hot 100.
in australia, "do what u want" entered the australian singles chart at number 21; also debuting on the new zealand singles chart at number twelve.
the song entered the irish singles chart at number nine and in the netherlands' mega single top 100 at number 27.
it also entered the finnish download chart at number two. in south korea, the song sold 10,576 digital downloads, reaching number eight in the gaon digtial chart.
it fell to number 13 the next week, selling a further 7,184 copies.
"do what u want" reached the top of the charts in greece and hungary, and also reached the top-ten in finland, france, italy and spain.
in the united kingdom "do what u want" was deemed ineligible to enter the uk singles chart.
the official charts company released a statement explaining that the song would be allowed to chart only after the associated album's pre-order offer ended.
the rules of the official chart company "allow one 'instant grat' promotion per album, i.e a single track download given away as an album pre-order incentive.
'do what u want' is the second track [following 'applause'] to be delivered to fans who pre-order artpop".
thus the song will not be eligible to enter the chart until the promotion finishes and the album is released.
according to alan jones from music week, in the week following its release the single sold 22,915 copies in the uk; had it been eligible to chart, jones predicted it would have entered at number ten.
leaked photos from the set of the official music video suggest the video will be directed by terry richardson.
gaga performed the song live along with "venus" on the tenth series of the x factor (uk) on october 27, 2013, at fountain studio in wembley.
the singer was in a blond wig and wore nude colored underwear during the performance which was deemed as "fairly tame" compared to her previous endeavors by yahoo!.
the singer removed the blond wig and started singing the song while writhing on the confetti covered stage.
gaga briefly sat in front of a piano while singing an acoustic version of the track, before the singer climbing atop the instrument.
another review at yahoo!
slated the performance, stating gaga sounded "like someone drunk at 3am who decides they are super talented", and believing gaga's cared little for the quality of her performance, "so long as she trended on twitter".
the review concluded saying she should be in "the bottom two"a reference to those who poll last in the x factor vote.
a review at metro stated that the performance left many fans on twitter "perplexed".
jason lipshutz from billboard denoted it as "intoxicatingly weird".
carl williot from idolator explained that although gaga usually gives high energy performances for her songs, "this one seemed particularly dialed in and over-the-top".
williot criticized the calculative nature of the singers dance steps and her singing.
itv, which aired the performance, and ofcom, the british media regulator, received around 260 complaints regarding the performance, due to gaga's costume and the suggestive lyrics of the track, which was broadcast before the 9pm watershed.
a spokesperson from the channel released a statement that they did not believe the performance to be inappropriate.
the uk's office of communications (ofcom) said that they will assess the complaints and would investigate based on their results.
track listings and formats
"do what u want" feat. r. kelly  3:48
credits and personnel
recorded at record plant studios, hollywood, california and patchwerk recording studios, west midtown, atlanta, georgia
r. kelly appears courtesy of rca records, a division of sony music entertainment
stefani germanotta p/k/a lady gaga (bmi) sony atv songs llc / haus of gaga publishing, llc / glojoe music inc. (bmi), maxwell and carter publishing, llc (ascap), administered by universal music publishing group, etrange fruit (sacem), fuzion (sacem), administered by get familiar music (ascap), r. kelly publishing inc. / universal music  z music llc (bmi)
greece digital songs (billboard)
japan (billboard japan hot 100)
mexican anglo chart (monitor latino)
south korea international singles (gaon)
october 21, 2013
october 22, 2013
october 23, 2013
contemporary hit radio
october 25, 2013
october 30, 2013
november 5, 2013
contemporary hit radio
lady gaga goes on twitter rant before releasing "do what u want"check it out, e!
lady gaga is normal: a photo series by terry richardson, hitfix
kategori:interscope records singles
kategori:lady gaga songs
kategori:r. kelly songs
kategori:song recordings produced by lady gaga
kategori:songs written by lady gaga
kategori:songs written by r. kelly