Dance in the Dark

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the racehorse, see Dance in the Dark (horse). For other uses, see Dancing in the Dark.

"Dance in the Dark"
Metropolis (London)
GenreEuropop
Length4:49
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Fernando Garibay
  • Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga singles chronology
"Alejandro"
(2010) 		"Dance in the Dark"
(2010) 		"Born This Way"
(2011)
Audio video
"Dance in the Dark" on
YouTube

"Dance in the Dark" is a song by American singer

MAC AIDS Fund, Gaga said that the song is not about freedom, but rather the assurance that she understood their feelings. A Europop track, it contains retro and new wave music influences, and begins with a stuttering introduction. It includes a spoken interlude
, where Gaga lists famous dead people.

Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording
.

Gaga performed "Dance in the Dark" as the opening song of

2010 BRIT Awards—dedicated to Gaga's close friend, Alexander McQueen, who had committed suicide a few days earlier—and at her Las Vegas residency, Enigma. A remix of the song appeared on her album The Remix
(2010).

Background and release

Metropolis Studios in London.[2]

Gaga told the Los Angeles Times that the inspiration behind "Dance in the Dark" came from an intimate experience between two people in a bedroom. The song is about a girl who prefers to have sex in the dark as she feels self-conscious about her body. Gaga explained, "She doesn't want her man to see her naked. She will be free, and she will let her inner animal out, but only when the lights are out."[3] While working on the Mac AIDS Fund, she realized that women her age do not express such insecurities, fearing that their boyfriends would not love them if they did so.[3] Gaga added that she herself struggled with issues of body image and self-doubt.[4]

All of these new things entering my life are changing the way I view my purpose, but 'Dance in the Dark' in particular is about me wanting to live—but also, the song isn't called 'Dance in the Light'. I'm not a gospel singer trying to cross people over. What I'm saying is, 'I get it. I feel you, I feel the same way, and it's OK.' I hope and pray that I can inspire some sort of change in people subliminally through the show. They're singing 'Dance in the Dark,' but they're dancing and they're free, they're letting it out. But the songs are not about freedom, they're about [the fact that] I get it. I feel the way you feel.

— Gaga, Los Angeles Times, 2009[3]

"Dance in the Dark" was released as a

radio, making it the EP's fourth and last single in the country.[8] In March of that year, Gaga released her first remix album entitled The Remix, which included the Monarchy Stylites rendition of the song.[9]

Music and lyrics

"Dance in the Dark"
A 28-second sample of "Dance in the Dark", where Gaga sings the interlude. The song, described as
synth
-like voice.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Dance in the Dark" is a

composition.[11][12] Author Robin James in the book Resilience & Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism, Neoliberalism recognized synth-pop elements in the song, which was influenced by Depeche Mode's "Strangelove" (1987).[13] Paul Lester of the BBC and Tony Hardy of Consequence called it an R&B production; Hardy also found dance elements in the song.[14][15]

"Dance in the Dark" begins with a stuttering

Musicologist Alexandra Apolloni found that "Dance in the Dark" was one of many songs where Gaga uses a "technologically-imposed vocal stutter".[a] She cited author Daniel Goldmark's opinion that using stutter in American popular music was a way to demonstrate abnormality.[17][18] For Apolloni, such vocal instabilities complement moments where "bodily vocal labor is audible", a result of Gaga physically manipulating her voice. Apolloni saw moments of "vocal ugliness and abjection" in the song, which she interpreted as Gaga vocally expressing pain and pleasure, eliciting a "'real' (albeit totally performed) non-technological body".[19]

Sal Cinquemani from

JonBenét Ramsey, Liberace, Jesus, Stanley Kubrick, and Diana, Princess of Wales.[12][21]

The lyrics of the song refer to

werewolves: "Run run her kiss is a vampire grin/The moon lights her way while she's howlin' at him". Gaga explained that the lines conveyed how people rely on external motivations to cope with internal anxiety: "She doesn't feel free without the moon". Gaga said the song discusses self-insecurity common among men and women at any age.[3] Sociologist Mathieu Deflem believed the lyrics "I'm a free bitch, baby!" exemplified Gaga's response to sexism in her music where she confirms her strength as a woman.[22]

Critical reception and accolades

A picture of Princess Diana smiling toward the camera
Critics noted the interlude name-checking famous dead people, including Diana, Princess of Wales (pictured in 1997).[16]

"Dance in the Dark" received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Some called it "

spoken-word lyrics referencing Princess Diana: "You will never fall apart Diana, you're still in our hearts / Never let you fall apart / Together we'll dance in the dark."[16] Nick Levine from Digital Spy found that the song "makes you want to dance with your top off in a grotty German bondage basement".[21]

"Dance in the Dark" received a nomination for

Vulture and Glamour.[b] It was cited as a "cult favorite" by Vulture.[32] The song's chorus—called "one of Gaga's most lustrous" by Rolling Stone[30] and "deliciously outrageous, sky-scraping" by Vulture—was praised for "pierc[ing] through the mesh of synths like a laser".[32] Other plaudits focused on the song's theme.[33][34] Glamour argued that its topic about body insecurities and sound (describing it as "one of Gaga's brightest efforts: booming and industrial yet incredibly haunting") made it her most emotionally impactful song to date.[33] Elena Gorgan of Softpedia believed Gaga, through the song, was unafraid of pushing boundaries and changing what people view as "normal".[34]

Some reviews were less enthusiastic, calling the song "slightly too disposable"[35] and finding the dance and R&B production formulaic.[14][15] Adam White of The Independent liked the beginning, but found that the song "gradually declines into something more middle-of-the-road than it first appears".[36] Hubbard added that "after a stuttering intro of orgasmic groans it becomes a little bit Gaga-by-numbers, which is a shame given the standard of the early tracks".[16]

Chart performance

In late 2009, "Dance in the Dark" charted on the Hungarian

Hot Dance/Electronic Digital Songs in October 2010.[43] It reached number two on the Polish Dance Top 50 in October 2010.[44]

Live performances

Gaga performed "Dance in the Dark" as the opening song of The Monster Ball Tour (2009–2011). During the original 2009 leg of the tour, the show began as Gaga appeared behind a giant, green laser-lit video screen featuring scrim lights, in a futuristic silver jeweled jumpsuit with bulbs on it.[45][46][47][48] Wearing matching eye makeup and a mask, she sang "Dance in the Dark" while surrounded by dancers in white balaclavas and jumpsuits.[47][48] The scrim was lifted during the performance.[49][50]

Lady Gaga pictured on stage performing with her backup dancers
Gaga performing "Dance in the Dark" during the original version of The Monster Ball Tour (2009)

"Dance in the Dark" was again the opening song in the revamped 2010–2011 shows of The Monster Ball Tour. Gaga performed the song in a set reminiscent of a New York City night scene, with flickering neon signs displaying the words "ugly", "sexy" and "liquor", fire escape stairwells and a broken yellow taxi.[51] For Katrin Horn, a postdoctoral fellow in American studies, the "Dance in the Dark" performance helped highlight a recurring theme in Gaga's work from the tour's beginning—"pop culture's obsession with both decay and beauty, or more precisely the decay of beauty"—as the song is dedicated to famous dead people who had struggled with their reputation when they were alive.[52]

Gaga sang "

HuffPost UK cited it as one of Gaga's 15 most memorable performances on television.[57]

Gaga sang "Dance in the Dark" on her 2018–2020 Las Vegas residency show, Enigma.[58] The song was preceded by an interlude, which introduced her alien counterpart, named Enigma. Gaga was sent through a future simulation by the character, and reappeared on stage in a fluorescent green jacket to perform "Dance in the Dark".[59][60]

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Fame Monster.[2]

Recording and postproduction locations

Personnel

  • Lady Gaga – producer, instrumentation and arrangement
  • programming
    and arrangement
  • Jonas Westling – recording engineer
  • Dan Parry – recording engineer
  • Christian Delano – recording engineer
  • Robert Orton – mixer
  • Gene Grimaldi – mastering engineer

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for "Dance in the Dark"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[70] Platinum 70,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release dates and formats for "Dance in the Dark"
Region Date Format Label Ref.
Belgium November 9, 2009 Digital download[c]
Interscope
 [5]
France August 25, 2010 Radio airplay Universal [8]

Rina Sawayama cover

A picture of Rina Sawayama looking to the camera.
Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama (pictured in 2022) covered the song in 2020.

On June 29, 2020,

Sawayama Remixed (2020).[71] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sawayama recorded her cover at her home studio, instead of Electric Lady Studios in New York City, where Spotify Singles are generally recorded.[72][73] It is an electropop track with influences of nu metal.[74]

Robin Murray of

ballad."[76]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Other examples include tracks "Poker Face", "Starstruck", "Paper Gangsta" and "Telephone".[17]
  2. ^ Attributed to multiple references[29][30][31][32][33]
  3. promotional single

References

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Literary sources

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