Do What U Want
"Do What U Want" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga, featuring R. Kelly. The song was released on October 21, 2013, as the second single from Gaga's third studio album Artpop (2013). The singers wrote the song with DJ White Shadow, Martin Bresso, and William Grigahcine. DJ White Shadow first presented Gaga with the song's initial concept two years prior to its release. Production on "Do What U Want" was completed in 2013, with Kelly's vocals added soon after. Its sudden popularity upon premiering led to the song becoming the album's second single.
This article is about the Lady Gaga song. For other uses, see Do What You Want."Do What U Want"
October 21, 2013
- Record Plant (Hollywood)
- PatchWerk (Atlanta)
3:47
- Streamline
- Interscope
- DJ White Shadow
- Lady Gaga
It is a synth-pop, electropop and R&B song featuring 1980s-style synthesizers and an electronic instrumental track. The song's lyrics discuss the media's appetite for publishing opinion and critique, with Gaga telling detractors that her thoughts, dreams, and feelings are her own, no matter what one does with her body. Critics praised the song's simplicity and production. The single cover for "Do What U Want", a close-up of Gaga's buttocks in a floral thong, was photographed by Terry Richardson who had also directed the song's music video. The clip was planned to be released through BitTorrent in December 2013 but was cancelled for unknown reasons.
"Do What U Want" reached number one in Hungary while peaking within the top 10 in Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Norway, Scotland, South Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom as well as the top 20 in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Live performances of the song were televised on the 2013 American Music Awards, Alan Carr: Chatty Man, Saturday Night Live, America's The Voice, and Britain's The X Factor. Several remixes of the song were released, including ones with vocals from Christina Aguilera and Rick Ross.
On January 10, 2019, Gaga decided to have the single removed from music streaming services after the airing of a television documentary, Surviving R. Kelly, exposed new allegations of sexual misconduct and assault by Kelly, who had previously been charged regarding similar accusations in 2002 but was acquitted in 2008. The song was removed from new vinyl and CD pressings of the album in November 2019.
Recording and composition[edit]
"Do What U Want" is a mid-tempo[10] synth-pop, electropop and R&B track,[11][12][13] drawing influence from 1980s-inspired throbbing synths and an electronic beat.[14] Eric R. Danton of Rolling Stone described it as a "muscular club beat".[3] James Montgomery from MTV News said that a "lurching, lascivious beat" was the main backbone of the song, interspersed with Gaga's loud-voiced vocals, a "corky" chorus and Kelly's "cool, coital" singing.[9] The song's chorus is built around arpeggios.[10] Complex described its "Do what you want, what you want with my body" hook as "catchy and somewhat raunchy".[15] The song's lyrics represent Gaga telling off detractors that her thoughts, dreams, and feelings are her own, no matter what one says about her.[14] Jim Farber of New York Daily News suggested "Do What U Want" to be a response to "everyone who ever made a tart comment about her — which, by now, involves half the planet".[16] Gaga and Kelly alternate singing the lines "Do what u want/ What u want with my body/ Do what u want/ What u want with my body/ Write what you want, say what you want about me/ If you want you know that I'm not sorry".[17]
According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "Do What U Want" is set in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A major with Gaga's vocals spanning the tonal nodes of E3 to F♯5. The song follows a basic sequence of D–E–F♯m–E–D–E as its chord progression.[18] "Do What U Want" was recorded at Record Plant Studios in Hollywood, California and at PatchWerk Recording Studios, in Atlanta, Georgia. Gaga's vocals were recorded by Dave Russell and Bill Malina, while Kelly's by Abel Garibaldi and Ian Moonness. Russell held primary mixing of the track at Record Plant, with additional support from Benjamin Rice, Ghazi Hourani, Zane Shoemake, and Dino "SpeedoVee" Zisis. The song's instrumentals include guitars by Tim Stewart, programming by Rick Pearl, and audio mastering done by Gene Grimaldi at Oasis Mastering Studios in Burbank, California.[1]
Chart performance[edit]
In the United States, Nielsen SoundScan reported that "Do What U Want" entered the Hot Digital Songs chart at number three with 156,000 digital downloads in its first week, becoming Gaga's 14th top ten on that chart.[43] 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.[44] The song fell to number 58 the following week.[45] In its third week, "Do What U Want" climbed to number 48 on the chart, aided by its move upwards on the Radio Songs chart, from number 64 to 51, with an audience impression of 23 million, up by about 22% from the second week.[46] Following the release of Artpop, the song returned to the top twenty of Hot 100, moving into number 18.[47] The song has sold 1.3 million copies in the US as of February 2018,[48] and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). On the Pop Songs chart, "Do What U Want" debuted at number 39 for the issue of November 11, 2013, and moved up to number 29 the next week with a spin increase of 991 on the US radio stations.[49][50] Next week, the song acquired a further 1,096 spins and moved to number 23 on the chart.[51] It has reached a peak of number seven on Pop Songs, with 9,237 spins.[52][53] The song also peaked at number eight on the Rhythmic chart with 2,662 spins.[54] "Do What U Want" became the second single by Gaga—the first being her debut single "Just Dance"—not to reach the top of the Hot Dance Club Songs chart, where it stalled inside the top-ten at number seven.[55]
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.[56][57] The song entered the Irish Singles Chart at number nine[58] and the Netherlands' Mega Single Top 100 at number 27.[59] It also entered the Finnish Download Chart at number two.[60] In South Korea, the song sold 10,576 digital downloads, reaching number eight in the Gaon Digital Chart.[61] It fell to number 13 the next week, selling a further 7,184 copies.[62] Following the album release, the song sold 20,309 copies and reached a new peak of number two.[63] "Do What U Want" reached the top of the charts in Greece, and also reached the top-ten in Finland, France, Italy, and Spain.[64][65][66] The song debuted at number 50 on the Japan Hot 100, and rose to a peak of number 26 after two weeks.[67] "Do What U Want" also debuted at number seven on the Canadian Hot 100 and in its eleventh week on the chart, the song reached a new peak of number three. It was certified gold by Music Canada, for selling over 40,000 digital downloads.[68][69]
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".[70] Thus the song was not eligible to enter the chart until the promotion finished and the album was released.[70] According to Alan Jones from Music Week, in the week following its release the single sold 22,915 copies in the UK.[71][72] After the release of Artpop, "Do What U Want" debuted at number nine on the UK charts with sales of 29,657 copies becoming her 11th top-ten single there.[73][74] It also entered the Scottish Singles Chart at the same position.[75] "Do What U Want" has sold 383,000 copies in the United Kingdom as of April 2021, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for 400,000 copies of streaming equivalent units.[76][77] It has been streamed 8.5 million times, becoming Gaga's highest streamed song in the country.[78]
Remixes[edit]
DJWS Remix[edit]
The DJWS Remix of "Do What U Want" featuring R. Kelly and rapper Rick Ross was released on December 20, 2013.[110] Ross told in an interview with MTV that he was not prepared for collaborating with Gaga. The remix starts with Kelly's vocals with a new introduction, followed by Ross rapping on a verse, adding new lines like "Photos of the Bawse just to post 'em on a blog/Get alotta views cause they know we be the top/Jean Basquiats in the hall, she my work of art so I pin her to the wall."[111] During Gaga's vocals, the "groove" of the song is updated which was described by Fuse as "nostalgic, banging, sex-freaky and new all at the same time. It's a 2013 ode to another era of synth R&B." Molly Wardlow from the channel was however dismissive of Ross' verse, calling it unnecessary.[112] Spin magazine's Chris Martin noted that Ross' contribution to "Do What U Want" sounded "awkward" and found similarity with Jay-Z's rap verse in singer Beyoncé's song, "Drunk in Love".[113] Mike Wass from Idolator commented that the remix felt unnecessary, following controversy in the media surrounding Ross' lyrics in the song "U.O.E.N.O." about date rape, and recapitulation of Kelly's child-sex abuse case.[114]
Remix featuring Christina Aguilera[edit]
An alternate studio version of "Do What U Want" featuring Christina Aguilera was released on January 1, 2014; it marked Gaga and Aguilera's first collaboration. The song was released in the United States, Canada and Mexico on January 1, 2014, and then released a day later worldwide.[115][116] Days before, on December 24, 2013, Aguilera tweeted that she was "working on something special" and attached an image of her singing in a recording studio.[117] The session took place in the living room of singer Carly Simon's home at Martha's Vineyard, with assistance from Oak Bluffs-based producer Jimmy Parr.[118] The following week, it was announced that a revised studio version of "Do What U Want" would be released, where the original vocals by Kelly are substituted for a verse performed by Aguilera.[93][119]
The final version was digitally released shortly after midnight on January 1, 2014.[120] On February 11, 2014, Gaga uploaded four other remixes of the version with Aguilera, all commissioned by Interscope and mixed by Steven Redant.[121] The Aguilera remix received generally favorable reviews from music critics; Melissa Locker from Time magazine felt that the re-recorded version of the track "will allow more sales of the track without the moral dilemma that comes with supporting Kelly", who had previously been charged and acquitted for child pornography in the 2000s, and also complimented Gaga as a "savvy marketer" for releasing "two versions of a hit song with two different megastars".[119] Attitude's Jamie Tabberer considered the original version of "Do What U Want" to be Gaga's "most problematic", "worst-ever" single, but noted that it was "somewhat redeemed by the Christina-featured remix", which he thought was "elegant".[122]
Removal[edit]
Gaga initially defended her collaboration with Kelly, saying that they both have had "sometimes [...] very untrue things written about" them.[123]
However, on January 10, 2019, Gaga spoke out after the release of the Lifetime series, Surviving R. Kelly, which documented the sexual abuse allegations against Kelly. The singer confessed her regret about working with Kelly, explaining that her thinking was "explicitly twisted" and that she had "poor judgment" at that time. Gaga vowed to support women who had been through abuse and by the next day had the track removed from iTunes and all streaming services.[124][125] Keith Caulfield from Billboard reported that even the remixes featuring Kelly were not playable on Spotify and other platforms, only the version featuring Aguilera was present. He theorized that since changes to digital music services take time, Gaga's management were working and removing the song from every medium gradually.[126] Following Gaga's statement and just hours before the song's removal, sales of "Do What U Want" rose by 13,720% in the US to 2,000 music downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[127]
The song was removed from new vinyl and CD pressings of Artpop in November 2019.[128]