Til It Happens to You
"Til It Happens to You" is a song produced and performed by American singer Lady Gaga. She co-wrote the song with Diane Warren for the 2015 documentary film The Hunting Ground, which deals with campus rape in the United States. The song had leaked onto the Internet through an unofficial recording made at the film's premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. It was later released by Interscope Records to digital retailers on September 18, 2015. The director and producer of the film had looked for someone influential to write a song for it, and music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg contacted Warren, who was interested. She wrote the song with Gaga and producer Nile Rodgers accompanied them during the recording, providing his suggestions.
"Til It Happens to You"
A universal song about any kind of loss in life, "Til It Happens to You" was placed during two sequences in the film, highlighting the pain of sexual assault. The song consists of an orchestral production with strings and an emotional vocal delivery from Gaga. Lyrically, it asks listeners to stand in a victim's position and try to understand the turmoil they go through. "Til It Happens to You" was later included as part of a public service announcement video directed by Catherine Hardwicke. The video depicts various instances of violence against women and sexual assaults. It ends with a cautionary note about the effects of such distress, and individuals finding solace with their close friends and relatives.
A portion of the proceeds from retail sales was donated to organizations supporting victims of sexual assault. Commercially, the song reached the top thirty in Finland, Greece, and Spain, and it peaked at number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in March 2016. "Til It Happens to You" won an award at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics and it was nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards and for Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards, along with numerous other awards. Such aforementioned nods make "Til It Happens to You" the first, and currently only, song in history to be nominated for a Grammy Award, Academy Award and an Emmy Award in the same year.[1]
Critical reception[edit]
Jeff Benjamin from Fuse noted that the song contains a "powerful message" while the composition was evocative of her "biting" ballads like "Dope".[18] Brennan Carly from Spin said the song "highlights [Gaga]'s evocative voice" and is similar in tone to "Speechless" and "Gypsy".[17] While reviewing the documentary, Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter said that the song provided "an extra jolt of poignancy" in the film.[21] Lauren Valenti from Marie Claire described the track as "robust and orchestral", adding that the lyrics "command attention". She complimented the decision to have Gaga sing the track, given her connection to sexual abuse.[22] Bradley Stern from MuuMuse also compared it to "Dope" and "Speechless", while comparing the string arrangement to the music of Lana Del Rey. Stern described it as a "massive production" complimenting the lyrics by being straightforward.[23] For Manohla Dargis of The New York Times, Dick was able to successfully change the sombre mood of the documentary with the inclusion of the song.[24] Spencer Kornhaber from The Atlantic praised the song and Gaga's vocals, saying that: "Even with such somber subject matter, [the singer's] booming delivery and dramatic phrasing will probably remind people of the time when [Gaga's 2009 single] 'Bad Romance' ruled the radio."[14]
Declaring the song Gaga's "most stirring" release, Michelle Geslani from Consequence of Sound called the track: "a sweeping and intensely powerful number — it's not just any ordinary pop song".[25] Christopher Tapley from Variety praised both Gaga and Warren's songwriting, describing it as: "something of an anthem for the cause... It is one of the strongest contenders in this year's race for best original song [in the Academy Awards]. But far more than that, it is a rally cry for a movement."[12] Lisa Wright wrote in NME that the song is: "a somber piano ballad befitting of the topic with lyrics that depict the frustration of being told to pick yourself up and carry on by people who couldn't possibly understand your situation."[26] Idolator's Robbie Daw claimed that the "powerful, unsettling" visuals were complemented by a "strong vocal performance" from Gaga.[27] Brittany Spanos from Rolling Stone called it an "evocative track", which highlighted Gaga's vocals and believed it to be "a perfect follow-up to [Gaga's Cheek to Cheek album] with Tony Bennett". Spanos added that "[an Academy Award win would be a triumph] following [Gaga's] critical and commercial miss with most recent album Artpop and help break Warren's losing streak at the show."[28]
Chart performance[edit]
"Til It Happens to You" charted on the Ultratip charts of Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia) while in Finland it debuted and peaked at number 21 on the Finnish Download Chart.[29][30] Across Europe it peaked at number 46 in France, number 29 in Spain, and also reached number 5 on the Greece Digital Songs chart published by Billboard.[29] In the United Kingdom, the song entered the UK Download Chart at number 67, while on the official UK Singles Chart it reached a peak of number 171.[31] The song also reached a peak of number 52 in Scotland.[32] On the Belgian Ultratip charts, "Til It Happens to You" reached number 45 in Flanders region and number 42 in Wallonia.[29][33]
In the United States, the song initially failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, but later entered at number 95 in March 2016, following Gaga's performance of the song at the 88th Academy Awards.[34] According to Billboard, the song had sold less than 2,000 downloads during the week before the Academy Awards sales period. Following the performance, the song sold nearly 28,000 downloads (2,120% sales increase), becoming its best digital sales week, and debuted at number 27 on the Hot Digital Songs chart. It also garnered one million streams (up by 546%) for the tracking week, contributing its debut on the Hot 100.[35] Billboard reported that the song sold more than "Writing's on the Wall" by Sam Smith, the latter having won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.[36] According to Nielsen SoundScan, "Til It Happens to You" has sold a total of 71,000 downloads in the country as of March 2016.[35]
On the Dance Club Songs, the song became Gaga's 14th entry to reach the top of the chart on the issue dated January 23, 2016, landing her in 10th place in the ranking of artists with the most number-ones on the dance chart. It was her first song to reach the top of the chart since "Applause" (2013). The rise to the top of the dance chart was aided by 30 remixed versions of the track, including those from Dave Audé, Tracy Young and Dirty Pop.[37] On the Billboard issue dated February 20, 2016, the song debuted at number 24 on the Adult Contemporary chart; it has reached a peak of number 19.[38] According to radio program directors, the song received positive response from their listeners prompting airplay.[39]
Live performances[edit]
Gaga performed "Til It Happens to You" live for the first time on October 29, 2015 at the annual amfAR gala, along with cover versions of "Call Me Irresponsible", "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" and "La Vie en rose".[68] She also performed the song at the Billboard Women in Music event on December 11, 2015, where she was presented with the award for Woman of the Year.[69] The song was also performed at an intimate gathering at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. The audience consisted of the filmmakers and the rape survivors featured in the documentary. Gaga reportedly became emotional while performing the song, and thanked the filmmakers for including the song in the film.[70] She also performed the song at the 2015 Producers Guild of America Awards, where The Hunting Ground was awarded a special recognition trophy.[71] Actress America Ferrera introduced Gaga but she did not appear on stage for sometime leading to a few moments of "nervous laughter from the audience" as Ferrera tried to joke about the situation, until the singer finally arrived in front of her piano on stage.[72]
Gaga performed the song at the 88th Academy Awards after an introduction by Joe Biden, then Vice President of the United States.[73] She sang it while sitting in front of a white piano, and near its conclusion, over 50 survivors of sexual assaults joined her onstage, with words like "survivor" and "not your fault" written on their bodies.[74] Mike Ayers from The Wall Street Journal called it a "poignant performance" of the night.[75] Katie Atkinson from Billboard listed the performance as one of the best moments of the awards show, saying that Gaga "made a huge impact on the Oscars stage. Her performance alone would have been powerful enough, but when the curtains opened behind her to reveal a sea of sexual assault survivors standing in solidarity, the emotional bar was raised to the next level."[76] Kesha performed a cover of the song, accompanied with Warren on piano, at the Humane Society Gala in Los Angeles on May 7, 2016.[77]