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Swine (Lady Gaga song)

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"Swine"
Song by Lady Gaga
from the album Artpop
ReleasedNovember 6, 2013
StudioRecord Plant (Hollywood)
Genre
Length4:28
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Lady Gaga
  • DJ White Shadow
Audio video
"Swine" on YouTube

"Swine" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga, recorded for her third studio album, Artpop (2013). It was written and produced by Gaga, Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair, Dino Zisis, and Nick Monson. A dubstep and industrial track, "Swine" was inspired by the singer's sexual experiences and the rage she felt from being raped when she was 19 by an unidentified record producer. Throughout the song, Gaga screams out the lyrics, which talk about denouncing a suitor by comparing them to a pig.

"Swine" was critically appreciated for its harsh composition and craziness. It debuted at number 94 on the Gaon International Digital Chart in South Korea, selling 2,430 copies. In the United States, "Swine" reached a peak position of number 23 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart. Gaga performed the song during her iTunes Festival show, the ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour (2014) and at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas. The latter performance received criticism for promoting bulimia when artist Millie Brown vomited paint on Gaga onstage. "Swine" was featured in the 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground, along with Gaga's "Til It Happens to You" (2015), which focuses on rape at American universities.[1]

Background and writing

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Development of Gaga's third studio album, Artpop, began shortly after the 2011 release of her second record, Born This Way. By the following year, the album's concepts were "beginning to flourish" as Gaga collaborated with producers Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow.[2][3][4] One of the songs on Artpop was "Swine", which the singer explained was personal, and dealt with challenging and troubling sexual experiences she had encountered in her life.[5]

In December 2014, Gaga revealed on The Howard Stern Show that she was raped at age 19 by a producer twenty years older than her.[6] During her conversation with Stern, the singer recalled, "I went through some horrific things. I'm able to laugh now because I've gone through a lot of mental, physical and emotional therapy [...] I wasn't even willing to admit that anything had even happened [...] I saw him one time in a store, and I was paralyzed by fear." She confirmed that the incident further inspired "Swine", saying, "I wrote a song called 'Swine'; the song is about rape. The song is about demoralization. The song is about rage and fury and passion, and I had a lot of pain that I wanted to release."[7]

Recording and composition

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Entrance to the Record Plant studios, surrounded by trees.
"Swine" was recorded at the Record Plant studio.

Musically, "Swine" is a dubstep and industrial song.[8][9][10] Based on the "teaser" of Gaga rehearsing for the iTunes Festival, Entertainment Weekly's Nick Catucci described "Swine" as a "real shocker with Nine Inch Nails lyrics and bull-in-a-bong-shop Deep Purple groove."[11] Consequence of Sound noted the creation of the Twitter hashtag #swinefest, and called the song a "melancholy piano ballad that eventually erupts into a raging pop-rocker, backed by piercing guitar and synths."[12]

Gil Kaufman of MTV News described the track as a "rock-heavy" song.[13] Bradley Stern saw the music as "several hair-raising, teeth-gritting, heart-stopping acid techno-laced beat drops."[14] According to Musicnotes.com, the song is set in the time signature of common time with a fast tempo of 120 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of G minor, with Gaga's harsh vocals ranging from G3 to D5. The song has a basic sequence of C/G–Gm–C/G–Gm as its chord progression.[15]

Lyrically, the recording denounces a suitor by comparing them to a pig.[16] Gaga wanted to lessen the harshness of the lyrics developed for the track by making it sound more lighthearted. However, she ended up "screaming and squealing throughout the track." The dance nature of the song vanishes when the chorus is reached, with Gaga belting the lyrics backed by the "chaotic" synths shouting, "You're just a pig inside a human body / Squealer, squealer, squealer, you're so disgusting / You're just a pig inside", finally uttering the word "Swine" continuously as the groove "thrashed".[5]

Critical reception

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After the song was made available online, Idolator website contributor Carl Williott compared it to her iTunes Festival performance and said, "That rendition was particularly wild, and the studio version is even more schizophrenic and rave-ready." Furthermore, he wrote of the song, "It's a sonic onslaught of synth washes, a ground-churning bass line, jittery keyboards, hiccuping vocal samples and crescendos leading to drops in all the expected places. But amidst the EDM overload, Gaga manages to humanize things with one of her raspier, rawer vocal performances. And, for a dubstep song, it's got a remarkably huge 'Swiiine' refrain hidden in there."[8] Nicole James of Fuse deemed it "basically the polar opposite of 'Applause'."[17] Kitty Empire of The Guardian praised the song as the album's "wow-factor centrepiece, if not its greatest hit."[18] Mike Driver of Clash magazine found Gaga's vocal enunciations on the track comparable to those of singer Christina Aguilera.[19] Maura Johnston of Spin magazine listed "Swine" as one of Artpop's highlights, describing Gaga's belting of the lyrics and the sounds from the keyboards being reminiscent of Trent Reznor's songs.[20]

Bradley Stern of MuuMuse called "Swine" the album's most "unhinged moment" where the singer "let her freak flag fly higher." He also theorized that "Swine" would do well in a live concert.[14] Jason Lipshutz of Billboard described the track as a "shrieking industrial number" in which Gaga sounds "physically disgusted." Lipshutz said the song was not as "accessible or cleverly penned" as other songs on Artpop, but "as far as detours go, this one's fascinating."[10] Chris Bosman of Consequence of Sound website criticized the length of the song, saying that "once the sound of the record has been thoroughly established, many of the songs tend to feel overly long [...] ['Swine'] could easily have chopped a verse and maintained the same effect, with the benefit of brevity."[21]

Live performances

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Lady Gaga performing "Swine" with Millie Brown at South by Southwest (SXSW), 2014

In August 2013, Gaga released a one-minute teaser of the song, which showed her rehearsing for the iTunes Festival, along with an image of her performance.[22][23] Gaga named her gig "SwineFest" after the track, which was a central piece of the show.[24] During the show, she removed her previously worn blonde wig to reveal her natural hair, just before performing the song.[25] She started playing "Swine" on the piano, initially wearing a glittery pig mask, before transitioning into the electronic version of the song.[26] For the second part of the performance, Gaga sat behind a drum kit.[27] During the performance, Gaga's dancers wore pig-like gasmasks and "white boiler suits", and sprayed paint into the crowd from bungee harnesses.[28][29] Robert Copsey of Digital Spy rated her performance 3.5 on a scale of 5 and said that she "reached the peak of bonkersness".[30]

In March 2014, Gaga introduced "Swine" at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas as a song about "rape and rage",[31] which was followed by her inviting performance artist Millie Brown to accompany her on stage. During the duo's performance, Brown vomited green-colored liquid onto the stage and Gaga.[32][33] They then climbed atop a large mechanical bull with a pig's head and a ball gag inserted in its mouth,[31][34] riding it together and simulating sex acts.[32] Brown continued to vomit on Gaga and her white apron during their time atop the bull.[34] She even inserted her fingers inside Gaga's throat making her regurgitate the black paint all over. A writer for Rolling Stone noted that "[f]or the rest of the show, Gaga would have this black sheen, marking her as a metaphorical survivor of rape and an actual survivor of performance art".[31][33] In the background was a neon sign with the text, "Lady Gaga's BBQ – Haus of Swine".[32][34] "Swine" has been called an "anti-rape track" and similarly her SXSW performance was called an "anti-rape demonstration."[33]

Gaga performing "Swine" at the ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour

Andrew Hampp felt that "for an album [and concert] inspired by performance art, it was the one moment where music and shock value merged indelibly and credibly."[35] The performance also received criticism for the vomiting act. Recovered bulimic Demi Lovato complained that the show "glamorized" eating disorders.[36] In response to the controversy, Brown told MTV News, "I can understand why people would make that association, but my performance is really not a statement about eating disorders themselves."[37] Gaga confessed on Today, "Millie and I know that not everybody's going to love that performance, but we both really believe in artistic expression and strong identities, and I support her and what she does. Artpop, my new album, is about bringing art and music together in the spirit of creative rebellion, and for us, that performance was art in its purest form."[38]

"Swine" was later added to the setlist for the whole duration of Gaga's tour, ArtRave: The Artpop Ball, where it was performed as the last song before the encore ("Gypsy"). For the performance, Gaga was dressed as a rave-girl, which was called "a spin on the anime schoolgirl trope".[39] She was wearing multicoloured dreadlocks and fluorescent furry boots.[39] On some occasions, Gaga invited audience members on stage to "rave alongside her".[40] James Duffield from MTV called the performance "a sensory overload – the confetti cannons are back, strobe lights and dancers with pig masks start spewing fake blood from their mouths".[41]

Credits and personnel

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Credits adapted from the liner notes of Artpop.[42]

Management

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Personnel

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  • Lady Gaga – songwriter, lead vocals, producer, vocal arrangement
  • DJ White Shadow – songwriter, producer
  • Dino "Speedlove" Zisis – songwriter, producer
  • Nick Monson – songwriter, producer, mixing
  • Dave Russell – recording
  • Daniel Zaidenstadt – additional recording
  • Benjamin Rice – recording assistant
  • Tony Masterati – mixing
  • Jon Castelli – mixing engineering
  • Justin Hergett – mixing assistant
  • Rick Pearl – additional programming
  • Nicole Ganther – background vocals
  • Natalie Ganther – background vocals
  • Lyon Gray – background vocals
  • Ivy Skoff – union contract administrator
  • Gene Grimaldi – mastering

Charts

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Weekly chart performance for "Swine"
Chart (2013) Peak
position
South Korea International (Gaon)[43] 94
US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (Billboard)[44] 23

References

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  1. ^ Gallo, Phil (February 2, 2015). "Lady Gaga Contributes a Track to a Documentary About Campus Sexual Assaults and Other Music News From Sundance". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 17, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  2. ^ Shewey, Don (July 30, 2013). "Lady Gaga's 'Artpop': What We Know So Far". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 27, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  3. ^ Vena, Jocelyn (November 28, 2011). "Lady Gaga 'Doing Prep' for Tour, Next Album". MTV News. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  4. ^ Vena, Jocelyn (December 6, 2011). "Lady Gaga Says Next Album Is 'Beginning to Flourish'". MTV News. Archived from the original on May 7, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Shorey, Eric (December 12, 2013). "Lady Gaga Explains 'Artpop' Track-by-Track: LISTEN". Logo TV. Archived from the original on December 5, 2013. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  6. ^ Dillon, Nancy (December 2, 2014). "Lady Gaga reveals she was raped as a teen: 'I was a shell of my former self at one point'". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on October 14, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  7. ^ Payne, Chris (December 2, 2014). "Lady Gaga Discusses Rape During Howard Stern Interview". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  8. ^ a b Williott, Carl (October 24, 2013). "Lady Gaga's 'Swine' Hits the Web: Listen". Idolator. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  9. ^ Tucker, Rebecca (November 13, 2013). "With Artpop, Lady Gaga has done the unthinkable: She's gotten a bit boring". National Post. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  10. ^ a b Lipshutz, Jason (November 13, 2013). "Lady Gaga, 'Artpop': Track-by-Track Review". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 17, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  11. ^ Catucci, Nick (August 30, 2013). "Mix Lady Gaga makes the right moves with 'Manicure,' 'Swine' — hear her new music now". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 22, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  12. ^ Geslani, Michelle (August 29, 2013). "Watch Lady Gaga perform new Artpop song "Swine"". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  13. ^ Kaufman, Gil (August 29, 2013). "Lady Gaga Teases Rock-Heavy 'Swine' in Artpop Rehearsal Video". MTV News. Archived from the original on May 11, 2014. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Stern, Bradley (November 23, 2016). "Lady Gaga 'Artpop' (Album Review)". MuuMuse. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
  15. ^ "Lady Gaga 'Swine' Sheet Music". Musicnotes.com. June 16, 2014. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  16. ^ Martin, Samantha (September 5, 2013). "Lady Gaga "Swine" Lyrics Analysis: Pigs, Drugs, and General Confusion". Popdust. Archived from the original on September 20, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  17. ^ James, Nicole (August 29, 2013). "Lady Gaga Teases Intense New 'Artpop' Track in Rehearsal Video". Fuse. Archived from the original on March 21, 2014. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  18. ^ Empire, Kitty (November 9, 2013). "Lady Gaga: Artpop – review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 26, 2013. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  19. ^ Driver, Mike (November 23, 2016). "Lady Gaga 'Artpop'". Clash. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  20. ^ Johnston, Maura (November 23, 2016). "Lady Gaga's Half-Cocked, Half-Great 'Artpop' Is Never Less Than Lovable". Spin. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
  21. ^ Bosman, Chris (November 23, 2016). "Lady Gaga 'Artpop'". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on February 18, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
  22. ^ "Lady Gaga sneak peek: Who's new track 'Swine' about?". The Week. August 29, 2013. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  23. ^ Chan, Stephanie (August 30, 2013). "Lady Gaga Teases New Song 'Swine': Watch". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  24. ^ Petridis, Alexis (September 2, 2013). "Lady Gaga – review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on September 8, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  25. ^ Copsey, Robert (September 1, 2013). "Lady Gaga makes live return at iTunes Festival - pictures". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  26. ^ Paine, Andre (September 2, 2013). "Lady Gaga, iTunes festival, Roundhouse - music review". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on September 9, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  27. ^ Anderson, Kyle (September 3, 2013). "Lady Gaga unveils more new 'ARTPOP' songs at iTunes Festival". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 9, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  28. ^ Empire, Kitty (September 7, 2013). "iTunes festival: Lady Gaga; Rizzle Kicks – review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 5, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  29. ^ Keens, Oliver (September 2, 2013). "Lady Gaga debuts 'Art Pop' at iTunes Festival". TimeOut. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  30. ^ Copsey, Robter (September 2, 2013). "Lady Gaga at iTunes Festival: Track-by-track review". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  31. ^ a b c Edwards, Gavin (March 14, 2014). "Lady Gaga Stages Dramatic Performance-Art Spectacle at SXSW". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  32. ^ a b c "Lady Gaga spitroasted and vomited on at SXSW event". NME. March 14, 2014. Archived from the original on December 25, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  33. ^ a b c DeVille, Chris (March 14, 2014). "Watch Lady Gaga Get Doused in Neon Vomit While Riding a Mechanical S&M Pig at SXSW, Brought to You by Doritos". Stereogum. Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  34. ^ a b c Anderson, Kyle (March 14, 2014). "Lady Gaga dedicates encore to SXSW accident victims, gets puked on". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on March 22, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  35. ^ Hampp, Andrew (March 13, 2014). "SXSW: Lady Gaga Plays Offbeat Set, Tells Fans 'You Don't Need A F--king Record Label'". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 28, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  36. ^ "Lady Gaga's new antics, gets vomited on during SXSW show". India Today. March 15, 2014. Archived from the original on March 16, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  37. ^ Ehrlich, Brenna (March 18, 2014). "Lady Gaga's Vomit Artist Responds To Demi Lovato's SXSW Slam". MTV News. Archived from the original on June 6, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  38. ^ Lipshutz, Jason (March 21, 2014). "Lady Gaga Previews 'G.U.Y.' Video, Explains SXSW Performance on 'Today' Show". Billboard. Archived from the original on March 24, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  39. ^ a b Carlson, Adam (May 7, 2014). "Lady Gaga's artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball Shape-Shifts Through Atlanta". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  40. ^ Welsh, Daniel (May 6, 2014). "Lady Gaga artRAVE Tour: Singer Wears Her Weirdest Outfits Yet... And Strips Naked Onstage As She Kicks Off Her New Tour (PICS)". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on May 21, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  41. ^ Duffield, James (September 1, 2014). "Review: lady gaga artrave: the artpop ball!". MTV News. Archived from the original on September 8, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  42. ^ Gaga, Lady (2013). "'Swine' Digital booklet". Artpop (Liner notes). Lady Gaga. Santa Monica, California: Interscope Records. p. 5. 687955814.
  43. ^ "International Digital Chart – Week 47 of 2013" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on December 14, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  44. ^ "Lady Gaga Chart History (Hot Dance/Electronic Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
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