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"Dance in the Dark" is an up-tempo club beat song written by Lady Gaga and produced by Fernando Garibay, released on The Fame Monster. The song was performed alongside an acoustic version of "Telephone" at the BRIT Awards in 2010.
It was intended to be the next single after "Telephone" but there was a dispute between Gaga and her record label, Interscope Records, and "Alejandro" was chosen instead.

Background[]

"Dance in the Dark" depicts a girl being uncomfortable when having sex. During an interview on the MySpace Music's The Feed, Gaga mentioned that the song represented her "Fear of Self Monster".

The record is about a girl who likes to have sex with the lights off, because she’s embarrassed about her body. 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.

—Lady Gaga, on MTV

The following refers to the lyrics, "Run, run; her kiss is a vampire grin/Moon lights her way while she is howling at him."

"She doesn’t feel free without the moon. These lyrics are a way for me to talk about how I believe women and some men feel innately insecure about themselves all the time. It’s not sometimes, it’s not in adolescence, it’s always."
2009 Garibay & Gaga Recording Studio 001

Gaga with Fernando on Sep 2, 2009.

Later, she revealed that the song was inspired by her point of view, and how she wants to inspire people with her music.

"I guess all of these new things entering my life are changing the way I view my purpose, but that song 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."

Commercial release[]

DanceintheDark

The artwork features a photograph by Hedi Slimane and the font is News Gothic.

On November 9, 2009, the song was released on iTunes in Belgium, as a promotional single for the Countdown to Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster, alongside with "Alejandro". The artwork have Gaga wearing a gold sequin jumpsuit by Alexander McQueen and a spiked mask by Joji Kojima, that photograph was also used in the booklet of The Fame Monster.

"Dance in the Dark" is the fourth and final single off of Lady Gaga's sophomore album, The Fame Monster. It was initially planned to be released as a worldwide single after "Telephone", but due to a dispute between Gaga and her record label, "Alejandro" was chosen instead. On July 26, 2010, the song was serviced to Contemporary Hit Radio in Australia, as the fourth single from The Fame Monster. On August 25, Universal Music France announced that the song had been sent to radio stations in France, serving as the fourth and final single off the album. There was no official fourth single release off the album outside of Australia, New Zealand, and France. There is also no physical release, only digital. Polydor confirmed that no accompanying music video will be made. The "Monarchy 'Stylites' Remix" was made available on the all editions of The Remix (2010), with the exception of the Japanese pressing which came out three months before the other editions.

Remixes[]

Performances[]

Ditd

Gaga performing the song at The Monster Ball 2.0. in 2010.

Gaga performed "Dance in the Dark" as the opening song of The Monster Ball following the "Jumping Film", a video introduction which mixed parts of the song with "Finally 2008", a remix by Denzal Park (Kam Denny & Paul Zala) of a song by CeCe Peniston. In the theater version (also known as 1.0) of the tour, she appeared behind a scrim-lit screen to perform the song, while in the revamped shows (2.0), Gaga performed it on a set reminiscent of a New York City night scene. After 7 years of not being performed, the song was performed at the concert residency Enigma in 2018/19. Similar to The Monster Ball, the interlude was based on the instrumentals with the band performing the song using the "D-d-d" vocals, which was followed with a shortened version of the song being performed.

2010 BRIT Awards performance 006

Gaga at the BRIT Awards on February 16, 2010.

The song was also performed after "Telephone" at the 2010 BRIT Awards, where Gaga dedicated it to her close friend, Alexander McQueen, who had died a few days earlier. For the performance, parts of the music interludes for The Monster Ball 2.0 were also used at the beggining of the song (parts of the Puke Film) and at the end. It is also the only live performance with EMMA, a custom instrument by Haus of Gaga with Glenn Hetrick. Gaga wore a bodysuit by Alex Noble, mask by Philip Treacy which was styled by Nicola Formichetti. Her hair was done by Malcolm Edwards and makeup by Billy B. The stage also had a gigantic white statue of Gaga being nude, wearing only a blond wig by Peter Savic, a piano hiding her private parts and shoes by Alexander McQueen. The polystyrene sculpture was captured and rendered by Kev Stenning (Rapido3D) while Burst TV London tweaked the 3D model and printed it, the two compagnies were supervised by Nick Knight.

Dates Location Channel Globe-green
2010
Feb 16 BRIT Awards ITV Gb

Tour Dates Performances
Monster Ball: Theater & Arena versions 20092011 (All dates) 201
Enigma 20182020 (All Dates) 29
Total of performances 230

Lyrics[]

(Make it stop!)

Silicone,
Saline,
Poison
Inject me
Baby, I’m a free bitch
I’m a free bitch

Some girls won’t dance to the beat of the track
She won’t walk away, but she won’t look back
She looks good but her boyfriend says she’s a mess
She’s a mess, she’s a mess
Now the girl is stressed
She’s a mess, she’s a mess,
she’s a mess, she’s a mess

Tell 'em girls

Baby loves to dance in the dark
‘Cause, when he’s lookin’, she falls apart
Baby loves to dance in the dark
Baby loves to dance in the dark
‘Cause, when he’s lookin’, she falls apart
Baby loves to dance
Loves to dance in the dark

Run, run
Her kiss is a vampire grin
The moon lights her way while she’s howlin’ at him
She looks good but her boyfriend says she’s a tramp
She’s a tramp, she’s a vamp
But she still does her dance
She’s a tramp, she’s a vamp
But she still kills the dance

(Tell 'em girls)

Baby loves to dance in the dark
‘Cause, when he’s lookin’, she falls apart
Baby loves to dance in the dark
Baby loves to dance in the dark
‘Cause, when he’s lookin’, she falls apart
Baby loves to dance
Loves to dance in the dark
(Tell 'em girls)
In the dark
She loves to dance in the dark
In the dark
She loves
she loves to dance in the dark

Marilyn
Judy
Sylvia
Tell 'em how you feel girls!

Work your Blonde Benét Ramsey
We’ll haunt like Liberace
Find your freedom in the music
Find your Jesus,
Find your Kubrick
You will never fall apart
Diana, you’re still in our hearts
Never let you fall apart
Together we’ll dance in the dark

Baby loves to dance in the dark
‘Cause, when he’s lookin’, she falls apart
Baby loves to dance in the dark
Baby, yeah
Baby loves to dance in the dark
‘Cause, when he’s lookin’, she falls apart
Baby loves to dance
Loves to dance in the dark
In the dark

Credits[]

Writers Lady Gaga, Fernando Garibay
Producers Fernando Garibay, Lady Gaga (co-producer)
Instruments programming, and arrangement Fernando Garibay
Additional instrumentation and arrangement Lady Gaga
Recording studio Metropolis (London, Gb)
Tracking studio Paradise (Hollywood, California, Us)
Recording and tracking engineers Jonas Westling (London), Daniel "Dan" Parry (London) and Cristian Délano (Hollywood)
Mixing engineer Robert Orton at Studio 3 of Sarm Studios (London, Gb)
Mastering engineer Gene Grimaldi at Oasis Mastering, Burbank, CA Us
Publishers
  • Sony/ATV Songs LLC / House of Gaga Publishing LLC (BMI)
  • Sony/ATV Songs LLC / Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp./ Garibay Music Publishing (BMI)
    All rights on behalf of itself and Garibay Music Publishing administered by WB Music Corp.

References[]

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