"Swine" is a song written by Lady Gaga and produced by DJ White Shadow in 2012 from ARTPOP. It is an electro house and dance-pop song that also displays elements of Europop and dubstep. The instrumentation is described as infectious pumped-up synthesizers. She revealed the song title during an interview through V with Marina Abramović. Gaga has posted photos that reference the song on Little Monsters. Some of the illustrations and photos Gaga uploaded revealed lines from the song. On August 17, 2013, Gaga dubbed her iTunes Festival performance, 'SwineFest', as a reference to the track. The song was registered onto Gaga's BMI on February 14, 2014.
Background
In an interview for V (2013) Marina Abramović noted that "'swine' [as a word] sounds so much worse in English. 'Pig' is almost sweet, but 'swine' is really dirty," and asked Lady Gaga to tell more about the song. The signer answered revealing the meaning behind "Swine" and telling a story from her past as a context for making this song:
| “ | Yes, 'swine' is dirty. And in European culture, it's not very nice to call somebody swine. It's like the worst thing you can say. [...] Each cover [for V magazine] was designed with a custom outfit by one designer. That's the one that Hedi [Slimane] did - the one in the sequined jacket with the high-waisted jeans and the hair. That was the time in my life when I was the new artist. I wasn't a fully formed artist, I was 19, I was young. I was on my way. I was willing to do anything for art. It got me into so much trouble because when you're willing to do anything for art but you don't even know what your art is yet or what your music is or what you're making, you're willing to do anything to understand it or to experience something that will charge it or inspire it. And because of that I was really troubled. I was really sick all the time in my head, in my heart. I felt trapped, but I was free. And then it was like a slow death. A slow death of my innocence and my youth. And I had to climb through a lot of swine, and that's where that song came from. This idea of something so dark and something so awful and perverted that at a young age you don't really understand. And you don't want to know and understand it. And then, as I'm older, I understand the intenseness of the experiences that I went through. They have affected and changed who I am now. So this song became a liberation, because I'm now saying that if I am to be truly great at this transformation, I have to understand. It shows on stage before people's eyes. And that's really what these covers are about. It's not just the hair, it's the whole life. | ” |
A dubstep and industrial track, "Swine" was inspired by the Lady Gaga's sexual experiences and the rage she felt from being raped when she was 19 by an unidentified record producer twenty years older than her. In December 2014, Lady Gaga revealed on The Howard Stern Show the meaning of the song. She also confirmed that the incident further inspired "Swine".
| “ | 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. (...) I went through some horrific things that I'm able to laugh [at] now, because I've gone through a lot of mental and physical therapy and emotional therapy to heal over the years. My music's been wonderful for me. But, you know, I was a shell of my former self at one point. I was not myself. To be fair, I was about 19. I went to Catholic school and then all this crazy stuff happened, and I was going, 'Oh, is this just the way adults are?'...I was very naive. (...) 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. | ” |
Before performing "Swine" at SXSW Festival on March 13th, 2014, Lady Gaga told that "this song is about rape. And it's about rage. And it's about how sometimes life hands you something that you don't really want. But if you're a real artist, you can turn all that rage into the most beautiful painting, the most beautiful song, the most beautiful poetry of your life."
Lady Gaga talked about the meaning of the song and its importance for her in the track-by-track ARTPOP commentary on Sirius XM.
| “ | This is actually a very personal song on the album, and it is about some of the more troubling, and challenging, sexual experiences I had earlier in my life, and it’s really kind of an angry, emotional, song where I’m sort of screaming and squealing throughout the track; and I’m trying to make fun of it, and turn it into a dance song as it’s all happening, but inevitably you arrive at this chorus, where, you really feel a sense of gravity in the middle of the song. I say, [lyrics from "Swine"] “I know you want me / You’re just a pig inside a human body / Squealer, squealer, squeal out, you’re so disgusting / You’re just a pig inside / Swine.” And then I sing “swine,” over and over again, in this really, intense kind of emotional voice. This song was really important for me, it was like an exorcism; and the groove and the beat is just so so hard, and it’s so so thrashing, and it’s so so chaotic; and, it’s such a release for me whenever I play it, I just start banging on these drums and start screaming and squealing and, I love this record. | ” |
Performances
| Dates | Location | City | 
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|---|
| 2013 | |||
| Sep 1 | iTunes Festival | London | 
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| Sep 7 | Le Poisson Rouge | New York City | 
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| 2014 | |||
| Mar 13 | South by Southwest (SXSW) | Austin, TX |
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Lyrics
Hush up
Don't speak, don't wanna hear another
(Not another word from you)
You're just an ani-
-Mal trying to act real special
(But deep down you are just a shrew)
Maybe I should have a little more just to stay out of my mind
'Cause it's when I'm not thinking with you that I act like a swine
Act like a swine
Act like a swine
I know, I know, I know, I know you want me
You're just a pig inside a human body
Squealer, squealer, squeal out, you're so disgusting
You're just a pig inside
Do ya? I know, I know, I know you want me
You're just a pig inside a human body
Squealer, squealer, squeal out, you're so disgusting
You're just a pig inside
Swine
Swine
Swine
Swine
Swine
Swine
Be that, hog sweat it you
You squealer
(Let your body jiggle)
Slap her skin-he
Love to watch her ass go wiggle
(It's the feel of ecstasy)
Maybe I should have a little more just to stay out of my mind
'Cause it's when I'm not thinking with you that I act like a swine
Act like a swine
Act like a swine
I know, I know, I know, I know you want me
You're just a pig inside a human body
Squealer, squealer, squeal out, you're so disgusting
You're just a pig inside
Do you, I know, I know, I know you want me
You're just a pig inside a human body
Squealer, squealer, squeal out, you're so disgusting
You're just a pig inside... swine
Swine
Swine
Swine
Swine
Swine
Paint your face, and
Paint his face and catch the beat
Paint your face, and
Paint her face and catch the beat
Paint your face, and
Be a swine, just catch the beat
Bump the weekend
Catch the beat
Ca-catch the beat
Ca-ca ca-ca-catch the beat
Ca-catch the beat
Swine
Trivia
- The song is included in the documentary, The Hunting Ground, which documents the lives of young people affected by rape, and which premiered on January 23, 2015, at Sundance Film Festival
Credits
| Writers | Lady Gaga, DJ White Shadow, Dino Zisis and Nick Monson |
| Producer | |
| Co-producer | Dino Zisis and Nick Monson |
| Recording by | Dave Russell at Record Plant, Hollywood, CA
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| Additional recording | Daniel Zaidenstadt at Record Plant |
| Assistant recording | Benjamin 'Ben' Rice and Daniel Zaidenstadt at Record Plant |
| Mixed by | Tony Maserati at Mirrorball Sudios, North Hollywood, CA
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| Mixing engineering by | Jon Castelli |
| Assistant mixing by | Justin Hergett |
| Additional mixing by | Dino "Speedlove" Zisis |
| Additional programing by | Rick Pearl |
| Background vocals | Nicole Ganther, Natalie Ganther and Lyon Gray |
| Background vocal arrangement | Lady Gaga |
| Union contract administrator | Ivy Skoff |
| Mastering | Gene Grimaldi at Oasis Mastering, Burbank, CA
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| Published by |
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References
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