"Venus" is a song written by Lady Gaga with DJ White Shadow in 2012-13 for ARTPOP. She revealed the song title on September 20, 2013 via Twitter. According to Lady Gaga, "Venus" was produced by an "up and coming female producer"; that statement made fans think that the song was produced by Lady Gaga herself. "Venus" serves as the first promotional single from the album. The song was registered on Gaga's BMI on February 14, 2014.
Background
"studio time giving birth to *VENUS*" (September 19th, 2013)"
"Venus" was the last song recorded for the album according to audio engineer, Dave Russell. The song was inspired by "The Birth of Venus" by Sandro Botticelli which is also included on the album cover for ARTPOP. On September 19th, 2013, Gaga posted a picture of her inside the studio booth finishing up vocals for the song.
On October 26th, 2013, Lady Gaga revealed a second snippet of "Venus" publishing it on her official YouTube channel[1] and sharing a link to it via her Twitter after she tweeted for fans to make a vow to spread love with ARTPOP. She described this snippet as "the rise before the orgasm."
"I will release another 'VENUS' snippet if and ONLY if monsters take a pledge and #TrendIt for the world. #iVowToSpreadLoveWithARTPOP"
"I wrote 4 hooks in Venus. The snippet is of the first two before the true chorus. The rise before the orgasm. #StopDigitalHate"
"#2ndVENUSsnippet Produced by Lady Gaga http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8WT2xvr29o … #StopDigitalHate #TheGoddessIsComing"
Lady Gaga talked about the meaning of the song in the track-by-track ARTPOP commentary on Sirius XM.
| “ | "Venus" is the first song that I’ve done that I’ve produced myself. I did work on it a little bit with Madeon, he did some co-production, but this is really like: my record. And this song is, a hybrid of a couple different things. One of those things is Venus, the goddess of love, as we know in Roman and Greek mythology; and then, it’s also about the planets. So, this song is about faith, but it’s also about finding faith in other places — in the beyond — and, my experience with love being something that took me a really long time to find. So, it’s really psychedelic, and it really takes you on a journey, and I sampled Sun-Ra, “Rocket Number Nine,” which was later re-done by a French group, Zombie Zombie. So I kind of got this, a lot of different inspiration from the sort of futuristic-disco-meets-late-70s and jazz and this really kind of gooey deep-groove, and I spent a lot of time working on that bassline, making it just what I wanted it to be. (...) So, this song’s really about sex, but it’s about sex in the most mythological way. | ” |
On April 30th, 2021, during "no skips” ARTPOP party at the Scarlet Bar in Chicago DJ White Shadow revealed "Venus" is the song Lady Gaga plays when she's in a bad mood because "it gets her hyped".
Samples
"Venus" samples "Rocket Number 9" released by French Indie-electro duo Zombie Zombie. Their voices can be heard while Gaga sings "take me to your planet / take me to your leader / take me to your Venus." However Zombie Zombie's song was additionally a sample, as they sampled the famous avant-garde jazz artist Sun Ra's "Rocket Number 9 Take Off to the Planet Venus" (originally released in 1966). The title is also part of the lyrics.
The chorus-buildup and bridge is influenced by Madeon's unreleased track 'Ubelkeit'.
Commercial release
Gaga announced on October 10, 2013 that "Venus" was to be the second single from ARTPOP, with the original release date set for October 27, Gaga later stated that the release date had been pushed forward two days, to October 25. On October 22nd, Gaga confirmed via Twitter that the song's release for second single had been cancelled and would be replaced with "Do What U Want" as the second single due to the commercial success upon release, leaving "Venus" strictly as a promotional single.
Artwork
Artwork for the single was shot by Steven Klein, whom Gaga had worked with on the "Alejandro" video and the Fame fragrance campaign. Three different covers were released on October 24, 2013. The first cover features a nude profile of Gaga with blonde hair and a scorpion between her eyes, she has a deep cut in front of her shoulder. The second cover features a red and blue image of a dead bat with its wings spread out, and the third cover is a full body shot of Gaga naked in a bathroom sporting the same blonde wig as in the first cover. An open clam shell has been placed between her shoulder and nose, covering her mouth. Each cover features a black border around the image with a type-writer style font for the title, and Klein's signature on the bottom right corner.
 Cover one  Cover two  Cover three Most probably, the cover with scorpion attached between Lady Gaga's eyes was inspired by Marina Abramović's black-and-white photographs "Portrait with Scorpion (Closed Eyes)," and "Portrait with Scorpion (Eyes Open)," which date back to 2005. .jpg "Marina Abramović - Portrait with Scorpion (Closed Eyes).jpg (1.39 MB)") .jpg "Marina Abramović - Portrait with Scorpion (Eyes Open).jpg (91 KB)") |
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Performances
| Dates | Location | City | 
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| Dates | Location | Channel |
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| 2013 | |||
| Oct 27 | The X Factor | ITV | 
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| Nov 8 | The Graham Norton Show | BBC One | |
| Nov 28 | Lady Gaga & the Muppets' Holiday Spectacular | ABC | 
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| Nov 28 | SMAPxSMAP | Fuji TV | 
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Music Video
On October 13, 2013, Lady Gaga announced during her Twitter Q&A that the music video for "Venus" would be directed by Ruth Hogben.
Also that day during Twitter Q&A Lady Gaga confirmed that "Venus" music video would be the beginning of an ARTPOP trilogy.
Replying to @sweetm0nster: "@ladygaga IS VENUS THE TELEPHONE CONTINUATION? #ARTPOPquestion 25"
On October 17, 2013, during an interview via phone call on 103.5 KISS FM radio station Lady Gaga revealed some details about "Venus" music video: "I'm working so hard on creating the next video for "Venus", which is my new single. I'm so exited." Right after the answer radio host Angi asked Lady Gaga "What is the concept for this video?" and the singer said:
- "Well, I don't want to tell you too much about the concept for the video, but I'll tell you that the concept of this song is what the song is about. So, Venus is-- I love this song so much. It's inspired by the goddess of love [Aphrodite]. And the goddess of love and many of the gods and goddesses in, like, mythology they relate to different planets. I thought this is really interesting because I always, always love at any point in history when there's some dude perving out over like a super hot blonde."
Interestingly, when answering this question, she stammered a lot, as if she didn't know what to answer or not to say anything superfluous about the music video.
That day, on October 17, 2013, during an interview via phone call on 99.7 NOW radio station Lady Gaga mentioned again that "["Venus"] that's going to be my next single that's we're going to make a video for."
"Venus" was at one point the second official single from Gaga’s ARTPOP, but was sidelined due to the overwhelmingly positive reception towards promotional single "Do What U Want". Despite this, on October 22, 2013, Lady Gaga confirmed via her Twitter account that even as a promotional single the song would still receive its own music video.
On November 28, 2013, Lady Gaga has jokingly previewed the alleged "Venus" music video, posting two short snippets on her Instagram account, describing them as teasers for her music video. Two short clips see a doll version of Lady Gaga with blonde long hair dressed in a seashell bikini top and wearing the multi-coloured make-up which is a special feature of an ARTPOP era.
In an interview for Paper magazine released on May 23, 2021, Ruth Hogben was asked: Does the "Venus" music video exist and, if so, will it ever release? and she answered:
- "You have to ask Bobby [Campbell] that. I can't nor have I ever answered any questions about it. I've been trolled online — called every name under the sun — for that music video. [...] I quite enjoyed it; the fans were really passionate about it. But I think you'll have to talk to Bobby and the legal team about it, though. I'm going to plead the fifth on this one."
Thus it is unclear as to whether or not the video was eventually shot or not.
"G.U.Y." Music Video
"Venus" is featured as the second song from the "G.U.Y." music video. After Gaga arrives at Hearst Castle, two male guards carry her to the Neptune pool, where a flowery head scarf is rested over her body and she is lowered into the pool. It then switches to a scene of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills singing while wearing pink dresses and playing their instruments. The snippet used in the video lasts for only a minute and a half.
Lyrics
Rocket # 9 take off to the planet, to the planet, Venus
Aphrodite lady seashell bikini, garden panty, Venus
Let's blast off to a new dimension, in your bedroom, Venus
Aphrodite lady seashell bikini, get with me, Venus
I can't help the way I'm feelin'
Goddess of Love, please take me to your leader
I can't help, I keep on dancin'
Goddess of Love, Goddess of Love
Take me to your planet (to the planet)
Take me to your planet (to the planet)
Take me to your leader (to the planet)
Your leader, your leader (to the planet)
Take me to your planet (to the planet)
Take me to your planet (to the planet)
Take me to your Venus (to the planet)
Your Venus, your Venus (to the planet)
When you touch me, I die, just a little inside
I wonder if this could be love, this could be love
'Cuz you're out of this World, Galaxy, Space and time
I wonder if this could be love, Venus
Have and oyster baby, it's aphrod-i-sy
Act sleazy, Venus
Worship to the land, a girl from the planet
To the planet (to the planet)
I can't help the way I'm feelin'
Goddess of Love, please take me to your leader
I can't help, I keep on dancin'
Goddess of Love, Goddess of Love
Take me to your planet (to the planet)
Take me to your planet (to the planet)
Take me to your leader (to the planet)
Your leader, your leader (to the planet)
Take me to your planet (to the planet)
Take me to your planet (to the planet)
Take me to your Venus (to the planet)
Your Venus, your Venus (to the planet)
When you touch me, I die, just a little inside
I wonder if this could be love, this could be love
'Cuz you're out of this World, Galaxy, Space and time
I wonder if this could be love, this could be love
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Wonder if this could be love, this could be love
Go-oh-ddess-of-Love-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Wonder if this could be love, Venus
Neptune, go!
Now serve Pluto,
Saturn, Jupiter!
Mercury, Venus (uh, ha)
Uranus,
Don't you know my ass is famous?!
Mars,
Now serve for the gods, Earth serve for the stars
When you touch me, I die, just a little inside
I wonder if this could be love, this could be love
'Cuz you're out of this World, Galaxy, Space and time
I wonder if this could be love, this could be love
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Wonder if this could be love, this could be love
Go-oh-ddess-of-Love-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Wonder if this could be love, Venus
Rocket # 9 take off to the planet, to the planet, Venus
Aphrodite lady seashell bikini, garden panty, Venus
Let's blast off to a new dimension, in your bedroom, Venus
Aphrodite lady seashell bikini, get with me, Venus
I can't help the way I'm feelin'
Goddess of Love, please take us to your leader
I can't help, I keep on dancin'
Goddess of Love, Goddess of Love
Take me to your planet
Take me to your planet
Take me to your leader
Your leader, your leader
Take me to your planet
Take me to your planet
Take me to your Venus
Your Venus, your Venus
When you touch me, I die, just a little inside
I wonder if this could be love, this could be love
'Cuz you're out of this World, Galaxy, Space and time
I wonder if this could be love, Venus
Have and oyster baby, it's aphrod-i-sy
Act sleazy, Venus
Worship to the land, a girl from the planet
To the planet, Venus
I can't help the way I'm feelin'
Goddess of Love, please take us to your leader
I can't help, I keep on dancin'
Goddess of Love, Goddess of Love
Take me to your planet
Take me to your planet
Take me to your leader
Your leader, your leader
Take me to your planet
Take me to your planet
Take me to your Venus
Your Venus, your Venus
When you touch me, I die, just a little inside
I wonder if this could be love, this could be love
'Cuz you're out of this World, Galaxy, Space and time
I wonder if this could be love, this could be love
Go-oh-ddess-of-Love-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Wonder if this could be love, this could be love
Go-oh-ddess-of-Love-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Wonder if this could be love
When you touch me, I die, just a little inside
I wonder if this could be love, this could be love
'Cuz you're out of this World, Galaxy, Space and time
I wonder if this could be love, this could be...
Go-oh-ddess-of-Love-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Wonder if this could be love, this could be love
Go-oh-ddess-of-Love-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Wonder if this could be love, Venus
Credits
| Writers | Lady Gaga, DJ White Shadow[1], Madeon, Dino Zisis[1], Nick Monson and Sun Ra |
| Producer | Lady Gaga |
| Co-producer, arrangements | Madeon |
| Additional production | Nick Monson |
| Recording by | Dave Russell at Record Plant, Hollywood, CA
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| Additional recording | Bill Malina and Ghazi Hourani at Record Plant |
| Assistant recording | Benjamin 'Ben' Rice at Record Plant |
| Guitars | Tim Stewart |
| Bass arrangements | Lady Gaga and Nick Monson |
| Synth parts | Madeon and Nick Monson |
| Union contract Administrator | Ivy Skoff |
| Mixed by | Manny Marroquin at Larrabee North Studios Universal City, CA
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| Assistant mixers | Chris Galland and Delhert Bowers |
| Mastering | Gene Grimaldi at Oasis Mastering, Burbank, CA
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| Excutive Producer and A&R | Vincent Herbert for Streamline Records |
| Management | Troy Carter for Atom Factory |
| Published by |
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| Contains a publishing sample of "Rocket Number 9" written by Sun Ra, courtesy of Enterplanetary Koncepts (BMI), administered by Global Copyright Administration. Contains a sample of "Rocket no. 9" by Zombie Zombie courtesy of Versatile Records. | |
- Although both credited in the album liner notes, the current BMI registration removed them as writers.
References
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