Aura

This song is essentially about the distinction between Lady Gaga (the character) vs. Stefani Germanotta (the REAL her) and its importance to Gaga’s relationship with her fans and critics.

In pretty much of all of the interviews that Lady Gaga did about ARTPOP before its worldwide release, she kept saying that the order of the songs on this record was extremely crucial in order to shape the conceptual meaning of the album’s journey, moreso than it has ever been in the past on her other albums. The meaning of this song in particular shows why this is was so significant.

VERSE 1 ANALYSIS:

Aura, which is track 01 on ARTPOP, begins with the lyric “I killed my former.” Gaga is telling us right away that the Lady Gaga we heard on Born This Way is dead. This is going to be a brand new Gaga who we’re going to be exposed to here on ARTPOP. (Interestingly enough, Gaga had been dressing up as the Roman goddess of love Venus ever since the ARTPOP promotional performances started in the summer of 2013, and the second song on the track list is, yup, Venus. So, Aura is literally the DEATH of Gaga’s “former” while Venus is, as Botticelli’s painting states, the BIRTH of Venus - a.k.a. the birth of the new Gaga).

The line “I’m not a wandering slave, I am a woman of choice” is Gaga dismissing the rumors that she has been manufactured by the music industry. Gaga is saying that she isn’t a “slave” of Interscope Records and that the eccentricity that has given her so much notoriety over the years hasn’t been forced onto her as a marketing ploy to sell more singles, but rather, she is “a woman of choice.” In other words, her craziness and weirdness are her choice. She is her own creation. She does it for its artistic implication, as it’s later discussed on other songs off of the CD.

“My veil is protection for the gorgeousness of my face” is probably addressing everyone who says that there is no need for Lady Gaga’s outrageous and over-the-top outfits and masks. Gaga would beg to differ. Her “veil” (masks, make-up, costumes, wigs, etc.) only protect the real her because she has found a certain comfort zone and safety in these theatrical costumes.

“You ought to pity me cause there’s always someone to love” means that you should feel sorry for her because she’s always getting hit on by men who view her exclusively as a sexual object and not as an artist. You know the ones. Those people who only go to her shows to see her in sexy and risqué outfits, and NOT to hear the music.

“But in the bedroom, the size of him’s more than enough” – but if men are going to objectify her, she’s going to objectify men.

CHORUS ANALYSIS:

The chorus, despite being provocative and perhaps even considered raunchy or inappropriate by some, is actually pretty brilliant. When Gaga sings “Do you wanna see me naked, lover?” she is essentially asking: Do you wanna see the human being underneath the wigs and the costumes and the make-up? (“naked” = her natural look). Furthermore, “Do you wanna see the girl who lives behind the aura?” can be translated to “Do you wanna see the Stefani Germanotta who lives underneath the Lady Gaga illusion?”

VERSE 2 ANALYSIS:

“Enigma pop star is fun, she wear burqa for fashion” – This mysterious entertainer known as Lady Gaga is only trying to make you have a good time. Also, she LOVES fashion!

“It’s not a statement as much as just a move of passion” – Not every single thing that she does has to be filled with metaphors and symbolism. Sometimes, she’s just passionate about an idea or an outfit without necessarily trying to make some sort of statement with it.

“I may not walk on your street or shoot a gun on your soil… I hear you screaming, is it because of pleasure or toil?” – Pretty self-explanatory. A commentary about women who wear burqas and the discrimination they face in America. Is Gaga comparing herself to these women? Much like how they are viewed as a threat by ignorant people who believe all Muslims to be terrorists, many hardcore religious fanatics believe Gaga to be a Devil-worshipper and therefore a threat (since she’s a strong advocate of LGBT rights). But much like the burqa-wearers, Gaga isn’t shooting a gun on a soil so stop thinking that she’s dangerous. “I hear you screaming, is it because of pleasure or toil?” is an interesting line because it plays with the idea that some people secretly love Gaga (“screaming of pleasure”) even though they love to complain about her so much (“screaming of toil”).

BRIDGE:

“Dance, sex, art, pop, tech” – These five words, which are sung robotically during the bridge of the song, are references to the topics and themes that are going to be explored on the album within the following 14 songs. If ARTPOP was an essay, these lyrics are the thesis statement and songs #2-15 on the CD are the body paragraphs. Indeed, the rest of the album feature dance-pop songs – some with suggestive, sexual lyrics – that make references to pop culture as well as Renaissance art. And as far as the “tech” part goes, there are many aspects of ARTPOP outside of the actual songs that encompass a lot of technology – namely the ARTPOP app for Smart Phones, Gaga’s Flying Dress which she premiered at the artRAVE, the bubble-making dress that she had TechHaus build for her (yes, it’s actually a dress that makes bubbles), and her trip to outer space in 2014.

Additionally, this song was used in the movie Machete Kills, in which Gaga played a minor role. The song fits her characters perfectly, as Gaga probably wrote Aura with the movie in mind. In the film, Gaga plays one of the faces that the shape-shifting character El Chamaleon morphs into. Because this song talks about wanting to see her real person underneath their character (underneath the “aura”), the song works for the movie too.