It’s safe to say that the internet is obsessed with Lady Gaga’s new album, Mayhem. The pop culture icon earned her seventh No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart thanks to Little Monsters blasting it on heavy rotation. But if we’re keeping it real, a little song called “How Bad Do U Want Me” might have played a role in Gaga’s skyrocketing streams, despite it not being a single like “Die With a Smile” or “Abracadabra.”
ICYMI, fans started theorizing that Taylor Swift sang backing vocals for the track once Gaga’s album dropped. (Cosmopolitan sources have since debunked the rumor and confirmed that Taylor was not involved in the making of “How Bad Do U Want Me.”) While some likened the song to Tay’s Reputation track, “Gorgeous,” others joked that Gaga snuck into the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) vault as it sonically calls back to the ’80s—aka the same era Taylor’s album was inspired by.
According to Mayhem’s album credits, “How Bad Do U Want Me” was written by Andrew Watt, Henry Walter, Gaga, and her fiancé, Michael Polansky. During an interview on Las Cultaristas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, Gaga revealed that she almost didn’t release the song.
“I was not sure I should put that on the record and Michael was like ‘You have to. Your fans are going to love that song,’” she explained, adding, “Sometimes when things are really, super pop, I get like...I don’t know, I get a weird reaction. I don’t know. I felt the same way with ‘Just Dance.’ Thank god I didn’t listen to myself then.”
To think we almost weren’t blessed with this banger from Mother Monster! Dive into the meaning of Lady Gaga’s “How Bad Do U Want Me” lyrics here (because we already know you’re obsessed).
Lyrics provided by Genius.
[Verse 1]
The good girl in your dreams
Is mad you’re lovin’ me
I know you wish that she was me
How bad, bad do you want me?
You’re not the guy that cheats (The guy that cheats)
And you’re afraid that she might leave (That she might leave)
’Cause if I get too close, she might scream
“How bad, bad do you want me?”
From the jump, the song addresses a subject who’s caught up on a version of Gaga they have in their head. But according to the multihyphenate, it’s not inspired by her real-life fiancé, Michael.
Gaga revealed that they cowrote the song during an interview on Las Cultaristas. “Okay, so very funny story is, Michael and I started that one at home but I started it first. And he heard me singing it, and he walks in the kitchen and goes, ‘Is that about me?’” She explained that it wasn’t about him but that they finished writing the song together.
Sooo, the vibe was pretty much like:
[Chorus]
’Cause you like my hair, my ripped-up jeans
You like the bad girl I got in me
She’s on your mind, like, all the time
But I got a tattoo for us last week
Even good boys bleed
How bad, bad do you want me? (How bad, bad do you want me?)
(How bad, bad do you want me?)
’Cause you hate thе crash, but you love the rush
And I’ll make your hеart weak every time
You hear my name, ’cause she’s in your brain
And I’m here to kiss you in real life
’Bout to cause a scene
How bad, bad do you want me?
On the bombastic chorus, Gaga details how this partner sees her as a bad girl. She goes back and forth about the idea of her versus the real version of herself and repeatedly asks, “How bad do you want me?” On Las Cultaristas, she said that the song “embodies a feeling I’ve had my whole life.”
“I always felt archetyped as the ‘bad girl.’ It’s why the lyric is kind of funny, ‘You like my hair, my ripped up’...that’s so stereotypical, the girl with ripped-up jeans is bad. It’s kind of silly and humorous,” she explained, adding that she’s been “at war” with the fear that her past partners actually wanted to be with good girls.
[Verse 2]
You panic in your sleep (Panic in your sleep)
And you feel like such a creep (Feel like such a creep)
’Cause with your eyes closed, you might peek
So hot, hot that you can’t speak
You’re so fucked up with your crew (Fucked up with your crew)
But when you’re all alone, it’s true (All alone, it’s true)
You know exactly what we’d do
How bad, bad do you want to?
The second verse bridges the fantasy of Gaga with the real version of her, honing in on the subject’s desires to explore their physical connection.
[Chorus]
[Post-Chorus]
Uh-oh, oh, you love a good girl
Uh-oh, oh, you love a good girl bad
Uh-oh, oh, you make a bad girl
Uh-oh, oh, you make a bad girl mad
A psychotic love theme
How bad do you want me?
“A psychotic love theme”...could this be a call back to “Bad Romance” and “Stupid Love”?
[Bridge]
That girl in your head ain’t real
How bad do you want me, for real? (Oh)
Just leaving this clip of Jake Shane here, because we feel like this every time the bridge plays:
[Chorus]
[Post-Chorus]
