Lady Gaga Honored With ‘Born This Way Day’ On 10th Anniversary

Author Laila Abuelhawa

May 24th, 2021 3:39 PM

Lady Gaga’s album Born This Way celebrated its 10th anniversary this past Sunday, and to mark the occasion, the City of West Hollywood officially declared May 23 “Born This Way Day.”

According to Pitchfork, Gaga was also awarded the key to the city by West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey P. Horvath. Horvath told Gaga, “Thank you for encouraging us to love ourselves and be proud.” A street painting featuring the album’s title was also unveiled today to kick off West Hollywood’s Pride season.

Gaga posted a photo at the event on her Instagram captioning, “Born This Way, my song and album, were inspired by Carl Bean, a gay black religious activist who preached, sung and wrote about being “Born This Way.” Notably his early work was in 1975, 11 years before I was born. Thank you for decades of relentless love, bravery, and a reason to sing. So we can all feel joy, because we deserve joy. Because we deserve the right to inspire tolerance, acceptance, and freedom for all.”

Gaga followed that up with a selfie, writing, “Carl Bean inspired “Born This Way.”❤️🤟”:

Watch the music video for “Born This Way” below:

GALLERY: Lady Gaga’s Top 12 Best Songs Ranked

• 12. “Just Dance”

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  Lady Gaga wrote this song a day after arriving in Los Angeles from New York. The singer-songwriter said, "I was taken very quickly out of my party lifestyle. I wrote it instantly - like it flew out of my body." She explained the meaning of the song as "If you've ever been so high that it's, like, scary, the only way you can deal with it is not deal with it, so you just kind of dance through the intoxication."

• 11. “Bad Romance”

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  This club banger is the lead single from the deluxe edition of Gaga's debut album, The Fame Monster. Lyrically, the song celebrates the passion and desire found in a bad romance novel.

• 10. “LoveGame”

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  Critics appreciated the song's "I wanna take a ride on your disco stick" hook. Gaga had explained that the term "disco stick" is a euphemism for a penis and was inspired by her sexual attraction to a stranger at a night club.
• 9. “Alejandro”

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  Gaga explained the song's meaning about the "purity of my friendships with my gay friends, and how I've been unable to find that with a straight man in my life."

• 8. “Poker Face”

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  The song started trending this year because of a viral TikTok video where a fan reacts to the lyrics of the post-chorus, realizing that Gaga’s singing “f-f-f--- her face”. This revelation in the TikTok community has led to people googling the lyrics to check if it’s true.

• 7. “Applause”

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  Gaga attributes her failing hip influencing the song saying, "When I was finishing the [Born This Way] tour, I was physically breaking. I was in a lot of pain, but didn't know where really. I have a strong threshold for pain, so I kept slapping myself saying, 'Get it together.' The only thing that kept me going was the applause. And I was able to drown out the pain and finish the show."
• 6. “John Wayne”

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  Gaga's Americana craving for a wild, blue-collar man and smoking cannabis. She fantasizes about "a real wild man" like John Wayne. Some critics felt that "John Wayne" might portray Gaga's relationship with her ex-fiancé Taylor Kinney.

• 5. “Joanne”

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  Joanne was Gaga's aunt, who she died of lupus when she was 19. Gaga explained how the song has helped her father to come to terms with the loss of his sister after all these years.

• 4. “Shallow”

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  This is the most awarded song in music history, written and performed by Gaga and Bradley Cooper. It was released as the lead track for their 2018 musical romance drama "A Star Is Born." Gaga wrote it from her character Ally's point of view, with the self-aware lyrics asking each other if they are content being who they are.
• 3. “Telephone”

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  "Telephone" was originally written for Britney Spears's sixth album Circus. However, after it failed to make the album's final track listing, Gaga recorded the song as a collaboration with Beyoncé on The Fame Monster.

• 2. “Judas”

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  Gaga explained that the song was about the incidents that have haunted Gaga in the past as well as honoring one's inner darkness in order to bring oneself into the light. Several religious groups condemned Gaga for the use of religious imagery and her role as Mary Magdalene in the video.

• 1. “Paparazzi”

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  Gaga said that she intended this song to have a few different interpretations, "The song is about a few different things – it's about my struggles, do I want fame or do I want love? It's also about wooing the paparazzi to fall in love with me." Adding, "It's a love song for the cameras, but it's also a love song about fame or love – can you have both, or can you only have one?"

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Author Laila Abuelhawa

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• Entertainment
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• My Kiss Radio

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Lady Gaga