Yoü and I
Encyclopedia
"You and I" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga
, taken from her second studio album
, Born This Way
(2011). Written by Gaga and co-produced
with Robert John "Mutt" Lange, "You and I" is a rock and roll
-influenced song that samples Queen
's "We Will Rock You
" (1977) and features electric guitar
by Brian May
. The song was debuted by Gaga in June 2010 during her performance at Elton John
's White Tie and Tiara Ball. Footage of the performance appeared on the Internet, and positive response encouraged her to incorporate the song into her setlist for The Monster Ball Tour
. She subsequently performed the song on Today to a record crowd in July 2010, and on The Oprah Winfrey Show
in May 2011.
"You and I" was inspired by Gaga's relationship with former boyfriend Luc Carl, and is a slow tempo
song featuring instrumentation from electric guitars
and piano, with Gaga and Lange providing background vocals. The song received positive critical appreciation, with reviewers listing it as one of the highlights from Born This Way. After the release of the parent album, "You and I" charted in Canada, United Kingdom and the United States, due to digital downloads from the parent album. Season ten
American Idol
contestant Haley Reinhart
performed "You and I" in May 2011 prior to its release, earning positive reviews. Her studio recording was released to the iTunes Store
as a single, and appeared on the compilation album
, American Idol Top 5 Season 10.
The accompanying music video for "You and I" was released on August 16, 2011 and was shot by Gaga's long-time collaborator Laurieann Gibson in Springfield, Nebraska
. The video features Jo Calderone, Gaga's male alter ego, who is also featured on the single's cover, and Yuyi, her mermaid
alter ego. The main concept behind the video was Gaga's journey to be with her beloved one; she is portrayed through an assortment of scenes displaying her in various avatars, including Calderone and Yuyi. After its release, the video was met with positive reception.
's White Tie and Tiara Ball in June 2010. She said that the song was bit of a "rock-and-roll tune", predicting that it may not be released as a single
from Born This Way, but that it will remain "very dear" to her heart. Footage of the performance appeared on the Internet soon after, and positive response encouraged Lady Gaga to perform the song during the first concert of the North American leg of The Monster Ball Tour
in Montreal. Gaga told MSNBC
's Meredith Vieira and Ann Curry that "'Yoü and I' was written about the most important person that I ever met." Although Gaga did not confirm who that person is, People
revealed it to be Luc Carl, her former boyfriend she had made amends with. They clarified that "You and I" talked about how they had got back together in their relationship. She further explained how the relationship became the inspiration of "You and I", to Don Sheffield of Rolling Stone
, in their July 2010 issue:
, accompanied with the line: "You will never find what you are looking for in love, if you don't love yourself." It features two black-and-white images of Gaga's male alter ego Jo Calderone, while smoking a cigarette and sporting sideburns. Previously the character of Calderone had made an appearance in June 2011, when Gaga posed as him for a series of photos in London by photographer Nick Knight
and arranged by stylist Nicola Formichetti
. One shot features him wearing a blazer and white T-shirt with his head down and smoking a cigarette. The other image is of Jo Calderone in silhouette puffing out a cloud of smoke. A writer for The Daily Telegraph
of Australia described the images as giving a moody and scruffy look, and felt that Gaga had become "bored with being an outrageous woman and has decided to switch gender instead." Rap-Up
s David Jones commented that Gaga's Calderone character looked similar to musician Bob Dylan
on the cover. Although Steve Pond of Reuters
did not like the song, he praised the artwork adding that "Lady Gaga loves herself even when she's dressed as a guy."
and country music
influences, and samples "We Will Rock You
" (1977) by British rock band Queen
; their guitarist Brian May
is also featured on the track. It was recorded
by Tom Ware and Horace Ward at the Warehouse Productions Studio in Omaha, Nebraska
, and Allertwon Hill in the United Kingdom, respectively. Along with May, Justin Shirley Smith also played guitars, while Gene Grimaldi did the mastering
of the track. Additional recording and programming were done by Olle Romo
. Before production credits were announced in April 2011, Gaga had teased that "someone legendary" would be producing the track. Gaga, a Queen fan, and took her stage name
after their song "Radio Ga Ga
", admitted to "[falling] to the floor crying and laughing" when she found out that May agreed to the collaboration. Lange requested that Gaga record a "rough lead vocal" for the track while she was touring. Gaga later recalled: "I had about 30 cigarettes and a couple of glasses of Jameson and just put on a click track and sang my face off, thinking we'd redo the vocals." However, Lange was satisfied with Gaga's recording and it was used as the final recorded vocals for the track. Ware recalled that the song was recorded the night after Gaga's March 17, 2011, concert for The Monster Ball Tour
. Gaga welcomed his opinions and encouraged his input, which according to him, helped make the four-hour session the best working experience he has had with a celebrity. "She was flattering toward the studio — and Omaha, too, for that matter. She is a bright young lady with remarkable music instincts who charts her own path," he added.
According to the sheet music published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing
, "You and I" is set in common time
with a slow tempo
of sixty beats per minute. It is written in the key
of A major
, and during the song, Gaga's voice spans from the notes of E3 to C5. The song begins with an A–G–A chord progression
, which changes to A–Bm/A–D/A–Bm during the chorus, and back to the former chords afterwards. The lyrics goes like: "It's been a long time since I came around/ It's been a long time, but I'm back in town/ And this time, I'm not leaving without you," describing a whiskey-breathed lover for whom she is pining. Gil Kaufman from MTV News
described it as the "tune eschewed most of her dance flavor, right down to a rollicking barrel-house piano solo." Her voice sounded like growling during the main verses, where she sings the lines "He said, 'Sit back down where you belong, in the corner of my bar with your high heels on, Sit back down on the couch where we made love the first time, and you said to me." The line was inspired by a couch present in Gaga's apartment, where she had in reality made love with Carl and kept it as a memento. Noting the differences between live performances of the song and the studio version, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph
observed that the piano parts were replaced mostly by "fizzing synths, a stomping beat sampled from "We Will Rock You", thundering electric guitars
and backing vocals stacked into shimmering choral walls." Music critic Kitty Empire
, while writing for The Guardian
, described the song as an "umlaut-toting digital country power ballad" with two Bruce Springsteen
references: "born to run" and Nebraska.
Leah Greenblatt complimented the song for its "torchy, slow-burn cabaret quality" and for lacking "Auto-Tune
, fancy production, or performance gimmicks". McCormick, who noted the differences between Gaga's live and studio versions of the song, described the studio version as "bigger, bolder and less quirkily emotive, a custom-built radio rock ballad to induce hand claps in packed stadiums. This is not music for the underground: it is cheesy, high-gloss, pop rock for the mainstream middle, a kind of instant Eighties retro classic to seduce middle-aged rockers – possibly the last demographic to remain sceptical about her appeal." Jody Rosen
of Rolling Stone
called the song a confessional power ballad "with a torrid, sturm und drang
vocal turn". In his review for The Guardian
, Tim Jonze said the song "aims for a 'Hey Jude' style singalong but – owing to its determination to have someone playing kitchen sink in the background – ends up as bloated as Oasis' 'All Around the World'." Dan Aquilante of The New York Post wrote a less-than-favorable review of Born This Way
but complimented "You and I" and the "uniquely earthy quality" that Lange brought to the album. Kitty Empire said the song is Gaga's "unlikely heartland moment – a bid, perhaps, to locate herself as an all-American balladeer as well as an art-disco avatar with tent pegs under her skin", referring to the implants featured in the music video for the song "Born This Way
".
The Dartmouth
Kate Sullivan wrote that "You and I" may be Gaga's most honest song to date. Shirley Halperin from The Hollywood Reporter
wondered whether pop radio would play the song, considering Gaga's popularity. Halperin felt that the track emoted "a sense of grandness that listeners don't always get with Gaga's RedOne-produced heavily-synthetic sounds." Conversely, she felt that the addition of live piano and background vocals by Gaga and Lange added "an undeniably lush quality, while the lyrics drives the song home and potentially into hit territory." Kerri Mason from Billboard
felt that the "country ballad" made no contextual sense. Nekesa Mumbi Moody, while reviewing Born This Way for Florida Today
, compared the song to "Speechless
", a similar tempo song included on The Fame Monster
(2009). Robert Copsey, a writer for the website Digital Spy
gave the song four out of five stars calling it a "torchy, retro-classic, all-American power ballad custom-built for the masses - and one we suspect Stefani would be proud to call her own." Amy Sciarretto of Artistdirect
concluded that the song was "a bit bluesier than anything you'd expect from the dance floor icon." Allmusics Stephen Thomas Erlewine
chose the song as a highlight on Born This Way saying that Gaga shows her vulnerability in it.
at number thirty-six on the chart dated June 11, 2011, after selling 83,000 downloads. According to Nielsen SoundScan
, the song has sold a total of 124,000 digital downloads as of June 2011. The song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 96 on the issue dated August 27, 2011, while debuting on the Pop Songs chart at number 35. The next week, the song was the greatest gainer on the digital chart, entering at number 24 by selling 56,000 copies, while moving to number 35 on the Hot 100. It also gained airplay and became the highest debuting song on the Radio Songs
chart, entering at number 58 with 22 million audience impressions. Following the performance of the song on the MTV Video Music Awards, "You and I" moved up to number 16 on the Hot 100, with a 92% increase in digital sales to 109,000 and 50% increase in airplay to 32 million, according to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems
. The following week, it moved to number six on the Hot 100 with a 61% increase in digital sales to 175,000 and a 32% increase in radio play to 41 million audience impressions, reaching number four and number 23 on the Digital Songs and Radio Songs charts, respectively. "You and I" became Gaga's eleventh consecutive top ten single on the Hot 100. As of October 8, 2011, it has sold 1,003,000 downloads in the U.S alone marking Gaga's tenth song to sell 1 million in the country.
In Canada, the song entered the Hot Digital Songs chart at number 14, consequently debuting on the Canadian Hot 100
at number 27. It entered the charts again at number 45, and has reached a peak of number 10.
Before the single was officially released, it started selling digital downloads in Australia, and subsequently entered the ARIA Singles Chart
at number 56 on August 15, 2011. The next week, the song moved up to number 34, and has reached a peak of number 14. Following the album's release on May 23, 2011, "You and I" entered the UK Singles Chart
at number eighty-nine, due to digital downloads from Born This Way. The song jumped up to number 70 from its previous week's position of number 187, on the issue dated September 3, 2011, and has reached a peak of number 23. In Japan, the song had initially entered the digital chart at number 98, but after the MTV Video Music Awards performance, it entered the Japan Hot 100
at number eight.
, Nebraska
in July 2011 and was directed by Lady Gaga's choreographer Laurieann Gibson. In the video, Gaga walks from New York City to Nebraska to get her boyfriend back. According to Gaga: "I'm walking with no luggage and no nothing and it's just me and my ankles are bleeding a little bit and there's grass stuck in my and I've got this outfit on and it's real sort of New York clothing and I'm sprinting... And the [video is about the] idea that when you're away from someone you love, it's torture," she continued. "I knew I wanted the video to be about me sprinting back and walking hundreds of thousands of miles to get him back."
The music video was announced to be released alongside the 1,000th message posted by Gaga on her Twitter account. Gaga confirmed to MTV News
that the video was set to premiere on August 18, 2011 on MTV. However, two days before the video's television premiere, parts of the clip leaked on the Internet, prompting Gaga to post three tweets which, together, read "FUCK THURS DAY". The messages were immediately followed by her 1,000th Twitter message, "You must love all + every part of me, as must I, for this complex + incomprehensible force to be true," including a link to the full music video, which was uploaded onto Gaga's YouTube
channel two days earlier than the scheduled premiere. The video features Gaga's two alter ego
s: Jo Calderone, Gaga's male ego, and Yuyi, a mermaid
that was hinted to appear in the video in July 2011.
Following the premiere of the video on MTV, Gaga explained some of her inspirations and scenes of the video; "The video is quite complex in the way that the story is told, and it's meant to be slightly linear and slightly twisted and confusing, which is the way that love is", she added. Regarding the sexual intercourse scenes between actor Taylor Kinney
and the singer as a mermaid, Gaga explained that metaphorically it emphasized the fact that sometimes relationships did not work. "No matter what you do, there's this giant boundary between you and someone else. So that's what it's about, perceiving in your imagination that there's something magical inside of you that you can make it work." After revealing that the wedding dress in the video belonged to her mother, Gaga explained the scenes involving the ice cream truck
. According to her, it represented the destruction of her youth, experiences of which she had shared in her earlier interviews. Detailing her decision to include it, Gaga said:
in his hand. She begins to then have flashbacks to her time spent in Nebraska as scenes of Gaga having a wedding, being tortured by a man inside a barn and being inside a water tank
are shown in quick succession. The song starts playing as the camera slowly zooms towards Gaga, who is standing bent forward as she begins singing. The video continually switches to scenes where Gaga, with little make up, a simple gray-colored hair style and a white dress, plays a piano
in the middle of a cornfield, while her male alter ego, Jo Calderone sits on top of the piano, smoking and drinking a beer. As Calderone pulls up his sleeves, present day Gaga is shown still walking through the desert.
During the second verse, a mad scientist, portrayed by Kinney seemingly tortures Gaga, who is wearing a yellow dress with glasses made of barbwire, as another version of the singer with teal-colored hair does a dance routine with her backup dancer
s in a barn. As the chorus begins for the second time, Gaga is portrayed as Yuyi the Mermaid, with gills on her face and neck, as she lies in a tub filled with dirty water. At the end of the chorus, the camera zooms to a brunette Gaga inside a water tank while she sings "You and I!" in the desert scene and in the cornfield with Calderone. Interspersing scenes again show Gaga having her wedding, Yuyi in her tub, and Gaga seated on a chair with a conveyor belt
. During May's guitar solo, Gaga is seen dancing in the cornfield with other dancers dressed in the same white dress, as Yuyi and the scientist kiss. While singing the chorus for the final time, Gaga kisses Calderone in one sequence and runs across the field in another. As the video reaches its conclusion, the tortured Gaga is seen being slid down as the conveyor belt turns on. The video ends with Yuyi and the scientist together in the bath tub, as a depiction of their dream wedding flash across, before a final shot of the barn as the screen turns black.
felt that the video was an improvement from her previous videos, "Judas
" and "The Edge of Glory", saying, "the best moments of the video put a distinctly Gaga-ish spin on the iconography of Americana and traditional love stories." Jillian Mapes from Billboard
wrote, "torture contraptions, mermaid sex, a wedding, bondage in a barn, an ice cream truck, and to top it all off, 'Children of the Corn' and religious overtones thrown in for good measure," and thought of the video as the strangest representation of Nebraska, the video's setting. Leah Collins from Dose
named the video a "great opportunity for the singer to finally find out what it's like to make out with herself." Kyle Anderson from Entertainment Weekly
made note of the video's scene in which Gaga plays a piano in a cornfield alongside her male alter ego: "She’s just Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, playing a piano in the middle of a corn field—with a little making out on the side, of course." Gil Kaufman from MTV News believed that Gaga was not joking when she talked about the video being about the "torture" of being away from the one you love. "And, man, based on the bruising final product, she wasn't kidding," Kaufman concluded. Jocelyn Vena from MTV found influences of Gaga's past videos, in the various avatars that she plays in the music video. She explained that "when [Gaga] stands at a crossroads in a big hat, the image is reminiscent of 'Telephone
' Gaga. When she sits nearly makeup-free at her piano in the cornfields, there are of the teary-eyed makeup-less Gaga from the 'Bad Romance
' video. Flashes of her wedding may remind fans of the wedding dress she wore in the 'Judas' clip. Robot Gaga's facial structures recall some of the steampunk looks of her 'Alejandro
' video. Those are only a few of the nods to past personae from her own videography." Devin Brown from CBS News
felt that Gaga had finally returned to form with the video. "After some visually pleasing but generally lackluster videos, she has finally come out with something to write home about. 'You and I' is arguably the best song on her sophomore release, Born This Way, and now has a video to match." A writer from Slant Magazine
commented that the publication had a mixed reaction to the video, saying that it "is essentially a collection of disconnected images we couldn't make heads or tails of."
. The third fashion film portrayed the singer as the mermaid Yuyi. She sits on a director's chair, flopping her tail. Furthermore, it shows two crew members carrying Yuyi around the barn, where the original video was filmed. Formichetti also makes a cameo in this video too.
's White Tie and Tiara Ball, Gaga performed the song live on television program Today on July 9, 2010, before an estimated crowd of 18,000–20,000 people, the largest ever to pack Rockefeller Plaza. It was next performed on the July 31, 2010, Phoenix stop of the Monster Ball Tour, where Gaga contested Arizona's immigration law SB 1070—which mandates that state police officers "question any person they suspect to be an illegal immigrant and imprison any aliens not carrying one of four allowed forms of proper identification"—and dedicated her performance of "You and I" to a boy whose family was affected by the law. Gaga performed the album version of the track on The Oprah Winfrey Show
on May 5, 2011, using a piano constructed from a wire high-heel structure while sitting on a high stool. The "less organic" version for the final "Harpo Hookups" episode featured an electric guitar
and modified lyrics to include Oprah
's name.
The song was included in the setlist of the HBO television special, Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden
, which originally aired on May 7, 2011, in the United States. Gaga's performance of "You and I" from the HBO special aired on American Idol
, the night after she mentored the four remaining contestants and the week following Haley Reinhart
's performance of the song. A jazz version of "You and I" was performed by her at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Carlisle, Cumbria on May 18, 2011. The album version of the song, was the third performance on the Paul O'Grady Live
show in London, on June 17, 2011. Wearing a dress by the late Gianni Versace
, Gaga was perched atop a New York City inspired fire escape, from where she sang the song. Ryan Love of Digital Spy
had a preview of the show's recording, and said that it was a "real treat" to hear Gaga sing the song. In August 2011, Gaga performed "You and I" on the American talk show program The View. On August 28, 2011, Gaga attended the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards
dressed as Jo Calderone. As Calderone, Gaga opened the show with a four minute monologue, explaining "his" broken relationship with Gaga. Following the monologue, she performed "You and I" while joined on stage by Brian May. On October 6, 2011, she filmed a pre-recorded interview and performance for the single on The Jonathan Ross Show
. Later, on October 16, 2011 she performed the song during a concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles for the Clinton Foundation
.
American Idol
contestant Haley Reinhart
sang "You and I" as one of two performances for the "Songs from Now and Then" episode. It was requested by Jimmy Iovine
, head of Gaga's record label
and Reinhart received Gaga's permission prior to the performance. Reviews of Reinhart's performance were mostly positive. Len Melisurgo from The Star-Ledger
considered the selection to be risky, since the song had not been released, but accepted that Reinhart "sounded amazing" by hitting "some really high notes". Brian Mansfield
from USA Today
described Reinhart's performance as an "old-fashioned dance-hall groove, kind of like a mid-'70s Elton John number. It's perfectly suited to that slippery growl that such a distinctive component of Haley's style. By the end of the song, she turns it into a gospel-style rocker, and she takes it to the house." Mansfield also noted that the American Idol judges—Randy Jackson
, Jennifer Lopez
and Steven Tyler
—reacted positively to it. On the contrary, Jim Farber from New York Daily News considered the choice as risky and was thankful when Reinhart performed a more familiar song for her second round. On May 5, 2011, Reinhart's studio recording of "You and I" was released as a digital single
to the iTunes Store
, and also appeared on the compilation album
American Idol Top 5 Season 10. Mansfield, who had initial misgivings about Reinhart as a singer, complimented her studio recording of the track, feeling that if Reinhart could "get another 10 songs this good when it comes time to cut the record, then all my initial misgivings about this girl will vanish into thin air."
The November 15, 2011 episode of Glee
featured a mash-up of Gaga's "You and I" and Eddie Rabbitt
and Crystal Gayle
's "You and I", performed by Matthew Morrison
and Idina Menzel
. The mash-up sold 23,000 digital downloads, and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100
chart at number 69, on the issue dated December 3, 2011.
Credits adapted from Born This Way album liner notes.
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
, taken from her second studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
, Born This Way
Born This Way
Born This Way is the second studio album by American recording artist Lady Gaga that was released on May 23, 2011, by Interscope Records. The album is a follow-up to her internationally-successful albums The Fame and The Fame Monster...
(2011). Written by Gaga and co-produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
with Robert John "Mutt" Lange, "You and I" is a rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
-influenced song that samples Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
's "We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You
"We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded and performed by Queen for their 1977 album News of the World. Rolling Stone ranked it #330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA placed it at #146 on its list of Songs of the Century...
" (1977) and features electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
by Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
. The song was debuted by Gaga in June 2010 during her performance at Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
's White Tie and Tiara Ball. Footage of the performance appeared on the Internet, and positive response encouraged her to incorporate the song into her setlist for The Monster Ball Tour
The Monster Ball Tour
The Monster Ball Tour was the second worldwide concert tour by American recording artist Lady Gaga. Staged in support of her album The Fame Monster and comprising a set list of songs from that and her debut album The Fame , the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 2009 through 2011...
. She subsequently performed the song on Today to a record crowd in July 2010, and on The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
in May 2011.
"You and I" was inspired by Gaga's relationship with former boyfriend Luc Carl, and is a slow tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
song featuring instrumentation from electric guitars
Electric Guitars
Electric Guitars were formed early in 1980 by Neil Davenport and Richard Hall who were both studying English at Bristol University. The band soon increased to a five-man line-up, with Andy Saunders , Matt Salt and Dick Truscott , they also later added two backing singers: Sara and Wendy...
and piano, with Gaga and Lange providing background vocals. The song received positive critical appreciation, with reviewers listing it as one of the highlights from Born This Way. After the release of the parent album, "You and I" charted in Canada, United Kingdom and the United States, due to digital downloads from the parent album. Season ten
American Idol (season 10)
The tenth season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2011 and concluded on May 25, 2011, on Fox. The show underwent a number of changes from season nine, including the reduction of the judging panel to its original number of just three judges , a returning executive producer, a new music...
American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
contestant Haley Reinhart
Haley Reinhart
Haley Reinhart is an American singer from Wheeling, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois who placed third in the tenth season of American Idol. Reinhart is currently signed to 19 and Interscope Records.-Early life:...
performed "You and I" in May 2011 prior to its release, earning positive reviews. Her studio recording was released to the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
as a single, and appeared on the compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, American Idol Top 5 Season 10.
The accompanying music video for "You and I" was released on August 16, 2011 and was shot by Gaga's long-time collaborator Laurieann Gibson in Springfield, Nebraska
Springfield, Nebraska
Springfield is a city in Sarpy County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2000 census.-History:Springfield was platted in 1873 by a U.S. civil war veteran named J. D. Sprearman...
. The video features Jo Calderone, Gaga's male alter ego, who is also featured on the single's cover, and Yuyi, her mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
alter ego. The main concept behind the video was Gaga's journey to be with her beloved one; she is portrayed through an assortment of scenes displaying her in various avatars, including Calderone and Yuyi. After its release, the video was met with positive reception.
Background
"You and I" was written by Lady Gaga and produced by Gaga and Robert John "Mutt" Lange, and was one of the first songs previewed from the album. Gaga said that the song was written in New York, while she was busy playing her old piano. The singer had first played "You and I" at Elton JohnElton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
's White Tie and Tiara Ball in June 2010. She said that the song was bit of a "rock-and-roll tune", predicting that it may not be released as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from Born This Way, but that it will remain "very dear" to her heart. Footage of the performance appeared on the Internet soon after, and positive response encouraged Lady Gaga to perform the song during the first concert of the North American leg of The Monster Ball Tour
The Monster Ball Tour
The Monster Ball Tour was the second worldwide concert tour by American recording artist Lady Gaga. Staged in support of her album The Fame Monster and comprising a set list of songs from that and her debut album The Fame , the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 2009 through 2011...
in Montreal. Gaga told MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
's Meredith Vieira and Ann Curry that "'Yoü and I' was written about the most important person that I ever met." Although Gaga did not confirm who that person is, People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
revealed it to be Luc Carl, her former boyfriend she had made amends with. They clarified that "You and I" talked about how they had got back together in their relationship. She further explained how the relationship became the inspiration of "You and I", to Don Sheffield of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, in their July 2010 issue:
I wouldn't have been as successful without him [Luc Carl]. I've never really loved anyone like I loved him. Or like I love him. That relationship really shaped me. It made me into a fighter. After I broke up with him, I promised myself I would never love again and would make him rue the day he doubted me. But then I again moved back to him. [It was] love. But, you know, I don't really know much about love... I suppose if I knew everything about love, I wouldn't be good at making music, would I? I wrote this new song 'Yoü and I', it talks about us, me and him.
Release and artwork
"You and I" was announced by Gaga on July 22, 2011 as the fourth single from Born This Way. The single cover for "You and I" was released on August 5, 2011, via TwitPicTwitpic
TwitPic is a website that allows users to easily post pictures to the Twitter microblogging and social media service. TwitPic is often used by citizen journalists to upload and distribute pictures in near real-time as an event is taking place.-History:...
, accompanied with the line: "You will never find what you are looking for in love, if you don't love yourself." It features two black-and-white images of Gaga's male alter ego Jo Calderone, while smoking a cigarette and sporting sideburns. Previously the character of Calderone had made an appearance in June 2011, when Gaga posed as him for a series of photos in London by photographer Nick Knight
Nick Knight (photographer)
Nick Knight OBE is a British fashion photographer, documentary photographer, and web publisher—as director of SHOWstudio.com.-Life and career:Knight studied at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design....
and arranged by stylist Nicola Formichetti
Nicola Formichetti
Nicola Formichetti is an internationally prolific fashion director and fashion editor of mixed Italian and Japanese heritage. He is most widely known as the new creative director for the French fashion house MUGLER, and for being a frequent collaborator with singer-songwriter and performance...
. One shot features him wearing a blazer and white T-shirt with his head down and smoking a cigarette. The other image is of Jo Calderone in silhouette puffing out a cloud of smoke. A writer for The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
of Australia described the images as giving a moody and scruffy look, and felt that Gaga had become "bored with being an outrageous woman and has decided to switch gender instead." Rap-Up
Rap-Up
Rap-Up is a magazine launched in 2001 by founder Devin Lazerine. The publication was originally a website devoted to hip hop, until Lazerine decided to pitch the possibility of a magazine to several publishers. The magazine is focused on the hip hop and R&B aspect of the music industry, and...
s David Jones commented that Gaga's Calderone character looked similar to musician Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
on the cover. Although Steve Pond of Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
did not like the song, he praised the artwork adding that "Lady Gaga loves herself even when she's dressed as a guy."
Composition
"You and I" has rock musicRock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
influences, and samples "We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You
"We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded and performed by Queen for their 1977 album News of the World. Rolling Stone ranked it #330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA placed it at #146 on its list of Songs of the Century...
" (1977) by British rock band Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
; their guitarist Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
is also featured on the track. It was recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
by Tom Ware and Horace Ward at the Warehouse Productions Studio in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, and Allertwon Hill in the United Kingdom, respectively. Along with May, Justin Shirley Smith also played guitars, while Gene Grimaldi did the mastering
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
of the track. Additional recording and programming were done by Olle Romo
Olle Romo
Olle Romo is a music producer, songwriter and drummer.He was the drummer for Eurythmics in the mid-to-late 1980s, and also worked on Dave Stewart's solo albums in the 1990s. During his career he has been a programmer for producers such as Robert John "Mutt" Lange; on albums including Shania Twain's...
. Before production credits were announced in April 2011, Gaga had teased that "someone legendary" would be producing the track. Gaga, a Queen fan, and took her stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
after their song "Radio Ga Ga
Radio Ga Ga
"Radio Ga Ga" is a 1984 song performed and recorded by the British rock band Queen, written by their drummer Roger Taylor. It was released as a single with "I Go Crazy" by Brian May on the original B-side and was included on the album The Works...
", admitted to "[falling] to the floor crying and laughing" when she found out that May agreed to the collaboration. Lange requested that Gaga record a "rough lead vocal" for the track while she was touring. Gaga later recalled: "I had about 30 cigarettes and a couple of glasses of Jameson and just put on a click track and sang my face off, thinking we'd redo the vocals." However, Lange was satisfied with Gaga's recording and it was used as the final recorded vocals for the track. Ware recalled that the song was recorded the night after Gaga's March 17, 2011, concert for The Monster Ball Tour
The Monster Ball Tour
The Monster Ball Tour was the second worldwide concert tour by American recording artist Lady Gaga. Staged in support of her album The Fame Monster and comprising a set list of songs from that and her debut album The Fame , the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 2009 through 2011...
. Gaga welcomed his opinions and encouraged his input, which according to him, helped make the four-hour session the best working experience he has had with a celebrity. "She was flattering toward the studio — and Omaha, too, for that matter. She is a bright young lady with remarkable music instincts who charts her own path," he added.
According to the sheet music published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing is a music publishing company co-owned by The Michael Jackson Family Trust and Sony. The organisation was originally founded as Associated TeleVision in 1955 by Lew Grade. In 1957, ATV acquired Pye Records as a wholly owned subsidiary...
, "You and I" is set in common time
Common Time
"Common Time" is a science fiction short story written by James Blish. It first appeared in the August 1953 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and has been reprinted several times: in the 1959 short-story collection Galactic Cluster; in The Testament of Andros ; in The Penguin Science Fiction...
with a slow tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
of sixty beats per minute. It is written in the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of A major
A major
A major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps.Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor...
, and during the song, Gaga's voice spans from the notes of E3 to C5. The song begins with an A–G–A chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
, which changes to A–Bm/A–D/A–Bm during the chorus, and back to the former chords afterwards. The lyrics goes like: "It's been a long time since I came around/ It's been a long time, but I'm back in town/ And this time, I'm not leaving without you," describing a whiskey-breathed lover for whom she is pining. Gil Kaufman from MTV News
MTV News
MTV News is the news division of MTV, one of the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., as well as some of MTV's related channels around the world. MTV News began in the late 1980s with the program The Week In Rock, hosted by Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent...
described it as the "tune eschewed most of her dance flavor, right down to a rollicking barrel-house piano solo." Her voice sounded like growling during the main verses, where she sings the lines "He said, 'Sit back down where you belong, in the corner of my bar with your high heels on, Sit back down on the couch where we made love the first time, and you said to me." The line was inspired by a couch present in Gaga's apartment, where she had in reality made love with Carl and kept it as a memento. Noting the differences between live performances of the song and the studio version, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
observed that the piano parts were replaced mostly by "fizzing synths, a stomping beat sampled from "We Will Rock You", thundering electric guitars
Electric Guitars
Electric Guitars were formed early in 1980 by Neil Davenport and Richard Hall who were both studying English at Bristol University. The band soon increased to a five-man line-up, with Andy Saunders , Matt Salt and Dick Truscott , they also later added two backing singers: Sara and Wendy...
and backing vocals stacked into shimmering choral walls." Music critic Kitty Empire
Kitty Empire
Kitty Empire is the pen name of a British writer and music critic.Empire was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1970 and brought up in Canada, Italy and Egypt before arriving in Britain in 1988....
, while writing for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, described the song as an "umlaut-toting digital country power ballad" with two Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
references: "born to run" and Nebraska.
Critical reception
After hearing the White Tie and Tiara Ball performance, Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
Leah Greenblatt complimented the song for its "torchy, slow-burn cabaret quality" and for lacking "Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
, fancy production, or performance gimmicks". McCormick, who noted the differences between Gaga's live and studio versions of the song, described the studio version as "bigger, bolder and less quirkily emotive, a custom-built radio rock ballad to induce hand claps in packed stadiums. This is not music for the underground: it is cheesy, high-gloss, pop rock for the mainstream middle, a kind of instant Eighties retro classic to seduce middle-aged rockers – possibly the last demographic to remain sceptical about her appeal." Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen is an American journalist and author. He is the music critic for the online magazine Slate, and the author of White Christmas: The Story of an American Song....
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
called the song a confessional power ballad "with a torrid, sturm und drang
Sturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang is a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s, in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism...
vocal turn". In his review for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Tim Jonze said the song "aims for a 'Hey Jude' style singalong but – owing to its determination to have someone playing kitchen sink in the background – ends up as bloated as Oasis' 'All Around the World'." Dan Aquilante of The New York Post wrote a less-than-favorable review of Born This Way
Born This Way
Born This Way is the second studio album by American recording artist Lady Gaga that was released on May 23, 2011, by Interscope Records. The album is a follow-up to her internationally-successful albums The Fame and The Fame Monster...
but complimented "You and I" and the "uniquely earthy quality" that Lange brought to the album. Kitty Empire said the song is Gaga's "unlikely heartland moment – a bid, perhaps, to locate herself as an all-American balladeer as well as an art-disco avatar with tent pegs under her skin", referring to the implants featured in the music video for the song "Born This Way
Born This Way (song)
"Born This Way" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga, from her second studio album, Born This Way. Written and produced by Gaga, Fernando Garibay, Jeppe Laursen and DJ White Shadow, "Born This Way" was developed while Gaga was on the road with The Monster Ball Tour...
".
The Dartmouth
The Dartmouth
The Dartmouth is the daily student newspaper at Dartmouth College. Founded in 1799, it is America's oldest college newspaper. It is published by The Dartmouth, Inc., an independent, nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire.-History:...
Kate Sullivan wrote that "You and I" may be Gaga's most honest song to date. Shirley Halperin from The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
wondered whether pop radio would play the song, considering Gaga's popularity. Halperin felt that the track emoted "a sense of grandness that listeners don't always get with Gaga's RedOne-produced heavily-synthetic sounds." Conversely, she felt that the addition of live piano and background vocals by Gaga and Lange added "an undeniably lush quality, while the lyrics drives the song home and potentially into hit territory." Kerri Mason from Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
felt that the "country ballad" made no contextual sense. Nekesa Mumbi Moody, while reviewing Born This Way for Florida Today
Florida Today
Florida Today is the major daily newspaper serving Brevard County. The Gannett corporation bought the paper in 1966.In addition to its regular daily publication, Florida Today publishes four weekly and eight biweekly community newspapers which are tailored for distinct neighborhoods within Brevard...
, compared the song to "Speechless
Speechless (Lady Gaga song)
"Speechless" is a song written and performed by American recording artist Lady Gaga, from her third EP The Fame Monster. The song was written by Gaga to convince her father, Joseph Germanotta, to undergo open-heart surgery, in order to repair his malfunctioning aortic valve, and as a reminder for...
", a similar tempo song included on The Fame Monster
The Fame Monster
The Fame Monster is the third EP by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released on November 18, 2009 through Interscope Records. Initially planned to be included on a re-release of Gaga's debut studio album, The Fame, she announced that the eight tracks would be included on a standalone...
(2009). Robert Copsey, a writer for the website Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
gave the song four out of five stars calling it a "torchy, retro-classic, all-American power ballad custom-built for the masses - and one we suspect Stefani would be proud to call her own." Amy Sciarretto of Artistdirect
ARTISTdirect
Founded in 1994, Artistdirect, Inc. is an online digital media entertainment company. It owns several websites including Artistdirect.com, UBL.com and the Artistdirect Network...
concluded that the song was "a bit bluesier than anything you'd expect from the dance floor icon." Allmusics Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
chose the song as a highlight on Born This Way saying that Gaga shows her vulnerability in it.
Chart performance
In the United States, "You and I" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
at number thirty-six on the chart dated June 11, 2011, after selling 83,000 downloads. According to Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
, the song has sold a total of 124,000 digital downloads as of June 2011. The song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 96 on the issue dated August 27, 2011, while debuting on the Pop Songs chart at number 35. The next week, the song was the greatest gainer on the digital chart, entering at number 24 by selling 56,000 copies, while moving to number 35 on the Hot 100. It also gained airplay and became the highest debuting song on the Radio Songs
Radio Songs
Radio Songs is an album of duo Robin and Linda Williams on the Red House Records label, released in 2007.Radio Songs consists of recordings made when performing on Garrison Keillor's NPR radio program A Prairie Home Companion. Although Robin and Linda first appeared on the show regularly in 1976,...
chart, entering at number 58 with 22 million audience impressions. Following the performance of the song on the MTV Video Music Awards, "You and I" moved up to number 16 on the Hot 100, with a 92% increase in digital sales to 109,000 and 50% increase in airplay to 32 million, according to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems
Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems
Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, better known as BDS, is a service that tracks monitored radio, television and internet airplay of songs based on the number of spins and detections...
. The following week, it moved to number six on the Hot 100 with a 61% increase in digital sales to 175,000 and a 32% increase in radio play to 41 million audience impressions, reaching number four and number 23 on the Digital Songs and Radio Songs charts, respectively. "You and I" became Gaga's eleventh consecutive top ten single on the Hot 100. As of October 8, 2011, it has sold 1,003,000 downloads in the U.S alone marking Gaga's tenth song to sell 1 million in the country.
In Canada, the song entered the Hot Digital Songs chart at number 14, consequently debuting on the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
at number 27. It entered the charts again at number 45, and has reached a peak of number 10.
Before the single was officially released, it started selling digital downloads in Australia, and subsequently entered the ARIA Singles Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
at number 56 on August 15, 2011. The next week, the song moved up to number 34, and has reached a peak of number 14. Following the album's release on May 23, 2011, "You and I" entered the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
at number eighty-nine, due to digital downloads from Born This Way. The song jumped up to number 70 from its previous week's position of number 187, on the issue dated September 3, 2011, and has reached a peak of number 23. In Japan, the song had initially entered the digital chart at number 98, but after the MTV Video Music Awards performance, it entered the Japan Hot 100
Japan Hot 100
The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com ....
at number eight.
Background
The music video for "You and I" was filmed in SpringfieldSpringfield, Nebraska
Springfield is a city in Sarpy County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2000 census.-History:Springfield was platted in 1873 by a U.S. civil war veteran named J. D. Sprearman...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
in July 2011 and was directed by Lady Gaga's choreographer Laurieann Gibson. In the video, Gaga walks from New York City to Nebraska to get her boyfriend back. According to Gaga: "I'm walking with no luggage and no nothing and it's just me and my ankles are bleeding a little bit and there's grass stuck in my and I've got this outfit on and it's real sort of New York clothing and I'm sprinting... And the [video is about the] idea that when you're away from someone you love, it's torture," she continued. "I knew I wanted the video to be about me sprinting back and walking hundreds of thousands of miles to get him back."
The music video was announced to be released alongside the 1,000th message posted by Gaga on her Twitter account. Gaga confirmed to MTV News
MTV News
MTV News is the news division of MTV, one of the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., as well as some of MTV's related channels around the world. MTV News began in the late 1980s with the program The Week In Rock, hosted by Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent...
that the video was set to premiere on August 18, 2011 on MTV. However, two days before the video's television premiere, parts of the clip leaked on the Internet, prompting Gaga to post three tweets which, together, read "FUCK THURS DAY". The messages were immediately followed by her 1,000th Twitter message, "You must love all + every part of me, as must I, for this complex + incomprehensible force to be true," including a link to the full music video, which was uploaded onto Gaga's YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel two days earlier than the scheduled premiere. The video features Gaga's two alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
s: Jo Calderone, Gaga's male ego, and Yuyi, a mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
that was hinted to appear in the video in July 2011.
Following the premiere of the video on MTV, Gaga explained some of her inspirations and scenes of the video; "The video is quite complex in the way that the story is told, and it's meant to be slightly linear and slightly twisted and confusing, which is the way that love is", she added. Regarding the sexual intercourse scenes between actor Taylor Kinney
Taylor Kinney
-Early life:Kinney was raised in Neffsville, Pennsylvania along with his three brothers by his single mother and studied business management at West Virginia University before developing an interest in acting.-Acting career:...
and the singer as a mermaid, Gaga explained that metaphorically it emphasized the fact that sometimes relationships did not work. "No matter what you do, there's this giant boundary between you and someone else. So that's what it's about, perceiving in your imagination that there's something magical inside of you that you can make it work." After revealing that the wedding dress in the video belonged to her mother, Gaga explained the scenes involving the ice cream truck
Ice cream van
An ice cream van or ice cream truck is a commercial vehicle which serves as a travelling retail outlet for ice cream, usually during the summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or near parks, beaches, or other areas where people congregate...
. According to her, it represented the destruction of her youth, experiences of which she had shared in her earlier interviews. Detailing her decision to include it, Gaga said:
That's how I wanted to open the video, because I think it really sets up the rest of the story. It allows you to imagine you yourself are not just one person; you're so many. That person has so many stories and memories to draw from, and they all affect your journey profusely. I'm battered quite brutally at the beginning of the video, but at the end, I'm not battered; I'm a bit strange. It's not meant to be an answer video; it's meant to be a profuse number of the question.
Synopsis
The music video begins with Gaga, dressed in black clothing, sunglasses, bloody feet and seemingly bionic features, walking through a field in Nebraska; having returned on foot after years of absence. Gaga goes to buy ice cream from an ice cream truck, but she suddenly drops it as a toothless man grins at her with a dollDoll
A doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...
in his hand. She begins to then have flashbacks to her time spent in Nebraska as scenes of Gaga having a wedding, being tortured by a man inside a barn and being inside a water tank
Water tank
A Water tank is a container for storing water. The need for a water tank is as old as civilized man, providing storage of water for drinking water, irrigation agriculture, fire suppression, agricultural farming, both for plants and livestock, chemical manufacturing, food preparation as well as many...
are shown in quick succession. The song starts playing as the camera slowly zooms towards Gaga, who is standing bent forward as she begins singing. The video continually switches to scenes where Gaga, with little make up, a simple gray-colored hair style and a white dress, plays a piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
in the middle of a cornfield, while her male alter ego, Jo Calderone sits on top of the piano, smoking and drinking a beer. As Calderone pulls up his sleeves, present day Gaga is shown still walking through the desert.
During the second verse, a mad scientist, portrayed by Kinney seemingly tortures Gaga, who is wearing a yellow dress with glasses made of barbwire, as another version of the singer with teal-colored hair does a dance routine with her backup dancer
Backup dancer
A backup dancer is a performer who dances with or behind the lead performers in a live musical act or in a music video. Their movements provide a visual symmetry and rhythm to accompany the music....
s in a barn. As the chorus begins for the second time, Gaga is portrayed as Yuyi the Mermaid, with gills on her face and neck, as she lies in a tub filled with dirty water. At the end of the chorus, the camera zooms to a brunette Gaga inside a water tank while she sings "You and I!" in the desert scene and in the cornfield with Calderone. Interspersing scenes again show Gaga having her wedding, Yuyi in her tub, and Gaga seated on a chair with a conveyor belt
Conveyor belt
A conveyor belt consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley...
. During May's guitar solo, Gaga is seen dancing in the cornfield with other dancers dressed in the same white dress, as Yuyi and the scientist kiss. While singing the chorus for the final time, Gaga kisses Calderone in one sequence and runs across the field in another. As the video reaches its conclusion, the tortured Gaga is seen being slid down as the conveyor belt turns on. The video ends with Yuyi and the scientist together in the bath tub, as a depiction of their dream wedding flash across, before a final shot of the barn as the screen turns black.
Reception
Following its premature release on the web, the music video for "You and I" was met with positive reviews. Matthew Perpetua from Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
felt that the video was an improvement from her previous videos, "Judas
Judas (song)
"Judas" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga, taken from her second studio album Born This Way . The song was released worldwide on April 15, 2011, four days ahead of its scheduled release, by Interscope Records. Written and produced by Lady Gaga and RedOne, "Judas" is a dance song that...
" and "The Edge of Glory", saying, "the best moments of the video put a distinctly Gaga-ish spin on the iconography of Americana and traditional love stories." Jillian Mapes from Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
wrote, "torture contraptions, mermaid sex, a wedding, bondage in a barn, an ice cream truck, and to top it all off, 'Children of the Corn' and religious overtones thrown in for good measure," and thought of the video as the strangest representation of Nebraska, the video's setting. Leah Collins from Dose
Dose (magazine)
Dose is a daily Canadian news website and former daily print magazine.Dose was a mixture of standalone features and coverage of daily news, sometimes from an irreverent perspective...
named the video a "great opportunity for the singer to finally find out what it's like to make out with herself." Kyle Anderson from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
made note of the video's scene in which Gaga plays a piano in a cornfield alongside her male alter ego: "She’s just Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, playing a piano in the middle of a corn field—with a little making out on the side, of course." Gil Kaufman from MTV News believed that Gaga was not joking when she talked about the video being about the "torture" of being away from the one you love. "And, man, based on the bruising final product, she wasn't kidding," Kaufman concluded. Jocelyn Vena from MTV found influences of Gaga's past videos, in the various avatars that she plays in the music video. She explained that "when [Gaga] stands at a crossroads in a big hat, the image is reminiscent of 'Telephone
Telephone (song)
"Telephone" is a song written and performed by Lady Gaga. It was released from her third extended play and second major release The Fame Monster . The song, featuring American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles, was written by Gaga and Rodney Jerkins...
' Gaga. When she sits nearly makeup-free at her piano in the cornfields, there are of the teary-eyed makeup-less Gaga from the 'Bad Romance
Bad Romance
"Bad Romance" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released as the lead single from her third extended play , and second major release The Fame Monster . Written by Lady Gaga and produced by RedOne, the track was inspired by Gaga's fear of negative love relationships and the...
' video. Flashes of her wedding may remind fans of the wedding dress she wore in the 'Judas' clip. Robot Gaga's facial structures recall some of the steampunk looks of her 'Alejandro
Alejandro (song)
"Alejandro" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released as the third single from her third extended play and second major release The Fame Monster...
' video. Those are only a few of the nods to past personae from her own videography." Devin Brown from CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
felt that Gaga had finally returned to form with the video. "After some visually pleasing but generally lackluster videos, she has finally come out with something to write home about. 'You and I' is arguably the best song on her sophomore release, Born This Way, and now has a video to match." A writer from Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
commented that the publication had a mixed reaction to the video, saying that it "is essentially a collection of disconnected images we couldn't make heads or tails of."
Fashion films
On September 1, 2011, Gaga announced on her Twitter account that she had shot five "fashion films" related to the music video of the song, with Dutch photographer duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. After the tweet, Gaga released the first video, titled "Haus of Ü Featuring Nymph". The two-minute black-and-white video featured Gaga with minimal make-up and performing ballet choreography, while wearing a short dress. As wind blows around her, the singer looks intently towards the camera, with the parting shot being in color film. The second video featured her as the bride from the opening sequence of the original video. The fashion film portrayed her in the same costume, gradually removing it and her wig. At the end, she becomes topless with her hand covering her breasts. Interspersed between are scenes portraying people dressed like Gaga, and appearances by Taylor Kinney from the music video and the singer's stylist Nicola FormichettiNicola Formichetti
Nicola Formichetti is an internationally prolific fashion director and fashion editor of mixed Italian and Japanese heritage. He is most widely known as the new creative director for the French fashion house MUGLER, and for being a frequent collaborator with singer-songwriter and performance...
. The third fashion film portrayed the singer as the mermaid Yuyi. She sits on a director's chair, flopping her tail. Furthermore, it shows two crew members carrying Yuyi around the barn, where the original video was filmed. Formichetti also makes a cameo in this video too.
Live performances
After the first performance of "You and I" at Elton JohnElton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
's White Tie and Tiara Ball, Gaga performed the song live on television program Today on July 9, 2010, before an estimated crowd of 18,000–20,000 people, the largest ever to pack Rockefeller Plaza. It was next performed on the July 31, 2010, Phoenix stop of the Monster Ball Tour, where Gaga contested Arizona's immigration law SB 1070—which mandates that state police officers "question any person they suspect to be an illegal immigrant and imprison any aliens not carrying one of four allowed forms of proper identification"—and dedicated her performance of "You and I" to a boy whose family was affected by the law. Gaga performed the album version of the track on The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
on May 5, 2011, using a piano constructed from a wire high-heel structure while sitting on a high stool. The "less organic" version for the final "Harpo Hookups" episode featured an electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and modified lyrics to include Oprah
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
's name.
The song was included in the setlist of the HBO television special, Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden
Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden
Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden is a 2011 concert special documenting the February 21 and 22, 2011 shows of American pop singer Lady Gaga's The Monster Ball Tour...
, which originally aired on May 7, 2011, in the United States. Gaga's performance of "You and I" from the HBO special aired on American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
, the night after she mentored the four remaining contestants and the week following Haley Reinhart
Haley Reinhart
Haley Reinhart is an American singer from Wheeling, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois who placed third in the tenth season of American Idol. Reinhart is currently signed to 19 and Interscope Records.-Early life:...
's performance of the song. A jazz version of "You and I" was performed by her at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Carlisle, Cumbria on May 18, 2011. The album version of the song, was the third performance on the Paul O'Grady Live
Paul O'Grady Live
Paul O'Grady Live was a British comedy chat show hosted by Paul O'Grady, that began airing on 10 September 2010 on ITV1 and ITV1 HD/STV HD/UTV HD in the United Kingdom. The show is a Friday night chat show that features a mixture of celebrity guests, airing at 21:00. The show culminates with...
show in London, on June 17, 2011. Wearing a dress by the late Gianni Versace
Gianni Versace
Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Gianni Versace S.p.A., an international fashion house, which produces accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings as well as clothes. He also designed costumes for the theatre and films, and was a friend of Madonna, Elton John,...
, Gaga was perched atop a New York City inspired fire escape, from where she sang the song. Ryan Love of Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
had a preview of the show's recording, and said that it was a "real treat" to hear Gaga sing the song. In August 2011, Gaga performed "You and I" on the American talk show program The View. On August 28, 2011, Gaga attended the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards
2011 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards took place on August 28, at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. On July 20, the nominees were announced...
dressed as Jo Calderone. As Calderone, Gaga opened the show with a four minute monologue, explaining "his" broken relationship with Gaga. Following the monologue, she performed "You and I" while joined on stage by Brian May. On October 6, 2011, she filmed a pre-recorded interview and performance for the single on The Jonathan Ross Show
The Jonathan Ross Show
The Jonathan Ross Show is a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2011 - in the Saturday 9:45pm timeslot - following the conclusion of Ross' BBC One chat show, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, in July 2010.-Production:The show is filmed...
. Later, on October 16, 2011 she performed the song during a concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles for the Clinton Foundation
Clinton Foundation
The William J. Clinton Foundation is a foundation established by former President of the United States Bill Clinton with the stated mission to "strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence." The Foundation focuses on four critical areas:...
.
Cover versions
Prior to the release of Born This Way, season tenAmerican Idol (season 10)
The tenth season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2011 and concluded on May 25, 2011, on Fox. The show underwent a number of changes from season nine, including the reduction of the judging panel to its original number of just three judges , a returning executive producer, a new music...
American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
contestant Haley Reinhart
Haley Reinhart
Haley Reinhart is an American singer from Wheeling, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois who placed third in the tenth season of American Idol. Reinhart is currently signed to 19 and Interscope Records.-Early life:...
sang "You and I" as one of two performances for the "Songs from Now and Then" episode. It was requested by Jimmy Iovine
Jimmy Iovine
James "Jimmy" Iovine is an American music producer, entrepreneur and chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M.-Biography:...
, head of Gaga's record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
and Reinhart received Gaga's permission prior to the performance. Reviews of Reinhart's performance were mostly positive. Len Melisurgo from The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
considered the selection to be risky, since the song had not been released, but accepted that Reinhart "sounded amazing" by hitting "some really high notes". Brian Mansfield
Brian Mansfield
Brian Mansfield is an American writer and journalist. A longtime music writer and critic for USA Today, Mansfield is also the writer/producer of syndicated weekly radio program America's Opry Weekend for American radio network Dial Global Radio Networks and author and co-author of a number of books...
from USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
described Reinhart's performance as an "old-fashioned dance-hall groove, kind of like a mid-'70s Elton John number. It's perfectly suited to that slippery growl that such a distinctive component of Haley's style. By the end of the song, she turns it into a gospel-style rocker, and she takes it to the house." Mansfield also noted that the American Idol judges—Randy Jackson
Randy Jackson
Randall Darius "Randy" Jackson is an American bassist, singer, record producer, music manager, A&R executive, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is best known as a judge on American Idol and executive producer for MTV's America's Best Dance Crew...
, Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
and Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the frontman and lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is known as the "Demon of Screamin'", due to his high screams...
—reacted positively to it. On the contrary, Jim Farber from New York Daily News considered the choice as risky and was thankful when Reinhart performed a more familiar song for her second round. On May 5, 2011, Reinhart's studio recording of "You and I" was released as a digital single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
to the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
, and also appeared on the compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
American Idol Top 5 Season 10. Mansfield, who had initial misgivings about Reinhart as a singer, complimented her studio recording of the track, feeling that if Reinhart could "get another 10 songs this good when it comes time to cut the record, then all my initial misgivings about this girl will vanish into thin air."
The November 15, 2011 episode of Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
featured a mash-up of Gaga's "You and I" and Eddie Rabbitt
Eddie Rabbitt
Edward Thomas "Eddie" Rabbitt was an American singer-songwriter and musician. His career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974...
and Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...
's "You and I", performed by Matthew Morrison
Matthew Morrison
Matthew James "Matt" Morrison is an American actor, director, musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, and most notably for his Emmy and Golden Globe nominated...
and Idina Menzel
Idina Menzel
Idina Kim Menzel is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She is widely known for originating the roles of Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked.-Early life:...
. The mash-up sold 23,000 digital downloads, and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart at number 69, on the issue dated December 3, 2011.
Track listing
- Digital download
- "You and I" (Radio Edit) – 4:06
- "You and I" (Mark TaylorMark Taylor (record producer)Mark Taylor is a Grammy Award winning British record producer and songwriter. Having sold over 50 million records, he has produced and written for artists such as Cher, Enrique Iglesias, Britney Spears, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Kylie Minogue, and Lady Gaga...
Radio Edit) – 3:55
- CD single
- "You and I" (Radio Edit) – 4:07
- "You and I" (Mark TaylorMark Taylor (record producer)Mark Taylor is a Grammy Award winning British record producer and songwriter. Having sold over 50 million records, he has produced and written for artists such as Cher, Enrique Iglesias, Britney Spears, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Kylie Minogue, and Lady Gaga...
Radio Edit) – 3:56
- UK 7" Picture Disc
- "You and I" (Wild Beasts Remix) – 3:51
- "You and I" (Metronomy Remix) – 4:20
- You and I – The Remixes
- "You and I" (Wild BeastsWild BeastsWild Beasts are an indie rock band from Kendal in Cumbria. They released their first single, "Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants", on Bad Sneakers Records in November 2006, and subsequently signed to Domino Records. They have released three acclaimed albums, Limbo, Panto in 2008, Two Dancers in...
Remix) – 3:51 - "You and I" (Mark TaylorMark Taylor (record producer)Mark Taylor is a Grammy Award winning British record producer and songwriter. Having sold over 50 million records, he has produced and written for artists such as Cher, Enrique Iglesias, Britney Spears, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Kylie Minogue, and Lady Gaga...
Remix) – 5:02 - "You and I" (10 Kings Remix) – 4:29
- "You and I" (ATBATBATB may refer to:*The US Reorder tone is often referred to as an ATB, for All Trunks Busy*Active Time Battle system is a feature of role-playing games*Mountain bike is an off-road bicycle...
Remix) – 8:08 - "You and I" (MetronomyMetronomyMetronomy are an electronic music group formed by Joseph Mount in Totnes, Devon, England in 1999. The current band consists of Joseph Mount , Anna Prior , Oscar Cash and Gbenga Adelekan...
Remix) – 4:20 - "You and I" (Danny Verde Remix) – 7:48
- "You and I" (Hector FonsecaHector FonsecaHector Fonseca is an internationally acclaimed house music DJ. In addition to his production and DJ work, Fonseca is presently one of the music industry’s most requested remixers due to his ability to transform many commercially released songs into club hits.-Early years:Raised in suburban...
Remix) – 8:03
Credits and personnel
- Lady GagaLady GaGaStefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
– vocals, songwriter, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, background vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists... - Robert John "Mutt" Lange – producer, background vocals, audio mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
- Tom Ware & Horace Ward – recording at Warehouse Productions, Omaha, NebraskaOmaha, NebraskaOmaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
- Olle RomoOlle RomoOlle Romo is a music producer, songwriter and drummer.He was the drummer for Eurythmics in the mid-to-late 1980s, and also worked on Dave Stewart's solo albums in the 1990s. During his career he has been a programmer for producers such as Robert John "Mutt" Lange; on albums including Shania Twain's...
– programming and additional recording in SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and Allertown Hill, United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... - Brian MayBrian MayBrian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Justin Shirley Smith – guitar recording
- Gene Grimaldi – audio masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
at Oasis Mastering, Burbank, CaliforniaBurbank, CaliforniaBurbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
- Contains elements from "We Will Rock YouWe Will Rock You"We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded and performed by Queen for their 1977 album News of the World. Rolling Stone ranked it #330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA placed it at #146 on its list of Songs of the Century...
" by QueenQueen (band)Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
Credits adapted from Born This Way album liner notes.
Charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
14 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 8 |
| Belgian Tip Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... (Flanders) |
4 |
| Belgian Tip Chart (Wallonia) | 4 |
| Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... |
10 |
| Czech Airplay Chart Rádio Top 100 Oficiální Rádio Top 100 Oficiální is the name of the Czech national airplay chart published by the IFPI Czech Republic on a weekly basis.Besides the main Top 100 record chart, also two component charts are effective. While the Rádio CZ 50 Oficiální features songs released exclusively by Czech and/or Slovak... |
26 |
| French Singles Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
98 |
| German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
21 |
| Hungarian Airplay Chart Mahasz Mahasz is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. Mahasz hands out the Hungarian Music Awards and maintains the music charts for Hungary.... |
24 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
32 |
| Italian Singles Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
19 |
| Japan Hot 100 Japan Hot 100 The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com .... |
8 |
| Netherlands Single Top 100 | 83 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
5 |
| Scottish Singles Chart | 18 |
| Slovak Airplay Chart Rádio Top 100 Oficiálna Rádio Top 100 Oficiálna is the name of the Slovakian national airplay chart published by the IFPI Czech Republic on a weekly basis since the cancellation of the Slovakian national section on December 31, 2009.... |
18 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 32 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
23 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
6 |
| US Adult Contemporary | 24 |
| US Adult Pop Songs | 6 |
| US Hot Dance Club Songs | 1 |
| US Pop Songs | 7 |
Certifications
| Country | Certifications |
|---|---|
| Australia Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
Gold |
| New Zealand Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
Gold |
Radio and release history
| Country | Date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| United States | August 23, 2011 | Mainstream Contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts... radio |
| September 20, 2011 | Digital Download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... – The Remixes |
|
| United Kingdom | September 18, 2011 | Digital download |
| September 26, 2011 | 7" Picture disc Gramophone record A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove... |
|
| Germany | September 30, 2011 | CD single |
External links
- Official lyrics of "You and I" LadyGaga.com