Telephone (Lied)

"Telephone" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her second studio album The Fame Monster. The song is due to be released as the album's second single. Gaga originally wrote "Telephone" for Britney Spears, however plans did not go through and Gaga recorded the song herself with American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles as the featured vocalist.

The main inspiration behind the song was Gaga's fear of suffocation. The lyrics portray the singer as preferring the dance floor rather than answer her lover's phone calls. Gaga explained that the telephone addressed in the lyrics of the song, is in reality a person telling her to continue working harder. Musically, the song consists of an expanded bridge, verse-rap and an epilogue where the line is apparently disconnected. Knowles appears in the middle of the song with the verses being sung in a rapid-fire way, accompanied by double beats. Gaga explained that the music video will be a continuation of the video for "Paparazzi", and like "Paparazzi", it is filmed as a short film.

"Telephone" was appreciated by contemporary critics who frequently noted it as a stand-out track from The Fame Monster. The song charted in a number of countries due to digital sales, following the album's release, namely in United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Hungary and the United Kingdom.

Background

Gaga originally wrote "Telephone" for Britney Spears' 2008 studio album, Circus. However, after it failed to make the album's final track listing, Gaga recorded the song as a collaboration with Beyonce Knowles for The Fame Monster. Gaga said, "I wrote it for her a long time ago and she just didn't use it for her album. It's fine because I love the song and I get to perform it now." Additionally, the guest vocalist was originally going to be Spears, but for an unkown reason, Gaga made Knowles the featured vocalist instead. The main inspiration behind the song was Gaga's fear of suffocation as she felt that she seldom found time to just letting it go loose and have fun. She further clarified,

"Fear of suffocation—something that I have or fear is never being able to enjoy myself, [...] 'Cause I love my work so much, I find it really hard to go out and have a good time. [...] "I don't go to nightclubs, [...] You don't see pictures of me falling out of a club drunk. I don't go—and that's because I usually go and then, you know, a whiskey and a half into it, I got to get back to work."

Composition

Vorlage:Listen "Telephone" is written by Lady Gaga, Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, Lazonate Franklin and Beyoncé. Although constructed as a duet, the song features Knowles, first appearing in the middle verse and singing her lyrics through a brief interlude, and backs the chorus during the rest of the song. Essentially, Gaga's in a club and her boyfriend keeps ringing, but she can't talk right now because she's drinking and dancing to her favourite song. The chorus runs thusly: "Stop calling, stop calling, I don't want to talk anymore." The song consists of an expanded bridge, verse-rap and an epilogue where the line is found to be disconnected. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the song is set in the time signature of common time, with a tempo of 120 beats per minute. Gaga's vocals range from the low-note of F₃ to the high-note of C₅. It is set in the key of F minor and has a basic sequence of Fm–AVorlage:Music–Bm–Fm–AVorlage:Music–Bm as its chord progression.

The lyrics of "Telephone", talk about the singer preferring the dance floor rather than answer her lover's call. The verses are sung in a rapid-fire way, accompanied by double beats. According to Gaga, the phone addressed in the lyrics of the song is not a physical phone, but a person in her head telling her to keep working harder and harder. Gaga explained, "That's my fear—that the phone's ringing and my head's ringing, [...] Whether it's a telephone or it's just the thoughts in your head, that's another fear."

Critical reception

Michael Hubbard from MusicOMH said that the song was "probably the best thing here [on The Fame Monster]." He also complimented the "brilliant bridge" and the ending of the song where the caller gets through to her voicemail. Popjustice gave the song a positive review: "It's a little bit like Gwen's 'What You Waiting For?' meets Timbaland's 'The Way I Are' meets about fifty other things....The structure's quite exciting [...] there is something tumultuously brilliant about Beyonce's contribution that makes everything seem fine and as if it was the plan all along." Evan Sawdey from PopMatters said that "The much talked-about Beyoncé collaboration 'Telephone', which—with its double-time beat and rapid-fire verses—proves to be one of the most adrenaline-pumped songs that Gaga has yet crafted, the whole thing feeling like it's about to veer of [sic] the tracks at any moment simply due to the giddy excitement shared between the two divas, easily turning it into the unquestioned highlight of The Fame Monster".

Bill Lamb from About.com listed it among the top tracks on the album and said: "The Beyonce assisted 'Telephone' is a club stomper that will draw in R&B and Hip Hop fans as well on the radio." Mikael Woods from Los Angeles Times felt that "Telephone" is " a carefully considered meditation on how annoying it is when a dude keeps calling you while you're throwing down at the club." Nicki Escuerdo from Phoenix New Times listed "Telephone" as a stand-out track from the album. Sarah Hajhbagheri from The Times was not impressed with the song and said "The appearance of Beyoncé’s vocal alongside ringtones on Telephone adds to the sense of utter chaos."

Chart performance

In November 2009 due to strong digital sales, the song charted in Ireland, Australia, and the United Kingdom, debuting at numbers twenty-six, twenty-nine, and thirty respectively. The song became the top debut on the Billboard Hot 100 issue dated December 12, 2009, at number thirty, due to digital sales. After a few weeks fluctuating down the charts, "Telephone" reached a peak of sixteen on the chart. The song also debuted in the Hot Dance Club Songs chart at fifty-three and has reached a peak of two. It debuted at fourteen on the Canadian Hot 100 and moved to a peak of eight.

In Australia, the song has reached a peak of thirteen. "Telephone" was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipment of 35,000 copies of the single. In New Zealand, the song debuted at thirty-one, becoming the highest debut of that week. On January 18, 2010, the song reached a peak of twenty-one on the chart. It also debuted at thirty-three on the Swedish charts, thirty-five on the Dutch charts and in the top-ten at number three on the Hungarian charts.

Music video

The music video was filmed on January 28th 2010 by director Jonas Åkerlund. New York magazine reported that the concept of the video involved Beyoncé bailing Gaga out of jail. Published photos from the set portrayed Gaga and Beyoncé shooting for scenes of the video in the truck that Uma Thurman's character drove in Quentin Tarantino's 2003–2004 film Kill Bill, called the "Pussy Wagon". The video was shot outside Los Angeles on January 28, 2010 in Lancaster, California. Other concepts of the video involves scenes at a diner, a cameo from singer Tyrese Gibson, and a prison shower scene. Gaga and Beyoncé will wear "destroyed denim pieces" by designers Frank Fernández and Oscar Olima.

On February 5, 2010, Gaga had an interview on KIIS-FM with Ryan Seacrest. She explained that the video is a continuation of the video for "Paparazzi", and like "Paparazzi", it will be a short film. The video picks up where "Paparazzi" left off; she's in jail for killing her boyfriend, but she's actually having a good time behind bars and doesn't want to leave. She is constantly getting phone calls, but refuses to take any until she gets the call she wants. She further commented on the video saying, "I feel so bad for the ‘Bad Romance’ video ’cause the ‘Telephone’ video’s so much better. What I like about it is it’s a real true pop event, and when I was younger, I was always excited when there was a big giant event happening in pop music and that’s what I wanted this to be." Semi Precious Weapons confirmed to MTV news that they have a cameo in the music video. They also revealed that in the video they die. The band's frontman, Justin Tranter announced, "Yeah, we are in the 'Telephone' video and we die in it, [...] And I think that's probably all I'm allowed to tell ... And, I think, what people have already talked about: It's very Tarantino-inspired, sort of like violent melodrama glamor."

Credits and personnel

• Lady Gaga – co-production, songwriting, vocals
• Beyoncé Knowles – Songwriting, vocals
• LaShawn Daniels – songwriting
• Lazonate Franklin – songwriting
• Hisashi Mizoguchi – recording (Knowles' vocals)
• Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
• Mike "Handz" Donaldson – recording, special effects
• Paul Foley – recording
• Rodney Jerkins – songwriting, composition, mixing, production

Source:

Charts and certifcations

Charts

Chart (2009–2010)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	13
Canadian Hot 100	8
Czech Airplay Chart	59
Dutch Top 40	20
Hungarian Singles Chart	3
Irish Singles Chart	26
New Zealand Singles Chart	21
Slovak Airplay Chart	19
Swedish Singles Chart	33
UK Singles Chart	30
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	16
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs	1

Certifications

Country	Certifications (sales thresholds)
Australia	Gold

Release information

Region	Date	Format	Label
United States	January 26, 2010	Airplay	Interscope
Germany	March 12, 2010	CD Single
United Kingdom	March 15, 2010	CD Single, digital download, 7"	Polydor

External links

• Lady Gaga : News : Making Of Telephone Interscope Records