Does Lady Gaga’s New Song Really Sound Like Taylor Swift?

At the halfway point of Lady Gaga’s newest album, Mayhem, is a song that sounds like anything but the record’s title. “How Bad Do U Want Me” is poppy and lyrical — a mid-tempo serenade not nearly as funky as the album’s signature tracks (“Abracadabra,” “Disease,” “Perfect Celebrity”) nor as weepy as its later ballads (“Blade Of Grass,” “Die With a Smile”). Most notably, its opening synth line calls to mind another semi-recent favorite, Taylor Swift’s “Gorgeous,” off the singer’s 2016 album reputation.

Within hours of Mayhem’s release, Twitter was abuzz with theories that, at their most coherent, suggest Swift was secretly featured on Gaga’s track, and, at their least coherent, make some use of the phrase “reheated nachos.” Would Gaga actually include Swift on a song? It doesn’t seem out of the question, as both stars have made it clear over the years that they like each other and their respective music. While Gaga’s features tend to pop up for her more upbeat, dancier tracks, Taylor often brings out a feature for slower songs. (If there’s any sonic overlap, it’s in their respective work with Florence Welch.) But before anyone could theorize too much, a source (hi, Tree!) told “Page Six” the feature rumors were not true.

As for whether Gaga is ripping off “Gorgeous,” these two songs do sound similar, at least at first. There’s a particular beep-boop-beep-boop that would be hard for anyone but devout fans of either artist to tell the difference between. Both also share a mid-aughts sentimentality and a percussive synth line that pitter-patters throughout. But “How Bad” is far from a Swift knockoff. While this isn’t Gaga’s typical sound, it does call to mind “The Cure,” a not-quite-Gaga, not-quite-Ally single from 2017, as well as some of the lesser-known tracks from Artpop like “Gypsy.”

“How Bad Do U Want Me” is about two versions of Gaga — the good and the bad — and for the bulk of it, she plays that girl in the subject’s head before briefly revealing herself as something uglier and stranger in key and sound. The song is an act of artifice in and of itself. Like Jo Calderone and Ally Maine, the singer in “How Bad Do U Want Me” is a version of Gaga that she can’t commit to, at least not for very long. It stands out amid Mayhem’s clubbier bops because it reveals the pop star that Gaga isn’t and wouldn’t be, even when she tries. That said, if Swift wants to make a song that sounds like “911” one day, we’re all ears.

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