The Truth Behind Rumors Taylor Swift Is Secretly on Lady Gaga’s New Album as Fans Called It a ‘Parody’ of Reputation
Lady Gaga just released her wildly anticipated sixth album Mayhem, and many fans are comparing one of her songs to the songs of another pop darling.
Hours before the album’s release, rumors started to spread on social media that Taylor Swift was going to be on it. “Taylor Swift *allegedly* is singing the background vocals of Lady Gaga’s song ‘How Bad Do You Want Me,'” a Swftie account posted.
The track is written by Lady Gaga, her fiance Michael Polansky, watt, and Cirkut, and fans really took a closer look at its structure and inflections. Fans noticed that it even mimics Taylor’s hits from Reputation and other songs from 2014 to 2019. “gaga reheated her AND taylor’s nachos on ‘how bad do you want me’ like mama that’s literally gorgeous and hits different,” one fan posted on X. Another fan posted, “How Bad Do U Want Me really sounds like Gaga tried to do a parody of a Taylor Swift song and it ends up sounding exactly like her actual songs cause her songs actually are pop parody
Even critics found that the song had some Swift-isms sprinkled onto it. “On an album that feels decidedly Gaga, “How Bad” feels like one of the only songs that doesn’t fit her vision, with lyrics and melodies that feel more in tune for an artist like Taylor Swift,” Stephen Daw wrote for Billboard. The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis wrote that it “devolves into a song over which the melodic influence of Taylor Swift hangs a little too obviously.” So, the question is: did she have a hand in writing the song?
Is Taylor Swift on Lady Gaga’s “How Bad Do U Want Me?”
Unfortunately for Swifties and Little Monsters, it looks like Taylor Swift isn’t on “How Bad Do U Want Me.” Taylor Swift isn’t in the album credits, and it doesn’t look like she’ll be added any time soon. The theory was debunked when a source told Page Six that the speculation was “untrue.”
Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga have been mutually supportive of each other. “Not pregnant–just down bad cryin at the gym,” reads the message across Gaga’s TikTok, referencing Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department track. “Can we all agree that it’s invasive & irresponsible to comment on a woman’s body,” Swift commented on the TikTok. “Gaga doesn’t owe anyone an explanation & neither does any woman.”
As for the nacho reference, Gaga knows about it and stands by that her nachos are hers only. She told Entertainment Weekly, “I know that it can be used both in positive and negative ways, but I would say I invented them, and I am proud of them.”
