"Aura" | ||||
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Song by Lady Gaga | ||||
from the album Artpop | ||||
Studio |
Record Plant Studios (Hollywood, California) |
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Length | 3:55 | |||
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Songwriter(s) | ||||
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Artpop track listing | ||||
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"Aura" is a song recorded by American singer Lady Gaga for her third studio album, Artpop (2013). She co-wrote and co-produced the track with Zedd and the psychedelic trance duo Infected Mushroom. Initially entitled "Burqa", an Infected Mushroom demo is the song's backbone. "Aura", which explores different facets of the singer, is a mariachi and EDM song with Western guitar and Middle Eastern musical influences and a dance production. Lyrically, it equates the life of a celebrity and stardom with religious oppression and subjugation.
Music critics were divided about the song. Reviewers praised its production and innovative composition but criticized its lyrics, which used the word "burqa" in a sexual manner. "Aura" was performed live during Gaga's headlining iTunes Festival, and it was used in the trailer for Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills (in which the singer co-stars). She also performed it at her ArtRave promotional event, the Jingle Bell Ball, South by Southwest and the 2014 ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour. The song entered the US Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart based on streaming activity.
Development of Gaga's third studio album, Artpop, began shortly after the release of Born This Way (2011); by the following year, its concepts were "beginning to flourish" as Gaga collaborated with producers Fernando Garibay and DJ White Shadow. As the singer embarked on her Born This Way Ball tour, she began collaborating with disc jockey Zedd. In October 2012, when asked by DJ Calvin Harris about her work with Zedd, Gaga sent a cryptic Twitter message: "Were all good [Zedd] miss you buddy been listening to **rq* all day". The abbreviated word was assumed to refer to a song title. About a year later, a demo from Gaga's Artpop sessions leaked with the song, entitled "Burqa"; however, it was presumed to have a two-part title.