Til It Happens to You

She co-wrote the song with Diane Warren for the 2015 documentary film The Hunting Ground, which deals with campus rape in the United States.

The director and producer of the film had looked for someone influential to write a song for it, and music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg contacted Warren, who was interested.

A universal song about any kind of loss in life, "Til It Happens to You" was placed during two sequences in the film, highlighting the pain of sexual assault.

Commercially, the song reached the top thirty in Finland, Greece, and Spain, and it peaked at number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in March 2016.

[1] "Til It Happens to You" was written by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga, and recorded by the latter for The Hunting Ground (2015), a documentary film about campus rape in the United States.

[2] Director Kirby Dick and producer Amy Ziering wanted someone with "major" influence to record a song for the film, believing it would generate publicity and promote the subject.

You don't know until it happens to you...'"[2] Warren also added that the song's message was universal in nature and relatable to any loss faced in life.

[2] Gaga, who herself is a victim of rape,[3] revealed during the Producers Guild of America Awards 2015, that the song's theme was important to her family as well.

Her father's sister Joanne had been sexually assaulted while attending college, and the subsequent torment worsened her prevailing lupus, resulting in her death and profoundly affecting Gaga's family.

[5] The singer became involved with New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo's push for new legislation to help eradicate "rape culture" in American universities, signing a letter supporting it.

Rodgers suggested to Warren that since the D vocals made the song sound like a country track, they could instead inverse the chords into thirteenth (an octave plus a sixth), thus serving a dominant function.

"[11] Gaga told an interviewer with Variety that Warren had helped her feel comfortable about the song and its subject matter, allowing her to transcend the singing and put the correct emotional depth in her performance.

I felt that it needed to not stay in a purely emotional state, but that it was going to somehow grow throughout the performance and the song and by the end, kind of be full of rage.

[13][14] The pop ballad delivers an empowering message: "Hold your head up and be strong / When you fall you gotta get up", and has been described as "stirring and emotional".

[15][16][17] Featuring a classical production, the song emphasizes Gaga's vocals, keeping focus on the lyrics,[18] which clarifies that one cannot understand the feelings of a victim unless they have been in similar situation.

[19] According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "Til It Happens to You" is set in the time signature common for a slow tempo of 59 beats per minute.

[20] Jeff Benjamin from Fuse noted that the song contains a "powerful message" while the composition was evocative of her "biting" ballads like "Dope".

"[12] Lisa Wright wrote in NME that the song is: "a somber piano ballad befitting of the topic with lyrics that depict the frustration of being told to pick yourself up and carry on by people who couldn't possibly understand your situation.

Spanos added that "[an Academy Award win would be a triumph] following [Gaga's] critical and commercial miss with most recent album Artpop and help break Warren's losing streak at the show.

The rise to the top of the dance chart was aided by 30 remixed versions of the track, including those from Dave Audé, Tracy Young and Dirty Pop.

[50] In February 2016, Gaga and Warren were honored at the 11th Annual Los Angeles Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest, with the festival's Song of the Year Award.

The Hollywood Reporter described it as casting "an emotional spotlight on young women in vulnerable situations that college students will readily recognize".

The black-and-white video opens with a warning message: "The following contains graphic content that may be emotionally unsettling but reflects the reality of what is happening daily on college campuses.

Ultimately they find solace and hope in friendship, and leave the college with their friends, as the words inscribed on their bodies change to positive messages.

believed that the "graphic, emotional and hard to watch" video was able to deliver a "powerful message", one that was close to Gaga due to her real-life rape experience.

[63] Alex Rees from Cosmopolitan felt that the video contained "uncomfortable footage", but added that the "emotionally unsettling" images were able to reflect on the actual reality of what happens on college campuses.

[64] Claire Hodgson from the same publication described the clip as a "beautifully shot, brilliantly acted short film", which "really does not hold back when it comes to portraying the real horror of sexual assault in the most graphic way possible".

Shire concluded the review saying: "Gaga and Hardwicke deserve props for creating such a powerful, visceral, and aesthetically striking PSA.

[75] Katie Atkinson from Billboard listed the performance as one of the best moments of the awards show, saying that Gaga "made a huge impact on the Oscars stage.

Her performance alone would have been powerful enough, but when the curtains opened behind her to reveal a sea of sexual assault survivors standing in solidarity, the emotional bar was raised to the next level.

Diane Warren holding a mic.
Diane Warren co-wrote "Til It Happens to You" with Lady Gaga .
Catherine Hardwicke smiling while signing DVDs
Director Catherine Hardwicke tried to portray sexual assaults realistically in the video.
Nikki Reed smiling.
Actress Nikki Reed portrayed one of the rape victims in the music video.