Culture

Big Freedia and Lady Gaga Released a Very Twerk-Friendly Version of “Judas”


 

If you’ve ever wanted a bounce remix of “Judas,” the iconic Born This Way track that explores falling in love with a messiah’s backstabber, Lady Gaga and Big Freedia have just delivered. At midnight on Friday, Lady Gaga teased the release of her very special ten-year anniversary edition of Born This Way and also revealed that a covers album will be part of the commemoration, with select tracks from the album being reimaginined from artists “who both represent and advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community,” Gaga wrote on Twitter. To kick things off, naturally, Gaga shared the Queen of New Orleans’s boisterous, twerk-friendly version of “Judas” with fans. Well… it’s going to be an interesting Pride Month!

On the new remix, Big Freedia masterfully morphs Gaga’s dark-leaning lyrics into a hedonistic celebration of subversion and sin — which perfectly aligns with my summer 2021 aesthetic, BTW. A choral group, which is sure to unlock plenty of catholic school memories for some, belts out the chorus while Big Freedia delivers her signature ad-libs.

Give the infectious track a listen below:

This is not the first time Big Freedia has experienced a certified pop moment. The rapper stole the show in Beyoncé’s 2016 “Formation” video, was featured in Drake’s hit bounce-odes “Nice For What” and “In My Feelings,” and worked on the electro-pop track “Shake It” with Charli XCX, Cupcakke, Brooke Candy, and Pablo Vittar.

Yet, Big Freedia has not always received the proper credit and attention she deserves. She had to fight to be featured in the visual for Drake’s “In My Feelings,” after being excluded from appearing in the “Nice For What” video. “I decided to hit him up myself and was like, ‘Why you didn’t let me know you were in New Orleans?'” she shared with TMZ at the time, touching on her hurt.

Now, finally, Freedia is enjoying another well-deserved moment of mainstream success. The pairing feels right. Released in 2011, amidst intense pushes for marriage equality, a string of highly publicized suicides of queer youth, and the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Born This Way was a seminal moment for LGBTQ+ advocacy and awareness in pop music. The titular track was positioned as an anthem for queer pride and acceptance and quickly reached number one in over 25 countries. Gaga passing the mic to other LGBTQ+ artists represents how far we’ve come. A decade later, LGBTQ+ representation in pop has evolved enough for there to be multiple out and proud artists in the industry and include diverse, intersectional voices.

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Over the past few weeks, Gaga has revisited Born This Way with a vibrant celebration in West Hollywood, California where May 23 was declared “Born This Way Day”. She also honored the LGBTQ+ voices that inspired the album. She revealed there would be no “Born This Way” without the gay black activist Carl Bean, who sung in a 1977 Motown track “‘I’m happy, I’m carefree and I’m gay/I was born this way.” With this new knowledge, it’s great to see Gaga center and amplify Black LGBTQ voices through her new collaboration with Big Freedia. And hopefully there will be more on the covers album. We can totally see Lil Nas X, who recently delivered his own sin-positive music with “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” doing something great with “Bad Kids” and Bree Runway slaying “Government Hooker.”

The 10th-anniversary edition CD (no word yet on digital or streaming options) of Born This Way will be released on June 18 and is available to pre-order now. Pride Month is about to get a great soundtrack.

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