LoveGame" is an electropop song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her debut album, The Fame (2008). Produced by RedOne, the track was released as the album's third single in North America and Europe and the fourth single in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden after "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)". "LoveGame" was also released as the fourth single in the United Kingdom, after "Paparazzi".
The song was critically appreciated for its catchy tune and the "I wanna take a ride on your disco stick" hook. Gaga had explained that the term 'disco stick' is a euphemism for a penis and was inspired by her sexual attraction with a stranger at a night club. Musically carrying the vibe of underground New York discos, the song talks about love, fame and sexuality which was the central theme of the album. "LoveGame" has charted within the top ten in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other European countries. It became Gaga's third consecutive number-one song on Billboard's Pop Songs chart.
The New York underground inspired music video for the song, portrayed Gaga dancing through an underground subway station and in a parking lot. The music video was a tribute by Gaga to the New York lifestyle including its glamour, fans and fashion. The video has several qualities of Michael Jackson's "Bad" music video, which also took place in a subway station.[2] In Australia, the music video was banned from being aired at the PG rated time slots because of its sexual content. "LoveGame" has been performed live a number of times by Gaga, including her first headlining The Fame Ball and Monster Ball tours, where she performed it while holding her trademark disco stick in one hand.
"LoveGame" was written by Lady Gaga and RedOne who also produced the track. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Gaga explained the meaning of the song and her inspiration behind it, especially for the line "Let's have some fun this beat is sick / I wanna take a ride on your disco stick". She said,
"It's another of my very thoughtful metaphors for a cock. I was at a nightclub, and I had quite a sexual crush on somebody, and I said to them, 'I wanna ride on your disco stick'. The next day, I was in the studio, and I wrote the song in about four minutes. When I play the song live, I have an actual stick — it looks like a giant rock-candy pleasuring tool — that lights up.[3]
While commenting in regards to the lyrical content of the song "LoveGame," on Australian talk show Rove, Gaga said that she is unrepentant about her "disco stick" metaphor though it lead to a banning of the music video on Network Ten in Australia. She further said,
"I don't think disco stick is subtle. It's very clear what that lyric is all about. If anything, I happen to think people are frivolously hard on me. A lot of youth-oriented pop music is much racier than mine. 'Throw me on the floor, take off my clothes, give it to me, baby, let's dirty dance'. All these records are so provocative, but it's the context of what I'm doing that makes people concerned.[...] It's the music in relation to the visual, in relation to the way I move and the way I articulate the lyrics. But if I wanted to make music to make people sing 'la di da' that would be very boring."[4]
Musically "LoveGame" is an up-tempo dance-pop song with a dance-oriented beat.[5] According to Kerri Mason of Billboard, the composition "carry the pleather-and-sequins vibe of the downtown New York scene out of the underground and onto the FM dial without losing its smut and sass."[6] It is set in the time signature of common time and is composed in the key of B minor with a musical tempo of 104 beats per minute.[7] Gaga's vocal range spans from the high tonal node of B3 to the low tone of G5.[7] The song is built in the chord progression of Am–Dm–C–Am–Dm–C in the verses and choruses.[7] "LoveGame" received a number of remix treatments, one of which featured rocker Marilyn Manson in the vocals.[8] Gaga explained that the lyrics of "LoveGame" were very clear about what the song is all about. She thought that the lyrics portrayed a powerful message about love, fame and sexuality which was the central theme of her album The Fame.[4]
