âI remember writing that song and thinking, âOh, my God, this is definitely one of my best songs.â The movie is about sexual assault on campus, but I always thought the song could be bigger than that, so in the lyrics I never said what the It was. Itâs whatever youâre going through when people say, âItâs going to get better, just give it time.â But when youâre in it, youâre like, âYou donât know how it feels until it happens to you.â
Warren then continued on to discuss how she got Lady Gaga to collaborate with her on the powerful song, "And then I called Gaga, because I had heard that she had said something on Howard Stern that sheâd been raped. I thought, âIâm just going to take a chance and play her the song. And if sheâd gone through that, itâs going to connect with her.' I played her the song and she was sobbing on the phone."
âBut nobody wanted that song to come out. The label, management, nobody wanted it to come out. So I called my friend, (director) Catherine Hardwicke, she listened to the song and said sheâd do a video, I put in some of my own money, she put in some of hers, the actors worked for free, she made this brilliant video and then we leaked it out and it blew up,"Â Warren stated.
After working hard to get the song, video, and message out, Lady Gaga then sang it at the 2016 Oscars and received a standing ovation. Warren had this to say on the powerful performance: âAt the Oscars, that performance was just stunning on every level. That was one of the best performances Iâve ever seen. People were sobbing in the audience, and then there was a commercial break and they came back and said, âAnd the winner isâŚâ and I thought, âWhat just happened?â That was my memory of the night: I just kept saying, âWhat just happened?'"
Â
- 2,802 views