Lady Gaga Says 'Judas' Video 'Celebrates Faith'

' 'Judas' is a metaphor and an analogy about forgiveness and betrayal,' Gaga says of song and video.
By Jocelyn Vena

Lady Gaga
Photo: Michael Loccisano/ Getty Images

Next week, fans will finally get to see Lady Gaga's "Judas" video, when it premieres during "American Idol." But while we wait, Gaga opened up about the video in a recent interview, giving fans a better sense of what they might see in the clip.

"Well, the video, in essence, suggests that forgiveness and betrayal are hand in hand," she told MSN Entertainment in Canada. "The video puts destiny above all things and postures that the mistakes in your life are in fact not mistakes at all, they are just part of your overarching potential and your destiny."

Though she didn't want to give away the full concept, Gaga did describe the clip's biblical and cultural references. "Well, I want to allow the video to speak for itself, but I will say that the theme of the video and the way that I wanted to aesthetically portray the story was as a motorcycle Fellini movie, where the apostles are revolutionaries in a modern-day Jerusalem. And I play Mary Magdalene, leading them into the town where we meet Jesus, and I will leave the rest for you to see," she teased further about the video, which she co-directed with Laurieann Gibson. "But it's meant more to celebrate faith than it is to challenge it."

While there has been some debate about the song's use of religious icons, Gaga said she doesn't mean for it to be a direct interpretation of Bible stories. "Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that my schooling [in Catholic school] informed the songwriting on that record in particular. 'Judas' is a metaphor and an analogy about forgiveness and betrayal and things that haunt you in your life, and how I believe that it's the darkness in your life that ultimately shines and illuminates the greater light that you have upon you," she said.

"Someone once said to me, 'If you have no shadows then you're not standing in the light.' So the song is about washing the feet of both good and evil, and understanding and forgiving the demons from your past in order to move into the greatness of your future," she continued. "I just like really aggressive metaphors — harder, thicker, darker — and my fans do as well. So it is a very challenging and aggressive metaphor, but it is a metaphor."

Gaga said that Born This Way will be more about the religion of pop culture than anything taught in Sunday school.

"Well, I'm fascinated with iconography, and I'm fascinated with the way that iconography is taught in terms of education to the world, whether it be through institutionalized religion or through symbolism or through movies or through music," she said.

"In a lot of ways it's about faith and hope, but not in the religious sense," she added. "It's about faith and hope in culture, especially in a time all over the world where many are in need of hope, in need of understanding, in need of love, in need of lack of prejudice, in need of no judgment, in need of acceptance. How can we look to culture for faith?"

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