Soil It Happens To You Essay

An analysis of the song by Lady Gaga called “Til it Happens to You” reveals the “aftermath of [the] trauma” of a sexual violence attack as well it reveals how society as a whole views the victims of this heinous and underrated crime. There are three levels on which to analyze the song. The three categories being: what the song is about, what the song is saying on an analytical level, and what the song is being applied to and used for.

The song “‘Til It Happens to You’ is a rock ballad” by the internationally famous singer Lady Gaga (Kornhaber). The song gives a voice to the many sexual violence survivors who are made to feel as if their situation is minute and they Gould have is as some would say “worse off”. Gaga embodies the viewpoint
Telling other people that unless you've been what I've been through they have no place to tell them how to feel or how to cope with the experience. “Lyrically it asks listeners to stand in a victim's position and try to understand the turmoil they go through” (“Til it Happens to You”). Sexual violence or assault is truly turmoil. Most people don't know how to cope with it and experience scary thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or a detrimental blow to their confidence and mentality. People and society in general don't get that it takes a toll on the victim mentally and hold the mentality that “they just need to be strong and move on from the rape incident– everything will resolve itself after a while” (“Til It Happens to You” by Lady Gaga Lyrics Meanings). Gaga in this song replies to that societal nor, by essentially saying it is unrealistic to place this kind of expectations on rape victims. You cannot expect them to simply forget about what happened and leave the past behind. You cannot expect them to go around sharing their experience with rape, especially due to the social stigma that surround rape victims – a stigma that states that it is the victim’s fault for the crime of the rapist” (“Til It Happens to You” by Lady Gaga Lyrics Meanings). When one of the co-writers of the song was asked about the song and Gaga’s performance she replied “There are a lot of levels to the song. There’s something very vulnerable about it and something very defiant about it, especially the way [Gaga] sings it”, she goes on to talk about the build of the song, and the lyrics themselves as if the victim is finally gaining some confidence back, not taking anything from anyone: “the first verse is vulnerable—'You tell me it’s going to get better? ‘—and the second verse comes in and it builds. Really? It gets better? No. You don’t know until it happens to you” (“Til It Happens to You” by