Dear cherished GRAZIA readers, you all, collectively, owe me $10! Last week, when Lady Gaga announced her upcoming tenth anniversary edition of her sophomore album Born This Way, complete with a batch of newly recorded covers by queer artists and allies, I predicted that the new version of the title track would come from none other than dreamy masked singer Orville Peck. And today, I’ve been proved right! Following Big Freedia’s take on “Judas,” the queer country crooner’s cover dropped today.
I mean, look, this wasn’t exactly prophetic foresight. The special edition’s list of “reimagined” tracks included the “Country Road Version” of the song, and I just did the math. But, come on. Let me have this!
“I am so honoured and excited to be a part of the iconic legacy of this song and album,” Peck posted on Twitter.
Speaking of that legacy, he’s also done a bit of work towards cleaning it up. Notably, Peck’s reimagined version of “Born This Way” corrects the song’s infamously insensitive lyrics. In her 2011 recording, as well as the “Country Road Version,” the Grammy-winning pop star sang, “No matter Black, white or beige / Chola or orient made / I’m on the right track baby / I was born to be brave.” Some critics and fans took issue with her use of the stereotypical and dehumanizing terms “Chola” and “orient,” presumably to refer to Latinx and Asian Americans. Those lyrics somewhat undercut the song’s message of acceptance. (Oh, and here’s another fun thing: Gaga literally called the idea that she cribbed “Born This Way” from Madonna’s “Express Yourself” “retarded” in a 2011 issue of NME.)
For his version, Peck seems to have managed to reimagine a world in which white musicians don’t blithely throw around culturally insensitive terms without considering how they might be received. What a difference 10 years makes! In the new cover, Peck replaces the offensive language with: “No matter Black, white or beige / Asian or Latinx made…”
The rest of the lyrics — some might call them cringe-inducingly sincere, others reductive — remain unchanged. All payments of $10 can be made in my name to…the Born This Way Foundation, I guess?
