"Stupid Love" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga, released on February 28, 2020, as the lead single from her sixth studio album, Chromatica (2020), following an earlier leak in January. Written by Gaga, Max Martin, Ely Rise, and producers Tchami and BloodPop, the track marked the beginning of BloodPop's collaboration with Gaga on the album. Musically, it is a house-infused blend of dance-pop and electropop, centered on finding the courage to love again after heartbreak.
The single was promoted through billboards and social media photos, and received many comparisons from critics to Gaga's earlier work. Commercially, "Stupid Love" charted at number one in El Salvador, Hungary, Scotland, and reached the top ten in Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Paraguay, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was also certified diamond in Brazil as well as double-platinum in Australia and Canada.
An accompanying music video was directed by Daniel Askill and released on the same day as the single. It takes place in the fictional world of Chromatica and shows Gaga leading the "Kindness Punks", performing choreography with groups of dance warriors, each group with a corresponding color. "Stupid Love" was also featured in a lip sync video, promoting Gaga's Haus Laboratories eyeshadow palette named after the track. The song received various remix edits, including one by Coucou Chloe on the remix album, Dawn of Chromatica (2021). Gaga performed "Stupid Love" at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, The Chromatica Ball concert tour (2022), and the 2023 dates of her Jazz & Piano residency.
Recording and composition "Stupid Love" was written for Lady Gaga's sixth studio album, Chromatica (2020) by Gaga with the help of BloodPop, Tchami, Max Martin, and Ely Rise; BloodPop and Tchami also served as the track's producers. According to BloodPop, he first played the instrumental of the song to Gaga at the Kansas City, Missouri stop of her Joanne World Tour while they were working on songs for the soundtrack to the 2018 movie A Star Is Born, in which she appeared as the lead. While none of those songs made the soundtrack, working together on "Stupid Love" was fruitful and convinced BloodPop into committing to co-produce Gaga's entire album.
BloodPop felt the demo of the song "was missing something", and he credits Max Martin with having "some fantastic ideas that really elevated it". The track marks the first time Gaga worked with Martin. Gaga admitted she was at first hesitant to work with Martin, as she likes to write and produce on her own terms, but "decided to stop being an asshole" and meet him. She explained: "Basically, I sang over a track that BloodPop made. We sent over what I sang to Max, Max picked some parts out, sent it back to me, and then I wrote lyrics. I warmed up my voice, got in the booth, I sang it, and what you're hearing on 'Stupid Love' is what we did that day."
"Stupid Love" has been described as a return to the dance-pop, electropop and house sound of Gaga's earlier career, with influences of dance, disco, and electronic. Dan Adler of Vanity Fair noted "Lady Gaga's new single 'Stupid Love' arrives in declarations: 'All I ever wanted was love;' 'I want your stupid love.' She issues them over glittering dance pop, and they're less plaintive than euphoric—the act of expression is the triumph." The song is composed in the key of B Mixolydian and is played at a tempo of 118 beats per minute. Gaga's vocals span from A3 to F5 in the song. The lyrics talk about the "joyful foolishness of loving someone" and gathering the courage to fall in love again after a heartbreak. The Daily Beast Kevin Fallon opined that in contrast with the rest of Chromatica, the track "almost entirely rejects a search for deep meaning." Explaining the song's background, Gaga further elaborated: "...When we all decide to be vulnerable [...] it's very scary for a lot of people and there's all kinds of laws and constructs and things that have built all around us... I'd love for it to collapse as many of those walls as possible and people to be saying, 'I want your Stupid Love. I love you.
Release and promotion Clips of the song first leaked online in January 2020, shortly followed by the entire track leaking. The song went viral on Twitter. Gaga responded to the leak by tweeting "can y'all stop" with a stock photo of a young girl wearing a balaclava while listening to music on a cassette player. Gaga did not perform "Stupid Love" during her AT&T TV Super Saturday Night pre-Super Bowl LIV show in Miami, Florida, despite requests from audience members. Instead, Gaga performed her Enigma set from her residency in Las Vegas and did not address the leaked track. Online chatter of the song began as early as October 30, 2019, when Gaga posted a picture to her Twitter of a Halloween pumpkin she painted. In the corner of the photo was an iPod Touch; when zoomed in it appeared to show "Stupid Love" being played on the device.
Gaga announced the song's release via social media on February 25, 2020. After the song leaked, she and her manager had a discussion if they should choose another song for the lead single, even though they spent months developing the music video and its choreography; they decided to go with the original plan. She explained: "...The song, when it's mixed, mastered and finished with the visuals, and everything I have to say about it — when all those things come together at once, that will be the art piece I'm making. Not a leak." The announcement of the single was accompanied with a photograph of a billboard in Los Angeles that had the song's title "splashed across an image of bright pink lips." The billboard also featured stills from the music video and a silhouette of characters in the video ingrained in the text. Chromatica is written twice on the billboard: once vertically adjacent to the music video stills, and again as the last line of the copyright message in the lower left corner. The prominence of the word led news outlets to speculate Chromatica as the title of Gaga's sixth studio album.
Jeena Sharma of Paper described promotional images of Gaga for "Stupid Love" as "pop-meets-punk". The images featured Gaga wearing a pink monochromatic look with makeup from her Haus Laboratories beauty line. Just before dropping "Stupid Love" and its music video, Gaga tweeted "Earth is cancelled". In the hours after its release, both the song "Stupid Love" and Lady Gaga herself were the top two trending topics on Twitter worldwide. The song was placed at the top of Apple Music's Today's Top Hits playlist, Spotify's New Music Daily playlist, and Spotify's Today's Hits playlist. On May 18, 2020, a lip sync video was released for the song, promoting Gaga's Haus Laboratories eyeshadow palette named after "Stupid Love". The video features influencers from the world of makeup, including drag performers Alaska and Aquaria.
Critical reception Many music critics highlighted how "Stupid Love" returned to Lady Gaga's dance-pop roots. Early responses to the leak described the track as energetic and aligned with her signature sound. Kyle Munzenrieder of W called it "classic Gaga with a chugging power chorus and a big-room backing track," while Erica Gonzales of Harper's Bazaar labeled the leaked version an "upbeat cut with big vocals" that seemed poised for radio success. Variety Alex Stedman similarly viewed it as a "disco-infused anthem" reminiscent of the Born This Way era.
Upon the song's official release, several critics compared it to Gaga's earlier catalog. Michael Cuby of Nylon felt it blended elements of "Bad Kids" and "The Edge of Glory," and said its beat recalls the "joyous electropop" of "Do What U Want". Pitchfork Jamieson Cox also drew comparisons to that song, describing "Stupid Love" as "brawny, shiny disco" and suggesting it channels Gaga's late-2000s spirit "without achieving the same kind of grandeur." Still, he welcomed the return of what he called the "goofy, indomitable spirit that made her so refreshing in the first place." DIY Sarah Jameson praised the track's "maximalist addictiveness", while writers at Rolling Stone and Consequence referred to it as a "dance jam" and an "electronic disco banger," respectively.
Some reviewers highlighted Gaga's vocals and the clarity of the production. Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic deemed the single a "glorious comeback," calling it a return to form for both Gaga and the genre. He noted that although Max Martin's production is "perfectly calibrated for catchiness," Gaga's voice ensures "a sense of humanity remains intact," and he praised the track's arrangement, including the brief fake-out before the final chorus. Billboard Stephen Daw similarly remarked that the song "offers spine-tingling pop euphoria" and pointed to the "unbridled joy" in her performance.
More reserved assessments came from Slant Magazine, where Alexa Camp described the song as a "catchy but uninventive slice of electro-pop," again noting its similarities to "Do What U Want." The Guardian Michael Cragg called it "fun and dumb," while The Independent Adam White argued that although "Stupid Love" is "propulsive and pleasurable", Gaga can "do this sound in her sleep."
The track made its way onto several best-of-2020 lists. Consequence placed it sixth overall, praising it as "a perfect pop song" and "exactly what we've wanted from Lady Gaga for a long, long time." Rolling Stone Kory Grow ranked it 16th, noting that Gaga "sounds like she's genuinely having fun again," while Billboard placed it at 31, calling it "a boost of good vibes this year."
Commercial performance In the United States, "Stupid Love" debuted at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Gaga's sixteenth top-ten hit and her highest-charting debut since "The Edge of Glory" entered at number three in 2011. It also marked her first top-ten debut since "Dope" opened at number eight in 2013, and her first top-ten hit since "Shallow" reached number one in 2019. With "Stupid Love", Gaga became the fifth artist to appear in the Hot 100's top ten in the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s following Mariah Carey, Drake, Eminem, and Maroon 5. The song opened atop Digital Songs with 53,000 downloads, becoming her seventh number one on that chart. It also debuted at number one on Hot Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, becoming her fifth leader and twenty-eighth entry on the ranking. "Stupid Love" fell to number 30 on the Hot 100 in its second week and remained on the chart for ten weeks in total. In Canada, the song debuted and peaked at number seven on the Canadian Hot 100. The song was certified double platinum by Music Canada for selling over 160,000 units.
"Stupid Love" debuted at number seven in Australia and number 23 in New Zealand, which became its peak in both regions. It was present for seven weeks on the former nation's chart, while in New Zealand it dropped off after two weeks. The Official Charts Company reported that the song was challenging for the UK number one based on preliminary sales and early streaming data. After two days of downloads and streams, it trailed The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" by just under 1,200 chart sales. "Stupid Love" later debuted at number five on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Gaga's thirteenth top-ten entry in the region. It was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for 600,000 copies of streaming equivalent units. In Ireland, "Stupid Love" debuted at number six as the week's highest new entry and most downloaded track of the week; it also became her fifteenth top 10 in the country.