"Til It Happens to You" is a song produced and performed by American singer Lady Gaga. She co-wrote the song with Diane Warren for the 2015 documentary film The Hunting Ground, which deals with campus rape in the United States. The song had leaked onto the Internet through an unofficial recording made at the film's premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. It was later released by Interscope Records to digital retailers on September 18, 2015. The director and producer of the film had looked for someone influential to write a song for it, and music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg contacted Warren, who was interested. She wrote the song with Gaga and producer Nile Rodgers accompanied them during the recording, providing his suggestions.
A universal song about any kind of loss in life, "Til It Happens to You" was placed during two sequences in the film, highlighting the pain of sexual assault. The song consists of an orchestral production with strings and an emotional vocal delivery from Gaga. 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" was later included as part of a public service announcement video directed by Catherine Hardwicke. The video depicts various instances of violence against women and sexual assaults. It ends with a cautionary note about the effects of such distress, and individuals finding solace with their close friends and relatives.
A portion of the proceeds from retail sales was donated to organizations supporting victims of sexual assault. Commercially, the song reached the top thirty in Finland, Greece, and Spain, and it peaked at number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in March 2016. "Til It Happens to You" won an award at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics and it was nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards and for Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards, along with numerous other awards. Such aforementioned nods make "Til It Happens to You" the first, and currently only, song in history to be nominated for a Grammy Award, Academy Award and an Emmy Award in the same year.
Background and release
"Til It Happens to You" was written by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga, and recorded by the latter for The Hunting Ground (2015), a documentary film about campus rape in the United States. Director Kirby Dick and producer Amy Ziering wanted someone with "major" influence to record a song for the film, believing it would generate publicity and promote the subject. They contacted executive producer Paul Blavin, explaining their idea and added that they did not have the resources to find someone. Blavin started searching and met with music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg, who introduced him to Warren. Warren was moved by the idea saying: "I cannot not write a song for you. And not only can I not not write a song for this movie, I'm going to gift it to you." She wrote the song after viewing scenes from the film almost a year before the track's release. Warren then called Gaga and played her a rough demo, but was unsure about her involvement. So she decided to fly to New York and try to work with Gaga; the latter accepted the song and decided to record it. Warren said of the song and Gaga's contributions:
"I heard about [the film] and it just really touched me, and she had stuff in her life that she could relate to. Gaga is one of the most talented artists I have worked with in my life and I'm excited about doing more with her... 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. 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...'"
Warren also added that the song's message was universal in nature and relatable to any loss faced in life. Gaga, who herself is a victim of rape, revealed during the Producers Guild of America Awards 2015, that the song's theme was important to her family as well. Her father's sister Joanne had been sexually assaulted while attending college, and the subsequent torment worsened her prevailing lupus, resulting in her death and profoundly affecting Gaga's family. The singer became involved with New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo's push for new legislation to help eradicate "rape culture" in American universities, signing a letter supporting it. Titled "Enough Is Enough", the legislation went into effect in July 2015.