Reception

Tim Stack from Entertainment Weekly compared some of the dance choreography of the video with the music video of "Thriller". He stated, "I don't think Gaga has ever looked prettier than in the close-ups where she’s more stripped down. On the flip side, I love those crazy dilated pupils she sports for much of the video. This video is amazing." Jennifer Cady from E! was also impressed by the video and commented "this music video really makes us appreciate everything Gaga actually brings to pop music. She's exciting to watch, plain and simple. We need someone like Gaga to really bring it. To put actual thought and care into her product so that it feels alive." Daniel Kreps from Rolling Stone felt that the scenes from the music video were reminiscent of the work of Stanley Kubrick. He went on to add that "'Bad Romance' has Gaga providing fans with perhaps her craziest, brightest canvas yet all while dressed in some of the most outrageous outfits she’s ever worn (and that’s saying a lot)." Jocelyn Vena from MTV believed that the video was symbolic and portrayed that the "the old Gaga is over, here's the brand-new Gaga: the one who seems to delight in pushing the boundaries and exploring all manner of sexual proclivities." He further believed that "[the video was] a testament to her brilliance as an artist that Gaga is using [it] as the jump-off point for the next leg of her career. These days, it seems like pop stars all too rarely put this much thought into their vision and their products. The Wall Street Journal noted that Gaga "seems to be one of the few pop stars these days who really understands spectacle, fashion, shock, choreography—all the things Madonna and Michael Jackson were masters of in the 1980s." Bill Lamb from About.com wrote that "like the song [the video] blasts at your senses until you are just left drowning in the audio and visual power of it all. Lady Gaga continues to break down barriers and take us all to new places. In a music industry that too often seems to want to revisit whatever might have been successful in the past without breathing new material and elements into it, Lady Gaga remains a powerful force to observe. Evan Sawdey from PopMatters.com quotes on the video "it’s kind of bland. The chorus feeling like somewhat of a tired retread of the verses, the whole thing just lacking that extra spark that made her previous hits so guilty-pleasure cool. Instead, the song is best defined by its video.