Lady Gaga Drops R. Kelly Collaboration From Re-Issue Of ‘ARTPOP’

Lady Gaga is set to release new vinyl and CD versions of her 2013 album ARTPOP on November 11, but her collaboration with R. Kelly, “Do What U Want,” will not be part of the tracklist on either version.

Earlier this year, Lady Gaga wrote on Twitter that she would remove “Do What U Want” from streaming platforms and wrote an apology for Kelly’s involvement with ARTPOP, calling the allegations against him “horrifying” and “indefensible.”

“As a victim of sexual assault myself, I made both the song and the video at a dark time in my life,” Gaga wrote. “My intention was to create something extremely defiant and provocative because I was angry and still hadn’t processed the trauma that had occurred in my own life.”

She added, “I’m sorry, both for my poor judgment when I was young, and for not speaking out sooner.”

Gaga pulled the song from streaming services after Lifetime aired the Surviving R. Kelly documentary series that focused on the many sexual abuse allegations levied against Kelly in the past two decades. It featured interviews with former members of Kelly’s inner circle, including his ex-wife Andrea Kelly.

Several other former Kelly collaborators have distanced themselves from the R&B artist following release of the docuseries. Recently, Chance the Rapper pulled his 2015 R. Kelly collaboration “Somewhere in Paradise” from streaming.

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