figure
Mary Magdalene served as inspiration for the song.|alt=Domenico Tintoretto's painting, The Penitent Magdalene (c. 1598) On May 23, 2011,
Lady Gaga released her second studio album,
Born This Way. One of the record's main lyrical topic is religion; several of the songs, such as "
Judas"—the album's second single—and "Bloody Mary", make references to
Christianity. In the latter, Gaga assumes the role of
Mary Magdalene, who witnessed the
crucifixion of Jesus. The song's title is an epithet that is mostly associated with
Mary I of England and a
ghostly figure in folklore and
urban legends. In an interview with
Popjustice, after being asked about her fascination with Magdalene and the song's origins, Gaga discussed her upbringing in a
Catholic girl school. Although she was instructed to pray to God and Jesus, Gaga found it easier to worship "a more feminine force" in her life, and she decided to pray to women—
Mother Mary or Mary Magdelene, or her late aunt Joanne, who she believed became an
angel working beside God. Since becoming a pop singer, Gaga found strength by praying to them. She also talked about how "women were always the target", being
stoned for "adultery or for doing inappropriate things" in biblical times, which made her think about her faith to make herself brave while creating
Born This Way. She said the song's lyrics were written from the point of view of Magdalene: The lyrics are Mary sort of talking ... If you listen to the lyrics and the way the
cadence goes, the way I'm actually singing, I start quite sweetly then I go into these quite demonic tones, then I come back to sweetness, and then the chorus is me ultimately, publicly singing, "I won't cry for you, I won't crucify the things you do, I won't cry for you when you're gone I'll still be Bloody Mary". I'll still bleed, is what I'm trying to say. I guess I'm fascinated by her. ... In my belief Mary was in it all along. I think she knew what was going to happen. But I also believe that she loved him, and I believe there was a moment when she cried. So she says 'I won't cry for you' but in the rest of the song, in the way that it feels, it's sad and ... [it sounds] like a death
dirge ... There's that kind of quality to it. It's about me having to be a superstar. Talking with
NME, Gaga also alluded to Mary Magdelene as a superstar, who "must have cried too". According to Gaga, Magdalene "was both fully
divine and fully human. She has to be strong when Jesus fulfills the prophecy to die for everyone's sins, but she still has the moment of humanity where she's upset to let him go."
Thematic analysis According to Sean Adams of
Drowned in Sound, part of Gaga's "charm" is the way she contrives a "grand historical context for herself", and listed "Bloody Mary" in a line of songs from
Born This Way which "finds her setting up her stall alongside monarchs and martyrs"; "
Government Hooker", "Black Jesus + Amen Fashion" and "Judas" being other examples.
Vulture, an online blog associated with
New York Magazine, said Gaga is "casting Mary as a graceful, eternal icon of feminine suffering", adding the track "could be sacrilegious, but like in
The Last Temptation of Christ, humanizing icons only makes them more relatable". == Recording and composition ==