After completely racking my brain since it’s release, the true meaning behind Lady Gaga’s video has been somewhat haunting. I began searching and searching for an analysis, and to my surprise, I found plenty. The problem was that all of these analysis felt like they were missing something or were too reaching, not to say mine isn’t but it does leave me satisfied.

Most people are familiar with the story of Disney’s classic The Little Mermaid. How many are familiar with the original Hans Christian Andersen rendition? Gaga seems to know a good bit about it. If you aren’t familiar, here is a little rundown.

The classic story revolves around a central quest for a soul. Andersen’s heroine endures a state of purgatory to conceal her mermaid nature and win the love of her beautiful prince, but to no avail, since he subsequently chooses another love. Unlucky in love and consequently bereft of her chance of a soul through a mortal marriage. The little mermaid’s quest for a mortal soul seems pretty bleak but her fortitude wins her a reprieve and her suffering is sublimated to martyrdom and eventual salvation.

Naturally, because it is Gaga, she has managed to give her own person twist to the story, making it somewhat backwards. Here is my theory on the Yoü and I music video.

This is my best attempt at putting the video in chronological order. The beginning of the video takes place with the story of Stefani, notice how Gaga is sporting the brunette hair. But something isn’t right, something is fishy. Fast forward a couple of cut scenes, and you will find Stefani flailing around like some type of animal, out of control and out of her mind. She is not a mermaid looking for a soul. She is a human searching for a soul. Better yet, she longs for the power accessible with fame that would allow her to win the love of the man of her dreams. With fame, she could make him love her. This animal like behavior could be a result of the absence of her soul. 

Needless to say, all these events are taking place inside of Gaga’s head while she is on the road. For some reason, the appearance of a doll by the ice cream man strikes Gaga in horror and causes her to fall to the ground in fright.

“I’ve talked about some of it before with all of you: I had a lot of really intense experiences when I was younger, some of which I have shared with you and some of which I haven’t. The ice-cream truck represents all of the destruction of my youth at a very young time in my life,” she explained. “So while walking down the road to find love, the memories of the destruction of my youth sort of get in the way. That’s how I wanted to open the video, because I think it really sets up the rest of the story.”

Let go ahead and say that instead of giving up her voice, her tongue, or anything else that a Sea Witch may desire, Gaga may have given up her youth as a chance to gain the man of her dreams and her soul, which in this case Gaga may have considered stardom.

Giving up her youth won’t go without pain. Just like the effect of the potion on the Little Mermaid, the absence of Gaga’s youth will make her feel as if a sword is being passed through her.

“Yet when she recovers she will have two beautiful legs, and will be able to dance like no human has ever danced before. However, it will constantly feel like she is walking on sharp swords, and her feet will bleed most terribly. In addition, she will only get a soul if she finds true love’s kiss and if the prince loves her and marries her, for then a part of his soul will flow into her. Otherwise, at dawn on the first day after he marries another woman, the Little Mermaid will die brokenhearted and disintegrate into sea foam.”

With this new found fame, all that was left was for Gaga to find her prince. After she had found her prince, her soul would finally be within reach. It’s safe to assume her the character of the prince is portrayed by the “mad scientist” in the video.

Most of all he likes to see her dance, and she dances for him despite her excruciating pain. The prince tells the Little Mermaid of the love he harbors for the temple girl, the one who he believed saved him. In reality, it was actually the Little Mermaid who had saved the prince, not the temple girl.

Unfortunately, it seems that fame wasn’t enough to win over her dream guy’s affection. Because of this, Gaga continues to suffer and endure pain in hopes of obtaining a soul through love. She allows herself to be the subject of harsh, brutal experiments in order to become the girl of his dreams. In fairy tale fashion, we can assume the girl of his dreams was the original brunette Stefani. He doesn’t want this superstar. He wants the girl that once “saved” him. This is what causes him to continually experiment on Gaga, trying to change her back into the girl she once was.

As the prince’s declaration of love for the temple girl sinks in, the Little Mermaid’s heart breaks. She thinks of all that she has given up and of all the pain she has suffered. She despairs, thinking of the death that awaits her.

Whether she has run out of time or simply died from the heartbreak of realizing she will never be able to become the Stefani the man wants, Gaga appears here to be completely lifeless. Even though she does now share a similar appearance with her old self, it still wasn’t enough and all her suffering was in vain. Now dead and lifeless, the man places her in some type of water tank as a reminder of the girl he once loved, or how she appeared when he did indeed love her.

Just when all hope seems to be lost, as the tank fills with water, a light seems to burst through the water. It seems Gaga’s suffering and sacrifices will not be in vain. Because of her dedication and the extremes she has undergone to find love, she has become worthy of a soul on her own. The light not only illuminates Gaga’s lifeless body, but it also seems to turn her into a mermaid.

This newly emerged Gaga isn’t just simply a mermaid with a soul, of course not. This Gaga serves as a reminder that who she was in the past and who she will become in the future will forever be the same, no matter the appearance or social status. She will always be Stefani, Gaga, and Yüyi, and probably a few more along her journey. Realizing this is the girl he once loved, and the girl who endured all his torturous experiments, the scientist manages to accept this fact and accept Gaga as a whole, realizing the girl he loved never truly left in the first place.

As the video draws to a close, we see a glimpse of the future. Whatever Gaga’s may come and go, it seems the man that loves each and every one will always stay; thus giving Gaga, her perfect happy ending.

In some versions of the Little Mermaid tale, when the prince has a page boy’s costume made for the little mermaid so that she may ride on horseback and explore the land with him. This willingness to cross-dress shows signs of her willingness to transgress gender boundaries and take risks to be able to see the world. This also comments on Andersen’s interests in changes in identity.

As for Jo Calderone, he seems to be a part of Gaga she has learned to love because he represents who she really is on the inside. By getting in touch with herself, literally, she makes the statement that in order to love someone you must first love yourself.

The Little Mermaid did not give up everything for love alone. The tale presents a rare heroine with investigative curiosity because she is fascinated by the unknown, the forbidden, and is intent on broadening her horizons from the beginning. She wants, above all, to explore the world and discover things that are beyond what she already knows. The world above, for her, holds a greater range of possibilities to exercise her adventurous spirit