By any metric, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With A Smile” is one of the biggest hits in recent memory. You can add one more stat to the pile now that the high-powered duet has reached the 1 billion views mark on YouTube.
The clip crosses the billion mark less than nine months after its release last August. Since then it has topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks, been included on Gaga’s new album Mayhem, and won the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. During the ceremony, Mars and Gaga performed a stripped-down version of the song that highlighted their vocal prowess and shared chemistry.
Mars co-directed the “Die With A Smile” video alongside Daniel Ramos. In the footage, he and Gaga are styled in ’70s-vintage retro country attire. Both stars are dressed in matching light blue clothing accented with bright red, while Mars’ white cowboy hat mirrors Gaga’s massive blonde bouffant. All throughout the video, she’s got a cigarette hanging from her mouth.
“Die With A Smile” is Mars’ 10th video to join YouTube’s Billion Views Club. It follows his ROSÉ duet “APT,” which reached the milestone in February. Gaga now has four videos with a billion views, also including “Poker Face,” “Shallow (From A Star Is Born),” and “Bad Romance.”
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Gaga spoke about Mars approaching her to record a duet about lovers at the end of the world. “I just remember feeling like it was a song that people needed to hear,” she said. “I write music all the time, and sometimes you feel like you’re making something that some people will like. But there’s other times that you work on something and you just know it’s gonna deeply speak to all different kinds of people. I knew it right away.” She compared her performance with Mars to the partnership of Carole King and James Taylor: “There was something so special when they performed together — it was all about what they were saying to each other.”
Listen to Lady Gaga’s Mayhem now.
