Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory" is an undeniably pure pop track. The Born This Way single dropped earlier this week, and the song's co-producer, Fernando Garibay, says he's still "very surprised," "floored," even, by the song's release.
"You know what's crazy, as we were making the record ... 'Born This Way' is a statement song, but here with 'Edge of Glory, it's very personal to her," he explained. "It is very personal and very real; it's a real moment. This record is all heart."
Garibay worked on "Edge of Glory" with Gaga and DJ White Shadow, who also revealed some details about the song to MTV News before its release, calling Gaga's vocal delivery on the track particularly moving. "This song's had room for her too ... this is her natural tone. The vocal was one take," White Shadow said. "The whole thing from top to bottom was her, just backstage singing it all the way through."
At the pop star's request, Garibay threw in a heartbeat and made sure during production that it was clear Gaga's "finding acceptance in the bridge." He added, "It's a bold move on her part to put this out there the way it is, where the full version is intact [on the radio]. When was the last time you heard a musical solo sax break in the middle of a song on the radio? It was innovative as a song and it was totally guided by the emotions and the heart. That's what we did here. She wanted to put sax on it ... Her references were E Street Band and Bruce Springsteen, so the isolation of what the sax represents in the music dichotomy, what it represents in the whole spectrum of music," he said of the saxophone section, which is actually played by E Street's Clarence Clemmons.
"And that's how we captured that feeling. It's like that moment of acceptance and letting go. ... She said, 'Dude, there's no boundary, go all the way.' Her soft side is just as intense and as emotional as her intense, hands-in-the-air side you see onstage," he added.
Garibay couldn't even imagine what a video for the song might look like. "We're all excited," he said. It's always a surprise, but whatever it is, it's going to be epic. ... In this case, it's edgy because it's not edgy."
