“Perform This Way” is the lead single and ‘parody’ from American singer-songwriter, music producer, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic‘s upcoming studio album, Alpocalypse.
The lyrics are told from the point of view of Gaga and describe her performance style and fashion sense.
Yankovic had confirmed that the song will have a video to be released along with the album that will be “beyond awesome, and disturbing on many levels”.
In 2011, Yankovic reported that Lady Gaga refused him permission to release “Perform This Way”, which he hoped to use as the lead single for his upcoming album. On his blog, he claimed that the decision came only after Gaga’s management insisted on reviewing a recorded version of the song.
Following the refusal, he released his parody online on April 20, 2011, and encouraged donations to the Human Rights Campaign, as he had originally planned to donate all sales of the song and music video to them, as an act of “good karma” due to the human rights message of the original song.
The music video premiered on “Weird Al” Yankovic’s official YouTube VEVO channel in mid June 2011.