Alejandro (song)

"Alejandro" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her third extended play (EP), The Fame Monster (2009)—the reissue of her debut studio album, The Fame (2008). It was released as the third single from The Fame Monster on April 20, 2010. Interscope Records intended "Dance in the Dark" to be the EP's third single after "Alejandro" initially received limited airplay, but Gaga insisted on the latter. Written and produced by Gaga alongside Moroccan-Swedish producer RedOne, "Alejandro" was inspired by Gaga's fear of men and is about her bidding farewell to her Latino lovers named Alejandro, Roberto and Fernando. Musically, it is a synth-pop song with Europop and Latin pop beats, and opens with a sample from the main melody of Vittorio Monti's "Csárdás".

Upon its release, "Alejandro" received generally mixed reviews from music critics; some praised the song's catchiness and production while others criticized it as unoriginal, mainly due to the influence from the Swedish pop groups ABBA and Ace of Base. Retrospective reviewers ranked the song as one of Gaga's best singles. Commercially, "Alejandro" was a global success, topping the record charts in Croatia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Russia and Venezuela. It was a Top 5 hit single in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States. In a 2017 journal, which studied structural patterns in melodies of earworm songs, the American Psychological Association (APA) called "Alejandro" one of the world's catchiest.

The accompanying music video, directed by American fashion photographer Steven Klein, was inspired by Gaga's admiration of her gay friends and gay love. In the video, Gaga dances with male soldiers in a cabaret, interspersed with scenes of near-naked men holding machine guns and the singer playing a nun who swallows a rosary. Critics complimented the music video's idea and dark nature, and compared it with the work of 1980s artists. The Catholic League criticized Gaga's use of religious symbols in the video. Retrospective commentators analyzed the music video's themes, including BDSM, anti-fascism, sexual violence and religion. Gaga performed "Alejandro" on the ninth season of American Idol and many of her concert tours and residency shows.