Lady Gaga releases disturbing PSA about campus rape [Video]

Lady Gaga is using her powerful voice to raise awareness about sexual assault on college campuses.
The singer has released an emotional and disturbing music-video PSA for the song “Til It Happens to You” for the documentary “The Hunting Ground,” about campus sexual violence.
The video, shot in black and white, documents the traumatic aftermath of rape in a graphic way. The storyline depicts a handful of women who are assaulted and ultimately find support in each other.
The video is preceded by the warning, “The following contains graphic content that may be emotionally unsettling but reflects the reality of what is happening daily on college campuses.”
At the end of the cinematic piece, text states that “One in five women will be sexually assaulted this year unless something changes,” and directs victims to the national sexual assault hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE.
The song, which features the lyrics “until it happens to you, you won’t know, it won’t be real,” was co-written with Dianne Warren, whose past successes include Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” and Toni Braxton’s “Un-Break My Heart.”
Gaga, 29, has a personal connection to the cause, having spoken about being assaulted at the age of 19 by a record producer.
“Swine,” a track from her 2013 album “Artpop,” was written about sexual assault. “The song is about rape, the song is about demoralization, the song is about rage and fury and passion — and I had a lot of pain that I wanted to release,” she said on “The Howard Stern Show” in 2014.

This is not the first time she’s taken a social stance with her music. The native New Yorker has musically advocated for LGBT acceptance and anti-bullying in the past.