When Lady Gaga was in her late teens, a music producer 20 years her senior sexually assaulted her. This song finds her coming to terms with the harrowing experience and no longer allowing it to define her. I'm not nothing without a steady hand I'm not nothing unless I know I can I'm still something if I don't got a man I'm a free woman Gaga explained to Apple Music's Zane Lowe that the rape "compounded all of my feelings about life, feelings about the world, feelings about the industry, what I had to compromise and go through to get to where I am, And I had to put it there." The songstress added that she no longer defines herself as a survivor or a victim. Nor does she need a romantic partner in her life to feel complete.
During the second verse, Gaga reflects on how she's made it on her own terms. Because of the sacrifices the dance pop star has made and the struggles she's endured, she now owns her own space.
"Free Woman" isn't the first time Gaga has penned lyrics inspired by her sexual assault. The 2013 Artpop track "Swine" served as an exorcism for the traumatic event as she cuts an "animal" out of her life. Three years later, Gaga penned with Diane Warren "Til It Happens To You" for The Hunting Ground, a documentary that documents the lives of students affected by rape on college campuses.
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