Alejandro

Alejandro is the Spanish form of the name Alexander.

It may also refer to:

People with the given name Alejandro

The Herd (Australian band)

The Herd is an Australian hip hop group formed in Sydney, Australia. The group employs a "full band" format and is recognised for its live shows. The Herd is composed of Ozi Batla, Urthboy, Berzerkatron (MCs), Unkle Ho (beats), Traksewt (piano accordion, clarinet and beats), Sulo (beats and guitar), Toe-Fu (guitar), Rok Poshtya (bass) and singer Jane Tyrrell. The band's songs often feature politically oriented lyrics.

History

The Herd

The first Herd single to attract radio airplay on Australian national radio station Triple J was "Scallops". Released in 2001, the song combines hip hop culture with Australian "fast food" descriptions:

Like a $3.40 bag of fresh hip hop From your local fish n' chip shop Ah Scallops! With dollops of flavour on top

An Elefant Never Forgets

The band's second album, An Elefant Never Forgets, featured "77%", a prominent song that featured the line: "77% of Aussies are racist"—the lyric is a reference to 2001 Australian survey results regarding the response of the Australian Federal Government, led by then-prime minister John Howard, to the Tampa affair. "Burn Down the Parliament", the first single from the album, was released in the same week as the Canberra bushfires of 2003, but the song's lyrical content was not related to the natural disaster. "77%" was voted into position 46 of the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2003 and, as of October 2004, the album remained in the Australian alternative charts for over 80 weeks.

Alejandro (song)

"Alejandro" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released as the third single from her third extended play (EP) and second major release, The Fame Monster (2009). Co-written and produced by RedOne and inspired by her "Fear of Men Monster", the lyrics portray Gaga bidding farewell to her lovers. Musically, it is composed as a mid-tempo synthpop song.

Contemporary critics predominantly gave "Alejandro" positive reviews and noted influences from pop groups like ABBA, Ace of Base and Madonna. The song charted in the United Kingdom and Hungary due to digital sales following the album's release. Upon release, "Alejandro" charted again in the United Kingdom as well as in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States while topping the Finnish, Polish, Russian, Bulgarian, and Romanian charts. "Alejandro" became Gaga's seventh successive single to reach the top-ten of the US Billboard Hot 100.

The accompanying music video was directed by fashion photographer Steven Klein and inspired by Gaga's love for her gay friends and admiration of gay love. Within the video, Gaga dances with a group of soldiers in a cabaret, interspersed with scenes of Gaga as a nun swallowing a rosary and near-naked men holding machine guns. The music video was controversial and received mixed reviews. Critics complimented its idea and dark nature while the Catholic League criticized Gaga for alleged blasphemy, despite Klein dismissing the idea and claiming that the scene in question (the swallowing of Rosary beads) was Gaga's "desire to take in the Holy". Gaga performed the song on the ninth season of American Idol and has performed it on all dates of The Monster Ball Tour. The song was also included on her 2012–13 tour The Born This Way Ball, as well as on her 2014 tour, ArtRave: The Artpop Ball.