Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' at 30: Here's Where She Goes From Superstar to Artistic Great
As 1989 began, there was no question that Madonna was already a decade-defining superstar. But no one knew if she, like Bee Gees to the ‘70s or Beach Boys to the ‘60s, would prove a decade-constricted artist whose relevance would wane as a new decade turned over.
Like a Prayer, the magnum opus of her first decade and arguably her defining creative statement, came out 30 years ago today (March 21, 1989) and established that Madonna was not a pop star for her time, but for all time. And in the process, it gave us one of the most unlikely No. 1 smashes of her (or any career) and forced the world beyond her teenage fanbase to acknowledge her formidable vision.
Since history is written by the victors, Madonna maintaining her pop culture dominance well past the ‘80s seems like a historical inevitability these days. But in 1989, that was hardly the case. While she’d netted six Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s prior to Like A Prayer and released five smash albums (three studio LPs, a soundtrack and a remix album), her sound had remained decidedly of the era up until this point. Even as her subject matter deepened on 1986’s True Blue (dedicated to husband Sean Penn, from whom she’d file for divorce in Jan. 1989), the sonic palette was unmistakably ‘80s: bubbling dance-pop for the high-energy numbers, pounding beats and widescreen production for the ballads, and her voice only occasionally stretching for maturation (as on “Live to Tell”).
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. These were sounds that had served her Madgesty well for five years, and the three studio albums that precede Like a Prayer are unmistakable classics in their own right. But Madonna has always been a savvy tealeaf reader, and in 1989, she must’ve seen the wind of change coming. As she wrapped the decade and prepped her career for phase 2, Madonna moved in a direction that was simultaneously more ambitious and yet more traditional, pushing boundaries while courting an adult audience for the first time.
As the lead single and first track, “Like a Prayer” was the opening salvo that catapulted Madonna into a controversy she emerged virtually unscathed from. Although religious backlash to its Mary Lambert-directed video -- which depicted white supremacists, cross burning and an erotic encounter with a saint in a dream -- would push Pepsi to can an ad they’d already paid $5 million for, the wider world seemed to side with Madonna that her video was an artistic statement and its critics were mere pearl clutchers (not long after, however, the tide would start to turn against her when she began simulating masturbation in performances).
The song was a smash, becoming her seventh Hot 100 No. 1 (reigning for three weeks) and establishing that Madonna was capable of expanding her sound well past mall pop without sacrificing any of her commercial success. The structurally complex, multi-part epic melded an earnest Gospel choir, funk-pop riffage and searing guitar lines (some from Prince), culminating in a transcendent sing-along that established her as a pop chameleon, not just a Danceteria alumnus content to regurgitate old trends. The lyrics were similarly bold; by blurring the lines between the divine and the profane (“I’m down on my knees / I wanna take you there”), she began an unflinching conversation on human sexuality that would reach its apex in her ‘90s output.
The comparatively straightforward follow-up single “Express Yourself” -- a buoyant, defiant declaration of self-worth -- was certainly more in the dance-pop realm, but even here, the song is punctuated by irrepressible, warm Motown horns that throw back to an earlier era. Third single “Cherish” was similarly crafty. On its surface it reads like a frothy ‘80s pop tune, but its bones are in ‘50s doo-wop, and it contains a lyrical reference to The Association’s 1966 hit “Cherish.” Both singles sounded contemporary and were still aimed at the youth market, but they existed within a context the previous generation would understand and appreciate as well.
This move past dance-pop and synthpop (for the time -- she would return to both at points) was hugely important for Madonna in 1989. Around that period, if you wanted to be taken seriously by your industry peers and the critics, you could make pop, sure -- but it had to be grown-up pop with elements of genres the powers that be did take seriously, i.e., guitar rock, Motown, Gospel, baroque pop. And she did. She expertly stretched into the latter genre with “Promise to Try” and the stately-yet-personal “Oh Father,” a solemn ballad about her life after the loss of her mother at age five. The fact that “Oh Father” became her first Hot 100 hit since “Holiday” to miss the top 10 really didn’t even matter (it peaked at No. 20); with this song, Madonna established herself as a serious balladeer who could tackle cross-generational, mature material, and that opened numerous doors for her in the ‘90s.
The rest of the album, easily her most eclectic up until that point, flirted with a variety of flavors befitting a pop star looking to establish their versatility: “Dear Jessie” is nursery pop/psychedelia for co-writer Patrick Leonard’s daughter; “Keep It Together” is hard-slamming ‘70s R&B influenced by Sly Stone; “Spanish Eyes” is her Flamenco-tinged lament to those lost in the AIDS epidemic; “Till Death Do Us Part” is a harrowing account of domestic violence set, unexpectedly, to an anxious bubble of runaway synths; and the impact of Prince is all over their funky, slow-grinding not-a-love-song love song “Love Song.” He also pops up for album closer “Act of Contrition,” which is built around one of his guitar solos and segments of the gospel choir played backward. As these noisy tape loops build to an unsettling climax, Madonna retices the Catholic prayer of repentance, but loses her way before finishing it, veering from the sacred to the secular with a full-throated rant about a lost restaurant reservation -- and just before it ends, Prince’s guitar noodles off into the stratosphere.
It’s a strange, arty way to end an album, and a far cry from the crystal-clear message of “Love Makes the World Go Round” that Madonna used to wrap True Blue, her previous studio album. But that’s the point. Here is where Madonna planted her flag not just as a superstar but as an Artist, someone willing to take risks, push into unmined territory and still come out with a chart-topper, two No. 2 hits and the best reviews of her career up until that point. With callbacks to previous eras and forays into revered genres, Madonna began to expand her fanbase into the ‘adult pop’ realm without sacrificing her youth culture bona fides.
It was a deft balancing act, and one that certainly couldn’t last forever, but on Like a Prayer, Madonna established that she was a pop star who happened to come from the ‘80s, not a product of the ‘80s -- and that she would remain relevant long after her peers faded into memory like a Rubik’s Cube or Teddy Ruxpin.
only die mutti.
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video teaser:
Madonna und Patti LuPone in der neuen Staffel von «Pose»
Madonnas Hit «Vogue» spielt eine wichtige Rolle in der zweiten Staffel
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Keine Ahnung, wie man Facebook Videos hier zum direkt schauen verlinkt aber es lohnt sich.
Madonna, the Pied Piper Of Perversion, da war was los in Amerika in den frühen 90ern
From BILLBOARD:
5 Things We Want From Madonna's Next Album
Hark! Celestial trumpets are sounding from the clouds hovering near the heavens! It can only mean one thing: Her Madgesty, the Queen Of Pop, has new material on the way.
Let’s reign it in a bit, though. With all due respect, we’re still waiting for Madonna to release a great album this decade. But the good news is that her 14th LP is on its way, and she’s absolutely got it in her to give us a batch of tunes to be reckoned with. After all, you don’t become the queen without capturing lightning in a bottle multiple times over.
Her unrivaled string of hit releases in the 1980s seemed to all be building toward the golden -- actually, make that quadruple-Platinum -- Like A Prayer in 1989, an album that would have been an enviable career best for any other artist if they’d simply stopped there. But this is Madonna! She proceeded to triumphantly march forward by eschewing the big, glossy sound that helped make her famous and stripping down -- both the music and, um, herself -- and giving us 1992’s brilliant, confessional house-pop hybrid Erotica. The Queen of Pop would end the second decade of her reign with her pièce de résistance, 1998's reflective Ray of Light. Her seventh studio album, it saw her pick up a staggering 10 statues between the Grammys and the MTV Video Music Awards alone.
Subsequent years have seen tireless Madge raise her kids, direct films, open schools, launch a chain of gyms and launch clothing and skincare lines. Those consistently fantastic full length releases, meanwhile, tapered off after 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor, a bumping, peak-hour trek through clubland that earned the singer yet another Grammy. That’s not to say Madonna’s post-Confessions studio albums are all bad by any means -- the urban thump of 2008's Hard Candyremains a mostly satisfying experience, thanks to the focus of collaborators Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams; while 2015's Rebel Heart, though spotty, contains about seven playlist-worthy tracks throughout.
Looking on the bright side, the best could very well still be to come with Madonna’s 14th studio release. What do we want from it? Nothing short of everything, of course. But we’d settle for any (or all!) of the following.
Let Madonna Sing
You know what needs to be hung up? Auto-Tune. At least in the Queen of Pop's case. This is Madonna, and she’s amassed a loyal army of fans, sold hundreds of millions of records and inspired countless Gwens, Britneys, Katys and Gagas by simply being herself.
Cuts from the last decade like “Ghosttown” and “Messiah” off Rebel Heart, MDNA’s “Masterpiece” and Hard Candy single “Miles Away” seem, for the most part, to be devoid of too much technical wizardry affecting her voice. And she sounds great on each one! Alas, for every one of those, there’s been a “Bitch I’m Madonna,” “Girl Gone Wild” or “Give It 2 Me” -- performances that find the singer coming off like she downed a vocoder smoothie before stepping to the mic.
Madonna, voice included, is a national treasure. Also, she kicked ass performing live at the Met Gala in New York three months ago. Just give it to us plain and simple going forward.
Stick With One or Two Producers, Rather Than Ten
This is something we all want, including Madonna! In February, upon her manager Guy Oseary commemorating the 20-year anniversary of Ray of Light on Instagram, the pop legend lamented the following in the comments: “Can you help me now please! Remember when i made records with other artists from beginning to end and I was allowed to be a visionary and not to have to go to song writing camps where No one can sit still for more than 15 minutes…”
Well, damn. That’s quite to the point. Think of Madonna’s work with Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray on Like a Prayer; Shep Pettibone and Andre Betts on Erotica; William Orbit on Ray of Light; or Stuart Price on Confessions on a Dance Floor. They were cohesive, ahead-of-the-curve albums, one and all. Now try to count the writers and producers she was thrown together with for her two most recent LPs, MDNA and Rebel Heart. There aren’t enough fingers and toes.
What’s promising is the fact that Madonna appears to be collaborating once more with French “Disco God” Mirwais Ahmadzai, the lone producer behind her 2003 fan-favorite release American Life. Like the above-mentioned albums, American Life is noteworthy for its singular sound and vision.
A European Influence
Who doesn’t love hip-hop, right? But okay, let’s try this: Who wants to hear Madonna rapping? Exactly.
From the role Spanish music has played in classic cuts like “La Isla Bonita,” “Who’s That Girl” and “Deeper And Deeper” to her work with European collaborators like Orbit, Ahmadzai and Price, Madonna has typically been strongest with she aims for a more global vibe. Let’s hope her current status as a resident of Lisbon -- and, again, her hitting the studio with Ahmadzai -- has the superstar singer brewing some cutting edge beats once more, a la when she cranked out Confessions during her years spent living in London.
No Features Necessary
When was the last time you shot up out of bed and said, “I really can’t imagine how hollow ‘Give Me All Your Luvin’’ might have been if LMFAO hadn’t lent their angelic pipes to the ‘Party Rock Remix’”? Never, that’s when. Likewise, who in the world was asking for Mike Tyson to pop up on Rebel Heart track “Iconic”? Madonna probably doesn’t even remember the fact that M.I.A. appears on ridiculously unnecessary MDNA bonus cut “B-Day Song.”
One of Madonna’s impressive feats is that for the first 25 years of her career, she largely managed to avoid recording a duet with another artist. When the Justin Timberlake-featuring “4 Minutes” came along as Hard Candy’s lead single in 2008, sure, it went on to become one of her biggest hits in the digital era. But it played, vocally, like Timberlake had hijacked Madonna’s own song from her.
Fans have shown up to the Madonna party for four decades now. They’ll likely keep doing so even if Nicki Minaj isn’t in the credits.
A Return to Upbeat, Escapist Pop
Remember “Borderline”? “Open Your Heart”? “Express Yourself”? “Vogue”? “Deeper And Deeper”? “Ray Of Light”? “Beautiful Stranger”? “Jump”? Irresistible and hooky, one and all. More of that, please.
Yes, artists evolve and mature. But you know what would be revolutionary 35 years into the Queen of Pop’s truly remarkable story? Getting back to her roots! We don’t need her to save the planet. Nor are we looking to her to fix the political system. Upon the release of Confessions on a Dance Floor 14 years ago, Madonna stated, “I feel that I just want to have fun; I want to dance; I want to feel buoyant. And I want to give other people the same feeling. There's a lot of madness in the world around us, and I want people to be happy.” That’s a distraction we’ll still gladly accept from her.
In the end, all we really want from Madonna is to put the current state of the world on a shelf for a bit, and get into her groove as we have so many times before.
the pied piper of perversion klingt fast noch besser als queen of pop. lol
diese freaks. ⚰
Was genau läuft da eigentlich bei M? Es sah jetzt schon 3-4 Mal so aus, als würde sie was drehen...Unwahrscheinlich, dass der ganze Aufwand für ein Video betrieben wird.
Shootet sie evtl schon Backdrops für die anstehende Tour oder mehrere Videos auf einmal und am Ende haut sie ein Visual Album raus?
Heute werden doch viele Albumkampagnen so gefahren, dass es vor Veröffentlichung des Albums recht zackig 2-3 Videos gibt und dann weniger nach Veröffentlichung...denke sie wird schon Videos für mehrere Singles drehen.
Backdrops für die Tour wäre auch möglich, da wäre sie aber dann arg früh dran, wenn es noch nicht mal Termine gibt.
Ihr Instagram bekam ein Update, sie postete ein großes X und ein neues Profilbild hat sie auch.