History Music / Madonna

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[[caption-width-right:350:The undisputed Queen Of Pop.]]

* ''Hard Candy'' (2008), Generic hip-hop and R&B.

* BiTheWay

* ''Music/AmericanLife'' (2003), An electronic, minimalistic album, with political seriousness in the lyrics.

Her third album, 1986's ''Music/TrueBlue'', saw the first of many re-inventions for Madonna, as she shed her "mall rat" persona and adopted a more sophisticated "sex kitten" image. The album also contained "Live To Tell", one of the most important songs Madonna ever put out. The ballad won critics (many of whom had dismissed Madonna as a teenybopper act) over and breathed new life to her career. Additionally, the single "Papa Don't Preach", about an impregnated teenage girl who wants to keep her baby, caused some controversy.

Expanding on the use of religious imagery with ''Music/LikeAPrayer'' (1989), Madonna received positive critical reception for her diverse musical productions, while at the same time receiving criticism from religious conservatives and the Vatican. The video for the title track gained massive controversy, costing Madonna a hefty contract with Pepsi for use of the song in its commercials. Madonna's marriage to Sean Penn also collapsed under accusations of spousal abuse, which Madonna addressed (for the first and only time) in the song "Till Death Do Us Part".

Madonna made her Broadway debut in 1988 in Creator/{{David Mamet}}'s ''Theatre/SpeedThePlow'', but her acting career took off again in 1990's ''Film/DickTracy'', which also spawned one of her biggest hits, the song "Vogue". As the 1990s began, Madonna founded the Maverick corporation (the name is a portmanteau of "Madonna" and "Veronica", her [[RaisedCatholic confirmation name]]), a joint venture between herself and Time Warner, and released ''Music/TheImmaculateCollection'', a "best of" album that featured the controversial single "Justify My Love". The video for the song was [[MoralGuardians banned on MTV]], kicking up more controversy as Madonna entered into her "Sex" period.

1994 saw the release of ''Music/BedtimeStories''; besides featuring a collaboration between Madonna and Music/{{Bjork}} (the album's title track) and the commercially successful video/song "Take a Bow", the album was released as Madonna landed the lead role in the 1996 film version of the musical ''Music/{{Evita}}''. Winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, the film was a turning point as Madonna began the transition towards a more respectable mother image, which was enhanced with the birth of her firstborn child.

* ''Film/WhosThatGirl'' (1987; only four Madonna songs are on this OST[[note]]"Who's That Girl", "Causing a Commotion", "The Look of Love", and "Can't Stop".[[/note]])

* AdvancingWallOfDoom: In the music video for "4 minutes"
* AntiLoveSong: "Love Song", her duet with {{Music/Prince}} on ''Like A Prayer'', has it right in the words that ''it isn't a love song''.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: In "Justify My Love (The Beast Within Mix)", the verses taken from the Literature/BookOfRevelation are as follows: 1:3, 7; 2:1-4, 9-10; 13:1-10; 21:1-8; and 22:10-13.
* AutoTune: Madonna has used vocoders on "Nobody's Perfect", "Die Another Day", "Nobody Knows Me", and "Revolver".
** On ''Madame X'', several songs feature vocoders, including "Future", "Dark Ballet" (with some Daft Punk-like vocals at a point), "God Control", "I Rise", among others.

* BadGirlSong: "Girl Gone Wild".

** "Bad Girl", on the other hand, is a deconstruction. It's about a woman leading an unhappy life consisting of smoking, drinking, and having sex.

** Also in the video for "Ray of Light".

* BoastfulRap: "I Don't Give A".

** A sorta of ironic and surreal one happens on "American Life". In which she raps about the privileges she has and sarcastically demands more.

** The video for "Holiday". Also the original video for "True Blue", which was done by an amateur director as part of a MTV contest where people were able to submit a homemade music video for a chance for it to become the "official" video shown on MTV. Keep in mind that MTV had a day dedicated to showing all of the other submissions. Every single one, which means if some mom filmed her daughter on a crappy VHS camera singing along to the song, ''MTV aired it''.

** She directed a critically panned and mostly nonsensical film called ''Filth and Wisdom'' in 2008. Three years later, when her next project came out, promotional materials claimed it was her "directorial debut". In an interview, Madonna claimed she only directed ''Filth and Wisdom'' so she could learn how to make a film, so apparently it doesn't count.

* CharityMotivationSong: "Hey You", the theme song for Live Earth.

* CurseCutShort: "I Don't Give A", natch.
* CurtainCall: At the end of "Like a Prayer".

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Her Blonde Ambition tour featured her mimicking masturbation during "Like A Virgin". "Secret" hints at this with the line "happiness lies in your own hand".
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "I'd like to direct your attention, to something that needs directing to" from "Where Life Begins".

* EthicalSlut: The subject of many songs like "Erotica" and "Human Nature", which provides the page quote.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Subverted. While Madonna generally runs full steam ahead and crushes the radar like a semi-truck on the freeway, she won't let the original version of "Human Nature" appear on her "best of" albums lest she get stuck with a "Parental Advisory" warning (even though the album that contains the song doesn't have said sticker). Also, her big NBC concert special opted to use alternate angles and screen cutaways to avoid showing Madonna [[CrucifiedHeroShot mock-crucified]] during "Live To Tell".

** She appears to be enjoying the bikini girls making out in "Music".

* GratuitousForeignLanguage: ''Madame X'', her latest album, features several songs partially sung in Portuguese, including "Faz Gostoso" (self-evident), "Killers Who Are Partying", "Crazy", "Batuka" and "Funana" (a song included in the super deluxe edition).

** "La Isla Bonita", ([[BilingualBonus "the beautiful island"]]).
** "¿Quién es esa niña?" and "señorita, más fina" in "Who's That Girl".

** "Medellín" and "Bitch, I'm Loca" on ''Madame X''. Both songs feature popular Colombian singer Maluma. The latter's song, "Soltera", in which Madonna features on, also counts.

** Madonna's mother died when Madonna was only five. Her death influenced the songs "Promise to Try", "Mer Girl", "Inside of Me", and "Mother and Father".

* GunPorn: The "Transgression" segment of the MDNA Tour, especially "Revolver" and "Gang Bang", revolves around guns. EveryoneIsArmed, and the video backdrop for "Revolver" glamorizes guns and bullets.

* HeartbeatSoundtrack: "Heartbeat", natch.

* HymnToMusic: "Music".

* IntercourseWithYou: "Where Life Begins", "Like a Virgin" (self-explanatory), "Erotica", "Justify My Love" (especially the notorious video), "Bitch, I'm Loca" (a duet with Maluma) and more.

* KinkySpanking: "Hanky Panky".
* LastNoteNightmare: The final song of ''Like a Prayer'', "Act of Contrition". The whole song is pretty ominous, but the last four seconds will make you jump out of your seat. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT'S NOT IN THE COMPUTER?!"
* LeFilmArtistique: Some of her more "high concept" videos, such as "Justify My Love", "Frozen", "Bedtime Story", "Dark Ballet", etc.

** Madonna's ballads, such as "Frozen".

** "Justify My Love", which is also an IWantSong.

* LonelyPianoPiece: "Promise to Try".
* LoveIsADrug: Madonna compares love to MDMA in "I'm Addicted".
* LyricalColdOpen: Many songs start out like this, including "Hung Up", "American Life", "4 Minutes", "Girl Gone Wild", "Love Profusion", "Sorry", "Medellín" and "I Don't Search I Find". The quotes in "White Heat", "What It Feels Like for a Girl" and "I Rise" also start at the very beginning.

** "Till Death Do Us Part", a bouncy song about a woman who's vows to leave her abusive husband, only to go back to him and the implication that "Till Death Do Us Part" is going to be the only way she'll get free from him.

* MissingMom: Madonna's mother died when she was very young. Her song "Promise To Try" from ''Like A Prayer'', which was played during a scene from the documentary film ''Truth Or Dare'', is about her coming to terms with her mother's absence in her life. In the video for "Oh Father", the absence of the mother also affects the father's relationship, resulting in domestic abuse in one scene where the actor playing him roughly scolds the little girl playing the young Madonna for wearing her mother's clothes and jewelry.

* MoodWhiplash: Most of her albums have at least one song, but the worst offender is MDNA with two. The entire album is pretty dance-happy, and then you get to "Masterpiece", which is a slower romantic song, and then "Falling Free", a power ballad that will make anyone cry as you get closer and closer to the end.

** Some have speculated that this was done to avoid comparison with the Cher single "Bang Bang", [[OneMarioLimit which contains similar themes and a nearly identical title]].

* PepTalkSong: "Hey You", which contains general and vague statements like "Don't you give up/It's not so bad for us."
* PrecisionFStrike: "I Fucked Up".
* PrettyInMink: Has worn some furs in her videos, like a white fur wrap in "Material Girl" and a white mink coat in "Music".

** For the Confessions Tour Madonna used a less vulgar demo ("You Thrill Me"), added some lyrics from the final version of "Erotica", and reworked it into an electronic/dance/disco song.

** "Bang Bang", a happy-sounding song about murder, was transformed into "Gang Bang", a much darker song about murder.

** Her version of [[Music/AmericanPie "American Pie"]] took a few liberties, to say the least. Music/DonMcLean himself gave it a positive review, however, saying that the album's cover was "a gift from a goddess", and that her version was "mystical and sensual".

* RecordNeedleScratch: Madonna does this twice on the song "Now I'm Following You (Part 2)" from her ''Film/DickTracy'' soundtrack album ''I'm Breathless''...the first time is when the record skips, presumably when it finishes playing the previous song on the album, "Now I'm Following You (Part 1)", and near the end when she says "Will you knock it off, please?", a CallBack to her response in the song "Cry Baby".

** Madonna recycled a lyric from "Love Song" into "Hung Up".

** She also uses a snippet of Vogue in Rebel Heart's "Holy Water", also near the end.

* {{Sexophone}}: Used in "Where Life Begins".

* ShoutOut: "Hung Up" is a five-minute love song to the 1970s, with the video being based on ''Film/{{Saturday Night Fever}}'' and the song's hook being a sample from Music/{{ABBA}}'s "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! A Man After Midnight".

* SillyLoveSongs: Many of Madonna's songs deal with love in some way, but special attention should go to "Cherish", "Superstar", "True Blue", "Love Profusion", "Crazy", and so on.
* SpellingSong: Music/NickiMinaj and Music/{{MIA}} tell us to L-U-V Madonna in "Give Me All Your Luvin'".

* SurrealMusicVideo: "Fever", "Bedtime Story", "Dear Jessie", and "Nothing Really Matters".

** A take that from the critics: a few reviewers described ''MDNA'' and/or its singles as "reductive", a word Madonna used to describe ''Born This Way''.

** "Bitch, I'm Madonna".
** The similarly titled, "Bitch, I'm Loca".

* TickTockTune: "Hung Up" opens with clock ticking, then ends with an alarm that flows into "Get Together".

** Music/NickiMinaj and Music/{{MIA}} appear on "Give Me All Your Luvin'".
** Nicki Minaj also appears on "I Don't Give A".
*** Nicki appears again on "Bitch I'm Madonna"
** Music/LilWayne appears on "Revolver".
** Music/MissyElliott appears on "Into the Hollywood Groove".
** Music/KanyeWest appears on "Beat Goes On".
** Meshell Ndegeocello appears on "I'd Rather Be Your Lover".
** Ali G tries it in the video for "Music", to Madonna's annoyance.
** Chance The Rapper appears on "Iconic".
** Maluma appears on "Medellín" and "Bitch, I'm Loca". Madonna also featured on Maluma's song, "Soltera", recorded at the same time as the other two songs.
** Quavo appears on "Future".
** Swae Lee appears on "Crave".

Madonna's seventh studio album ''Music/RayOfLight'' (1998) became her big comeback album, as it was one of her most critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums. The album mixed dance music with introspective lyrics about motherhood and religion, as Madonna became involved in Kabbalah. With ''Music'' (2000), Madonna returned to dance music full-time, the album also introduced Creator/SachaBaronCohen, whose Ali G character was featured in the video for the title track, to American culture. Sadly, Madonna's decision to try her hand at rap and politically conscious, anti-war lyrics caused her 2003 album ''American Life'' to flop. However, she rebounded with ''Music/ConfessionsOnADanceFloor'' (2005), a hugely successful album.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_madonna_780.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"She has pulled herself up by her own bra-straps... [[ReallyGetsAround and has been known to let them down occasionally.]]" - Creator/BetteMidler ]]

* ''Music/Madame X'' (2019), a global album of sorts, inspired by trap, Latin (most importantly, Portuguese music) and art pop.

* ''Madame X'' (2019), a global album of sorts, inspired by trap, Latin (most importantly, Portuguese music) and art pop.

* LyricalColdOpen: Many songs start out like this, including "Hung Up", "American Life", "4 Minutes", "Girl Gone Wild", "Love Profusion", and "Sorry". The quotes in "White Heat" and "What It Feels Like for a Girl" also start at the very beginning.

* GratuitousPortuguese: ''Madame X'', her latest album, features several songs partially sung in Portuguese, including "Faz Gostoso" (self-evident), "Killers Who Are Partying", "Crazy", "Batuka" and "Funana" (a song included in the super deluxe edition).

By this time, Madonna landed a supporting cast role in ''Film/DesperatelySeekingSusan'' (1985), playing the title character Susan. The film was a commercial and critical hit, and was the first of many movie roles for Madonna. Unfortunately, her follow-up films ''Shanghai Surprise'' (1986, with then-husband Creator/SeanPenn) and ''Film/WhosThatGirl'' (1987) didn't fare as well.

Her third album, 1986's ''Music/TrueBlue'', saw the first of many re-inventions for Madonna, as she shed her "mall rat" persona and adopted a more sophisticated "sex kitten" image. The album also contained "Live To Tell", one of most important songs Madonna ever put out. The ballad won critics (many of whom had dismissed Madonna as a teenybopper act) over and breathed new life to her career. Additionally, the single "Papa Don't Preach", about an impregnated teenage girl who wants to keep her baby, caused some controversy.

Departing from Sire/Warner, Madonna signed an unprecedented $120 million dollar contract with Live Nation in 2008. Her eleventh album ''Hard Candy'' was released the same year; it received a pretty mixed reaction from hardcore fans and casual listeners alike for its HipHop / RAndB sound, because many thought she was trying to pander to listeners of urban music. In any event, it did feature some interesting collaborations with Music/JustinTimberlake, Music/KanyeWest, Pharrell, and Timbaland.

Madonna is ranked by the Recording Industry Association of America as the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and the second top-selling female artist in the U.S., with 63 million RIAA-certified albums; she has sold over 200 million albums worldwide. In 2007, Guinness World Records listed her as the world's most successful female recording artist of all time, and she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2008). Considered to be one of the most influential women in contemporary music, Madonna has been known for continually reinventing both her music and image, and for retaining a standard of autonomy within the recording industry; she is recognized as an influence among numerous music artists.

* ''Music/TrueBlue'' (1986), Pop-rock, R&B, and classical music thrown at Like A Virgin, with some latin music bits.

* ''MDNA'' (2012), Hip-Hop with some rock and some ingredients from her old cookbooks in the 80's.

*** She also for some reason smashed an iphone.

** A few on Rebel Heart as well. "Living for Love" in which Madonna refuses to let the break bring her down, "Unapolgetic Bitch" in which claims she is not at all sorry for the way she feels, and "Heartbreakcity" which describes how she was the last to find out she was being betrayed.

** "Quien es esa niña" and "señorita, mas fina" in "Who's That Girl".

* InformedJudaism: Okay, a somewhat "mystica" brand of Judaism in Kaballah, but Madonna rarely discusses it publicly.

* MoodWhiplash: Most of her albums have at least one song, but the worst offender is MDNA with two. The entire album is pretty dance happy, and then you get to "Masterpiece", which is a slower romantic song, and then "Falling Free", a power ballad that will make anyone cry as you get closer and closer to the end.

* ParodyAssistance: Remarked in a casual conversation, “When is [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic Weird Al]] gonna make 'Like a Surgeon'?” Word got back to Weird Al, and [[AsYouKnow the rest is history]]. Weird Al has said this is the only time he has made a parody based off the orginator’s suggestion.

** "Holiday" was rereleased in 1985 and 1991 in the UK.
** "Crazy for You" was rereleased in 1991 in the UK.
** "Oh Father" was rereleased in 1995 in Europe.

** "Medellín" and "Bitch, I'm Loca" on ''Madame X''. Both songs feature popular Colombian singer Maluma.

* LeFilmArtistique: Some of her more "high concept" videos, such as "Justify My Love", "Frozen", "Bedtime Story" etc.

** "Bitch, I'm Madonna."

* IntercourseWithYou: "Where Life Begins", "Like a Virgin" (self-explanatory), "Erotica", "Justify My Love" (especially the notorious video), and more.

* SillyLoveSongs: Many of Madonna's songs deal with love in some way, but special attention should go to "Cherish", "Superstar", "True Blue", and "Love Profusion".

** Chance The Rapper appears on "Iconic"

* ''Madame X'' (2019), a mainly pop album, influenced by trap, Latin (most importantly, Portuguese music) and art pop.

2012 saw the release of her twelfth studio album ''MDNA'', launched by a single featuring Music/NickiMinaj and Music/{{MIA}}, and not to mention a major UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime performance as well. It was a return to her dance-pop sound. However, it wasn't the comeback people were expecting. Many fans blame it on poor choices for lead singles and lack of promotion from Madonna. In December 2014, '''30''' songs from the recording sessions of Madonna's upcoming 13th album were leaked, even before Madonna even properly announced the album. Due to this, Madonna announced that her 13th album, entitled ''Rebel Heart'', would be released on March 10, 2015.

* ''Madame X'' (2019)

* AwardBaitSong: “Sooner or Later” from ''Film/DickTracy''; “I’ll Remember” from ''With Honors''; “You Must Love Me” from ''Film/{{Evita}}'' (which actually ''did'' [[{{UsefulNotes/Academy Award}} win the 1997 Oscar for Best Original Song)]].

* AwardBaitSong: “Sooner or Later” from ''Film/DickTracy''; “I’ll Remember” from ''WithHonors''; “You Must Love Me” from ''Film/{{Evita}}''.