Open your heart

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Open your heart
Cover
Madonna
publication November 12, 1986
length 4:13
Genre (s) Pop , dance pop , synth pop
text Madonna, Gardner Cole, Peter Rafelson
music Madonna, Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard
album True blue

Open Your Heart is a song by the American singer and songwriter Madonna .

It was released on November 12, 1986 as the fourth single from their third studio album True Blue ( Sire Records ). Remixed versions of the song also appeared on their greatest hits albums The Immaculate Collection (1990) and Celebration (2009). Originally written as a rock 'n' roll song, Madonna changed it into a dance pop song. Lyrically, Open Your Heart is a love song about the innocent feelings of young girls and about Madonna expressing their sexual desires.

The song received critical acclaim and was a commercial success worldwide. It peaked at number one in the US in the spring of 1987 , making it Madonna's fifth Billboard Hot 100 number one single. However, the music video approaches the song in a different way. Madonna plays an exotic dancer in a peepshow club, makes friends with a little boy and disappears. It was a completely opposite perspective, portrayed from the point of view of the “male gaze” and depicts the portrayal of innocence rather than a sexual suggestion. Critics commented negatively on a child's visit to a strip club. The video paid homage to actresses Liza Minnelli and Marlene Dietrich .

The song was performed by Madonna on two of her world tours - 1987 Who's That Girl World Tour and 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour , where Madonna wore an oversized bra during the song . Open Your Heart was by many artists gecovert and appeared in Britney Spears film, Crossroads (2002).

Background and origin

Open Your Heart was originally a rock 'n' roll song written by songwriters Gardner Cole and Peter Rafelson, entitled Follow Your Heart , written for singer Cyndi Lauper , who never recorded it. The Temptations wanted to record the song too, but after Madonna recorded it, they changed their minds. The original title was taken from a local restaurant called Follow Your Heart in Canoga Park , Los Angeles , California . In Fred Bronson's book The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits , Cole explains:

“Peter and I usually write very quickly. It's usually a day or two a song, but for some reason this didn't really hit us as a hit song. We didn't give up on it. We just kept working on it over the course of a year. Thank God we did. […] It was the first song that was cut on the True Blue album. It made me nervous as a writer, because a lot of times the very first song that gets cut doesn't make it in the long run. But the song ended up making the album, which really opened up a lot of doors for me ”

“Peter and I usually write very quickly. It usually takes a day or two when we write a song, but for some reason the lyrics didn't apply to us as a hit. But we didn't give up. We continued to work on the song throughout the year. We thank God we did it. […] It was the first song that was put on the True Blue album . It made me nervous as a songwriter because there was a lot of responsibility on me. But after the song was received positively, we were allowed to write more songs for the album, so that many doors have opened for me. "

- Gardner Cole

Cole's manager Bennett Freed worked with Madonna's management. They were looking for new material for the next Madonna album. Three songs by Cole were shortlisted including Open Your Heart . Although Open Your Heart didn't exactly fit Madonna's musical style at the time, they still accepted it. Madonna recorded Open Your Heart and changed the lyrics to include her co-songwriting on the record and single. Together with Patrick Leonard, she added a bassline to the song so that the song looked more like a rock dance song than the original rock song. The song was the first to be recorded for the True Blue album in late 1985 , and it made it onto the album as well.

Music and content

The song has a continuous percussion- filled structure and a chorus that sounds like Belinda Carlisle , according to author Rikky Rooksby in his book The Complete Guide to Music by Madonna . In terms of content, Open Your Heart is a simple love song. The song speaks seriously of the innocent ideas and feelings when a boy meets a girl. According to Professor Mavis Tsai, the phrase Open Your Heart should be understood as a metaphor for the act of being that corresponds to behavior in the development of an intimate or close relationship. The following lines in the song, "Open Your Heart, I'll make you love me / It's not that hard, if you just turn the key," illustrate this metaphor. The concept of the song shows Madonna as a victim of love. Through the text, Madonna expresses her sexual desires for her husband in a more direct position, according to the author Santiago Fouz-Hernández in the line, "If you gave me half a chance you'd see / My desire burning inside of me."

Cover design

On the cover picture of the single Open Your Heart you can see Madonna's face in profile , she wears a black wig and shows an elegant pose with her head. It is dark in the background, her face is illuminated with blue light. The cover picture was shot by Herb Ritts . On the far left, Madonna is written vertically , while the title of the song Open Your Heart can be read horizontally in the lower part.

Music video

The music video was filmed in Echo Park in Los Angeles , California. Madonna portrays an exotic dancer . A young boy, played by children's model Felix Howard , befriends Madonna. This video was originally supposed to be shot by Madonna's husband Sean Penn , but in the end it was Jean-Baptiste Mondino , who also made Madonna's videos for Justify My Love (1990), Human Nature (1995), Love Don't Live Here Anymore (1996) , Don't Tell Me (2000) and Hollywood (2003). The video was shot in July 1986 and was released in December 1986. It was produced by David Naylor. The video was nominated for three awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards . In the best female video category, Open Your Heart lost to another Madonna video, Papa Don't Preach .

The Open Your Heart music video presents an earlier version of Madonna's dreams about her Italian-American heritage, focus and theology, which she featured on her Who's, That Girl World Tour in 1987. The video deals with a cinematic peep show and voyeurism , which shows Madonna portrayed as a stripper. It starts with a little boy who tries to go to the peep show but is turned away by an old man at the ticket booth outside. In the club, Madonna begins to sing the song in the middle of a carousel, which always turns in a circle so that Madonna can cast her eyes on the visitors who are safely seated in their cabins. Madonna is dressed in a black bustier, spike heels, fishnet stockings and a black wig, which she then removes to reveal her slim body. The lighting is bluish and dark.

Their look resembles in a mixture the actresses Marlene Dietrich in the film The Blue Angel and Liza Minnelli as the character Sally Bowles in the Bob-Fosse - musical film Cabaret . The dancing is rather reserved, Madonna dances with a lonely chair. At one point in the first segment of the video, Madonna is dancing, but the camera remains static and the movements of the dance are constrained within the small area of ​​the camera. Just like the columns in the visitor stands open and close. In the camera perspective you only see Madonna dancing for a certain time, after which the lens of the camera is closed by a gap. Outside there are pictures of Madonna on display and the little boy just looks confused at the Madonna pictures. There are four other visitors in the stands, who are often shown in the video. At one point in the video, Madonna takes off her gloves, like Rita Hayworth from Gilda's .

The content of the video is similar to Mötley Crües video for the single Girls, Girls, Girls . But by contrast, this video tells the story from Madonna's point of view. She looks down into the cubicles to make eye contact with the men, but they are unable to come back. She also looks increasingly into the camera, looks at the viewer with her eye and thus establishes a connection. With these scenes, Madonna portrays her power over men and the ability to pursue them.

Madonna represents an assertive woman who is looking for a lover who can accept her as a person. Writer Bruce Forbes notes that the men in the cubicles have been proven unworthy of her and there is an undertone of mockery when Madonna gives them her addresses and calls the visitors a "baby". At the end of the video, the men are isolated and sadly watch the flaps close. As the final chorus breaks into dance grooves, Madonna comes out of the theater and gives the boys a quick kiss on the lips. Both are dressed in loose gray suits that give Madonna an androgynous look. You playfully move away from the nightclub while the sun comes up. The nightclub owner is chasing them both. This final scene is reminiscent of Charles Chaplin and Jack Coogan in The Kid - the old boss chases them and yells "Come back, come back, we still need you" in Italian. The tension between the visual and musical dimensions of the video is extremely disturbing, according to writer Nicholas B. Dirks. Only when Madonna disappears from the carousel and runs away from her patriarchal boss with the boy can the music and the video be compared.

reception

The feminist writer Susan Bordo gave the video a negative review, saying that the squinting and pathetic men in the cabins and Madonna's escape with the boy "is cynical and mechanically, for what might pornography". MTV had to talk to Warner's producers for a long time before they were allowed to air the music video. However, in her book McRock: Pop As a Commodity , critic Mary Harron wrote that the underlying message in the video is that although Madonna sells sexuality, it is free. There is no overt representation except friendship with the boy. Madonna avoids her escape with a man whose sexual perception would be stronger if she had run away with a man. According to the author Richard Dienst, this appears to be a departure from adults in favor of childhood, androgyny, authenticity and nomadic play. The video has also been hailed for reviving and recreating the harsh glamor, studio-era Hollywood stars and also portraying women as sex symbols. Author Donn Welton pointed out that the usual power relationship between "voyeuristic men" is destabilized by portraying the male patrons of the peep show as derisive and pathetic. At the same time, Madonna's portrayal of the porn queen is deconstructed by the escape at the end of the video.

Live performances

Madonna performs with Open Your Heart .

Open Your Heart has been played by Madonna on two tours - 1987 Who's That Girl World Tour and 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour . It served as the opening song on the Who's That Girl tour in 1987. It began with the then young dancer Chris Finch, who imitated Felix Howard from the video. Howard did not get a license to tour, so Finch took on his role. It became an integral part of most of the songs performed on the tour. After Finch, two other dancers joined before Madonna climbed onto the stage herself. She wore the same black lace corsets and fishnets as in the music video during the performances. First she sings the song alone, then Finch comes in and they dance until the song ends. Two different performances of the song on tour can be found on these videos: Who's That Girl - Live in Japan , shot in Tokyo , Japan, June 1987 and Ciao, Italia! - Live from Italy , filmed in Turin , Italy, September 4th, 1987.

On the Blond Ambition World Tour , the opening number is the song Express Yourself instead of Open Your Heart . This time it's not a little boy, it's a hunky dancer. Two different performances have been recorded and videotaped, the Blond Ambition - Japan Tour 90 , in Yokohama , Japan, April 27, 1990 and the Live! - Blond Ambition World Tour 90 , in Nice , France, August 5, 1990.

Contributors

The following people contributed to the creation of the song Open Your Heart .

music

production

Visual

reception

criticism

Writer Susan McClary in Culture / Power / History says the song is more upbeat than her previous number-one single Live to Tell and "playing with the breakup in 'Open Your Heart' creates the image of an open ending - an erotic energy that continuously escapes ”. Author Taraborrelli described it as one of Madonna's "most serious" songs and compared it to Aretha Franklin's Respect and Barbra Streisand's A House is Not a Home . According to him, it was "a tune that people could understand and that is what makes a pop song unforgettable". The New York Times writer Stephen Holden compared the song to the sweet post- Motown Valentine songs. Houston Chronicle author Joey Guerra described the song as "perfect" for the dance floor.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic described it as a perfect dance song with deepened dance grooves . Slant Magazine called the song one of Madonna's "most glamorous and magical" songs.

Robert Christgau wrote about the song: "I'm not saying that your flair is lackluster - the generosity that you demand in the inexhaustible Open Your Heart is not a one-way street."

Commercial win

Open Your Heart debuted at number 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in the week of December 6, 1986 . The single continued to climb and then became Madonna's fifth number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 charts on February 7, 1987 .

In Canada , the song debuted on December 13, 1986 at number 83 and reached its highest ranking in February 1987 with number 8.

Internationally, it became a top ten hit in several European countries, including Great Britain , Italy , Ireland , the Netherlands , and Belgium . In Great Britain, the single debuted in the British singles charts at # 8 and then reached its top ranking with # 4 in the week of December 13, 1986. The single was on December 1, 1986 by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) with Silver awarded.

Chart placements

Charts Top ranking Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK) Germany (GfK) 17th (10 weeks) 10
Austria (Ö3) Austria (Ö3) 18th (10 weeks) 10
Switzerland (IFPI) Switzerland (IFPI) 11 (6 weeks) 6th
United Kingdom (OCC) United Kingdom (OCC) 4th (9 weeks) 9
United States (Billboard) United States (Billboard) 1 (18 weeks) 18th

Awards for music sales

Country / Region Award Sales
Awards for music sales
(country / region, Award, Sales)
United Kingdom (BPI) United Kingdom (BPI) Silver record icon.svg silver 250,000
All in all Silver record icon.svg 1 × silver
250,000

Main article: Madonna (artist) / Awards for music sales

Cover versions

While the original version was recorded in English , there was also a Spanish version of the song, entitled Abre Tu Corazón , recorded by Venezuelan rock singer Melissa (born in Peru , Melissa moved to Venezuela at a young age ). She released her Spanish version in March 1986 on her album Melissa III . Madonna didn't release the song until her album True Blue three months later, so Melissa's Abre Tu Corazón can be seen as the first released version of Open Your Heart , but Madonna's original version (which she has the songwriting rights to) became the first and a lot recorded earlier. The Madonna tribute album Virgin Voices: A Tribute To Madonna, Vol. 2 contains a cover version of the Israeli singer Ofra Haza . A Eurodance version of the song was recorded by the group Mad'House for their album Absolutely Mad . A hi-NRG dance version was recorded by Who's That Girl for the album Exposed , where it was released on Almighty Records. In 2004, the album Platinum Blonde NRG, Vol. 2: Nrgised Madonna Classics included a hi-NRG cover version by In-Deep. The song was played as the theme song in the 2002 movie Crossroads . Britney Spears character moves his mouth to the song in her room. A Madonna poster can also be seen in this scene. In 2010, Open Your Heart was covered as a medley with Borderline in the Glee series in the episode The Power of Madonna , by the actors Cory Monteith and Lea Michele .

Web links

literature

  • Carol Benson, Allan Metz (Eds.): The Madonna Companion. Two Decades of Commentary. Schirmer Books, New York NY 1999, ISBN 0-02-864972-9 .
  • Susan Bordo: Unbearable weight. Feminism, Western culture, and the body. 10th anniversary edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA 2004, ISBN 0-520-24054-5 .
  • Fred Bronson: The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits. Updated and expanded 5th edition. Billboard Books, New York NY 2003, ISBN 0-8230-7677-6 .
  • Carol Clerk: Madonna style. Omnibus Press, London 2002, ISBN 0-7119-8874-9 .
  • Richard Dienst: Still life in real time. Theory after television. Duke University Press, Durham NC et al. 1994, ISBN 0-8223-1466-5 .
  • Nicholas B. Dirks, Geoff Eley, Sherry B. Ortner (Eds.): Culture, Power, History. A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1994, ISBN 0-691-02102-3 .
  • Bruce David Forbes, Jeffrey H. Mahan (Eds.): Religion and Popular Culture in America. Revised edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2005, ISBN 0-520-24689-6 .
  • Santiago Fouz-Hernández, Freya Jarman-Ivens (eds.): Madonna's Drowned Worlds. New Approaches to Her Cultural Transformations, 1983-2003. Ashgate, Aldershot et al. 2004, ISBN 0-7546-3372-1 .
  • Georges-Claude Guilbert: Madonna as postmodern myth. How one star's self-construction rewrites sex, gender, Hollywood and the American dream. McFarland, Jefferson NC et al. 2002, ISBN 0-7864-1408-1 .
  • Mary Harron: McRock: Pop as a Commodity. In: Simon Frith (Ed.): Facing the Music. A Pantheon Guide to Popular Culture. Pantheon Books, New York NY 1988, ISBN 0-394-55849-9 , pp. 173-220.
  • Roxane Orgill: Shout, Sister, Shout! Ten Girl Singers who Shaped a Century. Margaret K. McElderry Books, New York NY 2001, ISBN 0-689-81991-9 .
  • Julia Pascal (Ed.): Women in Theater (= Contemporary Theater Review. Vol. 2, No. 3). Harwood Academic Publishers, sl 1995, ISBN 3-7186-5598-5 .
  • Rikky Rooksby: Madonna. The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna. Omnibus Press, London et al. 2004, ISBN 0-7119-9883-3 .
  • J. Randy Taraborrelli: Madonna. An Intimate Biography. Simon and Schuster, New York NY 2001, ISBN 0-7432-2880-4 .
  • Mavis Tsai, Robert J. Kohlenberg, Jonathan W. Kanter, Barbara Kohlenberg, William C. Follette, Glenn M. Callaghan: A Guide to Functional Analytic Psychotherapy. Awareness, Courage, Love, and Behaviorism. Springer US, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-0-387-09786-2 .
  • Debbi Voller: Madonna. The Style Book. New edition. Omnibus Press, London 1999, ISBN 0-7119-7511-6 .
  • Donn Welton (Ed.): Body and Flesh. A Philosophical Reader. Blackwell, Malden MA et al. 1998, ISBN 1-57718-126-3 .

Individual evidence

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  2. Rooksby: Madonna. 2004, p. 22.
  3. Orgill: Shout, Sister, Shout! 2001, p. 80.
  4. a b Taraborrelli: Madonna. 2001, p. 226.
  5. Tsai et al: A Guide to Functional Analytic Psychotherapy. 2008, p. 137.
  6. Pascal (Ed.): Women in Theater. 1995, p. 14.
  7. ^ Fouz-Hernández, Jarman-Ivens (Ed.): Madonna's Drowned Worlds. 2004, p. 180.
  8. ^ MTV Video Music Awards 1987 - Highlights, Winners, Performers . In: MTV . MTV Networks . September 11, 1987. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  9. Benson, Metz (ed.): The Madonna Companion. 1999, pp. 187, 193.
  10. Benson, Metz (ed.): The Madonna Companion. 1999, p. 255.
  11. a b c Dirks, Eley, Ortner (eds.): Culture, Power, History. 1994, p. 471.
  12. Bruce Westbrook: Cardenas takes tiger by the tail . In: Houston Chronicle , Hearst Corporation , December 18, 1986. Retrieved June 5, 2015. 
  13. a b Benson, Metz (ed.): The Madonna Companion. 1999, p. 164.
  14. a b c Guilbert: Madonna as postmodern myth. 2002, p. 47.
  15. a b Dienst: Still life in real time. 1994, p. 86.
  16. a b c Forbes, Mahan (Ed.): Religion and Popular Culture in America. 2005, pp. 86-87.
  17. ^ Bordo: Unbearable weight. 2004, p. 273.
  18. Bruce Westbrook: MTV drops Quinn while searching for fresh faces . In: Houston Chronicle , Hearst Corporation , January 8, 1987. Retrieved June 5, 2015. 
  19. Harron: McRock: Pop as a Commodity. 1988, pp. 173-220, here p. 218.
  20. Welton (Ed.): Body and Flesh. 1998, p. 234.
  21. a b Clerk: Madonna Style. 2002, p. 45.
  22. a b Voller: Madonna. 1999, p. 29.
  23. Heather Phares: allmusic (((Ciao Italia: Live in Italy (Video)> Overview))) . In: Allmusic . Rovi Corporation. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
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  25. Taraborrelli: Madonna. 2001, p. 119.
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  27. ^ Joey Guerra : Madonna makes the (Houston) people come together . In: Houston Chronicle , Hearst Corporation , April 25, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2015. 
  28. Stephen Thomas Erlewine : allmusic (((true Blue> Overview))) . In: Allmusic . Rovi Corporation . Retrieved June 5, 2015.
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  36. M&D chart archive. Musica e dischi , accessed on October 20, 2015 (Italian, paid subscription access).
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  38. De Nederlandse Top 40 ( Dutch ) In: Nederlandse Top 40 . Radio 538 . 1987 - week 3. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  39. Open Your Heart on VRT Top 30 ( Dutch ) VRT Top 30. December 20, 1986. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 5, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.radio2.be
  40. Certified Awards Search. British Phonographic Industry , December 1, 1986, accessed June 5, 2015 .
  41. David Kent: Australian chart book 1970-1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives NSW 1993, ISBN 0-646-11917-6 .
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  45. Madonna - Open Your Heart (Chanson) ( French ) Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. May 23, 1987. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  46. a b c d e Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
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  50. Who's That Girl! - Exposed . Discogs . Retrieved June 5, 2015.
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  53. ^ Jean Bentley: 'Glee' Recap: Madonna Invades William McKinley High . In: MTV , MTV Networks , April 21, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2015.