True blue
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| Studio album by Madonna | |||||||||||
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Publication |
June 30, 1986 |
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| Label (s) |
Sire Records , Warner Bros. Records |
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Format (s) |
Record, CD |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
40:25 min. |
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| occupation | Madonna | ||||||||||
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True Blue is Madonna's third studio album . It was released on June 30, 1986 by Sire Records and is named after the song of the same name. On the album Madonna worked with producers Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard, while she was involved in the songwriting of all songs on the album. True Blue is known as Madonna's most feminine album, the songs are about love , fun and dreams , inspired by her then-husband Sean Penn , to whom Madonna dedicated the album. Musically, the songs differ from their predecessor Like a Virgin through a more classical influence, with which Madonna wanted to prove her skills to the critics, especially those who were skeptical of her musical qualities.
True Blue was recorded with acoustic guitars , drums , synthesizers and Cuban musical instruments . The contents of the songs range from love and freedom to social issues , especially Papa Don't Preach , which is about a teenage pregnancy . After its release, True Blue was positively received by music critics . They particularly praised the album for its modern dance pop . Many described it as a new trend for pop albums in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was also praised that Madonna's singing is stronger than on her previous works.
In commercial terms, True Blue became a worldwide success, ranking # 1 in 28 countries, a new record at the time. With success, the album became the most successful of 1986 and the best-selling album by a female singer of the 1980s. The album sold over 24 million copies worldwide, including over 7 million in the USA , which earned the album seven platinum awards . Five songs were released as singles : Live to Tell , Papa Don't Preach , Open Your Heart , which were all number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 , and True Blue and La Isla Bonita , both of which were top 5 respectively achieved.
With the songs and the music videos , Madonna changed her image from “boy-toy” to a more adult image. For Papa Don't Preach , some social groups praised Madonna for her courageous confrontation with teenage pregnancies, others praised her for her societal issues in the songs on the album. Open Your Heart has been widely criticized for its music video where Madonna portrays a dancer in a strip club. During the Confessions Tour in 2006, Madonna hung on a cross during her performances of Live to Tell , for which she was criticized. True Blue is referred to as the album that made Madonna a superstar . With this album Madonna became one of the most successful and influential artists of the 1980s.
background
Madonna dedicated the album to Sean Penn, whom she married in 1985. With the songs from the album, she expressed her feelings for her husband and landed several number one hits at the same time . The album reached number 1 in 28 countries and sold over 24 million copies.
The album was seven times by the Recording Industry Association of America with platinum excellent. The success of the album True Blue served as a model for the later albums.
True Blue is the first album on which Madonna wrote most of the songs herself, most of them together with Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard . She previously wrote some songs on the album Like a Virgin with Stephen Bray .
In 1986, True Blue was one of the albums that peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 chart , alongside albums by Whitney Houston , Sade , Janet Jackson and Barbra Streisand .
The first single Live to Tell and several instrumental sequences of the song were recorded in the film On Short Distance with Sean Penn and Christopher Walken .
La Isla Bonita was actually written for Michael Jackson ; after rejecting the song, it not only became Madonna's first number one hit in Switzerland and Germany, but also became a crowd favorite on later tours.
The song Spotlight , produced during the True Blue session, was released a year later on the remix compilation You Can Dance . The song Each Time You Break My Heart , which also did not make it on the album, helped Nick Kamen to a world hit. A demo version of the song appeared on the Internet more than 20 years later.
Criticism
The album received mixed reviews. The German Musikexpress wrote: "Half of TRUE BLUE consists of sure top 20 hits, the other half [...] of mediocre filler material." The American Rolling Stone also confirmed the album's lack of outstanding songs, but emphasized Madonna's strong vocals . Some critics rated the album as a "dance pop album". Other reviewers gave the album a negative rating due to the songs' lack of size and depth.
| Professional reviews | |
|---|---|
| Averages | |
| source | rating |
| total | |
| Reviews | |
| source | rating |
| Allmusic |
 
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| BBC |
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| Billboard | (Positive) |
| Blender |
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| Robert Christgau | (Positive) |
| Entertainment Weekly | (Positive) |
| Los Angeles Times | (Positive) |
| The New York Times | (Positive) |
| Rolling Stone | (Positive) |
| Slant |
|
Cover design
The cover photo that made Madonna an icon of the 1980s was by Herb Ritts . You can see Madonna's face in profile , she has raised her head, which you want to emphasize her neck, which you can see very well. The background is blue, the title of the album True Blue is in the lower center . Madonna shows herself in an elegant pose and fakes a kiss with her red lips . At the same time, she also presents her new image, with a short hairstyle and platinum blonde hair. The cover picture is the same on the LP and CD, only in the cassette version it is completely included on a poster. According to Lucy O'Brien , the author of Madonna: Like an Icon , the cover image was inspired by Andy Warhol's concept of pop art . She feels that her image is a mix of ignorance, idealism and the 1950s Technicolor style , and these are characteristics of Warhol's design from the 1960s. Jeri Heiden, the designer of the cover art, commented, “She was smart and excited about her new image and she knew how to control it.” O'Brien feels that the cover art shows a new side of the new Madonna that Madonna had a charisma like her role model and icon Marilyn Monroe . “With this picture Madonna shows her connection between Warhol and herself, the connection between pop art and commerce . The later 80s marked a new era for the artist as a whole, and Madonna was the first to try this and the first to succeed. "
tour
| Presentation album | True Blue, Who's That Girl |
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| Beginning of the tour | June 14, 1987 |
| End of the tour | September 6, 1987 |
| Total concerts (by continent) |
* 11 in Europe
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| Concerts in total | 37 |
| The Virgin Tour (1985) |
Who's That Girl World Tour (1987) |
Blond Ambition World Tour (1990) |
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Track list
| # | title | Songwriter | producer | length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Papa don't preach | Brian Elliot, Madonna | Brian Elliot, Madonna | 4:01 |
| 2. | Open your heart | Madonna, Gardner Cole, Peter Rafelson | Madonna, Gardner Cole, Peter Rafelson | 3:56 |
| 3. | White heat | Madonna, Patrick Leonard | Madonna, Patrick Leonard | 3:58 |
| 4th | Live to Tell | Madonna, P. Leonard | Madonna, P. Leonard | 5:52 |
| 5. | Where's the party | Madonna, Stephen Bray, P. Leonard | Madonna, Stephen Bray, P. Leonard | 4:47 |
| 6th | True blue | Madonna, S. Bray | Madonna, S. Bray | 4:43 |
| 7th | La Isla Bonita | Madonna, P. Leonard, Bruce Gaitsch | Madonna, P. Leonard, Bruce Gaitsch | 4:01 |
| 8th. | Jimmy Jimmy | Madonna, S. Bray | Madonna, S. Bray | 5:16 |
| 9. | Love Makes the World Go Round | Madonna, P. Leonard | Madonna, P. Leonard | 4:30 |
Outtakes & demo tracks
- Each Time You Break My Heart (Madonna, Steve Bray)
Charts
album
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
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1 (67 weeks) | 67 |
 Austria (Ö3)
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2 (47 weeks) | 47 |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
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1 (36 weeks) | 36 |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
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1 (90 weeks) | 90 |
 United States (Billboard)
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1 (82 weeks) | 82 |
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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DE
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AT
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CH
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UK
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US
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| 1986 |
Live to Tell True Blue |
DE12 (15 weeks) DE |
- |
CH4 (17 weeks) CH |
UK2 (13 weeks) UK |
US1 (18 weeks) US |
First published: March 26, 1986
Sales: + 500,000; Video: James Foley |
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Papa Don't Preach True Blue |
DE2 (17 weeks) DE |
AT4 (3½ months) AT |
CH2 (13 weeks) CH |
UK1 (15 weeks) UK |
US1 (18 weeks) US |
First published: June 11, 1986
Sales: + 1,500,000; Video: James Foley |
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True Blue True Blue |
DE6 (15 weeks) DE |
AT9 (3½ months) AT |
CH6 (10 weeks) CH |
UK1 (15 weeks) UK |
US3 (16 weeks) US |
First published:
Sep 17, 1986 Sales: + 1,376,000; Video: James Foley |
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Open Your Heart True Blue |
DE17 (10 weeks) DE |
AT18 (2½ months) AT |
CH11 (6 weeks) CH |
UK4 (9 weeks) UK |
US1 (18 weeks) US |
First published: November 19, 1986
Sales: + 250,000; Video: Jean-Baptiste Mondino |
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| 1987 |
La Isla Bonita True Blue |
DE1 (15 weeks) DE |
AT1 (4½ months) AT |
CH1 (17 weeks) CH |
UK1 (13 weeks) UK |
US4 (18 weeks) US |
First published:
Feb 25, 1987 Sales: + 1,210,000; Video: Mary Lambert |
Contributors
The following people contributed to the creation of the album True Blue .
music
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production
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Visual
- Artwork, photographs: Herb Ritts
- Art Direction : Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff, Jeri McManus
- Design: Jeri McManus
See also
literature
- Rikky Rooksby: Madonna: The Complete Guide to Her Music . Omnibus Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7119-9883-4 , p. 21-25 .
- J. Randy Taraborrelli: Madonna: An Intimate Biography . Simon and Schuster, 2002, ISBN 978-0-7432-2880-0 , pp. 117-120 .
Web links
- True Blue at Allmusic (English)
- Simfy : "True Blue"
Individual evidence
- ^ True Blue. Retrieved December 27, 2018 .
- ↑ Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine (eds.): All music guide to rock: the experts' guide to the best recordings in rock, pop, soul, R&B, and rap . 3. Edition. Backbeat Books, San Francisco, CA 2002, ISBN 0-87930-653-X , pp. 686 .
- ^ J. Randy Taraborrelli: Madonna: An Intimate Biography. 2002, p. 120.
- ↑ Robert Sandall: Why Madonna's nursing a material girl. In: The Sunday Times. dated April 5, 2009. (Accessed October 24, 2010)
- ^ Gold & Platinum - RIAA . In: RIAA . ( riaa.com [accessed November 12, 2017]).
- ^ Andrian Kreye: Madonna - True blue . In: Musikexpress, August 2, 1986. (Accessed April 16, 2015)
- ↑ Davitt Sigerson: True blue Madonna. In: Rolling Stone, July 17, 1986. (Retrieved April 16, 2015)
- ↑ Rating: Allmusic
- ↑ Debbi Voller: Madonna: The Style Book . Omnibus Press., London 1999, ISBN 0-7119-7511-6 , pp. 29 .
- ↑ Photographer / Video Director Herb Ritts Dies At Age 50. In: MTV News. December 26, 2002, accessed April 6, 2009 .
- ↑ a b c Lucy O'Brien: Madonna: Like an Icon . Bantam Press, London 2007, ISBN 978-0-593-05547-2 , pp. 21 .
- ↑ Mad Eyes
- ↑ a b c d e Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
- ^ (1986) Album notes for True Blue by Madonna [Liner notes]. Warner Bros. Records (925442-2).