Who's That Girl (Madonna song)
| Who's that girl | |
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| Madonna | |
| publication | June 30, 1987 |
| length | 3:58 |
| Genre (s) | pop |
| Author (s) | Madonna, Patrick Leonard |
| album | Who's that girl |
Who's That Girl is a pop song by the American singer Madonna from the album Who's That Girl for the film of the same name (in which Madonna plays a leading role). The song was released on June 30, 1987 on Sire Records as the first single from the album. The song is also included on the EP The Holiday Collection from 1991, which was released parallel to the best-of album The Immaculate Collection from 1990. The song can also be found on the 2-disk edition of her greatest hits album Celebration from 2009. While the film Who's That Girl was being made , Madonna commissioned songwriter Patrick Leonard to produce an up-tempo pop song, the describes the protagonist of the film. Madonna later added more text and vocals to Leonard's demo tape and decided to name the film and song Who's That Girl .
Some text passages of the song are in Spanish . Who's That Girl was Madonna's sixth number one hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in other countries including the United Kingdom , Canada , the Netherlands , Ireland and Belgium .
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background
In 1986, when Madonna began filming Who's That Girl , she needed songs for the film's soundtrack album. She contacted Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray, who wrote and produced their third studio album True Blue in 1986 . Madonna told them that she needed an uptempo song and a downtempo song. She came into the studio one Thursday when Leonard was producing the chorus for the song. He gave Madonna a cassette with the previous recordings. She went into the back room and completed the melody and the rest of the lyrics of the song while Leonard worked on other parts of the song. After the lyrics to the song were finished, Madonna explained that the song should be called Who's That Girl and the film should also be called Slammer (original title of the film). According to their own statements, Who's That Girl should be a better title for the film than Slammer . In Fred Bronson's The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits , Leonard stated that the song was recorded in just one day with Madonna, who ended up providing the vocals for the song. The guitars and percussions were later added to the melody by Leonard and Bray. Madonna explained the development of music into film
“I had some very specific ideas in mind, music that would stand on its own as well as support and enhance what was happening on screen and the only way to make that a reality was to have a hand in writing the tunes myself. [...] The songs aren't necessarily about Nikki [her character name in the movie] or written to be sung by someone like her, but there's a spirit to this music that captures both what the film and the characters are about, I think . ”
“I had some special ideas: music that would be both stand-alone and would underline and reinforce what was happening on the screen; and the only way to make it happen was to take notes on the melodies yourself. […] The songs are not about Nikki [Madonna's film role] or were written to sing like her, but there is a spirit in the music that grasps what the film and the characters are about, I mean. "
composition
The song is a typical Madonna-Pop composition with dance and Latin Pop elements. The melody was played with a drum computer , a bass , a synthesizer and string instruments. Three sections of the song, the bridge , where Madonna sings “what can help me now”, the chorus and the verse flow together strongly. The song demonstrates Madonna's continued interest in Hispanic culture, which began with the release of La Isla Bonita . It contains some text passages in Spanish, during the chorus, during the trumpet on the second verse and during an instrumental pause in the middle of the song. The song uses the double vocal effect previously used by groups such as The Beach Boys on their singles God Only Knows (1966) and I Get Around (1964) and REM in Fall On Me (1986) and Near Wild Heaven (1991). Who's That Girl uses this effect on the last chorus.
reception
criticism
The song was received mixed by critics. In his book The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna , author Rikky Rooksby describes Who's That Girl as Madonna's best pop song. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented that Who's That Girl , along with Causing a Commotion , aren't Madonna's best singles. Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, described the song in his book Madonna: An Intimate Biography as "interesting Madonna music" and "funky, casual and melodic, with a Latin accent." Noah Robischon of Entertainment Weekly stated that the film and Made the song Madonna stronger About.com's Bill Lamb said the song, along with the second single from the soundtrack album, Causing a Commotion , was no example of Madonna's best music.
Commercial win
Who's That Girl was released in the United States in June 1987. It debuted at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 1 after seven weeks and stayed at the top for a week. In total, the song spent 16 weeks on the Hot 100. It became Madonna's sixth number one hit in the US, making her the first artist to release six number one hits in the 80s and the first female artist to who get so many number one hits. In 2000, the song came 10th best Madonna songs after a vote.
In Canada , the song debuted at number 38 on July 11, 1987 and reached number 1 on August 29, 1987 for a week and stayed in the charts for a total of 23 weeks. In the UK , Who's That Girl was released on July 14, 1987 and debuted at number 3 on the UK singles chart , the following week the song peaked at number 1 , becoming Madonna’s fifth number one hit in the UK. In Europe , Who's That Girl reached number 1 in Belgium , Italy , Ireland and the Netherlands and the top five in Austria , France , Germany , Norway , Sweden and Switzerland .
Awards
Who's That Girl was nominated in 1988 for a Golden Globe Award for best film song and for the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media .
Music video
The music video was on two days in the Gray Hall Mansion in Beverly Hills ( California turned). Madonna presented herself with a new blonde hair style for the film, which she also used in the music video. She wanted to remind her of the heroines of the screwball comedies of the 1930s. Like the song, the music video also contains elements of Hispanic culture. Madonna wears typical Spanish clothes and plays a young woman on a treasure hunt. She herself describes it as a partial sequel to the La Isla Bonita music video. In the video, Madonna also wears a Spanish hat together with a bolero. This combination would later become a fashion trend.
The music video was directed by Peter Rosenthal. The video begins with Madonna entering a park. After meeting two children and a teenager, they walk through the park and Madonna sings the song. These scenes alternate with the scenes in the film. Madonna's character Nikki Fynn appears in the film scenes. A little later, Madonna is in search of an Egyptian treasure. After a while, Madonna finds a huge diamond. She looks up happily at the children. At the end of the video, Madonna is dancing with the two children.
The music video shows Madonna in a different role than in the film. The video has been criticized for allegedly not showing "the real Madonna". According to Vincent Canby of the New York Times , Madonna wanted to be like Marilyn Monroe at the time , but with the "weird lasciviousness" of Jean Harlow . This personality type was featured in the second half of the film Who's That Girl . The music video should not represent the "real Madonna" and her "qualities" nor should it "promote the film" for which the song and music video were created. The video should only show the thoughts and personality of Madonna's film character from the first half of the film and comment on the content of the film.
Live performances
Madonna only sang the song live on her Who's That Girl World Tour in 1987. The outfits for the performances were designed by Marlene Stewart. During the performances for the song, Madonna always danced around the stage and communicated with the audience. Two different live versions of the song are on the videos Who's That Girl - Live in Japan , filmed in Tokyo on June 22, 1987 and Ciao, Italia! - Live from Italy , filmed in Turin on September 4th, 1987.
literature
- Fred Bronson: The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits . Billboard Books, 2003, ISBN 0-8230-7677-6 .
- Douglas Kellner: Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity, and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern . Routledge , 1995, ISBN 0-415-10570-6 .
- Allan Metz, Carol Benson: The Madonna Companion: Two Decades of Commentary . Music Sales Group, 1999, ISBN 0-8256-7194-9 .
- Andrew Morton: Madonna . Macmillan Publishers , 2002, ISBN 0-312-98310-7 .
- Rikky Rooksby: The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna . Omnibus Press, 2004, ISBN 0-7119-9883-3 .
- Randy J. Taraborrelli: Madonna: An Intimate Biography . Simon and Schuster, 2002, ISBN 0-7432-2880-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
- ↑ a b c d e Bronson: The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits. 2003, p. 203.
- ↑ a b c d e Rooksby: The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna. 2004, p. 68.
- ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine : allmusic (((Who's That Girl> Overview))). In: Allmusic . July 21, 1987. Retrieved July 8, 2009 .
- ↑ Taraborelli, p. 126
- ↑ Noah Robischon: Dating Madonna. In: Entertainment Weekly . July 27, 2001, accessed July 10, 2009 .
- ↑ Bill Lamb: Madonna Discography: Annotated list of Madonna's albums. In: About.com , The New York Times . 1987, accessed July 10, 2009 .
- ^ Artist Chart History - Madonna. In: Billboard . Retrieved May 15, 2009 .
- ↑ Template error: The title parameter is required.
- ↑ Poll: 'Vogue' Is Fave Madonna Chart-Topper. In: Billboard . September 15, 2000, accessed July 8, 2009 .
- ↑ Top Singles - Volume 46, No. 14, July 11 1987. (No longer available online.) In: RPM . July 11, 1987, archived from the original on March 21, 2008 ; Retrieved May 15, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Top Singles - Volume 47, No. 10, December 12 1987. (No longer available online.) In: RPM . December 12, 1987, archived from the original on March 22, 2008 ; Retrieved May 15, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Madonna in the Official UK Charts (English)
- ↑ Kellner, p. 275
- ↑ a b c Morton, p. 199
- ↑ Metz, p. 309
- ↑ a b c d Madonna - Who's That Girl music video. In: MTV . September 6, 2008, accessed July 9, 2009 .
- ^ A b Vincent Canby: Film View; In Search of Madonna's Persona. In: The New York Times . August 23, 1987. Retrieved July 9, 2009 .
- ↑ Morton: Madonna. 2002, p. 200.
- ↑ Metz, Benson: The Madonna Companion: Two Decades of Commentary. 1999, p. 345.
- ↑ Heather Phares: allmusic (((Ciao Italia: Live in Italy (Video)> Overview))). In: Allmusic . Retrieved March 3, 2009 .
