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Like a Prayer is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on March 21, 1989 by Sire Records, three years after her previous studio album. Madonna worked with Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard, and fellow icon Prince on the album while co-writing and co-producing all the songs. As Madonna's most introspective release at the time, Like a Prayer
has been described as a confessional record. She described the album as
a collection of songs "about my mother, my father, and bonds with my
family." The album was dedicated to her mother, who died when Madonna
was young.
By early 1989, the world had come to know Madonna as a dance-pop provocateur with quirky-sexy style. She was the biggest female celebrity on the planet, and yet for all her fame, few realized just how much pain and self-doubt this soon-to-be-divorced 30-year-old lapsed Catholic from Detroit was carting around. With āLike a Prayer,ā that would all change.
Recorded amid the dissolution of her marriage to actor Sean Penn, āLike a Prayerā was Madonnaās most introspective and eclectic album to date. Unlike the three that came before, it blended classic psychedelic rock with then-current synth-pop sounds. And now, a quarter-century after its March 21, 1989 release, it doesnāt sound a bit dated. Lyrically, itās about growing up, moving on from bad romance, and getting right with God and family. At least two of the songs center on the death of Madonnaās mother, a childhood trauma that had a strong part in making the singer who she is.
Before āLike a Prayerā was even released, Madonna made it clear this wouldnāt be just another album. Three weeks before the release, she debuted the video for the title track, the first of five top 20 Hot 100 singles spawned from the album. Featuring depictions of murder, interracial love, and cross burnings, the clip juxtaposed notions of religious and sexual ecstasy, leaving some folks puzzled and just about everyone talking. Catholics denounced her; Pepsi dropped ads featuring her (and ended plans to sponsor her tour). Fans, of course, ate it up.
Controversy aside, āLike a Prayerā is among Madonnaās finest moments, and over the next 10 tracks, its namesake album never lets up. Itās funky, poignant, and even a little kooky. And while Madonna is the quintessential singles artist, this chart-topping LP stands as one of her most fully realized collection of songs. Read on for our classic track-by-track review.
āLike a Prayerā
What a way to start an album. First, distorted guitars and a heavy thud. From there, a pop-gospel workout thatās as enigmatic as it is invigorating. Itās āThrillerā meets Catholic mysticism, and "Like A Prayer" works just as well without its vivid video. No wonder it shot to No. 1 on the Hot 100 a month after its release.
What a way to start an album. First, distorted guitars and a heavy thud. From there, a pop-gospel workout thatās as enigmatic as it is invigorating. Itās āThrillerā meets Catholic mysticism, and "Like A Prayer" works just as well without its vivid video. No wonder it shot to No. 1 on the Hot 100 a month after its release.
āExpress Yourselfā
The party moves from the church to Madonnaās posh high-rise, where she looks at her jewels and satin sheets and decides sheād rather have a man whoās in touch with his feelings. Itās her brassy, funky version of āCanāt Buy Me Love,ā and it climbed all the way to No. 2 on the Hot 100.
āLove Songā
This collab between Madonna and Prince is the ā80s-pop equivalent of Wonder Woman teaming up with Batman. Given the star power, the track feels a touch slight, and as Princeās signature scratchy disco guitar breaks through Madonnaās synths, the divergent musical sensibilities make like the lovers in the lyricsāthey donāt quite connect.
āTill Death Do Us Partā
As her tumultuous marriage to actor Sean Penn comes to an end, Madonna reflects on the well-publicized fightsāāHe starts to scream / the vases flyāāand emotional distance that doomed the couple. The skittering guitar or keyboard part creates a frazzled feel that contrasts nicely with Madonnaās assured vocals.
āPromise to Tryā
Seemingly a straightforward song about the death of Madonnaās mother, this piano ballad is actually rather complex. Sheās singing to her devastated five-year-old self, and in addition to offering some advice for copingāāDonāt you forget her faceāāshe asks for forgiveness. She knows sheās made mistakes, and she fears sheās let her mother and herself down.
āCherishā
A welcome reprieve after āPromise to Try,ā the albumās third single is a frolicking pop confection about true love. The only conceivable reason this thing didn't quite make it to No. 1: America likes its Madonna a little edgier.
āDear Jessieā
This playful psych-pop fantasia could have come from Princeās āAround the World In a Dayā album, though the Purple One had nothing to do with it. Madonna wrote and produced it with Patrick Leonard, whose young daughter was the inspiration. Listening back, itās obvious Madonna was destined for motherhood.
āOh Fatherā
A companion of sorts to āPromise to Try,ā this song about Madonnaās strained relationship with her father leaves little to the imagination. As a child, she felt betrayed by his decision to remarry, and in a 1989 sit-down with Interview magazine, she traced her rebellious, independent spirit back to the sinking feeling her lone surviving parent had been ātaken awayā by her stepmother. Though itās hardly a feel-good track, it resonated with listeners and reached No. 20.
āKeep It Togetherā
As the preceding eight tracks attest, Madonna had some familial issues. But on this mid-tempo synth-funk tune, she offers an olive branch to her estranged father and siblings, insisting that blood āis thicker than any circumstance.ā A No. 8 hit in March 1990, āKeep It Togetherā is a tense groover.
āSpanish Eyesā
This Latin-flavored guitar ballad is either about AIDS or gang violence, and the ambiguityāa topic of debate among fans to this dayāshows just how far Madonna had come since āEverybodyā and āBorderline.ā
āAct of Contritionā
Having spent the previous 10 tracks digging into some pretty deep emotions, Madonna takes a minute to decompress. Amid wailing guitars and backwards tape loops, she empties the contents of her head, and in the hilarious coda, sheās not sure if sheās confessing her sins and reserving a place in heaven or booking a room at a trendy hotel. āWhat do you mean itās not in the computer?ā she asks, ending the record in true Madonna fashion, with a big old wink.
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